Holy Flame of the Martial World (1983)

Holy Flame of the Martial World (1983)
Chinese Title: 武林聖火令
Translation: Martial World Holy Fire Order

Starring: Max Mok, Leanne Lau Suet-Wah, Yung Jing-Jing, Lau Siu-Kwan, Jason Pai Piao, Phillip Kwok, Yeung Ching-Ching, Liu Lai-Ling, Yau Chui-Ling, Candy Wen Xue-Er, Chiang Tao
Director: Tony Lou
Action Director: Phillip Kwok, Yuen Tak

Holy Flame of the Martial World is one of those sorts of films whose origin I question. Was it inspired by the success of Buddha’s Palm from the previous year? Perhaps by the hype around Zu: Warriors of Magic Mountain (despite the fact that the movie flopped in the box office)? Or just the realization that your average Chor Yuen wuxia pian was just outdated and things needed to be crazier to stick out in the genre? This is one of those über-wuxia films that are so over-the-top that they border on xianxia, like Battle Wizard and the Bastard Swordsman films.

The movie starts off in a way that recalls Kung Fu Cult Master (itself an adaptation of Jin Yong’s Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre) with a couple being pursued by the Eight Schools of the Martial World. Why? Because they know the location of the Holy Flame—which turns out to be a pair of super-powerful swords—which all the clans are greedy to get their hands on. Chief among the schools is the females-only Ermei School, led by Chief Tsing Yin (Leanne Lau, of Hidden Power of the Dragon Sabre and The Bastard Swordsman). She has thrown in her lot with the “Monster” Ku Pan-Kuai (Jason Pai Piao, of Shaolin Prince and Hell’s Wind Staff) and they are able to find out where the Yin Flame is hidden. They end up killing the couple, but the sudden arrival of the Phantom (Phillip Kwok, of The Five Deadly Venoms and Flag of Iron) stops them from killing the baby son (although the baby daughter is taken by Tsing Yin).

Flash forward 18 years. The Phantom has brought up the baby boy, Wan Tien-Sau (or Yin Tien-Chu in Mandarin), who grows up to be played by Max Mok (the Once Upon a Time in China sequels). The Phantom teaches him the Phantom Laugh and Devil’s Sword techniques and sends him on a mission to retrieve the Yang half of the Holy Flame. On his way, he saves a young girl, Chuan Ehr (Yung Jing Jing, or Mary Jean Reimer, best known as Mrs. Lau Kar-Leung), and her dad from the Bloodsucking Clan. He also saves the Monster’s student, Tuan Yuan-San (Lau Siu-Kwan, of Hex After Hex and The Plot), from the ghosts that guard the Moon Cave where the Flame is hidden.

After engaging in a pitched battle with razor-sharp Chinese characters—it makes more sense when you watch the film—Wan Tien-Sau is able to acquire both the Yang half of the Holy Flame. On his way back home, he discovers that Chuan Ehr has been kidnapped by the Bloodsucking Clan. So he and Tuan Yuan-San storm the clan’s headquarters, duel with some supernatural fighters who emerge from paintings, and kill its leader, Lam May-Heung (Chiang Tao, of Executioners from Shaolin and Bruce and Dragon Fist). After burying her father, Chuan Ehr agrees to follow Wan Tien-Sau back home. On their way, they come across the students of the Ermei Clan, including Tan Fung (Yeung Ching-Ching, of Treasure Hunters) fighting with Golden Snake Boy (Candy Wen, of Two Champions of Shaolin and Sword Stained with Royal Blood). All of this leads to a scuffle between Wan Tien-Sau and Chief Tsing Yin, which is stopped by Chuan Ehr, who has developed the ability to shoot lasers from her fingers after absorbing the blood of a snake’s bladder…yeah, I’m still scratching my head at that one.

Long story short: Tan Fung is Wan Tien-Sau’s long-lost sister. Phantom teaches Tien-Sau how to wield the Yang half of the Holy Flame while Chief Tsing Yin teaches Tan Fung how to wield the Yin half in hopes of killing both Wan and the Phantom. And the Monster wants the Yang half so he and Chief Tsing Yin can rule the Martial World together.

The story was provided by Siu Sang, which was adapted into a screenplay by director Tony Lou and newcomer Cheung Kwok-Yuen, who also wrote Secret Service of the Imperial Court and the infamous rape-revenge film Body Weapon (1999). Siu Sang is an interesting guy, because he is mainly known as a director and producer. He wrote and directed a couple of dozen wuxia movies during the 1960s and 1970s before moving onto television, where he produced and directed numerous wuxia series, including adaptations of Jin Yong novels, including two adaptations of “Legend of the Condor Heroes” for competing networks and “The Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain” in 1977. The man’s TV résumé is impressive.

