Bit of catching up to do here.
Sword of Justice
Relatively rare wuxia swordplay from Taiwan. The print available is rougher than a council estate hooker, but the subtitles read clearly enough. The palette of the film is stunning - everything is washed out in pastel colours. Sometimes, the picture is almost black and white, or a really watered-down sepia tone. Whether this cinematography is deliberate is unknown - it may just be due to film degradation. What is for sure, though, is the artistry in the way the settings are filmed. There's a stunningly atmospheric swordfight on a wooden bridge, with the rain hammering down on the swordsmen's umbrellas. There's sweeping pagodas set above lush ponds, an isolated fisherman's hut on a remote beach, and the tracking shots take in every drop of what's available to dwell on.
The sword fights are crisp and well choreographed. The story is relatively detailed, but quite easily understandable, which is quite rare for a Taiwan swordplay. This film is the archetypal 1970s Taiwanese wuxia - if you don't appreciate the conventions of this sub-genre then this will do nothing to change your mind. But it is a fantastic example of it.
Zombie Rivals
Elton Chong in a Joseph Lai special. It seems to me that this film is an original HK film called Gravedigger, that has been modified for the Western market by our friend Godfrey Ho, probably under an alias. And by 'modified' in mean 'butchered'. The original story seemed to be something along the lines of Chong learning kung fu off an undertaker who summons up the dead to practice fighting with. Once he is ready he can tackle the big bad.
The tone is ludicrous, and Chong mugs and gurns his way through many a scene. His fighting skills, however, are very good, and despite some obvious undercranking, he puts in some decent moves. The pace of the film is skewed, though, by the dreadfully tiresome sections of Western NINJAs inserted into the film. Their inclusion is pointless and makes little narrative sense, and it just feels wrong watching po-faced, badly acted Westerners dribbling on about nothing in a goofball HK production. The director/editor has even knitted together some scenes of Chong talking to hero NINJA Pierre Kirby, where the grain of the film is totally different, the backdrops don't match, and the dubbing has obviously massacred Chong's original lines to fit with Kirby's conversation. It's just all wrong. Plus, the NINJAs prance about in garish outfits and wear bandanas. You could see these guys from 2 miles away, they're real masters of stealth in that respect. So not only have the film butchers ruined the original film (and who knows what scenes were dropped to include these rubbish sequences), they don't understand the concept of an expert assassin.
Talking of backdrops, there's one hilarious scene involving a coffin in the snow, that breaks out into a fight. This was obviously filmed either in two different locations, or two different seasons, because halfway through the snow disappears.
So, decent action that takes an eternity to arrive, but there's so much rancid cockpiss on show it's a miracle I made it to the end.
Kid From Kwangtung
Shaw Brothers oddball effort, with the mighty Hwang Jang Lee playing the role of a hard-ass badnut. He's on great form, with powerful kicks aplenty. The film itself is an odd one, though. It is an interesting Shaw Bros production, of its time, with a finger in every pie. There's straight up comedy - a bizarre scene involving a frog in a classroom - and a lot, I felt anyway, of black humour. There's a surreal faceoff between one pupil dressed as a rooster, and a group of his rivals as a centipede thing. There's some tragedy with who gets beaten to death. It's all very strange, and to be honest I'd need to watch it again to tune into the pitch of the film. Having said that, I did enjoy it a lot, especially the final rumble, with HJL looking like a double-hard mofo. The cast seem to be having a ball, and it's an infectious joy for the viewer.
Blooded Treasury Fight
I thought this was class. Flash Legs Tan plays a corrupt official with very dubious intentions, and Shaw Bros regular David Chiang takes the role of a cocky convict tagging along on a mission to buy his freedom. There's plenty of twists and turns along the route to a Mill held by a warlord. Within the Mill is hidden a stash of pearls, that even the Warlord can't find, but it's up to Flash Legs and Chiang to infiltrate the mill and take the loot before he finds it.
