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 Or just the realization that your average Chor Yuen wuxia pian was just outdated and things needed to be crazier to stick out in the genre?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.