Mask of Vengeance (1980)

Mask of Vengeance (1980)
aka: The Magic Sword; The Great Conspiracy
Chinese Title: 風流殘劍血無痕
Translation: Merry Remnant Sword without a trace of blood

 

Starring: Kao Chiang, Shih Szu, Nora Miao, Roc Tien Peng, Han Yu, Wang Lai, Chin Feng, cameos by Kam Kong, Dorian Tan Tao-Liang, Tsai Hung, Danny Lee, and Chang Yi-Tao (Bruce Lai)
Director: Pao Hsueh-Li
Action Director: Chen Mu-Chuan, Jacky Chen Shao-Lung, Samuel Suen Sau-San, Mao Ching-Shun, Li Long-Yin

Mask of Vengeance is not an easy film to review. The story is pure wuxia in that it feels like a thousand-page novel condensed into 99 minutes. Even in the last 15 minutes or so, new characters are being introduced, plot twists are popping up like rabid prairie dogs on crack, and when the smoke clears, you’re still not sure what exactly the movie was about. I admit I had that feeling when watching Kung Fu Cult Master and Butterfly and Sword, movies that took about three or four viewings for me to understand the story. But in the ensuing decades, I thought I had matured enough that I could decipher a wuxia film on my first try. I was wrong.

The movie begins with dozens of swordsmen (and fighters in general) descending upon a Pai Wah City for a big Knife Competition that the city’s head, a mysterious guy in a mask—in fact, his entire entourage, including the guys at the registration tables, wears masks—is putting on. Among the intended combatants are Tu Yuan-Chu (Kao Chiang, of Dragon Fist and Beauty Escort) and Shu Yu-Wen[1] (Shih Szu, of Heroes of Sung and Supermen Against the Orient), a young lady trying to pass off as a man. Tu Yuan-Chu draws attention after he reveals that his weapon for the contest is a peculiar jade dagger.

Tu Yuan-Chu goes to see the head of Pai Wah City and requests that he end the tournament to avoid a major bloodbath. You see, in addition to a lot of money, one of the rewards for the winner is a treasured martial arts manual about Knife Skills. Tu Yuan-Chu knows that there will inevitably be a bloodbath as the losers will try to jump the winner and steal the manual, and then turn on each other, too. The main mask guy agrees, but on the condition that Tu go seek out his old rival, a powerful martial artist who’s both lame and blind. Tu initially balks, but after losing a duel to the Pai Wah noble-mask-guy, agrees. The latter even gives Tu the manual and declares him the winner before the contest even starts. Tu goes on his way to track down the elusive Blind and Lame Master (who will be played later on by Chang Yi-Tao, of YoungTaosim Fighter and Clones of Bruce Lee).

It doesn’t take very long for different entities in the Martial World to start ambushing Tu. The first is a group of swordsman led by Shaw Brothers veteran Wong Ching (The Men from the Monastery and The Savage 5). Tu is saved by the intervention of two swordswomen, one of whom is Lady Shao (Nora Miao, of Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin and Samurai Death Bells). We never really learn about Lady Shao’s motives for helping Tu, other than that they’re relatively honest. I guess her scabbard would to house his two-edged straight sword. Subsequent attacks on Tu are fended off by Shu Yu-Wen, who is a master of the throwing dart. Tu also makes the acquaintance of a bum who was at the contest. There is also a one-armed swordsman named Mei Hen-Tian (Han Yu, of Ninja in the Deadly Trap) who will play an important in the story.

We do learn that Tu Yuan-Chu is looking for his father, a famed swordsman known as “Chivalry” Tu Lin-Xiao. When Tu notices that his transient friend carries a familiar sword, he asks the latter where he got it. Visiting the locale—a cave on the side of a mountain—Tu finds his Uncle Chi (Kam Kong, of Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin and The Crane Fighters). Uncle Chi informs him that his dad needed to sacrifice himself for the Crippled Party Clan, but that Chi sliced off his own arm in his stead. Other than that, no new clues about Chivalry Tu’s whereabouts.

A visit to the local Buddhist Temple reveals that Chivalry Tu had visited the temple a week before his disappearance ten years before to leave a picture of a girl in the abbot’s hands. Tu then discovers that the picture was later picked up by a member of another clan, who claimed that another man paid him to do it. Tu Yuan-Chu thinks that it might have been Mei Lin-Yen, whom we will discover later on is the Blind and Lame Master. Shu Yu-Wen shows up and reveals that she has been following Tu Yuen-Tu around. She suggests that Mei Lin-Yen’s wife had fallen for Chivalry Tu and given him her picture, which Lame-Blind Guy wanted to get back.