I don’t know if Siu Sang wrote a book that became this film, or if he just provided the Shaw Brothers with a story treatment. The film has a lot going on, but it never gets so convoluted as to become hard to know who is who. The good guys are good. The bad guys are bad. The rest of the Eight Schools are background characters played for laughs. There are no real twists in the story. No shifting alliances. The subplot involving the Blood Sucking Clan is a little random, but it doesn’t make the story less coherent. The biggest loose end is who Golden Snake Boy is supposed to be. He/she is played more like a plot device and source of exposition than a real character.

Max Mok would become a respected actor in Hong Kong, even if he never became the next Leslie Cheung (who was getting his start about the same time with Little Dragon Maiden). Yung Jing-Jing is best known for marrying Lau Kar-Leung (after his relationship with Kara Hui Ying-Hung went sour) and staying by his side until his death from cancer in 2013. As it was with most Hong Kong actresses, Yung retired from acting after her marriage and studied law to become a barrister. She is also a devout Buddhist who goes around falling out “false” monks asking for handouts—apparently real Buddhist monks have a system of I.D. so that people know they are legit. Yeung Ching-Ching (who name looks very similar to Yung Ching-Ching) was a real wushu stylist and became one of the only female fight choreographers in the business.

Speaking of fight choreographers, we have a lot of fantasy action sequences staged by Phillip Kwok and Yuen Tak. Yuen Tak was coming into his own as an action director by this point, doing some great work in The Lady Assassin. Phillip Kwok, or Kuo Chi, is best known for as the Lizard Venom and had stayed behind in Hong Kong, even after his comrades Lu Feng and Chiang Sheng had returned to Taiwan. The action here is a mixture of stylish swordplay, over-the-top wire antics, and crazy flying objects and colorful optical effects.

If you like your martial arts grounded and realistic, stay way from this movie. I mean, stay far away from this. Holy Flame of the Martial World is the sort of movie where the “superior martial arts” is not a triple flying side kick, Hwang Jang Lee-style. No, this is the sort of movie where your best techniques will blow a woman’s skin off her body, reducing her to a skeleton. Or where people can shoot green laser lassos and finger beams. Or where you can spin around in the air before kicking a person’s head off. Or where colored swords fire crystal disco balls at their enemies. Yes, people often stop to engage in more traditional swordplay, which is fast and furious and looks well-staged. But that usually happens for several seconds before the characters take to the air and things just get nutty.

In the end, I find this movie to be quite entertaining. It’s not the best wuxia pian, or even the best of the more hyperactive versions of it. But it is overflowing with imagination and Yung Jing Jing is very easy on the eyes…personally, I think Lau Kar-Leung traded up when he married her. And now I must defend myself from those rabid Kara Hui fanboys.

Young Hero of Shaolin (1984)

Young Hero of Shaolin (1984)
Aka: New Young Hero of Shaolin; The Young Hero of Shaolin, Part I
Chinese Title: 新方世玉
Translation: New Fong Sai Yuk

Starring: Xun Feng (as Shut Bo-Wa), Chen Yong-Xia, Du Xiong-Wen, Guo Liang, Zhao Zhi-Gang, Chi Ke-Chuan, Chow Kung-Kin, Wang Shao-Min, Zhang Hua, Li Wang-Hua, Xiao Hong-Fu
Director: Ngai Hoi-Fung, Yang Fan
Action Director: Zhao Chang-jun

Young Hero of Shaolin is the first of a two-part series of Mainland films directed by cinematographer-turned-director Ngai Hoi-Fung, whose career in Hong Kong went all the way back to the 1940s. He is best known for directing a handful of old school kung fu films, including Jackie Chan’s first leading role in Cub Tiger from Kwangtung, not to mention Story of the Drunken Master. Both this film and its sequel covers the life of Chinese folk hero Fong Sai-Yuk, played by Mainland wushu stylist Xun Feng, billed here as Shut Bo-Wa.

