So Chan, Beggar So

King of Beggars, starring Stephen Chow, is coming to R2 DVD soon, courtesy of Hong Kong Legends. Starring Chow as the folk hero So Chan, aka Beggar So, this happens to be one of his lesser vehicles, falling some significant distance short of the films he wrote and directed himself - including Shaolin Soccer, Kung Fu Hustle, and King of Comedy to name just my three favourites of the day.

(Fans of Kung Fu Hustle owe it to themselves that they check out a nice little set of notes on the film's place in Hong Kong film history.)

Even a minor piece of Chow is still a piece of Chow, however, and if Hong Kong Legends have a major hit on their hands with this one, they may well make the investments necessary to bring more of his work to the UK market.

Until recently, Bey Logan was usually called upon to deliver very worthwhile commentary tracks for Hong Kong Legends titles, but now he's gone and I fear that the overall quality of their titles will slip. As for where he's gone, it's bad news, I'm afraid.

He's been hired as the Weinstein's rep in Asia, which should result in them slating a high quality roster - but if the brothers' previous record is anything to go by, it'll be a high quality roster that gets mistreated, censored, badly re-edited, dubbed and dumped unceremoniously, months - if not years - later into ever decreasing and barely marketed release patterns.