Ray Milland and the Dragon Squad

Ray as Hugh Drummond.

Bulldog Drummond Escapes (1937). In one of his last "B" films, Ray Milland portrays the debonair British detective Captain Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond. The film opens with a tense scene of Drummond piloting his plane to a landing in thick fog. Later that evening, he encounters a young woman--and a dead body--on an isolated country road. After carrying the woman to his car, he goes to examine the corpse--only to watch the rescued damsel drive way in his roadster.

He quickly learns her name is Phyllis Clavering and she appears to be an unwilling prisoner at Greystone Manor. Her "host" at the manor confides to Drummond: "Phyllis is suffering from a persecution complex and believes I killed her brother and am plotting to steal her inheritance." Who's telling the truth? Drummond intends to find out--with some help from his stalwart valet Tenny and chum Algy (who's awaiting the birth of his son).

Bulldog Drummond Escapes is a peppy little mystery that runs a scant 67 minutes. Milland gives a remarkably self-assured performance, though he may be a little too enthusiastic at times. His Drummond owes more to Ronald Colman's portrayal in two earlier films than it does to the literary sleuth. The Captain Drummond from H.C. "Sapper" McNeile's books and plays is described as a big, muscular, rugged man. That sounds more like Ward Bond than Ray Milland and Ronald Colman.

Still, this lively "B" picture--which takes place in a single night--convinced Paramount that Milland was ready for bigger roles. The following year, the studio would cast him alongside Gary Cooper and Robert Preston in Beau Geste. As for the Bulldog Drummond series, John Howard would take over the role for seven more films. John Barrymore co-starred as Inspector Nielson of Scotland Yard.

Jimmy Wang Yu in Dragon Squad.

Dragon Squad (1974). The kung fu craze was still in its peak in the U.S. when Bruce Lee died in 1973. As a result, U.S. distributors sought to create another martial arts superstar and one of their nominees was Jimmy Wang Yu. Ironically, Wang Yu had been a huge star in Asia for years--long before Bruce Lee attained fame.

He directed and starred in Dragon Squad, which is also known by its incredibly bland translated title Four Real Friends. The minimal plot is about a villain that steals gold from a convoy, but lets one of the guards escape. The guard eventually teams up with a prominent landowner, a drunken martial arts teacher, and a con man (Wang Yu) to defeat the bad guys.

So why am I writing about this film? Well, if you're a long-time reader of this blog, you know I have a soft spot for 1970s kung fu cinema. I saw this opus with some chums back in my high school days. It was their introduction to martial arts movies and they talked about it for days. That was literally the last time I saw Dragon Squad until it recently popped up on Amazon Prime (a good print, no less).

It was still entertaining this time around--though it's nowhere nearly as fun as Wang Yu's outrageous Master of the Flying Guillotine (which Quentin Tarantino has made justly famous). Wang Yu loves to film his fights in unusual places and in Dragon Squad, the climatic ballet of kicks and punches takes place in a barn filled with chickens (and subsequently flying feathers).

The man with the fan.

The director-star also has a penchant for creating memorable baddies and, in Dragon Squad, that would be the villain's hired henchman. His trademark is that he unfolds a hand fan and tears it in half whenever he's about to kick someone's butt. It may make no sense, but it's just kinda cool...and it's the one thing I remembered from Dragon Squad for the last 42 years.

All About Wuxia: An Interview with Sark on the Popular Asian Film Genre

Today, we're sharing a corner in the Cafe with Sark, our resident expert on Asian cinema, to chat about Wuxia films.

Cafe:  Sark, let's start at the very beginning. What is a wuxia film?

An example: Zu Warriors from 
the Magic Mountain.

Sark:  Wuxia is a genre of Chinese films. It began in literature, but in movies, as we know them here in the West, it’s typically associated with period action pieces. An easy way to define it is to compare it to martial arts films with such stars as Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan or Michelle Yeoh. While martial arts movies tend to focus on hand-to-hand combat, wuxia most often highlights sword-wielding heroes in a fantastical setting, e.g. flying through the air in battle.

Cafe:  What was your first introduction to the wuxia genre?

Sark:  I can’t recall a specific film that introduced me to the wuxia genre. But I do remember a group of wuxia films that I watched while I was in college, such as Ronny Yu’s The Bride with White Hair (1993) and Ching Siu-Tung’s Swordsman II (1991). I had seen similar movies prior to these, but it was during this time that I grew accustomed to watching characters in the air just as much as on the ground.

Cafe:  Who are some of the most famous wuxia stars?