The fights are aces. There's really high-calibre kicking from Tan, who uses his leg/foot to wrap a noose around one bloke's neck, and in another scene he traps a sword behind his knee joint and wields it as normal, taking out two bad guys in the process.
The ending is a massive brawl in the mill, where the loot is discovery. Identities are revealed, and motives made clear, as it turns into a massive free-for-all, with people being kicked to **** all over the shop. A face is pushed against a grinding stone, a lass is impaled by a massive plank, men leap up scaffolding and, among the chaos, there's really good punch and kick work. Great stuff.
Iron Swallow
Wong Tao stars with Judy Lee in this sombre, downbeat effort. The whole tone of the film is downplayed and muted, and centres around Judy Lee punishing those who killed her father ten years previously. Ting Wa-Chung is the son of one of the old ****s, who have since 'reformed', and his teacher (also a former ****) is the dad of his best mate, Wong Tao.
A mysterious assassin tries to frame Judy after she causes havoc on the old ****s without killing them, and it soon becomes clear who he is working for by the ending, when loyalties are tested. The end fight is pretty great, with inventive camerawork and a good mix of styles. Everything is this film is competent or above, and it was nice to watch something that didn't play out with bravura and fanfare. I liked the action and the performances, everything was clear story-wise, and the traditional-ness of it all was most welcome.
Black Eagle's Blade
In widescreen, with subtitles. Yep, enjoyed it. Great sword fighting throughout, with a mysterious masked figure causing carnage in an unsettled town. Tien Ho plays the lead, as a wandering fighter out to avenge his father's death, who likes to get his leg over. In fact, most people in this film have a bird on their arm at some point. Ho's sister is taken in my a group of beggars, who soon meet an unfortunate end at the hands of the masked man. A bloke with a massive hat is lurking around in the background, and his presence serves to tie up the loose ends in the final scene.
The swordplay is very good, but perhaps lacks the type of 'signature duel' that made something like Sword of Justice so memorable. The masked man has good martial forms, with smooth, precise and acrobatic movements. All of the actors put in a decent show.
Sword of Justice
Relatively rare wuxia swordplay from Taiwan. The print available is rougher than a council estate hooker, but the subtitles read clearly enough. The palette of the film is stunning - everything is washed out in pastel colours. Sometimes, the picture is almost black and white, or a really watered-down sepia tone. Whether this cinematography is deliberate is unknown - it may just be due to film degradation. What is for sure, though, is the artistry in the way the settings are filmed. There's a stunningly atmospheric swordfight on a wooden bridge, with the rain hammering down on the swordsmen's umbrellas. There's sweeping pagodas set above lush ponds, an isolated fisherman's hut on a remote beach, and the tracking shots take in every drop of what's available to dwell on.
The sword fights are crisp and well choreographed. The story is relatively detailed, but quite easily understandable, which is quite rare for a Taiwan swordplay. This film is the archetypal 1970s Taiwanese wuxia - if you don't appreciate the conventions of this sub-genre then this will do nothing to change your mind. But it is a fantastic example of it.
Zombie Rivals
Elton Chong in a Joseph Lai special. It seems to me that this film is an original HK film called Gravedigger, that has been modified for the Western market by our friend Godfrey Ho, probably under an alias. And by 'modified' in mean 'butchered'. The original story seemed to be something along the lines of Chong learning kung fu off an undertaker who summons up the dead to practice fighting with. Once he is ready he can tackle the big bad.
The tone is ludicrous, and Chong mugs and gurns his way through many a scene. His fighting skills, however, are very good, and despite some obvious undercranking, he puts in some decent moves. The pace of the film is skewed, though, by the dreadfully tiresome sections of Western NINJAs inserted into the film. Their inclusion is pointless and makes little narrative sense, and it just feels wrong watching po-faced, badly acted Westerners dribbling on about nothing in a goofball HK production. The director/editor has even knitted together some scenes of Chong talking to hero NINJA Pierre Kirby, where the grain of the film is totally different, the backdrops don't match, and the dubbing has obviously massacred Chong's original lines to fit with Kirby's conversation. It's just all wrong. Plus, the NINJAs prance about in garish outfits and wear bandanas. You could see these guys from 2 miles away, they're real masters of stealth in that respect. So not only have the film butchers ruined the original film (and who knows what scenes were dropped to include these rubbish sequences), they don't understand the concept of an expert assassin.
