The Lady Hermit (1971)

The Lady Hermit (1971)
Original Title: 鍾馗娘子
Translation: Lady Zhong Kui

Starring: Cheng Pei-Pei, Shih Szu, Lo Lieh, Fang Mian, Wang Hsieh, Chao Hsiung, Chuan Yuan, Tong Tin-Hei, Lee Siu-Chung, Law Hon
Director: Ho Meng-Hua
Action Director: Leung Siu-Chung

Cheng Pei-Pei is the first modern wuxia heroine. What does that mean? Well, it mainly means that she participated in the first "modern" wuxia film, which was King Hu's landmark Come Drink With Me. One may argue that Chang Cheh's lost film Tiger Boy was the first modern wuxia film, but since it's lost and little is known about it, we'll set it aside for now. The one that made the most impact was Come Drink with Me, which predated The Magnificent Trio by seven months and Trail of the Broken Blade by eleven. Cheng Pei-Pei went on to become one of the biggest box office draws of the late 1960s in Hong Kong, and was doing well in Hong Kong by the time she went into temporary retirement in 1971.

As it goes, the custom in Hong Kong was for women to retire from the spotlight once they got married. Although Cheng was a Shaw Brothers actress, she did make a brief return to the screen after her marriage to make two films for her former employer's rival: Golden Harvest. The films she made for them were Attack of the Kung Fu Girls and Whiplash, which she probably made as a favor to director Lo Wei, who had directed many of her Shaw films.

Cheng Pei-Pei was originally from Shanghai, born to a factory owner and supporter of the Kuomingtang, or Nationalist Government. Cheng came into this world a year after the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937 - 1945) and just as the Chinese Civil War was heating up. It wasn't long before Cheng's father was snatched from his family and sent off to a labor re-education camp in Mongolia. Cheng stayed behind in Shanghai, studying ballet and Chinese dance, even after her mother fled to Hong Kong. Cheng did not go to Hong Kong herself until 1962, where she enrolled in the Shaw Brothers performance arts school--the fact that she spoke Mandarin and that Shaw films were filmed in Mandarin was a boon.

The Lady Hermit was Cheng Pei-Pei's last leading role at the Shaw studio. That would be followed by a two-year break during which she became a mother, followed by the aforementioned stint at Golden Harvest. The film is highly entertaining and an appropriate send-off to the actress, who showed that Cheng was the Matriarch to all ass-kicking women today in film today.

The film opens in the town of Baijang, where a couple of ghostly figures are skulking around the town at night. They enter a random house, which is followed by a bloodcurdling scream and blood splattering on the window.

Jump to the nearby town of Dunyang, where Miss Leng Yunhuang (Cheng Pei-Pei, of Dragon Swamp and Fist Power) is at the market buying vegetables. Her reflexes and impeccable instinct pick up some street performers trying to steal a man's money. Before she can get involved, a swordwoman named Cui Ping (Shih Szu, of Shanghai Lil and the Sun Luck Kid and Night of the Assassins) steps up and fights off the thieves with her whip skills. Cui Ping has arrived in town looking for the Wang Escort Company, which Leng happens to work for as a housekeeper.

Cui is introduced to the owner of the company, Uncle Wang (Fang Mian, of Swift Knight and Exorcising Sword), and informs him that she's looking for the infamous Lady Hermit. When asked why, Cui says that she would like to learn kung fu from this famous fighter and rise in the ranks of the martial world. We the viewer know that the Lady Hermit is Miss Leng, although nobody else seems to know. Cui mentions that there have been rumors that the Lady Hermit is residing at a temple in Baijang. Uncle Wang tells her that she's free to accompany his number one employee, Chang Chun (Lo Lieh, of Heroes of the Wild and Five Fingers of Death), to Baijang on the morrow.

The next day, Chang and Cui are taking the Ming Dynasty equivalent to a stagecoach to the next town, where it becomes clear the latter is infatuated with the former. The problem, however, is that it has already been made clear that Chang has the hots for Miss Leng. In any case, once Cui is in Baijang, it doesn't take long before the first scene in the film starts to make sense. She visits the temple, seeing a large line of townspeople paying money for an amulet--the yellow paper with writing on it. A townsperson explains that there are ghosts loose in the town and that the amulet is for protection. So yes, the temple is actually a racket for extortion money, playing on the locals' superstition. And if anybody refuses to pay, another murder will set the remaining naysayers in line. Worst of all, the patron of the temple is said to be none other than the Lady Hermit herself!