Wang Yu in Beach of the War Gods.

Sark:  Jimmy Wang Yu starred in many films of the genre, including Beach of the War Gods (1973) and Master of the Flying Guillotine (1976/aka One-Armed Boxer 2), both of which Wang also directed. Ti Lung, though more familiar to American audiences as a star of John Woo’s contemporary bullet ballet, A Better Tomorrow (1986), with Chow Yun Fat, had leading roles in his share of wuxia, perhaps his most famous being Chang Cheh’s King Eagle (1970). It’s hard to watch later wuxia movies and not see Brigitte Lin, who starred in the aforementioned The Bride with White Hair and Swordsman II. She was also in sequels to both of those, The Bride with White Hair 2 and The East is Red (1992/aka Swordsman III), both in 1993, Wong Kar-Wai’s Ashes of Time (1994), and Deadful Melody (1994/the mistranslated English title is generally accepted, though I have seen at least one DVD release as Deadly Melody). She unfortunately retired from movies in 1994. All three of these actors deftly handle roles in wuxia movies. They play the parts with credibility and sincerity, and make it easy to accept the fantasy as pure reality.

Brigitte Lin as The Bride with White Hair.

Cafe:  If I wanted to sample some representative films, what would you recommend?

Cheng Pei-Pei in Come Drink with Me.

Sark:  Wuxia films that I think are significant: 1979’s Last Hurrah for Chivalry (an early film from John Woo); King Hu’s 1966 Come Drink with Me (a prime example of the genre, and the fact that leading lady Cheng Pei-Pei started as a ballet dancer says much about wuxia’s visual style); most films with Brigitte Lin, but definitely The Bride with White Hair, Swordsman II and an earlier one directed by Tsui Hark, 1983’s Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain; and another movie from Ching Siu-Tung, Duel to the Death (1983), with Damian Lau, who, as it happens, also starred in Last Hurrah for Chivalry and Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain.

Cafe:  What is your favorite wuxia film and why?

Swordsman II.

Sark:  My favorite wuxia film is Swordsman II. I think the visual bravura of Ching, who’s also a choreographer, is amazing, often including tracking shots that frame two or more characters clanging swords in lithe, graceful movement. The cast is outstanding; in addition to Lin, there’s Jet Li, Michelle Reis, Rosamund Kwan and Waise Lee (who co-starred with Ti Lung in A Better Tomorrow). The film is even interesting historically: It’s a sequel to a 1990 movie, and though many characters return, nearly everyone was recast – Lin replaced a male actor because she’s playing a man slowly turning himself into a woman.

Blind Vengeance Takes Center Stage in "Master of the Flying Guillotine"

Vengeance! That's what blind kung fu teacher Fu Sing Wu Chi has in mind when he receives news that two of his pupils were killed by a one-armed revoluntionary. Fu Sing Wu Chi promptly blows up his remote cabin in the mountains and sets out--armed with his "flying guillotine"--to kill his adversary.

Liu Ti Lung (Jimmy Wang Yu), the "one-armed boxer," heads a martial arts school where he tries to keep a low profile ("Don't attract attention from government officials," he warns his students). In the same village, a bigwig is hosting a large-scale martial arts tournament. Liu Ti Lung refuses to enter the tournament, but decides that his students could learn from watching the participants.

A tournament participant readies for
her first blow.

After several exciting fighting matches (all to the death--unfortunately for the losers), Fu Sing Wu Chi shows up. He kills the tournament's host and, with the help of some of the fighters, seeks out Liu Ti Lung to gain his vengance.

No plot summary could do justice to Master of the Flying Guillotine, one of the funkiest and most popular films to emerge from the kung fu craze of the 1970s. Released in 1976, the film just missed out on the kung fu fad in America. Over the years, though, American fans have elevated it from cult status to the point where it has been championed by filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino.

Part of the film's appeal comes from the tournament scenes, which pit fighters from different martial arts disciplines against each other. Indeed, Master of the Flying Guillotine is known as the protoype "tournament film," although it wasn't the first of its kind. In fact, director-star Jimmy Wang Yu actually borrowed the concept from his earlier One-Armed Boxer (aka The Chinese Professionals), which--although it didn't feature a tournament per se--boasted a plethora of martial artists from different counties and with different fighting styles.

Fighters perched on poles...with
blades protruding from the ground.

That said, the tournament matches in Master of the Flying Guillotine are superior in every way. Not only are they more imaginative (e.g., two fighters perched on top of poles as they battle each other), but the direction and presentation are more stylish. I even like how a paper fan is ripped in half (with musical accompaniment) when a winner is announcement. And, there's some offbeat humor, too, such as when two fighters kill each other and an official directs the tournament staff to "take the two winners away."