The film starts at a Fong’s birth, much to the joy of his parents, Fong Tak (Du Xiong-Wen, of A Loyal Overseas Chinese Family) and female martial artist Miu Chui-Fa (Chen Yong-Xia, of The Magic Beggar and Golden Dart Hero). The celebration of his birth is interrupted by a wicked priest (Sun Zhen-Ming) and his student, Lui Hung (Guo Liang, of Pride’s Deadly Fury and Tai Chi Chun—his character is referred to in the dub as “Raepon” or “Raehon”, which often sounds like “Raekwon”). The priest demands all sorts of money to leave the family alone, but Miu Chui-Fa gets in a fight with him. He is ultimately repelled by Miu’s teacher, the Shaolin nun Wu Mei (Chi Ke-Chuan, of Revenge of Swordsmanship). The defeated monk swears revenge on the baby Fong.

Miu Chui-Fa raises Fong, teaching him the basics of kung fu and bathing his body in special herbs in order to increase his endurance and durability. In his early adulthood, he is attacked by the old monk and injured. Fong’s parents decide to send him to Shaolin to study kung fu in a more structured setting. Although a bit too impish for Shaolin rules at first, he still curries the favor of the Abbot (Chow Kung-Kin, of Ninjas and Dragons) and starts to grow in his kung fu skills.

Some of the senior students (and the abbot’s second-in-command) don’t really like Fong and try to get him in trouble when he helps out a destitute young woman, Xiaohua (Zhang Hua, To Cross the Dadu River), and her ailing grandfather (Xiao Hong-Fu). They accuse him of having a girlfriend, which is strictly against temple rules, but he is exonerated just as he’s about to quit and leave the temple. The senior monk manages to perform a special kung fu demonstration that piques Fong’s interest and convinces him to stay and finish his training. After three years, him and fellow layman disciple Wu Wai-Kin (Zhao Zhi-Gong, of Kung Fu Hero Wang Wu and A Terra-Cotta Warrior—playing the same character Chi Kuan-Chun played in Chang Cheh’s films), are invited to face the Lo Ha Formation in order to graduate from their studies.

Now, one of the cruxes of the Wu Wai-Kin story is that he was never as good as his colleague and was unable to officially pass the Shaolin Exit Exam (this comes up in Shaolin Temple and The Kung Fu Master series). As a result, it is implied he had to sneak out of Shaolin in order to get his revenge on the dye company who killed his father. Fong Sai-Yuk, on the other hand, is more than a match for the formation and is given an honorable release from the temple.

From there, Fong Sai-Yuk’s personal journey will bring him back to Lui Hung, aka Tiger Lu, who is now the Captain of the Guard in another town and is running crooked martial arts tournament.

Young Hero of Shaolin (Part I) is a rather episodic kung fu film, hitting various parts of the Fong Sai-Yuk legend, although often failing to bring it all into a single cohesive narrative. Certain events of Fong’s life, like his duel with Li Bashan (Chui Ngai, of Out of Danger and Murky Shadows Over the Gorges) atop a series of wooden poles, are included, but feel divorced from everything else happening around it. Even after it is revealed that Li Bashan is Tiger Lu’s father-in-law, it doesn’t link that detail to the previous duel on the poles.

The first hour of the film focuses on his early life and experiences at Shaolin. Sadly, the training sequences aren’t very detailed, with a few scenes consisting of montages of different monks (and later Fong Sai-Yuk) performing all sorts of open-handed and weapons forms, but with little of the gradual build up from “undisciplined scamp” into “kung fu dynamo.” This is especially disappointing after he gets a sample of the advanced Shaolin techniques from his monk friends and decides to stay at the temple. I wanted to see him training in those moves, but alas, the film didn’t showcase any of that—it just skips to the Lo Han Formation test.

The fighting doesn’t really kick in until the hour mark or so, beginning with Lo Han Formation sequence. Fong Sai-Yuk and Wu Wai-King take on a contingent of Shaolin monks—about 80 or so—who take on the formation the Swastika (the Buddhist variation, not the German one). The formation creates “corridors” of monks that the heroes have to navigate, getting attacked on all sides. This sequence is frequently filmed from high overhead shots, which allows us to see all the monks, presumably played by entire schools of wushu students, running around in perfect synch. Logistically, it is an impressive scene.

The next fight is the duel atop the poles with Li Bashan. The fight is well-shot, although a lot of angles from the closer shots make me wonder if they had two sets of poles--a taller set and a lower one—on which to film. The choreography is pretty decent, considering the balance necessary for the actors to maintain (even on a lower set of poles), but it admittedly a bit slow at times and noticeably undercranked at times.

