2 Capsule Reviews - Cut-and-Paste Ninja Films

Cobra Against Ninja (1987)
Aka: Cobra vs. Ninja
Original Footage: I Came From Nakhon City (ข้ามาจากเมืองนคร)
D: Joseph Lai. Richard Harrison, Stuart Smith, Alan Friss, Paul Branney, Gary Carter, Alfred Pears, Jimmy Bosco, Krung Srivilai, Debra Patan, Alban Raman.

Ugh. Cobra Against Ninja has nothing to do with the Snake Style of martial arts, or even the Sylvester Stallone movie Cobra from the same period. The source material is a 1978 Thai movie called I Came from Nakhon City, starring Thai star Krung Srivilai. I wasn’t able to really ascertain what the source material was supposed to be about based on the footage we see here and the dub it has been given.

There are four Thai soldiers who have been serving at the border (of which country, we never learn). When their time is up, they all go their separate ways. One of them, Kirk, goes to work for a crime gang led by Ringo and his younger brother, Raymond. There is a third boss named Russell. Although they do petty extortion and loan sharking, their main bread-and-butter is sports betting, especially (according to the dub) on ninja duels.

These days, the big name in the ninja duel business is the Gordon, the Red Champion (Robert Harrison). A rival ninja, Cobra (Stuart Smith), wants to defeat Gordon, but has been betting on him against other ninjas in order to up the stakes. Why? So that when he himself challenges Gordon, the odds will be such that if he bets on himself, he’ll be impossibly rich if he wins.

Anyway, another one of the soldiers, Chester (Krung Srivilai), is accused by the gang of stealing a briefcase with important information. Raymond sends some hired goons to fetch the briefcase, but they end up killing Chester’s mother and kidnapping his sister. And another one of the soldiers, David, is working as a cop and gets captured and imprisoned after trying to seduce one of Ringo’s two girlfriends—watch the spectacle of a Thai girl dubbed to sound like she’s from New Jersey. Eventually, the four soldier friends team up to blow up the bad guys while Gordon and Cobra duel in the background.

The success of a Cut-and-Paste film like this can be measured by:

1.      How good are the fights from the original film?
2.      Is the plot of the finished product coherent?
3.      Can you figure out the plot of the original film based on the dub?
4.      Are the ninja scenes delightfully goofy?

The answer to the first three questions is a resounding “No.” I had a very hard time trying to figure out what the story was (both the original film and the finished product), who was who, and just trying to make sense of what was happening in front of me. The entire film is completely nonsensical and the fight scenes are uncoordinated brawls. The added ninja scenes are funny in that they generally involve traditional Chinese weapons—spear, nine-ringed broadsword, hook swords, rattan shields—plus Timothy Alberto’s man-perm is hilarious. I also like how the dubbing refers to Richard Harrison’s opponents as Green Serpent, White Dolphin, and Purple Hawk, but they’re all clad in black. So, there is nothing to recommend Cobra Against Ninja.

Silver Dragon Ninja (1987)
Original Footage: Trap (aka: Cop Killer)
D: Chiang Tao (credited as Don Kong). Paulo Tocha, Pedro Ernyes, Eric Neff, Suen Kwok-Ming, Lau Hok-Nin, Pai Ying, Kenneth Tsang Kong.

In the case of Silver Dragon Ninja, the source material hails from a lesser-known Hong Kong crime thriller titled Trap (later retitled Cop Killer), starring Dragon Inn and A Touch of Zen alumni Pai Ying. The film involves a team of cops, initially led by Alex (Pai Ying), who are trying to bring down a crime boss, Mark Moh (Kenneth Tsang). Mark is initially involved in passport falsification, although he plans on adding arms dealing into his portfolio. When some of his men are busted by the police, he sends his enforcer, Turkey (Lau Hok-Nin), to kill them before they can testify. This leads to a brutal campaign by Alex against Mark, which ultimately leads to him turning in his badge after getting chewed out too much by his superior. The case is handed over to one of Alex’s academy buddies (Wong Yuen-San), who sends a female cop, Jane, to go undercover as Mark’s girlfriend.