Wang Yu narrowly avoids death
by flying guillotine.

Of course, Master of the Flying Guillotine is more than just a filmed tourament...and that leads us to Fu Sing Wu Chi and his flying guillotine--a unique, lethal, but not very practical weapon. It can be best described as a hat attached to a chain that drops a mesh over the head of its victims There are razor-sharp blades at the bottom of the mesh, so when the chain is pulled tight, the victim is beheaded. Since Fu Sing Wu Chi is blind, he uses his flying guillotine on any one-armed fighter he encounters. This is bad news for a bum at a restaurant who poses as Liu Ti Lung in order to get a free meal!

There are subplots aplenty in Master of the Flying Guillotine, but my favorite involves a female martial artist whose father (the tournament host) is murdered by Fu Sing Wu Chi. A Japanese teacher offers to take care of her and teach her karate. However, she rejects his offer, stating: "All I want to do now to take revenge on that blind man." The Japanese teacher's terse response: "Don't bother...you're not enough."

Wang Yu plots his next move during
the fight in the coffin shop.

The film's only glaring liability is Jimmy Wang Yu. Although his direction is stylish and his choice of settings creative (e.g., a fight in a coffin shop), his acting is uninspired. He simply lacks charisma and, although it's fun to watch his one-armed fighting for awhile, his repetitive movements eventually become boring. Still, there's no denying that--as a director and actor--he was a major influence on the kung fu films of the 1970s.

For anyone interested in martial arts films, Master of the Flying Guillotine is required viewing. For those curious to explore the genre beyond the films of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, this funky, stylish picture is a great place to start.

Back When Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting!

The first love affair between American mainstream moviegoers and the martial arts film genre was a short one, lasting from 1973 to 1975. Ironically, it was a TV series that piqued the curiosity of American audiences and, unknowingly, primed them for big screen battles with crunching fists and crushing feet. That TV show was Kung Fu, of course, which debuted as a made-for-TV movie in 1972 and evolved into a weekly series later that year. Future martial arts superstar Bruce Lee tested for the lead role, but lost the part to David Carradine. The amount of fight footage in the series was actually minimal and often filmed in slow motion.

Hands that glow in 5 Fingers of Death.

In 1973, though, moviegoers got a taste of the real thing when Warner Bros. imported the Shaw Bros. Hong Kong sensation 5 Fingers of Death (known elsewhere in the world as King Boxer or Tian xia di yi qyuan). For martial arts film aficionados, the film still serves as a prototype of some of the genre’s most popular plot devices: conflict between rival martial arts schools and a defeated hero who overcomes his opponent by learning a new fighting technique. For casual moviegoers, though, it was the exciting, tightly-choreographed fight scenes that kept them glued to the screen. But there was one thing missing in 5 Fingers of Death--and that was a charismatic leading man with whom American audiences could identify.

Lee fights a rival school by himself
in The Chinese Connection.

Bruce Lee filled that void nicely with Fists of Fury (aka The Big Boss), which was released the same year. Some filmgoers recognized Lee from his short stint in the 1966-67 superhero TV series The Green Hornet. That introduction didn’t prepare them for Lee’s big screen animal intensity, his stunningly choreographed fight sequences, and his quiet charm. By the time Lee’s second film, The Chinese Connection (aka Fist of Fury), was released that same year, he was an international superstar. His meteoric rise came to a shocking end when he died of unknown causes in 1973. By that time, Lee had completed two more films: the English-language Enter the Dragon (his biggest U.S. hit) and Return of the Dragon (retitled statewide from Way of the Dragon to capitalize on Enter the Dragon).

Wang Fu as the One-Armed Boxer
in Master of the Flying Guillotine.

In the wake of Lee’s death, kung fu cinema struggled to another superstar. The first performer to be marketed as the heir apparent was Wang Yu, renamed Jimmy Wang Yu for English-language audiences. Ironically, Wang Yu had been a huge star in Hong Kong cinema before Bruce Lee in hits like The Chinese Boxer and Golden Swallow. Despite his Asian fame, Wang Yu projected a bland personality and stiff fighting style--especially compared to Lee--and Americans never embraced him. However, he encountered some minor success stateside by directing and starring in two exciting “tournament films”: The Chinese Professionals (aka The One-Armed Boxer) and Master of the Flying Guillotine (aka One-Armed Boxer 2). Both films feature him battling multiple villains, each with a unique fighting style. As for Wang Yu, well, he loses an arm in the first film and still manages to crush his opponents using the “iron fist” technique. The second film expanded the premise and features better fights in better locations. It has since evolved in a cult film with fans like Quentin Tarantino, who used a music clip in Kill Bill.

