Wan li xiong feng

Released in Taiwan 2/4/71, this Wuxiapian (Martial Cavaliers Movie) was a success in his homeland. The cast is really something: Taiwanese martial queen Shangkuan Lingfung plays the heroine, local big names Tien Peng and Chiang Pin are her allied sworsmen. The trio is after an escaped convict played by the Chinese Jack Palance, actor Miao Tien, who's the boss of a weird gang including fatty Ou Yau Man, a regular in Taiwan actioners. The action is well-staged for that period, but inevitably dated today. Nonetheless the movie keeps a fairytale tone and successuflly portrays the subtle homosexual attraction between male heroes that you can find in Chang Cheh's films (director Hsiung Ting Wu was Cheh's assistant in some movie), in that the swordsman Chiang Pin is strongly related to Tien peng, so when the former dies, the latter renounces to fulfill his love for the heroine, cuz the death of their common friend force them to separate. Even the criminal has a sentimental touch: he escaped the prison to see his dying mother. The ubiquitous Kung-Fu duo Lung Fei-Shan Mao plays two police officers. Chang Yi Kwai, Blakie Ko, Lee Yi Min, Wang Yueng Sheng and many others familiar faces populate the stuntmen territory. The set and photography were top-notch on big screen, as always in the movies produced by the prestigious Lianbang (Union Film). Music by Wang Fu Ling (The Big Boss; The One Armed Boxer).

It opens with men escorting a prisoner in chains. Many other men are lurking in the shadows. The attack and the prisoner escapes. After the credits a group of official looking men report to an old guy. Polly, Tien Peng, and Chiang Pin are also at the house. A brief fight breaks out and the two men flee on horseback. Polly follows. Cut to the escaped man and the gang on horseback in the woods. He is their prisoner now. Polly and Chiang Pin have a long talk that ends in a brief fight.

The fights are not bad considering the choreography and execution, The problem is they all look alike. Sometimes it begins with a long stare-down, followed by both combatants leap and spin, then land and stare each other down again. Otherwise the hero is encircled by dozens of swordsmen. There is a cut to close up and a quick exchange of blows versus a single opponent as the dozens of other fighters bounce around in the background. Some torches were added in one sequence but just as a light effect not as weapons. A few times props were launched on wires and that effect looked realistic. I am not a fan of hokey weapons. Here we had poison darts inside an abacus and a blade hidden inside a fan. No complaints.

My copy is a computer file that plays as wide screen on a HDTV. The dialog and subtitles are both Chinese and I do not speak Chinese. I have not been able to find an English version. I have reason to believe there is a widescreen restored English subtitle copy available but cannot locate it. I am on a mission to watch every martial arts movie made during the golden age from 1967 to 1984. These movies are becoming almost impossible to obtain so I grab any copy I can grab because there may not be another opportunity. Current technology is still not good enough to translate the dialog or subtitles on the fly.

This is just another average martial arts movie of interest to only a hard core fan. I watched it once and doubt I will watch it again.