Eureka! has announced its October 2023 line-up. Featured amongst this line-up is one of silent cinema’s great masterworks, Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks; From Beijing With Love, a comedic send-up of the James Bond franchise directed by and starring Stephen Chow; and Beach of the War Gods, an epic historical adventure from Jimmy Wang Yu.

PANDORA'S BOX [DIE BÜCHSE DER PANDORA] (Germany 1929)

Blu-ray | 30 October 2023 | £26.99

In a role intended at one point for Marlene Dietrich (The Blue Angel), 22 year-old Louise Brooks (Diary of a Lost Girl), with her fragile beauty and iconic dark bob hairstyle, gives a performance decades ahead of its time and immortalised her as an icon. Largely condemned and censored upon its initial release for its daring treatment of sexuality and female desire, Brooks’ understated yet erotically charged performance, endures as among the most modern of the silent era.

Adapted from a pair of plays by Frank Wedekind, Pandora’s Box tells the story of prostitute Lulu, a free spirit whose open sexuality breeds chaos in its wake. When Lulu’s latest lover, the newspaper editor Dr. Ludwig Schon (Fritz Kortner, The Hands of Orlac), announces plans to leave her to marry a more respectable woman, Lulu is devastated. Cast in a musical revue written by Schon’s son, Alwa (Francis Lederer, The Return of Dracula), Lulu seduces Schon once more — only to have their tryst exposed, and Schon’s plans for a more socially acceptable marriage shattered. Left with no choice but to marry Lulu, Schon meets with tragedy on their wedding night. Lulu stands trial for the incident, facing years of imprisonment. With the aid of her former pimp (Carl Goetz, Tom Sawyer) an infatuated lesbian countess (Alice Roberts, The Merry Widower), and Alwa, she flees toward a fate of increasing squalor and peril, finally crossing paths one Christmas Eve with Jack the Ripper.

Reviled and bowdlerised at its debut, Pandora’s Box has since been recognised as one of the masterpieces of early German cinema. A sordid melodrama made with great style, it affirms G.W. Pabst as a daring and important director and Louise Brooks as one of cinema’s most exquisite and distinctive performers. The Masters of Cinema series is proud to present Pabst’s masterpiece in a new restoration on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK.

LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY BOX SET FEATURES:

• Limited Edition Box Set - 3000 Copies
• Limited Edition Hardcase featuring artwork by Tony Stella
• Limited Edition 60-Page Book featuring new writing on the film by critics Alexandra Heller Nicholas, Imogen Sara Smith, and Richard Combs; alongside archival stills and imagery 
• 1080p HD presentation on Blu-ray from a definitive 2K digital restoration
• Optional English subtitles
• Orchestral Score by Peer Raben
• New audio commentary by critic Pamela Hutchinson
• New visual appreciation by author and critic Kat Ellinger 
• New video essay by David Cairns
• New video essay by Fiona Watson

FROM BEIJING WITH LOVE [GWOK CHAAN LING LING CHAT] (Germany 1929)

Blu-ray | 23 October 2023 | £18.99

Hong Kong’s King of Comedy Stephen Chow (Shaolin Soccer, Kung Fu Hustle) directs and stars in this hilarious spoof of the James Bond franchise.

Martini swilling butcher (and disgraced former spy) Ling Ling Chat is dispatched to recover a stolen dinosaur skull from a golden-gun wielding supervillain. Equipped with the latest gadgets, our hero dons his tuxedo and swaggers into a world of danger, beautiful women, and metal mouthed assassins. Sound familiar?

One of Stephen Chow’s funniest films, Eureka Classics is presenting From Beijing With Love on Blu-ray in its UK debut.

BLU-RAY FEATURES:

• Limited edition O-Card slipcase featuring new artwork by Grégory Sacré (Gokaiju) [2000 copies]
• 1080p HD presentation on Blu-ray from a restoration of the original film elements
• Original Cantonese mono audio
• Optional English dubbed audio
• Optional English Subtitles, newly translated for this release
• Wong Kam Kong on From Beijing With Love – new interview with actor Wong Kam Kong about his role in the film
• Wong Kam Kong in conversation – actor Wong Kam Kong discusses his career
• Archival interview with Stephen Chow
• Archival interview with Lee Lik-chi
• Trailer
• A Limited edition collector’s booklet featuring new writing by James Oliver [2000 copies]

BEACH OF THE WAR GODS [ZHAN SHEN TAN] (Hong Kong | Taiwan 1973)

Blu-ray | 23 October 2023 | £18.99

Kung Fu film innovator Jimmy Wang Yu (The Chinese Boxer) blends wuxia  mayhem with Seven Samurai in Beach of the War Gods.

In the waning days of the Ming dynasty, Japanese marauders raid villages on the Chinese coast.  A wandering swordsman (Wang Yu) single-handedly dispatches a group of the foreign thugs, and agrees to help defend the town. He assembles a core team of highly skilled warriors, including mercenary knife thrower Leng Ping (Yeh Tien, Blood of the Dragon) and hot-headed swordsman Iron Bull Chao (Han Hsieh, One Armed Boxer). Together, they train the townsfolk to stand up to the foreign pirates, using strategy and skill. When the army launches an all-out assault on the town, a ferocious battle rages, leading to final conflict on the Beach of the War Gods.

Celebrating its 50th anniversary, Beach of the War Gods ranks among Jimmy Wang Yu’s best films, a briskly-paced historical adventure bursting with wild action.

BLU-RAY FEATURES:

• Limited Edition O-Card slipcase featuring new artwork by Tony Stella [2000 copies]
• 1080p HD presentation on Blu-ray of the original Hong Kong theatrical cut from a brand new 2K restoration
• Original Mandarin mono audio
• Optional English dubbed audio
• Optional English Subtitles, newly translated for this release
• Brand new feature length audio commentary by Asian film expert Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival)
• Brand new interview with action cinema experts Mike Leeder & Arne Venema on the life and career of Jimmy Wang Yu
• Archival interview with Jimmy Wang Yu
• Trailers
• A Limited Edition collector’s booklet featuring new writing by James Oliver and a review of the film by Dr Craig D. Reid from his book The Ultimate Guide to Martial Arts Movies of the 1970s [2000 copies]