The Magic Blade (1976)

The Magic Blade (1976)
Chinese Title: 天涯明月刀
Translation: Tianya Bright Moon Knife

 

Starring: Ti Lung, Lo Lieh, Ching Li, Tang Ching, Tanny Tien Ni, Lily Li Li-Li, Fan Mei-Shang, Ku Feng, Norman Tsui Siu-Keung
Director: Chor Yuen
Action Director: Tong Gaai, Huang Pei-Chih

 

Shaw Brothers director Chor Yuen started his career behind the camera in 1957 with the obscure martial arts film Bloodshed in the Valley of Love. It starred 50s and 60s heartthrob Patrick Tse, who has racked up 179 acting credits to date. He worked mainly for the Kong Ngee Film Company, which was active during the late 50s and early 60s. After some 14 years in the business as a director, Chor Yuen signed on with the Shaw Brothers, where he became known for his wuxia films. His early Shaw efforts included The Killer and Duel for Gold, the former which was choreographed by a young Yuen Woo-Ping. It was his erotic, wuxia-tinged period piece Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan (1972) that garnered him his biggest following. His most financially-successful film from that period, however, was the drama The House of 72 Tenants, which broke the record set by Bruce Lee’s Way of the Dragon, which in turn had broke the records of Bruce’s own Fist of Fury, which in turn broke the record set by his film The Big Boss.

In 1976, Chor Yuen took his career in a direction that would define his place in the genre among most fans today. He started directing complex wuxia films based on the works of Hong Kong author Gu Long[1]. Many of them starred Ti Lung: according to the Internet Movie Database, Ti Lung made some 14 movies with Chor Yuen from 1976 through 1983. His first effort was Killer Clans, based on the novel Comet, Butterfly and Sword. That movie was eventually remade in 1993 bearing the novel’s title, starring Michelle Yeoh, Donnie Yen, and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai. The Magic Blade was his second adaptation of a Gu Long novel and to many, one of his best.

The film is relatively straightforward compared to other wuxia films of the late 70s and early 80s. Lo Lieh (5 Fingers of Death and Heroes of the Wild) plays a hedonistic swordsman named Yen Nan Fei. The year before, Yen had lost a duel with a powerful swordsman named Fu Hung Hsueh and the two agreed for a rematch a year later…this time, to the death. Fu (played by Ti Lung) shows up at the agreed-upon time and place, the Phoenix Village, and the two start to have it out. They are interrupted by a pair of hired assassins—Earth Evil and Wood Evil--who try to take them out. “Try” is the operating word here. Yen and Fu temporarily set aside their differences to find out why people are trying to kill them.

Another attempt is made on their lives at a local restaurant, this time by cannibalistic killer known as the Devil Grandma (Death Duel’s Teresa Ha Ping). In a desperate attempt to find a place where they can enjoy a meal in peace, Yen Nan Fei and Fu Hung-Hsueh head over to the Mingyue Restaurant, ran by Moon Heart (Tanny Tien Ni, The Association and Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold). They come to conclusion that the assassins were hired by the enigmatic Mr. Yu, one of the most powerful figures in the Martial World. Moon Heart explains that Yu seeks supremacy in the world of jiang hu, and to that end he needs the legendary Peacock Dart weapon. Yen and Fu make a pact to find the Peacock Dart and stop Mr. Yu. Only then will they resume their own petty personal conflict.

Mr. Yu will not be deterred by a couple of a solitary swordsmen, no matter how skilled they may be. He calls upon his top five fighters—Chess Gu (Norman Tsui Siu-Keung, of Shaolin Mantis and Wing Chun); Poetry Tang (Lau Wai-Ling, of Virgins of the Seven Seas); Painter Wu (Fan Mei-Shang, of The Magnificent Butcher and Hitman in the Hand of Buddha); Sword Xiao (Ku Feng); and Yu Chin (Lily Li Li-Li). He also has lots of men on the inside, too. It is not going to be an easy quest for our heroes.

Unlike a lot of wuxia films based on novels, The Magic Blade is not a particularly difficult film to follow. There are a lot of villains in the movie, to be sure. Nonetheless, the main villain’s identity and general motives are never in question, even if we do not actually see him until the final scene. The film goes light on the twists and the main one will probably be obvious to most viewers, too. That said, The Magic Blade is a very busy film with fight scenes popping up every five minutes, each one introducing a new villain. Chor Yuen regular Tong Gaai keeps the fighting fast and fluid, while Chor injects some exploitation film tropes into the proceedings to keep things interesting. Thanks to the freakish Devil Grandma character, we get several references to cannibalism, including a scene of a bunch of people getting stirred in a pot. There is also some nudity and faux-lesbianism, although the angles and editing suggest that the actress bearing her breasts used a body double.