Meanwhile, Mark’s goons continue to harass Alex, even though he’s off the force. This leads to an escalation into violence between Alex and Mark’s men, which quickly gets out of hand once the bad guys start targeting Alex’s family, too. This leads Alex to lead a one-man vigilante campaign against the gang While Jane is in Manila discovering just who else in involved in Mark’s dealings. 

Tomas Tang and director Chiang Tao—who worked with both Filmark and IFD after his tenure at the Shaw Brothers—insert new scenes involving ninjas in a manner similar to the films above. In this case, a pair of Interpol agents—Silver Dragon (Paulo Tocha) and Fred (Nigerian martial artist Eric Neff)—are also white ninjas who are bent on stopping the Black Ninja Empire from taking over the world. The Black Ninjas are led by Roger Kimsky (Pedro Ernyes), who also presides over Mark Moh’s gang (as per the dubbing). So, his ninja are always in the background, “observing” the events of the other movie. Eventually, the two white ninjas have to face off with the black ninjas after they “kill” an important character from the other movie. 

Silver Dragon Ninja has the same median quality as [most of these movies]. There are no real differences, aesthetically or stylistically, between this and the IFD films, except maybe that the ninjas here are less “colorful” than their IFD counterparts. The ninja choreography is of the same standard, considering that Chiang Tao lent his services to both studios. The source film appears to be a decent, if unremarkable police thriller, with some shocking and brutal moments in the second half. It does feel like two different movies—three if you count the ninja footage—as it jumps back and forth between Alex’s scuffles with the gang and Jane’s undercover work as the bad guy’s main squeeze. And I’m still trying to make sense of the kangaroo court scene at the end…

The Master Strikes Back (1985)

The Master Strikes Back (1985) 
Chinese Title: 教頭發威
Translation: Instructor's Power

Starring: Ti Lung, Michael Chan Wai-Man, Sibelle Hu, Wong Yu, Fan Siu-Wong, Ku Feng, Phillip Ko Fei, Tony Lou Chun-Ku, Leung Lam-Ling, Lau Siu-Kwan, Lung Tien-Hsiang, Tien Mi, Wong Tin-Lam
Director: Sun Chung
Action Director: Yuen Tak, Tsui Fat, Cheng Ka-Sang

One of the last five Shaw Brothers kung fu/wuxia films, all of which were released in 1985. This one is a sequel to The Kung Fu Instructor is a rather dark film. Actually, the entire exercise goes beyond "dark" and is outright "sadistic" and "unpleasant" for practically its entire running time.

The film is set military outpost city called Phoenix Town, located in Guangxi, presumably on the border with Vietnam (today, that province is considered an autonomous region). Phoenix Town's main economy consists of brothels, which are supported by the soldiers stationed there (the money coming in from outside being their salaries). This has also led to a class of children known as the "Bastards," whose fathers are unknown and whose mothers have long since trying to keep up with whose child is who's. Anyway, their hasn't been a border conflict with Vietnam in some time, so the soldiers spend most of their time carting supplies from one place to another and spending their earnings at the brothels every night.

This is the context in which Tong Tie-Zheng (Ti Lung, of Vengeance! and Inheritor of Kung Fu) is called in from the neighboring Guangdong province to whip the unmotivated soldiers into shape. He arrives accompanied by his son, Xiao Feng (a young Fan Siu-Wong, later of Ip Man and The Death Games), and immediate locks horns with the town's corrupt constable, Captain Jin (Michael Chan Wai-Man, of Broken Oath and Spirits of Bruce Lee). Jin has a stake in the brothels' earnings, so when Instructor Tong cuts off his men's whorehouse privileges, Jin has even more reason to dislike the upright man.

