Dao jian

What a wonderful surprise to watch this movie. I came across it by accident and as a fan of the genre I gave it a chance though I knew nothing of it in advance.

I enjoyed it thoroughly and it ended with many questions. Why is this movie not a martial arts movie classic? Why was a sequel never made in 1968? Why was this movie never remade? It is that good.

Let me qualify that. First you have to be a fan of this genre. Second you have to look at the date it was filmed. Putting that into perspective I rate it 8 out of 10. Reasons for that high rating include: real martial arts. Though not true martial artists the fight choreographer actually taught the actors how to do real kung fu moves. Also the fan is used as a weapon. The fan was later picked up and used as a weapon and comedy prop by Gordon Liu and Jackie Chan and others. Is this not the first use? Finally we have the girls kick ass aspect of the movie. Pei Pei Ching gets a lot of credit for leading that type of action but that's another story. I'll just say this movie is an excellent early example of that style.

To conclude I consider this movie mandatory for all fans of the genre.