Just
what the hell is Marco Polo doing in a Chang Cheh film? I don't have a clue,
but I guess someone thought it was a nifty idea. In the Court of the Mongol
ruler Kublai Khan in about 1270. Polo was 21 years old. He led an extraordinary
life traveling over much of Europe, the Middle East and the far East. The
same could almost be said about the actor who plays him, Richard Harrison.
Born in Utah, he moved to Europe in his early 20's and appeared in many Euro-spy-spaghetti-Peplum
films over the decade. As his career cooled in Europe, he acted elsewhere,
in any film that would pay him. How he ended up in two Shaw Brothers films,
I don't know - this and Boxer Rebellion. But he is also known for his later
schlocky ninja films that he made with Godfrey Ho and other cheapies in the
Philippines.
The Hong Kong title of the film is Marco
Polo and I went in expecting an exploration of his years in China. Perhaps
interesting from a Chinese perspective. Then I saw it was directed by Chang
Cheh. Ok. No. Chang Cheh didn't do serious studies of lives. He does masculine
martial arts films with blood soaked ground. And that is what we get. Polo
is in it and around it, but really adds nothing to it. This is all martial
arts and a lot of it. A series of intricate beautifully choreographed fights
with different styles and astonishing acrobatics. And some of the best of
the Shaw martial artists all fighting each other. Not Polo, he is just an
observer and lackey for the Great Khan.
It begins with Khan ordering men to have
one-on-one fights in front of him. Some fine action. The three winners are
Gordon Liu of two-sword style, Leung Kar-yan of the deadly Iron Palm and
Johnny Wang who can break a man into two. He makes them his personal bodyguards.
That comes in handy three years later when a pair of assassins break into
the palace. In a ferocious fight they kill the duo. They are Han. One is
interestingly played by the big Taiwanese star, Carter Wong, who as far as
I can tell only appeared in this one Shaw film.
Much more action to come. Wong had four
other friends dedicated to killing the Khan (thus the American title) and
a wife played by Shih Szu. With Shih in it, one might expect some solid action
from her, but this is Chang Cheh who even gave Cheng Pei-pei a secondary
role to Jimmy Wang-yu in her own film, Golden Swallow. So Shih gets the cold
shoulder as the grieving widow. The four men are played by Alexander Fu Sheng,
Chi Kuan-chun, Bruce Tong and Phillip Kwok. All often bare chested as Chang
Cheh preferred. After some training, there is the reckoning against the bodyguards
and much of the Mongol army. Great choreography from Hsieh Hsing and Chen
Hsin-I. And Polo watches often shouting out Marco to which the bodyguards
replied Polo.