There is usually a point to be made in wuxia films, usually with regards to power and corruption. That seems to be the deal with The Magic Blade, in which one of the heroes eschews fame and power because that will inevitably make him a target for every single low-grade swordslinger looking to make a name for himself. As he points out, when you live that kind of life, you grow old on the dead bodies of others, or you die young, because there is always someone better.

One of the more interesting aspects of the film is the contrast between the two heroes. One of them—Fu Hung-Hsueh—lives a life of relative simplicity. He dresses in simple clothing, including a poncho, which brings to mind Clint Eastwood’s Man With No Name from A Fistful of Dollars and its follow-ups. While his weapon of choice is completely badass (we’ll discuss that in a moment), its general appearance is pretty basic. On the other hand, Yen Nan-Fei is a complete hedonist. He loves the company of pretty women, the ability to drink overpriced wine, and all the pomp that comes with being a great swordsman. Look at his sword: the pommel, hilt and guard are extravagant in the extreme. Everything about Yen Nan-Fei screams excess.

Joining Fu and Yen for the ride is Miss Chiu Yu-Cheng, played by Shaw Brothers starlet Ching Li. One should not confuse Ching Li (Chinese name 井莉) with actress Li Ching (Chinese name 李菁)[2]. Ching Li, the lead actress of The Magic Blade, was a Taiwanese actress who joined the Shaw Brothers in 1967. Ching Li quickly worked her way up the ranks and became a leading actress by the early 1970s, starring in kung fu movies (Duel of Fists); wuxia films (she was a frequent collaborator of Chor Yuen); and dramas (Sex, Love and Hate and Sorrow of the Gentry). Ching Liu passed away in 2017 at the age of 72.

The action is brought to you by Shaw studio regular Tong Gaai and his frequent collaborator, Huang Pei-Chih. Tong Gaai had a penchant for wuxia and a preference for exotic weapons. The title refers to Ti Lung’s weapon, which is a saber (i.e. single edged sword) whose hilt runs perpendicular to the blade. Thus, a blade looks like a tonfa, or a cop’s nightstick. Ti Lung can also twirl it, which makes it good for slicing off limbs and slitting throats from any angle you can imagine. There are other weapons on display, including your more basic straight swords, spears, three-pronged forks, throwing daggers, and darts. But this being a Tong Gaai film, you also get explosives—known as “Thunder Bullets”, razor-sharp pieces of paper with poetry written on them, and a paintbrush that doubles as a chain whip.

The fights are generally very short, but are frequent enough that most viewers will not care all that much. The most memorable fight is probably with the aptly-named Chess Gu, in which he has his men design a life-sized chessboard with powdered chalk, and then has his minions take up strategic positions against our heroes. The penultimate fight has Fu Hung-Hsueh squaring off with several of Yu’s hired killers simultaneously. It is the longest and most complexly-choreographed fight of the film. The movie only disappoints at the climax, when Fu takes on the elusive Mr. Yu (Tang Ping, of Vengeance is a Golden Blade). The latter wields a metal staff shaped like a dragon. The choreography is a little clumsy and slower than the previous fights, probably because the weight of the weapon. It also ends quickly and in a rather anticlimactic fashion.

So much goes on in The Magic Blade that it will be impossible to absorb all of the movie on a single viewing. However, the acting is strong, the action is even stronger, and director Chor Yuen fills each scene with oodles of atmosphere—you often think that you’re watching a wuxia horror movie at times—that it’s a journey that you will not mind making again and again.

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[1] - He occasionally dipped into the works of the equally-popular Jin Yong as well, like with this two-part Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre movies and The Emperor and his Brother.

[2] - Li Ching was a Shanghai-born actress who got her start with the Shaw Brothers in the mid-1960s, appearing in a number of historical dramas before moving on to wuxia films like Rape of the Sword; Vengeance of the Snow Maid; and The New One-Armed Swordsman. By the mid-1970s, she was showing up in numerous sex comedies produced by the Shaws, including Sexy Girls of Denmark; That’s Adultery; and Evil Seducers. She retired from acting in 1979. Sadly, Li Ching passed away in complete solitude in 2018; it was only discovered that she had passed after her neighbors complained of a smell coming from her apartment.