Snuff Bottle Connection (1977)

Snuff Bottle Connection (1977)
Chinese Title: 神腿鐵扇功
Translation: Iron Leg Fan

Starring: John Liu, Yip Fei-Yang, Hwang Jang Lee, Philip Ko Fei, Roy Horan, Wong Yat-Lung, Tsao Chien, Tyrone Hsu Hsia,
Director: Richard Tung, Lily Lau
Action Director: Yuen Woo-Ping

 

The year 1977 really saw Yuen Woo-Ping’s stock rise. He had spent the past six years toiling on lesser-known Shaw Brothers films like Bruce Lee and I (1976) and The Shadow Boxer (1974), not to mention a dozen or so indie films like Fist of the Double K; The Bloody Fists; and Fists of the Double K. With few exceptions—notably Bruce Lee and I—Yuen Woo-Ping had displayed a knack for martial arts choreography, doing early 70s “basher” fighting about as good as his contemporary Sammo Hung could do it, even if his projects weren’t as successful at the box office. He knew how to portray speed, power, and technique, with the occasional knack for creativity—see some of the swordplay in Heroes of Sung (1971) for an example.

While 1977 started off as business as usual for Sifu Yuen working on varied Shaw Brothers projects—The Criminals, Part III: Arsonists and the moderately successful Deadly Angels. However, his fortunes started to look up early on. The previous year had been good for director Ng See-Yuen and Seasonal Films with the Pan-Asian success of The Secret Rivals. However, Don Wong Tao had a falling out with Ng and ending up going to Taiwan, taking fight choreographer Tommy Lee with him. In need of a new fight choreographer and a fist expert, Ng See-Yuen reached out to Yuen Woo-Ping, who had worked with him on The Bloody Fists and The Mad Killer. Filling in for Don Wong Tao was Tino Wong Cheung, who up until then had mainly worked as an extra and stuntman in numerous Shaw Brothers Films. Together with a returning John Liu and Hwang Jang Lee, they made The Secret Rivals, part 2.

While not a hit in Hong Kong, it did well enough in other territories that more “spiritual” follow-ups were produced that year, once more featuring John Liu and Hwang Jang-Lee in high-kicking roles, with Yuen Woo-Ping in the choreographer’s chair. One of those was The Invincible Armour. The following effort was The Snuff Bottle Connection, which traded Tino Wong Cheung for Yip Fei-Yang. Also, directing duties were handed over to Richard Tung, assistant director of a few Jimmy Wang Yu films like Blood of the Dragon and One-Armed Boxer, and female director Lily Lau. Lily had previous worked as assistant director on both Secret Rivals, Part 2 and The Snuff Bottle Connection. It was Lau’s first directorial gig and she would spend the next few years directing romantic movies in Taiwan before retiring in the early 1980s.

The Snuff Bottle Connection doesn't really make a mystery about who its bad guys are or what they want to do. A voice-over before the opening credits states that during the Qing Dynasty, the Russians were EEVIL and wanted to invade China. Thus, they sent an ambassador to China to deliver a present to the Emperor on his birthday, but the mission was actually a secret mission to get the information necessary for the invasion, to be supplied by traitors in the government. Upon the arrival of the Russians, led by Colonel Tolstoy (Roy Horan, Tower of Death), the Qing officials comment that the Russians want to conquer Manchuria so that they may have a decent port city on the east coast. They decide to keep close watch on the Russians, bringing in a special agent to do so.

Shortly after arriving, a pair of Russian soldiers go to a restaurant to make trouble, because that's what EEVIL Russians do in these films. They end up starting a fight, and successfully beat up any and every Chinese fighter who opposes them. During the brawl, one guy (played by Yuen Shun-Yee) stays at his table, following their movements closely. Later that night, while the two soldiers are being chewed by Colonel Tolstoy (I'll note right here that the Russian "accents" used by the dubbers are pretty funny), the guy at the restaurant tries to listen in on the conversation. He is discovered and tries to fight his way out of the Russians' quarters, but is killed by a contigent of Chinese soldiers working for the traitor, General Shantung (Legendary Super Kicker Hwang Jang Lee, Tiger Over Wall and Hard Bastard).

The other Qing officials, having lost their spy, decide to send another official to keep tabs on the Russians and to ferret out the traitor: Shao Ting Shang (John Liu, Secret Rivals and Fighting Ace). Shao seeks the help of an old friend, a gambler named Kao (Yip Fei-Yang, Instant Kung Fu Man), who's an expert in the throwing dagger (or darts, as the dub states), in order to counter Colonel Tolstoy's pistols should the need arise. They get their opportunity to keep close tabs on the Russians after the aforementioned soldiers start another fight in a gambling den and Kao gets involved. The magistrate (Philip Ko Fei, The Loot and Two for the Road) offers to improve the situation by inviting the Russians to a lion dance demonstration. At the demonstration, Kao and his little kid friend, Xiao (Wong Yat Lung, The Thundering Mantis) go undercover as lion dancers and Xiao steals a snuff bottle belonging to Tolstoy.