Angela Mao in Enter the Dragon.

The only other Asian stars to achieve even fleeting fame with Western audiences were Angelo Mao and Sonny Chiba. While Angela Mao lacked the feminine appeal of future Asian action stars like Michelle Yeoh, moviegoers enjoyed watching a young woman beating up men twice her size. She scored three modest hits with Lady Whirlwind, When Taekwondo Strikes, and Hapkido. Their success earned her a small role in Enter the Dragon and even an interview on television’s 60 Minutes. As for Chiba, he achieved notoriety in 1974 when his Japanese import The Street Fighter was the first film to rated X solely for violence.

Other established Asian stars, like David Chiang and Ti Lung, tried to keep the kung fu craze alive in America. And ABC even tried to a launch another TV series with Men of the Dragon, a pilot with Jared Martin that appeared on the ABC Movie of the Week in 1974. But, without Lee, popular interest in the kung fu craze fizzled as quickly as it had begun. It would be almost two decades before U.S. would embrace another martial arts superstar: Jackie Chan.

The Friday Night Late Movie: Jimmy Wang Yu Shows His Kung Fu in "The One-Armed Boxer"

Prior to 1973, Hong Kong martial arts films played only small venues in major U.S. cities with Asian communities. That changed with the release of Five Fingers of Death (aka King Boxer), a typical “chopsocky” flick released in the wake of the popular TV series Kung Fu. If the unexpected success of Five Fingers opened the door to the genre’s widespread appeal, then Bruce Lee’s The Big Boss (aka Fists of Fury) kicked the door down. Fueled by Lee’s skyrocketing popularity, a rash of Kung Fu films found their way to U.S. shores. One of the most memorable was The One-Armed Boxer, released here as The Chinese Professionals (perhaps a belated attempt to capitalize on the success of the Burt Lancaster Western The Professionals).

Writer-director Wang Yu stars as Yu, a martial arts student who beats up some bad guys after a confrontation at a restaurant. The chief baddie, Shao, is thoroughly embarrassed by the ineptitude of his underlings. So, he hires a bunch of mercenaries to take revenge on Yu’s school. The fighters-for-hire, each an expert at a different martial arts discipline, consist of: a fanged karate master, a pair of Thai boxers, a judo expert, a taekwondo fighter, a Yoga teacher, and two Tibetan lamas. The latter two are the most fun. The Yoga teacher walks on his hands and fights with his feet. The lamas can “control their circulation” and inflate their bodies so weapons bounce off them.

Anyway, after a bunch of well-choreographed fights, Yu faces the karate master, who beats him to a pulp—and, shockingly, chops off his right arm! Yu crawls to safety, though, as everyone else at the school is killed. Fortunately, a physican and his attractive daughter find Yu on the roadside and nurse him back to health. The wise old man also tells Yu about a painful procedure that will strengthen his arm so he can take revenge on the mercenaries.

“But first, we will have to kill every nerve in the arm, ”says the old man. “If even one nerve remains, it won’t work.” It does, of course, and you can pretty much guess the rest of the plot.

As a martial artist, Wang Yu lacked the fluid style that made Bruce Lee so much fun to watch. And, in this film anyway, he comes across as a little goofy (his blue-and-white outfit doesn’t help). But he directs with style, making excellent use of unusual settings like a brick factory and a mill. He certainly keeps the pace tight, too, devoting about 80% of the film’s running time to the fight scenes.

The One-Armed Boxer was produced by Golden Harvest, the same company that made Bruce Lee’s Asian movies. Wang Yu tried to establish himself as Lee’s successor, even changing his billing to Jimmy Wang Yu. Alas, the “Kung Fu Craze” was short-lived and Wang Yu lacked the charisma to sustain it.

My sister and I saw The One-Armed Boxer at a local theatre in 1974 and never forgot it. I finally found it on video in the mid-1990s (though the film quality was poor). At the same time, I bought the The One-Armed Boxer 2 (aka The Master of the Flying Guillotine), which also stars Wang Yu. It’s about an elaborate martial arts tournament and also features fighters with different styles. It’s more polished and entertaining than its predecessor and, thanks to Quentino Tarantino and others, has become a well-known cult film. Maybe someday, the original One-Armed Boxer will be rediscovered.