It starts with one of the kids (the son of the magistrate) blaming Xiao Feng for theft, escalates to Jin's men picking a fight with Tie-Zheng at the brothel and blaming him for being a bully, and ultimate climaxes with Captain Jin convincing a visiting eunuch (Tony Lou) that Xiao Feng would make a good candidate for the Eunuch Training Program. It is that last one that ultimately makes Tong Tie-Zheng completely snap.

Michael Chan makes a wonderfully slimy villain, the sort of guy who does not content himself with one act of mischief in order to establish "Who's the boss." Instead, he just keeps on escalating things--as does the script--so that the atrocities and misfortunes get worse and worse until you want to see him die a horrible, bloody death. Captain Jin doesn't quite get that, but his final fate is fitting considering his crimes.

That also makes the film rather hard to watch, because there is almost no respite from all the awful goings-on throughout the running. A young Sibelle Hu, who plays the hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold, gets raped; another prostitute is forced to abort her own baby with a wooden stick and dies from blood loss; and we the viewer are not spared from watching a kid get castrated.

It might have been bearable if the film had had more action, but there are only three fight scenes, two of which are in the last ten minutes. The fights were staged by Yuen Tak (Dragon from Russia; The Lady Assassin), Tsui Fat (Crystal Hunt), and Cheng Ka-Sang (Johnnie To's The Mission) and are pretty good, it's just that there are so few of them. I liked the fight between Ti Lung and the constables in the prostitute's bedchamber, which had some nice wing chun and kicks from Ti Lung. We the viewer needed more of Tie-Zheng going ballistic on the Eunuch and the entire police force, but we don't get that. Several officers are killed offscreen. He beats a few of them with his pole--I wanted to see him go to town on the smug second-in-command. And then we get the pole-versus-sabre fight with Michael Chan, which isn't very long. By the time the credits roll, I felt like I had not gotten the catharsis I'd needed after 80 minutes of non-stop dourness.

2 Capsule Reviews - Late-Period Shaw Films

Secret Service of the Imperial Court (Hong Kong, 1984: Tony Lou)
Chinese Title: 錦衣衛
Translation: Jinyiwei (Embroidered Uniform Guard)

Starring: Leung Kar-Yan, Lau Wing, Nancy Hu Kuan-Chen, Ku Feng, Lo Meng, Lo Lieh, Eric Chan Ga-Kei, Lau Yuk-Pok, Fong Yi-Jan, Phillip Ko Fei
Director: Tony Lou
Action Director: Tony Lou, Tong Gwok-Gei

Late-period Shaw film set in the late Ming Dynasty about the Jinyiwei, or Ming Dynasty secret police. The current emperor is a useless lecher, thanks to the Eunuch Wang Chun (Lau Wing). Wang Chun has cleverly "suppressed" the Emperor's power by keeping the young man supplied with a constant supply of female flesh, allowing him to run the Jinyiwei and eliminate his enemies and the true Ming patriots. The Guard is run by Zhao Wuyi (Ku Feng) and the captain of the guard is his son, Zhao Bufa (Leung Kar-Yan). Zhao Bufa begins to question the necessity of murdering different generals who are faithful to the emperor and, when he begins to spare them, finds himself at odds with the Eunuch, his fellow guardsmen, and even his own family.

Said to be the basis of 14 Blades, this is a much superior movie with a stronger emotional core, even if it gets extremely bleak. I'm guessing that the general sentiment at the Shaw Brothers at the time was that of despondency and desperation, which also showed up in 8 Diagram Pole Fighter. A lot of innocent people die and people are placed in awful situations where their capacity for humanity is stretched to the breaking point. And people are thrown into awful dilemmas, such as "Is justice worth enough to sacrifice an entire family?"