Cui Ping thinks this is fishy, so she resolves to go back to the town that evening and investigate. She does mention this to Miss Leng, who gets nervous about Cui Ping getting involved with other people's affairs. The finds out that the "ghosts" are indeed killers and a huge fight breaks out. She is joined by the Lady Hermit, who helps her fight off an entire gang of killers. Chang Chun shows up and joins Cui Ping as she goes to the temple to find the Lady Hermit--she now knows that Miss Leng and the Lady Hermit are one and the same. Another huge fight breaks out and dozens of false monks, plus the fake Lady Hermit, are slaughtered by the three heroes.

The next day, Cui Ping arrives at the Wang Company to confront Miss Leng, who has quit and left the town. The young swordswoman has a lot of moxie, however. She finds Leng and convinces her to take her own as a student. The two set up shop in an abandoned house and Leng starts teaching Cui the "Flying Tiger" technique. Why that one? You see, the current head of the Martial World is a fellow named Black Demon (Wang Hsieh, of Heads for Sale and The Devil's Mirror). Leng had fought him a few years back, but he injured her with his claws and superior people-throwing skills. Both Leng and Cui want to depose him, although their reasons are different: Leng out of a sense of justice and Cui to further her own ambitions. And all that business at the temple? Just a ruse by Black Demon in order to ferret out the Lady Hermit...

Director Ho Meng-Hua is known just as much for his horror movies as he is for his martial arts films, perhaps even more so. The Flying Guillotine is a great example of a movie that balances sensibilities of both those genres. He does bring some of his horror instincts to this film, especially in the first act, which deals with the "ghosts" that haunt Baijang. The first scene really does feel like the opening to a horror film, even if the explanation is ultimately rational. He also brings a hard edge to the violence, which includes lots of bloody hacking and slashing, but also severed limbs, impalings, and a guy getting his eyes gouged out by chopsticks.

What really struck me about this movie is how much the story seemed to parallel Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Both films are kicked off by the actions of a petulant young girl trying to make her name in the Martial World about which she understands very little. Said girl's actions ultimately results of the death of innocent people. The Shu Lien and Li Mu-Bai roles are gender reversed, with the legendary swordsman being the woman and the Escort Company employee being the man. And yes, there is something of an unrequited love subplot between those two characters, although in this film, it becomes an outright love triangle. And instead of the Jade Fox, you have the Black Demon. But the fact that there is an outstanding grudge between the film's resident swordswoman and the criminal villain is also a similar.

Cheng Pei-Pei puts in a strong performance as the embattled Leng Yushuang, a powerful martial artist who wishes for a life away from the violence of the Martial World, but whose sense of justice prevents her from pursuing that while the Black Demon is still around. She is initially reluctant to take on Cui Ping as a student, but ultimately relents, which ultimately sends all three leads barrelling toward the film's bloody climax. Shih Szu shines in an early role as Cui Ping, a sort of prototype for Zhang Ziyi's Jen in Crouching Tiger. This film also feels like a sort of meeting of generations of martial arts movie heroines, with Cheng Pei-Pei passing the torch to Shih Szu, sort of her "successor" at the Shaw Studios at the time.

The action was staged by Leung Siu-Chung, better known as the father of Bruce Leung Siu-Lung. The fight scenes are exclusively weapons fights, although the characters occasionally throw a kick or two. Swords and sabers dominate the action scenes, although a few extras--look for Cliff Lok as one of Black Demon's top fighters during the attack on the Wang Company--can be seen wielding more exotic weapons like hook swords and golden coin spears.  The last half hour or so is pure martial arts goodness, as both Shih Szu and Cheng Pei-Pei are fighting their way through a virtual army of bandits, albeit in different places, until their paths converge at the villain's hideout. The fighting does feel like an evolution from the swordplay in films like Come Drink with Me and Dragon Inn. Not quite up to the level of Ching Siu-Tung, but a respectable mid-point between Ching and Han Ying-Chieh. On the whole, the choreography is solid and the fight scenes are all entertaining, thanks in part for the actresses' natural charisma.

The Lady Hermit is a highly enjoyable wuxia pian with a lot of action, some good performances, and of course, the Golden Swallow herself: Cheng Pei-Pei.

