The Invincible Armour
Director: Ng See-yuen
Year: 1977
Rating: 7.5
Dubbed but with a very nice widescreen picture quality up on YouTube.
I will watch anything that is choreographed by Yuen Wo-ping. Yuen had been
around acting in small roles or as a stuntman or extra since the early 1960s
but wasn't able to choreograph his first film till 1971 or direct till after
this film in 1978 with Snake in the Eagle's Shadow starring Jackie Chan.
Of course, he is part of the Yuen Clan so the film business and kung fu was
in his DNA. I really liked the action in this one - nothing fancy or with
weird weapons - just old fashioned well-choreographed fights with a lot of
talent on hand. It is very clean and striking with lots of forms and poses.
I love that stuff. The film may be overly long at 106 minutes but that is
just more time for action because this has a ton of it. They keep popping
up out of nowhere. The director is Ng See-yuen who as a director doesn't
have much of a record but as a producer running Seasonal Corporation it is
pretty terrific - Snake in Eagle's Shadow, Drunken Master, The Butterfly
Murders, We're Going to Eat You, The Twin Dragons and the Once Upon a Time
in China series - 2 through 5.
The plot is built for action. A man framed for murder chases after the man
who did it with many obstacles and killers in his way. Every time he seems
to have captured the murderer, the murderer is helped to get away and the
chase continues. And so does the action. When John Liu Chung-liang first
shows up I assumed he was the villain in the film with his simpy smile and
slightly buck teeth. He looks remarkably like Bill Hader. And I thought the
other fellow was going to be the hero. Well, that shows how much I have to
learn about Taiwanese kung-fu films. Across the ocean from the Shaw Brothers
an entire film industry was being developed in Taiwan around kung-fu. They
were developing their own stars such as John Liu, Polly Shang-kuan, Chia
Ling, Carter Huang, Dorian Tan, Doris Lung, Pai Ying, Hsu Feng, Pearl Chang-ling
and Tien Peng - and directors like Joseph Kuo. There was certainly some cross-over
to Hong Kong and back but not into Shaw for the most part. Someone needs
to write a book about this period. Though their budgets were much smaller
than Shaw leading to barren sets and lots of fights out in the countryside,
there was enormous talent in their films. Much of it out of Opera schools
or lengthy martial arts training. These were the real deals as opposed to
Shaw often taking actors and training them for a year.
Liu is remarkable in this film. Tall and thin - even gawky looking - he had
years of training - some of it under Dorian Tan - and his flexibility and
kicking skills are amazing. He never became a star outside of Taiwan and
only made 20 films there - Secret Rivals I and II being considered the best
I think. I think it was the teeth. Hard to take him as the hero every time
he opens his mouth. I kept seeing Bill Hader. This begins with Hu Lung running
through the capital with men chasing him. He beats them off and this captures
the eye of General Chow (Liu) who invites him to meet the Head of Security.
The Head wants to test out Hu Lung a bit but the whole thing has been a plot
and Hu pulls out a knife and kills the Head and escapes. Hu is played by
Lee Hoi-sang who I didn't recognize with hair. He is a villain in lots of
films in the 1980s but almost always bald.
General Chow is accused of the crime and goes both on the run and after Hu.
A Minister (Hwang Jang-lee) sends his best fighter after him - Sheng
Yu (Tino Wong Chung). Other characters enter into the narrative. Phillip
Kwok plays the teacher of Hu Lung and tries to get to the bottom of the plot.
Both Kwok and Hwang have the white hair, long beard and bushy eyebrow thing
going, so often it was hard to tell who was who. Three men try and
stop Chow at one point - Yuen Shun-yi and our two friends Yuen Biao and Corey
Yuen. I saw both of these two teamed up recently in another Taiwanese film,
Heroes of Shaolin, which I find interesting. Were they unable to get work
in Hong Kong? Did Shaw reject them? The Invincible Armour title refers to
one's body once you have mastered Iron Body which makes you nearly indestructible.
There is only one vulnerable point on your body that allows you to breathe
- but it can be anywhere - maybe that is what Achilles had. I have been working
on my Invincible Armour lately as well - but instead of being like iron,
it is fat - and my only vulnerable spot is everywhere but my stomach. Hell
of a cast really and some fine action. Good ending as well.
