Blood of the Dragon (1971)

Blood of the Dragon (1971)
aka: Blood of the Ninja; The Desperate Chase
Chinese Title: 追命槍
Translation: Chaser

Cast: Jimmy Wang Yu, Lisa Chiao Chiao, Yang Yang, You Long, Miao Tian, Lung Fei, Yi Yuan
Director: Kao Pao-Shu
Action Director: Chang Yi-Kuai

Jimmy Wang Yu was nothing if not prolific, especially in the early 1970s. After revolutionizing the genre with The Chinese Boxer at the tail-end of 1970, he showed up in six more wuxia films before that film completed its one year anniversary, at about which time he released his seventh film that year, Blood of the Dragon. Despite what was certainly a hurried scheduled and a limited budget—I’m sure most of the money in this Taiwanese production went to the costumes and to Jimmy’s salary—the end result is surprisingly accomplished and shows a strong evolution in weapons choreography from The Heroic Ones, made the previous year.

The film is set in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368 AD), when the Mongols, led by Kublai Khan, took over China and subjected it to foreign rule for the better part of a century. There’s a revolutionary movement going on, and a couple (Lei Jun and Chiang Ching-Hsia) is transporting an important document to Prince Ma Tang (Yang Yang, of The Legend of the Mother Goddess and The Chinese Amazons), an ethnic Chinese nobleman who is destined to lead a revolution and reclaim China for the Chinese. Man and wife are murdered by Chinese traitors, but not before the husband escapes to the nearest town and leaves the document with an orphan boy.

A powerful martial artist, Lung Tai (Jimmy Wang Yu), takes the boy under his wing and escorts him to Ma Tang’s palace. Before the kid can give the Prince the message, a fight breaks out between Lung Tai and Ma Tang over an argument about a duel Lung had had with Ma’s father years earlier. An injured Lung flees the palace and hides at the inn where the orphan boy is taken care of by its owner, Miss Yan (Lisa Chiao Chiao, of Coolie Killer and Bronze Head and Steel Arm). Meanwhile, a contingent of Mongol soldiers under the command of the Premier (Mao Tian) and “The Red Wolf” General Tai (Yi Yuan, of Furious Slaughter and Unparalleled Judo Knife) is gathering in front of the inn. Will Lung Tai be able to get the message over to the Prince before he succumbs to his wound?

The story is interesting enough to sustain during most of the lulls between the fight scenes, and relative to the couple of thousand kung fu movies produced over the past five decades, the Yuan Dynasty is a setting not used all that often. The costume design is also pretty good, with the soldiers wearing different armor than what we’d see in countless films set in the Tang, Song and Ming Dynasties.

The action was choreographed by Chang Yi-Kuai, whose career wasn’t particularly distinguished. He had more than a hundred credits as an actor, mainly in Taiwanese films, and usually in small roles as tournament fighters or as soldiers. He only worked on a handful of films as an action director, most of which are little-known Taiwanese films like The Boxers and The Death Player. His most distinguished film was Dual Flying Kicks, which allowed him to work with superkicker Dorian Tan Tao-Liang, albeit on one of his lesser films. That said, his work is surprisingly accomplished here. Ninety-eight percent of the action is weapons based, with Jimmy Wang Yu’s character wielding a spear in his fights. But Jimmy had about five years of experience in wuxia films by this point, so he was far more convincing with a weapon than he was with his fists. The choreography is also a lot faster and more complex than genre stalwarts Tong Gaai and Lau Kar-Leung had provided for The Heroic Ones, which is appreciated.

Most of the other fighters wield your basic dao, or saber, which has always been a traditional weapon for Chinese foot soldiers, independent of the dynasty. But Chang keeps things interesting by giving some of the other fighters more “exotic” weaponry. For example, one Chinese traitor, played Taiwanese mainstay Lung Fei, wields a spiked meteor hammer, which he swings like a European ball-and-chain flail. Miao Tian wields a two-handed straight sword, while Ko Yu-Min, as the killer “Gold Leopard”, fights with a three-section staff. During the big finale, Lung Tai and Prince Ma Tang take on a small army around the inn. Several dozen soldiers do the dance of death before Lung Tai faces off with General Tai. The latter wields a particularly peculiar weapon, which is the whip-sword. It’s a three-edged sword that can break into pieces, secured by a wire running through the middle of the blade. Once the sword “breaks,” the user can swing it like a whip. It’s the basis for the weapon the character Ivy uses in the popular Soul Caliber series of fighting games. For a film made in 1971, both the choreography and imagination on display is enough that I can’t help but wonder why Chang Yi-Kuai never went onto greater things.