About this point, the movie becomes nearly incomprehensible as the revelations start piling up about people’s real identities. I’ll do my best to spell it out here, although anyone who wants to watch the movie can skip this paragraph. Long story short: Mei Lin-Yen was married to one lady (Wang Lai, of the Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre movies), with whom he had one son: one-armed swordsman Mei Hen-Tian. He had an affair with Chivalry Tu’s wife, and their love child is Tu Yuen-Chu. Obviously, Chivalry Tu didn’t take that offense sitting down, so he became the head of the Crippled Party Clan in Pai Wai City and slaughtered most of the Mei Clan and maimed Lin-Yen, turning him to the Blind and Lame Master. He also raised his wife’s bastard child as his own, only to use him as a pawn to kill the Yuen-Chu’s own biological father. I think that Shu Yu-Wen is actually Chivalry Tu’s biological daughter, although she eventually falls in love with Mei Hen-Tian. Meanwhile, I still don’t know what the deal is with Nora Miao’s character.

If you want to get on my bad side early on, make a movie with Shih Szu and Nora Miao—two of the most beautiful women of the 1970s—, give them top billing and the make them supporting characters in someone else’s movie. Nora Miao fares the worst in that regard: she shows up in one scene during the first act, disappears for the entire second act, and then shows up out of nowhere near the climax. And once again, what exactly is her character’s motivation? Moreover, what was all that nonsense about Uncle Chi about? I’m still trying to figure that out. Maybe something was lost in translation. Or maybe screenwriter Katy Chin (the director’s wife and a scribe of dozens of 70s kung fu movies) should have simplified author Do Ku-Hung’s story just a smidgen more.

Another aspect of the story I didn’t like. The Chinese title refers to the main character’s jade dagger, which he claims has never drawn a single drop of human blood. Nonetheless, despite its small size, the weapon is capable of breaking other swords in half with incredible ease. You’d think with that pedigree, the weapon would definitely come in handy at the climax. I mean, the main villain is so powerful that it takes four characters ganging up on him to finally bring him down. It would have made perfect sense for our hero to finally bust out the jade dagger to cut down the bad guy for the GREATER GOOD. Nope. It feels like the dagger was supposed to be Chekhov’s gun…but simply goes forgotten for the rest of the movie.

Mask of Vengeance boasts no fewer than five action directors. Leading the pack are Taiwanese veterans Chen Mu-Chuan and Jacky Chen Shao-Lung (or Chan Siu-Lung). Chen Mu-Chuan is a well-known name around these parts, best known for his work on cult hits like The Iron Monkey; The Crippled Masters; and the awful Monkey Fist, Floating Snake (which he also starred in). Jacky Chen Shao-Lung was a talented martial artist and choreographer, although his career was fairly uneven (as opposed to Chen Mu-Chuan’s dependable mediocrity). Chen could blow you away with awesome choreography in something like The Fearless Dragons, and then underwhelm you with Tai Chi Shadow Boxing. Assisting them are bunch of veteran stuntmen with few choreographer credits. Samuel Suen did some stuntwork for a few Shaw Brothers movies that Chang Cheh produced in Taiwan (to get around quotas in SE Asian markets), plus did action direction for Night of the Assassins, which I’ll get around to soon. Mao Ching-Sun is better known as Angela Mao’s brother and had small fighting roles in scores of Taiwanese movies. Finally, Li Long-Yin is Lee Yi-Min’s brother and also spent most of his career as an extra, although he choreographed a few movies, including the aforementioned Night of the Assassins.

The choreography is grounded for the most part, despite this being a wuxia film. There are a few Superman flying moments, but those are few and far between. The action is mainly swordplay, which sometimes feels like a 50s Hollywood swashbuckler and sometimes feels more like a Peking Opera dance. There is some hand-to-hand combat at different moments, which is unremarkable in its execution. The film has two superkickers in the cast—Tan Tao-Liang and Chang Yi-Tao—but the former does no kicking and the latter throws a few kicks before running away. Bad use of great talent, people! There are a variety of weapons used, which is welcome. Besides the usual swords and sabers, we have characters who fight with hook swords, snake swords, flutes that double as dart guns, umbrellas, lanterns, and iron rings.

The last twenty minutes or so are pretty insane. You have bomb-throwing assassins, trap doors leading to hidden dungeons, and mind control! Then throw in a cameo from Danny Lee as a masked assassin! Don’t forget a villain with an invincible iron arm technique! High body count? You bet! All of this, not to mention Shih Szu killing dozens with her dart-throwing skills. It’s almost enough to make up for the film’s shortcomings: the hard-to-follow plot, the misuse of two superkickers in the cast, and the bait-and-switch casting of Shaw Brothers starlet Shih Szu and Golden Harvest muse Nora Miao. In the end, however, Mask of Vengeance is just sorta okay.

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[1] - She later re-introduces herself as Xian Wu-Han, although it has no bearing on the story as far as I could tell.