Night of the Assassins (1981)

Night of the Assassins (1981)
aka: Legend of the Assassinator; The Assassinator; Great Assassin; Stories of the Assassinators
Chinese Title: 刺客列傳
Translation: Assassin Biography

 

Starring: David Chiang, Shih Szu, Danny Lee, Kao Chiang, Wong Ching, Chu Ben-Ke, Wu Chia-Hsiang, Chang Chung-Kui, Chiu Ting, Tsai Hung
Director: Pao Hsueh-Li
Action Directors: Samuel Suen Sau-San, Li Long-Yin, Chang Chung-Kui

 

So we have another Taiwanese wuxia film based on a novel, this time by Sze-Ma. And like the recently-reviewed Mask of Vengeance, the source material was adapted to film by Katy Chin (who actually wrote some classic movies like The Heroes and Delightful Forest) and directed by her husband and partner Pao Hsueh-Li. This movie also has some of the same cast as Mask of Vengeance, including Shih Szu, Danny Lee, Wong Ching, and Kao Chiang. It even brought back two of that film’s action directors, Samuel Suen and Li Long-Yin. Considering the general mediocrity of Mask of Vengeance, I’m happy to report that Night of the Assassins is in many ways a better film.

Night of the Assassins is actually set in the Warring States era (circa 400 B.C.), even though the costumes (especially the military garb) belong to the Song Dynasty. In the kingdom of Chu (or Zhu or Zhou) lives Wu Tai-Shu (Mask of Vengeance’s Kao Chiang), a swordsman whose family was slaughtered by the current Chu king. His brother is killed in front of him by a treacherous Chu general and Wu Tai-Shu goes into hiding. One day, he wakes up with his hair all grey—no explanation is ever given for it—and he uses his new appearance to sneak past the checkpoints into a neighboring kingdom.

This neighboring kingdom—I think they’re called the Wu people—is run by the Duke (Wong Ching), who has run many a military campaign against the neighboring Chu. One of his princes, Kwang (Danny Lee, of Super InfraMan and The Killer), thinks that it is time for the Duke to go and a nicer, less bloodthirsty, guy to take his place. Like himself! Kwang is saved from an assassination attempt by Wu Tai-Shu and they make a pact: if Wu Tai-Shu helps Kwang depose the Duke, he will help Wu kill the Chu king.

Obviously, even if Kwang and Wu were to get past the Duke’s myriad of bodyguards and regular foot soldiers, he himself is a master swordsman. They need a sucker…I mean assassin…to do their dirty work for them. That is where Chuan Chu (David Chiang, of Shaolin Mantis and Vengeance!) comes in. Chuan Chu is a great swordsman who spends most of his time in the company of a courtesan, Yan Yan (Shih Szu). He would be the ideal person to try to kill the Duke without Wu and Kwang needing to sacrifice their own lives. They arrange for the military to arrest Yan Yan on spurious charges. When Chuan Chu inevitably steps in to protect her, he finds himself overpowered by the Duke’s guards. He is rescued by Wu Tai-Shu and Yan Yan is rescued by Prince Kwang. Kwang marries the two and gives them a royal estate to raise a family in exchange for a favor: when the time comes, Chuan Chu will have to kill the Duke.

Some of the politics is a bit murky due to the dubbing, but I eventually was able to put all the pieces in place without having to watch the movie a second time. The story is not especially complex, although the themes certainly are. The Duke is certainly not a standout guy: he orders Kwang’s assassination simply for suggesting that he lower taxes and quit his pointless military campaign against the Chu people…(the more things change, the more they stay the same). Beyond that, he is not portrayed as being aggressively evil, at least not with his subjects. Yeah, they talk about him forcing them to build a new palace while in the middle of a war, but we don’t see it. Does he deserve to be assassinated? The movie doesn’t show enough of his evil deeds to make a truly compelling argument for regicide.

Kwang has the outward appearance of a righteous man and potentially-righteous ruler, even if he is willing to throw another man’s life away in pursuit of his objectives. The ending plays out a bit as expected, although Kwang and Wu ultimately don’t have to pay the consequences of their actions. Nonetheless, the ending implies they are fully aware of the moral costs of their assassination plan, so it may be a hollow victory after all. Chuan Chu’s decision to go along with Kwang’s plan comes with consequences of its own, even if Kwan doesn’t feel them until years later. I have to admit, however, that some of the tragic scenes that occur during the execution of the assassination plot don’t really make any sense…muddled motives and all that.

Beyond that, I would say that the big problem in Katy Chin’s script is that it suffers a little from protagonist toggling. The movie opens with Wu Tai-Shu’s story, namely the murder of his brother (and last-living kinsman) and his desire for revenge against the Chu king. As we draw closer to the attempt on the Duke’s life, Wu Tai-Shu becomes less important and the story becomes more about Chuan Chu and how the assassination plot affects his family. On one level, that makes sense, since Chuan has a family and we as a viewer might sympathize more with the Chuan household than a loner like Wu. Some viewers, however, might ask why the story didn’t just focus on Chuan in the first place and simply treat Wu Tai-Shu as a supporting character.

