Director:
Keith Lee Pak-ling
Year: 1984
Rating: 7.5
This
is one of those wonderful messy Shaw Wuxias with multiple swords with their
own names, old men with white beards who are martial arts masters, a mysterious
clan with a secret lair, a young brash hero, a fair maiden and a villain
who wants to prove he is the best swordsman in the world. And revenge of
course. It is filled with action from beginning to the end with only a few
breaks to throw a plot in there. The sword action which is nearly all one-on-one
duels is terrific - fast and furious and as intricate and well-timed as a
Swiss watch. The choreography is high quality with great use of wires, somersaults,
acrobatics and precision. Every fight takes on a different character with
many inventive add-ons. The cast is a long list of well-known Shaw actors
and a bunch of newcomers. Shaw was to close down as a movie production house
in the following year, but they could still put together a fine film - but
perhaps the audience had moved on after fifteen years of wuxia films.
For me though, it is pure pleasure watching the choreography - it feels magical
even after seeing many similar films.
The choreographer may not be as well-known
as others, but Tang Tik-cheung had acted in over a 100 films in small parts
and as an extra - one of those minions who get killed at some point - but
once he moved into choreography, he did some good work - most famous for
Patrick Tam's The Sword along with Ching Siu-tung - also behind Long Road
to Gallantry, Kung Fu Zombie and Swift Sword. I expect most of the credit
has to go to him in this film rather than the director, Keith Lee Pak-ling,
who only directed two other films - the great Centipede Horror and the silly
Vampire Kids with Amy Yip. He had been the assistant director though on some
fine martial arts films - Clan of Amazons, Death Duel and The Sentimental
Swordsman. It is an oddly structured film as it begins with one character
for a while before introducing the hero and then at about the 50-minute mark
it feels like you have entered into a different film with artificial sets
and a fantasy element. Before heading back to the main story and the final
duel that you knew had to be coming.
Qin (Jason Pai Piao) has a hobby like we
all should. Collecting famous swords for his House of 100 Swords. Not a restaurant
- but just his home with an exhibition of all these swords. Of course, to
get these swords he had to kill all the owners - in fair duels. Men loved
their swords back then. Give up my sword! I would rather die and die they
do. His servant Crow (Yuen Wah in one of his bigger roles at Shaw) picks
up the swords from the dead men and places them on the wall with a placard
saying where he killed the man. In the first minute or so of the film we
get to see Jaime Luk, Austin Wai and Yuen Bun die in duels with Qin. But
it is 100-swords - a nice round number and he is only up to 99.
He can't just kill some nobody with an unworthy
sword - it has to be a biggie and he hears about the Xuan Yuan Sword owned
by The Supreme Swordsman (Wang Yong). But they don't call him the Supreme
Swordsman for nothing and he defeats Qin first with a paint brush and then
splits Qin's sword right down the middle. You need to find a better sword,
he advises Qin. Which takes the viewer in a different direction that involves
a sword maker (Ku Feng) and his son (Derek Yee) and another sword, the Cold
Eagle Sword which Feng has been hiding as he has his real identity. It gets more complicated - the secret Black Magic
Clan headed by Ching Miao, three old nutty Masters (Lee Hoi Sang). the cute
daughter (Margaret Lee Din-long), the undead, a test of ability against a
series of foes and finally Yee is ready to face Qin in a lovely long fight.
The Supreme Swordsman is actually barely in the film. It slowly morphs into
Yee's film. A typically overly complicated wuxia but a lot of cool stuff
in this one.