The last 20 minutes or so of the film revolve around a kung fu tournament thrown by Tiger Lu (or Raepon, depending on the dub). The early part of the tournament features different fighters using a variety of styles, including one guy who sticks out using Monkey Fist kung fu. The big disappointment of the set piece is when Fong Sai-Yuk throws down with the old priest who had injured him years before: Fong knocks him off the platform in two moves.

The emphasis of the finale is on Fong Sai-Yuk’s two duels with Tiger Lu. In their first showdown, leading man Xun Feng uses the Yingquan (Eagle Fist) and Southern Eagle Claw, especially the former. Meanwhile, antagonist Guo Liang uses both Bagua and Praying Mantis. There is a interruption in the fight, which allows Fong to regroup and learn a new technique from Wu Mei, thus preparing him for the second and final duel with Tiger Lu, which is a bit more drag-out brutal in its presentation. The choreography is attributed to Mainland Wushu Champion Zhao Chang-Jun, best known for his appearances in The Undaunted Wudang and Blade of Fury. The fights are generally solid by Mainland action direction standards, although not as good as those movies that had Hong Kong choreographers.

Overall, Young Hero of Shaolin is a decent, but uneven effort. The narrative of its sequel, Young Hero of Shaolin (Part II), is a bit more focused and enjoys better overall fight action. This one does have the beautiful Mainland Chinese scenery expected of these wushu movies and a solid second half. Worth a view to genre fans, but I prefer Part II.

My Rebellious Son (1982)

My Rebellious Son (1982)
aka: Raging Tiger
Chinese Title: 小子有種
Translation: You Have Guts, Kid!

Starring: Alexander Fu Sheng, Ku Feng, Tang Ching, Johnny Wang Lung-Wei, Cecilia Wong Hang-Sau, Ai Fei, Michael Chan Wai-Man, Tin Ching, Walter Tso Tat-Wah, Yuen Wah, Ng Hong-Sang, Wong Wai-Tong, Lee Fat-Yuen, To Wai-Wo, Kong Chuen
Director: Sun Chung
Action Director: Tong Gai, Huang Pei-Chih

My Rebellious Son was directed by Sun Chung, the man behind one of the all-time classics: The Avenging Eagle. He has a couple of other important films under his belt, like The Deadly Breaking Sword and To Kill a Mastermind. Unlike Chang Cheh and Lau Kar-Leung (and Chor Yuen after 1976), Sun Chung never allowed himself to be completely pigeon-holed into making just kung fu and/or wuxia films. When he did kung fu, he did it well…quite well…extremely well at times. But he also dabbled in true crime (Homicides– The Criminals, Part II); erotica (Dreams of Eroticism); and horror (Revenge of the Corpse). Heck, his other 1982 film, Human Lanterns was a mixture of horror and wuxia. My Rebellious Son ended up being his penultimate Shaw Brothers film, with him coming back to the studio for the low-budget follow-up to his own The Kung-Fu Instructor: The Master Strikes Back.

This movie revolves around a father-son pair of bone-setters (or physicians, for all practical purposes): Chang Tak-Tai (Ku Feng, of Dynamo and Bruce and the Iron Finger) and Chang Siu-Tai (Alexander Fu Sheng, of Heroes Two and Five Shaolin Masters). The art of bone-setting has long been a tradition of the Chang family and the general cycle is for dad to practice until he reaches old age, and then retire and enjoy life while his son takes up the mantle. The problem is that Tak-Tai has reached old age (he was 52 here, but he was a convincing old man 11 years prior, to be honest) and is still a spry, energetic man. That means that he is still running the family clinic while his son is still just an assistant.

Tak-Tai is also a very demanding man, constantly brow-beating his son for every little transgression. Even when Siu-Tai is late because he’s helping a Westernized Chinese girl, Judy Shum (Cecelia Wong, of Shaolin Mantis and Ol’ Dirty & the Bastard), his dad’s reaction is to berate him. So, there Siu-Tai loves and respects his dad, but often wants to put his dad into compromising situations in order to prove that he has what it takes.

For example, those dastardly foreigners and their Westernized Chinese sycophants have decided to prove to the locals that Western boxing, wrestling, and fencing is superior to Chinese kung fu. They manipulate the school run by Master Jiang (Walter Tso, of My Young Auntie) into participating in an exhibition match with a big bruiser (Dragon Force’s Randy Channell). Siu-Tai gives dad an extra dose of anesthetic in his tea in order to make his dad pass out and step in, accepting the duel on behalf of the Jiang school.