The fight scenes were arranged by Samuel Suen, Li Long-Yin and Chang Chung-Kui. Chang Chung-Kui was stuntman or extra in more than 150 movies going back to 1971. He has over 20 credits as action director, including a number of adult-oriented action movies in the 1990s. Night of the Assassins was his only old school film. Some might recognize his name on a couple of Yukari Oshima’s lesser films, like Tiger Angels and Angel of Vengeance. Considering the pedigree of these three men, I was surprised at how good the action turned out. We aren’t quite talking about Ching Siu-Tung level of swordplay here, but it’s solid. It is actually better than the action in Samurai Death Bells and Mask of Vengeance, which featured the more seasoned Chen Mu-Chuan in the choreographer’s chair. The swordplay in those movies was either slow or felt too much like a Western swashbuckler.

The sword fighting here is a lot snappier in its execution than those movies. It also has that acrobatic quality that you see in Chinese sword forms without feeling like a synchronized dance routine. It hits that comfortable middle ground in that the choreography is undoubtedly Chinese, but not over-choreographed to the point where it loses all sense of danger. David Chiang fights with his fists, a sword and daggers in his fights and looks surprisingly good in them. Chiang was always hit and miss in his fight scenes, but Suen and company get a solid martial performance out of him. This was the same year he made Return of the Deadly Blade, which also had some very good swordplay from Mr. Chiang. I’ve definitely seen worse from him, that’s for sure. The other actors acquit themselves well, although femme fatale fans will be disappointed to learn that Shih Szu’s role is only a dramatic one.

Of all the movies that Crash Cinema released on DVD in the early 2000s as part of their numerous “collections”, Night of the Assassins is one of the better films they released. It has decent production values, well-choreographed fight scenes, and a great cast. The pace flounders from time to time, but it’s a good movie overall.

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.

Marco Polo (1975)

Marco Polo (1975)
aka: The Four Assassins
Chinese Title: 馬哥波羅
Translation: Marco Polo

Starring: Richard Harrison, Alexander Fu Sheng, Chi Kuan-Chun, Kuo Chi, Shih Szu, Bruce Tong, Lu Ti, Leung Kar-Yan, Gordon Liu Chia-Hui, Johnny Wang Lung-Wei, Li Tong-Chun
Director: Chang Cheh
Action Directors: Hsieh Hsing, Chen Hsin-I

 

Marco Polo is an interesting movie: it is the first film that Chang Cheh after he and trusted action director Lau Kar-Leung parted ways so that the latter could pursue his own career as a director. As such, it marks the first collaboration between Chang and his “second string” of fight choreographers: Hsieh Hsing and Chen Hsin-I. The partnership would last almost two years, until Chang started working with Robert Tai and the Venom Mob troupe.

It also marked the Hong Kong debut of Richard Harrison, an American-born actor best known for his work in Italian cinema. He played Perseus in the peplum film Medusa Against the Son of Hercules and starred in Italian spy and Spaghetti Westerns like Secret Agent Fireball and Dig Your Grave Friend…Sabata’s Coming. Harrison found steady work in Italy, even if he never reached the level of fame that fellow Americans Clint Eastwood, Steve Reeves and Lee Van Cleef did. He got gigs in Italian films of all genres up through the late 70s. After that, he mainly found work in Hong Kong, dressing up a ninja—usually with a headband that read “Ninja”-- under the direction of Godfrey Ho and Joseph Lai in two dozen films produced by IFD Films. Their business model was to take unreleased or unfinished movies, usually from Hong Kong, Taiwan or South Korea, splice in footage of Caucasian actors (and slumming Hong Kong stars) fighting ninja, and then redub it so the disparate stories connected.

Someone looking for true history, or at least a fascinating examination of one of the most well-known explorers of all time, will be advised to look elsewhere. Marco Polo is little more than a typical mid-70s “Shaolin Cycle” film from Chang Cheh, reminiscent of his work the previous year in Five Shaolin Masters and Shaolin Martial Arts. We open with Marco Polo (Harrison) arriving at the Chinese capital, where Kublai Khan (Li Tong-Chun, who played the abbot in Jackie Chan’s Spiritual Kung Fu) dwells. Khan enlists Polo on a three-year expedition to survey the empire and bring him back a report on the local cultures and whatnot. Upon doing so, Marco Polo is promoted to Court Inspector. His job is to track down a network of rebels following a failed assassination attempt on the emperor—one of the killers is played by Carter Wong, of Hap Ki Do and Big Trouble in Little China.

