Director
Cheng Chang-ho didn't make a lot of films (18), but once he joined the Shaw
Brothers in 1969, he made some of my favorites - Temptress of a Thousand
Faces, Heads for Sale, King Boxer and then after leaving the Shaws, Skylark
and Broken Oath. I will have to add this one to that list. It is a very good
Wuxia with an intricate plot that slowly emerges, plenty of action with arms
being cut off left and right - but the real strength is the characters it
creates. All of the main characters take on a distinct personality whether
they are heroes, villains or a little bit of both. Even some of the smaller
roles such as the Laurel and Hardy guards and the owners of a brothel are
nicely fleshed out. The only thing this is missing is a tough sword fighting
female. It has three well-known leads and lots of familiar character actors.
The film goes back and forth between the many characters but keeps it straightforward.
The Swift Knight is played by Lo Lieh and
he is by no means a knight. The Swift Knight is a wandering thief who steals
from the rich - because as Willie Sutton said of banks, that is where the
money is - but he does not give it to the poor. Instead after one such theft,
he heads for the local classy brothel being run by Ou-Yang Sha-fei and her
husband Chan Shen. He is soon surrounded by about ten lovelies all willing
to please him but it is the service girl Xian Qin who catches his eye. Still
a virgin. He asks to buy her and bed her - and is given a price of 500 silver
taels. He only has 300 and puts it down as a deposit and says he will bring
the rest later. After another theft.
At the same time a beggar (Chin Han) is
searching for her and her young brother. And so is a merciless killer Zhu
Pao (Wang Hsieh) who has taken the place of a court envoy after killing him.
It soon becomes clear that Zhu Pao wants to find her in order to kill her
and her brother and the beggar Liu is there to save her. Why? We don't know
for quite a while. Where the Swift Knight will fall in this conflict will
determine who lives and who dies. The maiden that they are all after
is played by Margaret Hsing Hui who was not a top Shaw actress but right
below that and appeared in many of their top films. She had a tragic outcome
years later. Another actor who gets some prime time is Fan Mei-shang who
plays a constable and initially is a comic stooge but ends up being one of
the heroes of the film. Well-paced (80 minutes) with lots of action - though
neither Fan nor Chan Shen have any action scenes - and characters that you
come to care about.