The snuff bottle turns out to be a special snuff bottle that was given to certain ministers by the empress. General Shantung had two of them, one of which he gave to the Russians so that he could identify their agent. He sends the magistrate, also a traitor, to deliver some secret maps to Tolstoy, telling him that he must only give the map to whoever has the snuff bottle. Since Tolstoy no longer has the snuff bottle in his possession, the deal can't be done and Kao confronts the magistrate, who's in disguise, and the two duke it out, only to be interrupted by the arrival of some professional killers. The magistrate figures out that Shao and Kao are on to him and reports back to General Shantung. So, Shantung orders the magistrate to take some men and kill our heroes.

Unfortunately for him, his kung fu is no match for that of our heroes, so he uses a rare style, the Snake-Hawk style, against them. Shantung sees the magistrate using this style and is wise enough to guess that the Snake-Hawk style is so rare that Shao and Kao could probably trace it back to the only living grandmaster and figure out who in the government had studied the style, and thus figure out who the traitor is. So, he has the magistrate and the entire Snake-Hawk school murdered...

One thing that I really liked about this movie was the plot. It's an intrigue plot in which we already know who the villains are, so the fun is watching our heroes try to figure it out for themselves. I also found it unique that the film is set in the Qing Dynasty, the dynasty in which the Manchus ruled China, and yet the Qing government as a whole is not the villain of the piece. The main protagonist, Shao Ting Shang, is an agent for the Qing government. The bad guys instead are the Russians and a Qing General, who's in fact a traitor. That really made the film a lot more interesting and probably gave the Caucasians in employ of Seasonal Films something to do. One of the Russian soldiers is played by Robert Kerver of Story of the Dragon, and gets a better showcase for his fighting skills in this film.

Just an observation, but between this film, Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, and Secret Rivals, Seasonal Films seems to be the studio that most embraced the using of the Russians as villains (primary or secondary) in their kung fu films. I like it; it's a nice change of pace from the usual Japanese villains, Manchu "dogs", and rival schools plotlines. I'm not quite sure how much water the whole "Conquer Manchuria so we can have a good port city" plot is, but it seems to make sense within the context of the film and, as I said, it moves away from the usual genre clichés.

There's lots of action in the film, all of which is very well choreographed and indicative of the heights that Yuen Woo-Ping would rise to as an action director in subsequent years. Some of the earlier fights with the Russian soldiers have the same feel of the modern "kickboxing" choreography that we'd see in Hong Kong action films in the following decade. The film has lots of weapons and styles on display, including Southern Shaolin styles, Snake, Southern Eagle (with its three-fingered claw), Tae Kwon Do, Zen Kwun Do (a Tae Kwon Do variant used by John Liu), sabers, spears, assault blades, and even iron fans. The choreography is faster and more brutal than some of the more mannered fighting that Yuen Woo-Ping would put together in his later kung fu comedies.

John Liu kicks like a maniac in this film, and gets to show off some nice hand techniques and weapons techniques, too. It does appear that he was doubled for some of spear fighting his does in one particular fight. Liu’s career has been reappraised over the years and many fans see him as overrated and limited in his kicking skills. Thankfully, Yuen Woo-Ping was versatile enough that he got more mileage out of Liu’s skills than other choreographers did. Conversely, Legendary Superkicker Hwang Jang Lee doesn't do a whole lot of kicking here; Yuen Woo-Ping was one of the few choreographers that saw him as more than just his feet and here he has him doing some very good fighting with the iron fan. Yip Fei-Yang, who would also work with the Liu-Hwang-Yuen threesome in Instant Kung Fu Man, plays the knife-throwing fist master. He actually is a bit more acrobatic than his successors Don Wong and Tino Wong were, and is far more charismatic as a lead than Tino Wong was. He makes a fine complement to his co-stars.

There are a few minor quibbles I must say. While I admire Hwang Jang Lee for his versatility as a fighter, I would've liked to have seen some more of his trademark aerial kicks. Also, the film establishes Roy Horan's Colonel Tolstoy as being a master of the Tiger style, but he only fights for a few seconds before being killed by Yip Fei Yang in the climax. Finally, the film brings up a subplot involving Kao's girlfriend, the daughter of a casino owner, early on, only to drop it after the fight in the casino. Those complaints aside, this is a superior example of the genre and a justified old school classic.