Joining Marco Polo along for the ride are the emperor’s three bodyguards, played by Gordon Liu (Heroes of the East and Fists and Guts), Leung Kar-Yan (Shaolin Martial Arts and My Life is on the Line) and Johnny Wang Lung-Wei (Invincible Shaolin and The Martial Club). They find a few of the rebels, including Carter Wong’s wife, played Shih Szu (Heroes of Sung and The Flying Guillotine 2). Carter and his brother are killed and his wife is taken prisoner. Later, she is rescued by Carter’s sworn brothers: Alexander Fu Sheng (of The Boxer Rebellion), Chi Kuan-Chun (of Shaolin Avengers and Green Jade Statuette), Bruce Tong (of The Shaolin Temple) and finally Kuo Chi (The Five Deadly Venoms and Kid with the Golden Arm), in his film debut. The five hide out at Shih’s father’s house, where our heroes engage in rigorous training in order to prepare them for the eventual stand-off with the Emperor’s army. Marco spends the film watching the bodyguards fight people, and then reporting to the emperor, and then switching sides and watching the heroes fight. He doesn’t actually make any real contribution to the story when it comes right down to it.

I’m sure that most people will point out that last fact as being the biggest flaw of the movie: you made a film about Marco Polo and then failed to have him do anything for the story that couldn’t have been done by the other characters. As some fans have pointed out, Harrison himself joked that the movie should have been named “Marco Polo watches people do kung fu.” There is some brief sexual tension between Harrison and Shih Szu—wanting to get into Shih’s knickers was something that Caucasian men just wanted to do in the 1970s—but it doesn’t go anywhere. Apparently those few, short scenes had to be added at the insistence of others; in Chang Cheh’s vision, Shih Szu’s character would have become a complete non-entity after her introduction.

As it stands, the emphasis of the film is the martial arts. Other than the soldiers wearing Yuan Dynasty armor, there’s nothing here to distinguish the movie from Qing Dynasty-set Shaolin movies that Chang was working on at the time. Most of the second act is made up of training sequences, in which mundane tasks are used to develop powerful kung fu skills. Bruce Tong uses tai chi chuan in order to move heavy rocks. Chi Kuan Chun splits bamboo stalks with his legs to practice the iron vest technique. Fu Sheng fries and grinds beans with his bare hands to develop the jiankang palm technique. Finally, Kuo Chi jumps into pools of manure into order develop “light skills,” a skill he also trains in Invincible Shaolin.

The fighting is quite similar to Chang’s earlier Shaolin films, almost as if Chang himself sat his new action directors down, showed them a reel or two from Five Shaolin Masters, and told them to do the same thing. Meanwhile, Lau Kar-Leung was upping his game and advancing the art of depicting Southern Chinese styles on screen, while Hsieh Hsing and Chen Hsin-I were stuck in 1974. Nonetheless, the two would reach the top of their game the following year with their authentic depiction of choy lee fut in New Shaolin Boxers. The most interesting touch are the villains’ styles: Gordon Liu is a master of the shuangdao, or double saber; Leung Kar-Yan is an iron palm master; and Johnny Wang Lung-Wei plays a wrestling master, so his attacks are more grappling and throw-based. Chi Kuan-Chun and Fu Sheng do their usual hung gar, despite the fact that hung gar as a style wouldn’t exist for another 500 years. I’m disappointed that Bruce Tong, despite his character studying tai chi, doesn’t actually use it to fight; he mainly throws heavy objects at costumed extras like the Hong Kong equivalent of Steve Reeves and Gordon Scott.

Fans of Heroes Two and Men from the Monastery will find a lot to like here, especially when it comes to the action. Nevertheless, in spite of the uncommon subject matter, Marco Polo is business as usual on the story and action fronts. Those wanting real innovation would have to turn to Lau Kar-Leung’s movies instead.

