This is a
bit of a throwaway film for the Shaw Brothers - it comes in at a paltry 76-minutes
and is directed by the fairly inexperienced Chang Tseng-chai who had only
made one film for Shaw and was only to direct five more less-known films
before moving on. The plot too is as slim as a model on a water diet. For
a film titled The Casino, there is hardly any gambling and it is more of
an anti-gambling film than one of those fun gambling films that Hong Kong
was to become famous for. It does though have a very solid cast of Shaw actors
beginning with Yueh Hua as the main male protagonist, a bunch of Shaw character
actors and the female lead is Lily Ho who may have been the most popular
Shaw actress at the time and was to make the classic Intimate Confessions
of a Chinese Courtesan in this same year. But of most interest to me was
the inclusion of Sek Kin, one of Hong Kong's greatest cinematic villains
of all time. And that is no exaggeration.
It is surprising coming across Sek Kin -
as a villain of course - in a Shaw Brother's film. Beginning in 1940
as a Japanese spy, Sek Kin was to perform in over 500 hundred films in the
Cantonese film industry for about 30-years. Nearly always as the sly smiling,
villainous laughing bad guy. He had actually had martial arts training as
a youngster in China, then getting into Chinese Opera before moving to Hong
Kong during the Sino-Japanese War as an actor. Needless to say, the Japanese
invasion of Hong Kong put a end to his film career till 1947. He was a very
familiar and loved face appearing in practically everything - lots of sword
films and many of the Wong Fei-hung films. But by 1972, the Cantonese film
industry had come to an end temporarily and so he moved over to the Mandarin
film industry - first in a few Golden Harvest films - The Comet Strikes and
The Hurricane - two Shaw Brother's films - The Casino and The Fugitive -
before being cast in perhaps his most famous film, Enter the Dragon - as
what else - the villain. Once Cantonese films returned, he was to appear
in a many of those before finally retiring in 1995 with 568 acting credits.
He is only one of a number of bad guys in this film, but he gets his time
in and has a decent fight.
This is an action film with a finale that
is very bloody. The first scene hints at that. Wu Ma is having a bad night
at the tables - losing time after time in the game of dice where you bet
high or low. He tries to put down a bet without the necessary funds and they
cut off his fingers. He won't be coming back. The casino is owned by Miss
Cui (Lily Ho) who has inherited it from her father. She runs a clean game
- other than those fingers left on the table - and takes no nonsense. When
a stranger shows up and wins time after time by pulling a Zatoichi and listening
to the dice in the cup - she doesn't try and cheat him and pays him off.
What do you really want she asks. You, he answers. Which starts the first
fight in the film as her men attack him. He shows his prowess by beating
them off and then throwing coins around a man standing against the wall.
She smiles and does the same with darts. Clearly, they are made for each
other and in fact they are. He is Mr. Luo (Yueh Hua) and they were betrothed
to one another as children. I would be for arranged marriages if Lily Ho
was my promised. They quickly fall deeply in love and get married. Happy
ending, you might ask. Of course not.
Though Luo is an expert gambler, he hates
gambling, thinks it destroys people and he wants to close it down in the
town and to expose cheats. That is where Sek Kin comes in. He is a dice cheat
and swears revenge when exposed. Others such as the police are not happy
with Luo either as he is cutting into their corruption money. A number of
fights follow. I had been expecting Miss Cui after that display of darts
to be in the middle of the action, but she is sort of shunted aside except
for one fight. But it is the final fight when Luo takes on everybody that
gives the film a boost. Everything is a weapon in his hands and he uses them
well. Look for Mama Hung (mother of Sammo) as the old lady servant to Miss
Cui, and a number of minions who were to become famous later on - Ching Siu-tung,
Mars, Alan Chui, Bruce Leung and Lam Ching-ying.
