The Black Tavern

In BLACK TAVERN (1972), Ku Feng plays the pivotal role of Zheng Shoushan, the "Whip Master" and leader of a robbery band that takes over a remote inn, killing the brigands who already run it, to lay in wait for a traveling official who is newly retired and supposedly laden with treasure. In the course of it, he has to fend off numerous other miscreants drawn to the inn for the same purpose and must contend first with a mysterious lone swordsman (Kang Hua) who becomes an ally and then with a mysterious swordswoman (Shih Szu) whose agenda is initially unclear. Ku plays a truly charismatic bad guy here, to the point where we root for him and his gang for much of the film, especially as they kill off assorted other villains. He's pretty ferocious and uses his whip in some creative ways, including a sudden decapitation. Eventually, the official (Yang Chih-Ching) and his party arrive and some surprise defenders emerge and all hell breaks loose. In addition to all the fight scenes, it's fun watching the Whip Master and his crew take on the roles of obsequious inn employees to lull the visiting official and his party, all while switching into lethal force mode when such colorful bandit gangs as "the Three-Headed Cobra" and "the Five Ghosts of Xiang Xi" show up with ill intent. The excitement never lets up.

Also worth noting is the second lead, Kang Hua (aka Li Tung), a tall, dark, intense-looking actor who plays the lone swordsman who appears early and gains the Whip Master's confidence, setting the stage for some later action. He proves quite a capable screen fighter and is given ample opportunity to show what a top-notch swordplay star he could have been had he won more parts like this. (I hadn't heard of him before seeing this, even though I've seen some of the films he's listed in.) Shih Szu is superb in her portion of the film and has an extended duel with Ku Feng in the final 15 minutes. It's quite a grueling battle and she gives as good as she gets and demonstrates why she was considered a successor to Cheng Pei Pei, Shaw's leading female action star in the late 1960s, who had left Shaw Bros. for Golden Harvest around this time. The dialogue even refers to "Lady Hermit," a character Cheng played in the 1971 film THE LADY HERMIT, also reviewed on this site, which co-starred Shih Szu as her student. Shih is evidently playing that character here.

Yet it's Ku Feng who dominates BLACK TAVERN for most of its running time. There are numerous closeups of him where a narrowing of the eyes, an arching of an eyebrow, or a slight smirk convey enough key information to make dialogue completely unnecessary. Granted, the film is essentially an action-oriented variation on King Hu's DRAGON INN (1967) and not a classic Chang Cheh "heroic bloodshed" battlefest, but if you like this kind of film enough to seek out reviews like this one, you won't be disappointed. I must also add that the fight scenes were directed by Simon Hsu, one of Shaw's most inventive action choreographers, and he makes ample use of every space provided by the inn where the bulk of the film takes place and every prop contained therein. He specialized in scenes where multiple combatants engage each other on different planes and in different spaces, sometimes all in the same shot in real time, so there are few shortcuts or cheat shots. And there are lots of fight scenes here, so the cast members and stunt crew were kept pretty busy.

This film begins with several various characters being served food and drinks in a popular tavern somewhere in China. During this time a "wandering monk" (played by Dean Shek) comes in and, while begging for money to buy food, tells a story about a wealthy government official named "Hai Gangfeng" (Yeung Chi-heng) who is traveling in that vicinity and carrying a chest full of money and precious gems with him. This immediately draws the attention of everyone there and, one by one, they each slip out of the tavern as quietly as possible to avoid detection by those who remain. The scene then shifts to another tavern located out in the country which is run by a small family of cannibals. And it's at this tavern that all of the characters from the previous scene begin to filter in--and each one of them is determined to have the treasure being carried by Hai Gangfeng. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this film was a spin-off of sorts to the movie "The Lady Hermit" which was produced a year earlier in 1971. Anyway, as mentioned earlier, this film has a great deal of action which should please those who enjoy martial arts films of this sort. Unfortunately, with few exceptions, most of the actors suffered from a lack of character development and, as a result, they all seem rather shallow and forgettable. But that's just my opinion. In any case, although I don't consider this to be one of the better martial arts films ever made, it still passed the time well enough, and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

It starts at the Black Tavern. Dean Shek as the beggar does a Chinese rap song that foreshadows things to come.