The fights were staged by the director himself (who also choreographed the Bastard Swordsman films) and Tong Gwok-Gei (The Big Sting). The action is mainly swordplay and all of it is well staged. Sun Chien shows up as one Bufa's colleagues and gets to fight Beardy with swords and shuriken. Lo Meng plays Beardy's brother, but don't expect much fighting from him. But yeah, the fights are good, but man, this film is really gory. Expect lots of blood geysers, severed limbs, and even someone getting split in half right down the middle. I'm sure the graphic violence will stick out more than the choreography itself.

New Tales of the Flying Fox (Hong Kong, 1984: Lau Shut-Yue) -
Chinese Title: 新飛狐外傳
Translation: The New Flying Fox Chronicles

Starring: Alex Man, Kara Hui Ying-Hung, Felix Wong, Tai Liang-Chun, Ku Kuan-Chung, Leung Kar-Yan, Lau Yuk-Pok, Michael Tong, Chan Sze-Kai, Chu Tit-Wo, Yuen Qiu
Director: Lau Shut-Yue
Action Director: Law Keung

Another wuxia pian from the latter years of the Shaw Brothers, this one based on the novel The Young Flying Fox, which was also the basis for The Sword of Many Lovers. This year also saw the Shaws producing (or releasing) The Hidden Power of the Dragon Sabre (also based on a Jin Yong novel) and Return of the Bastard Swordsman, based on a novel by Wong Ying. This one is notable in that much of the talent in front of the camera aren't really Shaw veterans (or at least not your usual headliners), nor are the director (his first film--he directed The Young Vagabond the following year) or the action director, Law Keung.

An opening narration introduces us to the two great heroes of the Qing Dynasty: Wu Yi-Dao (Leung Kar-Yan) and Miao Ren-Feng (Alex Man). Both men are not only supreme swordsman, but are also anti-Qing rebels. The Court decides to deal with them by buying out Miao's martial brother, Tian Guan-nung (Ku Kuan-Chung), who is having an affair with Ren-Feng's wife (Chan Sze-Kai). Tian goads the men into having a duel. They fight to a draw and are interrupted by Wu Yi-Dao's wife (Yuen Qiu) going into labor. While Yi-Dao and Ren-Feng are exchanging martial arts pointers--which Yi-Dao's wife draws and places in a book--Guan-nun poisons Ren-Feng's sword, which results in Wu Yi-Dao's demise and his wife committing suicide.

A guy whom Yi-Dao had rescued earlier (Lam Fai-Wong) rescues the baby Wu Fei and takes him into the forest to raise him and lets him learn kung fu from the manual his mom had made. Wu Fei grows up to be played by Felix Wong (the guy Jackie Chan fights at the fish market in Drunken Master II). He meets Guan-nung and Ren-Feng's wife, who are on the lam for being adulterous bad people. Guan-nung tells Wu Fei and Miao Ren-Feng is the bad guy, which leads to all sorts of misunderstandings and conflicts. He also meets a female martial artist named Yuen Ziyi (Kara Hui) who is on a mission to protect all of the regional martial artists from a trap set by the Qings. He also meets the "heiress" of the Poison Clan (or Medicine Clan), Ching Ling-Soo (Tai Liang-Chun), who helps him cure Miao Ren-Feng when he is blinded. Both her and Yuen fall in love with Wu Fei...

The movie movies at a swift pace, is never too convoluted, and the viewer is never far away from the next fight sequence. It does become a tragedy at the end thanks to the characters' visible flaws, although the final sacrifice comes out of nowhere and is so rushed that it'll probably make the viewers say "Huh?" more than "Awwwww!" The fight scenes are all well-staged, although they feel more like an early 1990s wuxia than an early 1980s one. There is a lot of wire-fu in this movie, which is actually staged quite well considering the modest filmography of Law Keung. Expect your average barrage of swords and sabre, plus a contingent of soldiers armed with rope-darts, Kara Hui armed with two-fisted daggers, and a bunch of a Lama monks armed with sharpened rings and monk's spades. The final showdown between the two heroes and the evil Tian Guan-Nung rests on the heroes using an empty-handed approach to fighting that is reminiscent of The Odd Couple.