In 1937 after The Second Sino-Japanese War breaks out a soldier and a young woman have an awkward meet cute in darkness under a bridge as they seek refuge during a bomb raid. Although they can’t see each other’s faces they promise to meet again after the dust settles. Ten years later the soldier, now a burgeoning songwriter and tuba-player in a marching band, is back in town desperately searching for his would-be soulmate. As fate would have it they end up living in the same building unbeknownst to each other. Through a series of mishaps he mistakes her new ingénue roommate for his love interest and wacky love triangle hijinks ensue. Consummate auteur Tsui Hark almost singlehandedly reinvented Hong Kong cinema in the 80’s and 90’s with uber-kinetic genre opuses, amping up cinematic spectacle whether with special effects or sheer unbridled energy. This Hong Kong styled homage to the screwball comedies of yesteryear features black belt level slapstick and delightfully droll romcom shenanigans.

The 4K restoration of Shanghai Blues from the original negative was supervised by Tsui Hark with L’Immagine Ritrovata.

Disclaimer: The audio for this movie has been redubbed in 2024 for the 4K restoration by the director Tsui Hark. The audio track doesn't match the mouth movement of the video. This is inherent in the source and how the director wants to present his movie now. Also the grain structure in the movie seems to fluctuate in different scenes. This is inherent to the restoration/master. Even with these limitations this is the best presentation of the movie on home video at this time and I think the restoration looks and sounds great!