Talking of backdrops, there's one hilarious scene involving a coffin in the snow, that breaks out into a fight. This was obviously filmed either in two different locations, or two different seasons, because halfway through the snow disappears.
So, decent action that takes an eternity to arrive, but there's so much rancid cockpiss on show it's a miracle I made it to the end.
Kid From Kwangtung
Shaw Brothers oddball effort, with the mighty Hwang Jang Lee playing the role of a hard-ass badnut. He's on great form, with powerful kicks aplenty. The film itself is an odd one, though. It is an interesting Shaw Bros production, of its time, with a finger in every pie. There's straight up comedy - a bizarre scene involving a frog in a classroom - and a lot, I felt anyway, of black humour. There's a surreal faceoff between one pupil dressed as a rooster, and a group of his rivals as a centipede thing. There's some tragedy with who gets beaten to death. It's all very strange, and to be honest I'd need to watch it again to tune into the pitch of the film. Having said that, I did enjoy it a lot, especially the final rumble, with HJL looking like a double-hard mofo. The cast seem to be having a ball, and it's an infectious joy for the viewer.
Blooded Treasury Fight
I thought this was class. Flash Legs Tan plays a corrupt official with very dubious intentions, and Shaw Bros regular David Chiang takes the role of a cocky convict tagging along on a mission to buy his freedom. There's plenty of twists and turns along the route to a Mill held by a warlord. Within the Mill is hidden a stash of pearls, that even the Warlord can't find, but it's up to Flash Legs and Chiang to infiltrate the mill and take the loot before he finds it.
The fights are aces. There's really high-calibre kicking from Tan, who uses his leg/foot to wrap a noose around one bloke's neck, and in another scene he traps a sword behind his knee joint and wields it as normal, taking out two bad guys in the process.
The ending is a massive brawl in the mill, where the loot is discovery. Identities are revealed, and motives made clear, as it turns into a massive free-for-all, with people being kicked to **** all over the shop. A face is pushed against a grinding stone, a lass is impaled by a massive plank, men leap up scaffolding and, among the chaos, there's really good punch and kick work. Great stuff.
Iron Swallow
Wong Tao stars with Judy Lee in this sombre, downbeat effort. The whole tone of the film is downplayed and muted, and centres around Judy Lee punishing those who killed her father ten years previously. Ting Wa-Chung is the son of one of the old ****s, who have since 'reformed', and his teacher (also a former ****) is the dad of his best mate, Wong Tao.
A mysterious assassin tries to frame Judy after she causes havoc on the old ****s without killing them, and it soon becomes clear who he is working for by the ending, when loyalties are tested. The end fight is pretty great, with inventive camerawork and a good mix of styles. Everything is this film is competent or above, and it was nice to watch something that didn't play out with bravura and fanfare. I liked the action and the performances, everything was clear story-wise, and the traditional-ness of it all was most welcome.
Black Eagle's Blade
In widescreen, with subtitles. Yep, enjoyed it. Great sword fighting throughout, with a mysterious masked figure causing carnage in an unsettled town. Tien Ho plays the lead, as a wandering fighter out to avenge his father's death, who likes to get his leg over. In fact, most people in this film have a bird on their arm at some point. Ho's sister is taken in my a group of beggars, who soon meet an unfortunate end at the hands of the masked man. A bloke with a massive hat is lurking around in the background, and his presence serves to tie up the loose ends in the final scene.
The swordplay is very good, but perhaps lacks the type of 'signature duel' that made something like Sword of Justice so memorable. The masked man has good martial forms, with smooth, precise and acrobatic movements. All of the actors put in a decent show.
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