Shanghai Lil and the Sunluck Kid (1973)

Shanghai Lil and the Sunluck Kid (1973)
Aka: The Champion; Karate King; Chivalrous Guest
Chinese Title: 豪客
Translation: Hawker

 

Starring: Shih Szu, Chin Han, Yi Yuan, Lung Fei, Han Su, Chin Tu
Director: Chu-Got Ching-Wan, Yang Ching-Chen
Action Director: Hsieh Hsing

 

I was recently reflecting on my fetish for Asian women who kick major behind and the why's and when's involved. What got me thinking about it was the part of me that rebelled the moment I found out that Maggie Q was going to play Mai Shiranui in the King of Fighters film. Knowing how little emotional investment I have in SNK games, I was rather curious at my own reaction to the news. It led me to think about how long I have enjoyed watching (and playing) Asian female fighting femme fatales. I came to the conclusion that it all probably started with Chun Li in Street Fighter II and gained considerable momentum after Supercop introduced me to Michelle Yeoh.

It was this fetish that, in part, led me to watch this obscure little Shaw Bros films, since one of its main stars is underappreciated screen fighter Shih Szu. Shih Szu is something of a transitional leading lady in Shaw Bros cinema, at least from what I can tell. Her career was at its peak during the early 1970s, kind of the bridge between Cheng Pei Pei and Kara Hui Ying-Hung. She's easy on the eyes, but not the most beautiful of the lot. She's not the best female fighter, either. But there's a bit of moxy in her that's evident here that made me love her fight scenes, despite the fact that they don't hold a candle to what Angela Mao and Polly Shang Kuan Ling Feng were doing at the same time.

The story begins with a kung fu master getting out of jail (and kicking holes in the wall as he's leaving just to show the jailers what he thought of the experience). Even before he reaches town, a gang of men, sent by his brother, attack him and (unsuccessfully) try to kill him. At the same time, Shih Szu barges into the coal mine that the guy's brother runs and tell him to leave his ex-con sibling alone, beating some people up while she's at it. The evil brother has her thrown into the dungeon for her troubles. He then sends more men to tell his brother to get out of town.

The good brother reaches town and finds out that his brother has become something of a bad seed, shutting down their parents' kung fu school and running the town with an iron grip, with the help of some Russians who remain offscreen for the duration of the film. After dispatching of a second welcoming party from his brother, a group of shifty (were there any other kind in the 1970s) Japanese martial artists offer to help him clear the town of his brother. He refuses.

After a couple of more murder attempts from his brother's thugs, including a gang of tae kwon do experts and a strong wrestler, the two brothers meet. The good ex-con brother pleads with his brother to go good, but the latter refuses and threatens to kill Shih Szu if he tries anything funny. Luckily, Shih is freed when one of the miners, a friend of the brothers' parents, sneaks into her room and frees her.

There's another big action scene between the good brother and the evil brother's gang, which is around the 2/3 mark of the film. From that point on, the film becomes a blueprint to Rumble in the Bronx is that a new set of villains is introduced and the whole running conflict between the two brothers is COMPLETELY DISPENSED WITH. In this case, the Japanese show up and kill the evil brother and take over the town, forcing the town's men to slave in the mines for their own profit. The good brother and Shih Szu team up to send those dastardly Japanese back to Nippon...in pieces.

This film is generally classified as a "basher" film, which is a reference to the style of fighting on display. In "Basher" films, traditional technique and fancy moves are often discarded in favor of a more brutal and realistic (i.e. sloppy) style of screen fighting. Jimmy Wang Yu is best known for this type of fighting and a lot of kung fu films made between 1970 and 1975 can be classified as such.

One thing that a lot of basher films have in common is that the Japanese almost always show up as villains of one sort or another. This film is no exception, and the introduction of the Japanese as the supreme bad guys in the third act completely undermines what would've been a slightly deeper than usual chopsockey film.

For fans of female fighting fury, you'll have to wait until the second half to see Shih Szu start unleashing her moves on everybody. She spends most of the first half in captivity, which is a shame. Nonetheless, her fights against the Japanese are really fun, even if her fighting, especially her kicks, are a bit sloppy. It's pretty clear that the filmmakers were trying to film her as if she were the next Angela Mao or something, judging by her fighting style, hair, and clothes. Unfortunately, she lacks Angela's intensity and head-kicking skills.

The rest of the fights are solid by early 1970s standards (average by the standards of anything made after 1976). The hand techniques used by the fighters' are okay, but the kicks are generally low and sloppy. There are some whips, ropes, swords, and knives used for variety. Nonetheless, there's nothing really groundbreaking here.

Oh, and the title? It really has nothing to do with the film itself, but it does guarantee instant curiosity, doesn't it? The other titles are The Champion (pretty generic) and Karate King (which is slightly more accurate, as the title applies to one of the main villains).