Immortal Warriors
This 1977 period martial arts film starts
off quite promisingly, but somewhere along the way it begins bogging down
in too much plot. Complaining about there being too much plot may seem like
a shallow thing to say – but there are times when all you want to do is watch
some fairly mindless action – people whacking one another among a flurry
of somersaults and spins. This film actually has a reasonably complex story
that I just wasn’t in the mood for. What I really wanted was plenty of Polly
Shang Kwan showing her wonderful impish humor and her great athletic skills
– and though she looks terrific in her head-dress and battle gear, she didn’t
have nearly enough screen time or enough action scenes to suit me.
There are tragic elements within that should have involved me more than they
did, but they simply left me impatiently waiting for more action. After five
months of being besieged by a rebellious army, the castle of Sung General
Lu Teng is finally overridden. As he sees the end coming near, Lu Teng plans
his death – and that of his family, but the faithful servant, Gua Ah Leh
(Lady Rose in Miracles) offers to replace Lu Teng’s young son with her own
so that the family line will continue to survive.
She has to watch her own son have his head cut off, but in an ironic twist
the commander of the enemy army unknowingly decides to adopt this boy and
keep Gua in his employ. The boy, Wen Lung, thus grows up along with the daughter
of his father's killer, Polly, believing that the Sung’s are his enemy. They
are trained by Lo Lieh (in a white wig) in the martial arts and become quite
proficient by the time they are still young. While still a teenager, Wen
becomes a General and is ordered to attack the Sung’s in the ongoing war.
It’s a bit confusing at first telling who are the good guys and who are the
bad guys – but since the Sung’s wear neat little golden helmets while the
other guys run around with ratty racoon tails hanging down their faces, I
must assume the Sung’s are the ones we are suppose to be rooting for. Style
should count for something. The Sungs learn who Wen really is but can’t get
close to him to tell him the truth. How to do this? Why not have someone
pretend to defect - but how to make it convincing? Ah, of course, cutting
off your arm brings a certain degree of authenticity to the plan.
They finally convince the young man of the truth – and now he must avenge
his family that he never knew against the family that he has come to love.
A thorny issue for a teenager you must admit. Should I ask dad for the keys
to the carriage for a date or should I kill him. Most of the action is swordplay
rather than hand to hand – and not particularly inspired for the most part.
Polly is in a few fights – but nothing that really allows her to display
her talents to their best effect.
My rating for this film: 5.5