I have written before that I do not like whips in martial arts movies. I have practiced martial arts for over thirty years and no style of martial arts uses a whip. The whip is used in movies because it is relatively harmless to both actors. Now there are ways a whip can really be used but more often than not the fight choreography shows moves that simply look good but in reality do not follow the laws of physics. Despite my complaints, I found myself willing to suspend my disbelief of the whip as a weapon in this movie. I give all the credit to Ku Feng as the Whip Master. The move where he traps the girl against the pillar with the whip was perfect. He probably nailed it on the first take too! The [plot of this movie is unusual for the genre. It is like a mystery at first as character after character enter the story to make the audience wonder who is the good guy or if there even is a good guy. All are not as they seem at first. Ku Feng is rescued by Tung Li at first but he is not at all defenseless.

In the fight choreography one film edit technique was done excellently. For example, one actor stops a kick from the other actor by grabbing the leg. There is a quick cut in the action and next the kicker is sent flying off. This has to look smooth on film or it just looks fake and unbelievable. To get it right a lot has to be done precisely. The kicker is replaced by a stunt man, the wires are attached as needed, and the film starts again to get the effect. There are dozens of details such as the camera angle, lighting, body positioning, depth of focus, and actor movements that all have to fit exactly. It all had to be done on the set as CGI was years away. Everyone involved in getting this on film did an excellent job, fight after fight. The irony is that after all the trouble it takes to get this right the result should look like it was no trouble at all. They got it right, over and over again.

I rate this as one of the ten best martial arts movies of 1972.

As the Shaw library is restored some real treasures are finding the light of day. This one is from a director I never heard of before, Yeh Yung-tsu, but the advertising called his films "distinguished". Now I usually ignore any box advertising but this time I didn't and what a nice surprise awaited.

The films starts at a tavern as a vagrant monk comes in and sings a song. He tells a story about recently meeting a corrupt minister who is traveling with his ill-gotten treasures on a wagon. The inn is full of shady characters who all take an interest in this tale. One lone swordsman goes on the road and encounters the minister and his daughter and daughter's female servant under attack from some of the shady characters just in the tavern. He drives the attackers away and joins the minister on the road. They end up at an inn to spend the night. This is not an ordinary inn as it is run by some very evil criminals who are up to a nasty thing I won't describe here, you'll have to see. The inn keepers have some malevolent plans in store for the minister but it turns out that the minister is really the feared "Devil Whip" in disguise with his evil daughter and servant! Fights between bad guys ensue and the lone swordsman decides to join the Devil Whip in his plan to ambush the real minister when he shows up! But before that can happen all the other bad guys from the tavern show up in succession and have to be dispatched before their primary target shows up. Suddenly a mysterious young woman in white arrives who possibly could beat them all.

I had a lot of fun with this film. More then many other Shaw films recently. The pace is quick, the fights are very well choreographed (if slightly sped up at times) and the story is good. Most of the film takes place in the inn but that doesn't create any problems for the excitement. Every character is distinct and interesting. Yeh Yung-tsu shows a solid directorial style. If a comparison could be made, this film is like a cross between King Hu and Chang Cheh. There are some surprisingly gory scenes but much of the film is light-hearted with a good sense of humor.

Very recommended. I will be looking for other films from this director.

This was the best Shaw Brothers film I've seen in awhile. When Celestial started remastering and releasing the Shaw catalog they pretty much covered the "classics" in the first couple years, so nowadays the releases don't have so much notoriety. Or maybe they just aren't as good...but The Black Tavern bucks a recent trend of good but non-essential releases. This is about as essential as Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan, or Boxer from Shantung, but without the stars, except for a brilliant Ku Feng. Basically the plot revolves around the impending arrival of a box of treasure to the "black tavern" (actually it's never referred to as such) and the various gangs of thieves who plot to ambush it upon its arrival. The cool part of this film is that there is no "shining knight", in fact no good guy at all, for the bulk of the film. Each of the thieves have their own charm and Ku Feng plays the most intriguing (and most dangerous) of them all. Most of the film is about the gangs fighting against each other, allying with one another, and betraying one another.

The thing that adds yet one more star to an already excellent narrative is the above average swordplay. There is a bit of under-cranking, but not too noticeable if you didn't know what to look for. The final fight was absolutely brutal as well. The film is jam-packed with action but it seemed like that last fight lasted 20 minutes or something - great stuff and definitely up there with early Chang Cheh. Anyways if you're tired of revenge-themed "You killed my master/Stole my sword!" wuxia films, this is a nice and highly entertaining change of pace.