HK Cinema - 1967
With the One Armed Swordsman, the action and violence
levels in HK films increased dramatically. By comparison previous martial
art films feel almost quaint. There may have been a great deal of fighting
but little graphic violence as compared to this film. Jimmy Wang Yu as
the star and Chang Cheh as director included large elements of the Japanese
chambara films. The sword films from Japan – Zatoichi and The Black Mass
series for example were filled with incredible amounts of fast and furious
cutting action. One interesting difference between the two styles of sword
fighting that still exists is that the Japanese sword fights tend to be
very quick and deadly, while the HK films extend these fights over longer
periods.
The Shaw Brothers produced this and its success
– the first film to gross more than $1mm in HK – led to Shaw moving into
the martial arts genre with a vengeance. The One Armed Swordsman is a well-known
story of a man losing his arm and teaching himself to fight with his other
arm in order to gain revenge. It has been redone recently in Tsui Hark’s
The Blade.
Chang Cheh the director was to become one of
the most influential and prolific of Shaw’s kung-fu directors. He had been
working in the HK film industry for nearly two decades, but it was this
film that began creating his legendary status. He brought an incredibly
ferocity and fluidity to his action scenes. He followed this film up with
Golden Swallow (aka Girl with THE Thunderbolt Kick) in 1968 that starred
Pei Pei as the same character as in Come Drink with Me. This film starred
Jimmy Wang Yu as well.