The main conflict involves the foreigners wanting to steal a gold statute of the Goddess of Mercy from the local temple to give to one of the rich Englishman. The Englishman is supported by local Western Athletics Gym, run by the rich official/brown noser, Mr. Tang (Tang Ching, of Wrath of the Sword and The Bloody Fight). His son, Robert (Johnny Wang Lung-Wei, of Martial Club); Robert’s friend (Lam Fai-Wong), and the archetypical interpreter, Mr. Chun (Tin Chung), act as the enforcers for Chairman Tang and they are determined to steal the statue. But Master Chang is part of the “Buddha Protection Squad” and is always around to stand up for the villagers’ rights to worship the statue.

Robert and Mr. Chun decide to bring in a bunch of Japanese kendo masters, led by Yamaguchi (Michael Chan, playing a Japanese fighter like he did that same year in Five Element Ninjas). When Chang Siu-Tai tries to steal the statue himself in an effort to embarrass his dad and take his place, the Japanese fighters (dressed as ninjas) catch this and end up stealing it themselves. Will the Chang duo be able to recover the statue before it goes the way of so many other artifacts that fell into the hands of the British?

I found My Rebellious Son to be a fascinating movie. I had watched My Young Auntie just a week earlier and this film often feels like a gender inversion of that movie. Instead of the bumpkin girl and the Western-educated boy her age getting into hijinks, one of the subplots involves Judy Shum falling for Chang Siu-Tai after he gives her medical attention when she falls from a horse. The thing is, her Western ways are a mystery to him, so her actively seeking him out is practically an affront to his more traditional view of courtship. It does culminate in a kung fu dance sequence, made a year before a similar one was staged in The Champions and 14 years before Wu Jing mixed wushu and the Tango in Tai Chi II.

But more than that, this film completely felt like a partial sequel to Jackie Chan’s Drunken Master. Moreso, it feels like an initial script for Drunken Master II, which came out 12 years later. Knowing that both Wong Kei-Ying and Wong Fei-Hung were herbalists/healers, it’s hard not to see that in Chang father-son duo. And you see the seemingly impossible task of the son trying to please his father, but his happy-go-lucky personality getting in the way at every turn. Add to that an external conflict of an Englishman trying to steal cultural artifacts—specifically a golden statue here—with the help of Western-educated and dressed Chinese toadies and it feels extremely similar to DM2. To be perfectly honest, I now consider My Rebellious Son to be Drunken Master Version 0.1. It would make for a fascinating experience to watch Drunken Master; this film; and then Drunken Master II in rapid succession.

The action scenes were staged by Tong Gai and his brother, Huang Pei-Chih. Those two had worked extensively with Sun Chung, especially once Sun had started focusing on martial arts movies in the second half of the 1970s. The fights are pretty good. The fight between Fu Sheng and Randy Channell is a nice mix of kung fu and boxing, not too dissimilar from the fights in Jet Li’s Born to Defence and Ip Man 2. There is a real good fight halfway through when a bunch of thugs attack the two Chang’s at their shop: kung fu, weapons (including the three-section staff), and zaniness is on display during this lengthy sequence. That is topped by prolonged fight between Fu Sheng and the Japanese masters (who include Yuen Wah), who ambush him with their katana blades. There is some great choreography in this scene.

The finale is a bit of a disappointment, although it feels like the inspiration for the bookending sequences of Jet Li’s Fearless. Fu Sheng must face with the foreign fighters in a succession of fights. It starts with Wang Lung-Wei’s Robert, using a more modern kickboxing style (which would soon become the style of the time). It moves onto John Ladalski (Inheritor of Kung Fu and Bloodfight), which fight is played for laughs. The next fight is with the Western fencer (Mimmo Gasbarri, of Ninja in USA and The Super Ninja) has Fu Sheng matching him with the jian, or two-edged straight sword. That is very much a Fearless thing. The same goes for the final fight, which pits Fu Sheng against the sword-wielding Yamaguchi, which also feels like Fearless. I really liked the choreography in these sequences (except for the John Ladalski segment), but since this set piece starts 10 minutes before the film is to end, each individual fight feels very short by genre standards.

I wouldn’t say My Rebellious Son is a great movie, but it feels like an inspiration for so many movies that came later—Drunken Master II; Fearless; Tai Chi 2; etc—and it does a good job on every aspect (fight direction, characters, etc.) that is should be watched by all fans.