This film comes at a critical time in the wuxia
genre. It was made in 1967 the same year as One-Armed Swordsman and a year
after Come Drink With Me. The Wuxia was going through a major transition
to something more graceful, more heroic, more athletic and more violent.
But this is directed by Yan Jun, a legend as a director going back to the
early 1950s and as an actor going back to the 1930s. He was of a different
generation than King Hu and Chang Cheh. He directed some fine dramas for
the Shaw Brothers but action films were not really his forte though to his
credit he later did direct Cheng Pei-pei in That Fiery Girl and Lily Ho in
Jade-Faced Assassin but he was to retire soon after that film. The story
here is a compelling one but the action scenes of which there are quite a
few are not that well choreographed and the hero of the film rarely looks
good as he swings his sword and men fall down. In an early ridiculous scene,
he steals an object and in his escape he goes up to the top of a building
to get away from his chasers and in the next second he is back on the ground
running by them - it felt like a Road Runner cartoon.
He is an odd choice for a hero - Kim Jin-kyu
from Korea - not particularly good looking or fit, so I assume that there
was some Korean financing and it was filmed in Korea. He appeared in many
Korean films with a number of Best Actor Awards and was a star with Aimless
Bullet, A Road to Sampo and the Housemaid. But here - being dubbed no doubt
- he has zero charisma. I expect few of his Korean films entailed much swordplay.
He was to appear in three other films for Shaw.
It is a period film but without much splash
in terms of décor or sets. Very basic considering that it mainly takes
place in a palace, a cave and a tavern with a few outdoor scenes. The mother
of the young Emperor - Empress Lu - is scheming to sign a treaty with the
Huns with their tails hanging down from their headgear - always a good look
in my book - and General Lu Kun (another Korean, Park Nou-sik) to take over
the Empire and depose the Emperor. One of their obstacles is the province
of Dai where their King (Tien Feng) is a loyal Han ruler who wants nothing
to do with the Huns. The Masked Man - a Zorro type - steals the orders from
her to kill King Dai and deliver his head to the city of Chang-an in ten
days. As Lu Kun invades King Dai's palace - the King sends his sister and
her hand maiden to Chang-An to tell them what is happening.
The two women are the serene Fang Ying as
the Princess and Alison Chang Yen as her servant with the two killing blades.
But they are knocked off the road only to be saved by a doctor Zhuang Bai
(Kim) who brings them back to his cozy cave with a pond that has swans and
a garden. But they leave - get captured after the servant mows down
a bunch of them and taken back to the palace. A little late for advice from
me but this would have been a much better film if the plot was of the two
women fighting their way to Chang-an instead of being captured. The film
goes into a long lull as Lu Kun decides to marry the Princess and has that
evil Hong Kong maniacal laugh constantly. The Masked Man keeps trying to
rescue her with no luck and the doctor turns out to be a lackey working for
Li Kun as an alchemist. Of course, they are the same man. The old Zorro trick
of pretending to be a coward. It is long at 110 minutes for a Shaw film and
doesn't really seem worthy of it - not a well known Shaw film but lots of
Shaw faces in it and something constantly going on.
