THE JADE FACED ASSASSIN (1971) #63

THE JADE FACED ASSASSIN (1971)

Released April 9th, THE JADE FACED ASSASSIN (1971) is the first movie adaptation of (pen name) Gu Long’s extremely popular wuxia novel: Jue Dai Shuang Jiao which has been called in English: The Proud Twins, Two Peerless Heroes, The Legendary Siblings, etc. It was produced by Sir Run Run Shaw, scripted by Wong Fung [The Golden Knight (1970)], and directed by Yan Jun [The Iron Buddha (1970)] who, this time, does not use or at least does not credit an action director which is surprising considering the popularity of this stand-alone novel from Gu Long but we shall see what we shall see, eh? Let me point out from the outset that the twins are both male in the novel but Sir Run Run Shaw went for the female lead as is his usual choice so one twin is female and the other is male. Okay, let’s get busy!

The Chang Chuen Clan Creed

The head master of the Chang Chuen Clan had bestowed the Clan leadership to his most senior male student, Chang Chun on his deathbed. This is done in the Jiang Hu by handing over a badge known as the Headmaster's Creed. Unfortunately Chang Chun was not the most skillful of his pupils. That honor went to the older of his three daughters. While the second daughter feel in love with Chang Chun, he had an affair and twin children with the youngest daughter and he had no choice after their master’s death but to take his family and run for their lives. But before he left, he sent a message to his foster brother the hero, Lian Lan Yan informing him of his plight and asking for help.

Chang Chun, his wife and twin infants had only gone a short way when The Weird Four of Lao Shan ambushed them, taking the Chang Chuen Clan Creed in their possession and were intent on murdering them all. Suddenly, the second elder sister appeared and struck down the whole gang saving them. But when the eldest sister came everything changed. She was the big sister and the highest skilled and by right she should be the clan headmaster so she killed her youngest sister and her husband and grabbed a sword intent on o murdering the twin babies. 

Second Sister (Er Jie)

Eldest Sister (Jie Jie)

However the second sister could not bear the murder of the two infants so she convinced her older sister that they should instead, separate the two siblings and create a situation where they would end up killing each other making for an exquisite revenge. The eldest sister agreed and they went back to their mansion taking the male sibling. Over a period of eighteen years, she raised the child (Hua Yu Chun) as a member of the Chang Chuen Clan and made him vow to find Lian Lan Yan and kill him and any of his family members as sworn enemies of the clan.  

When the Hero Lian Lan Yan finally comes across the scene of the bloodied bodies he finds two survivors: the female infant and Black Face, one of The Weird Four of Lan Shan. Black Face tells Lian Lan Yan that Chang Zhai set him up as a fall guy and is waiting at Happy Valley. Hero Lian leaves Black Face right where he is to die while taking the female infant with him and goes off to Happy Valley to find Chang Zhai.

When Hero Lian gets to Happy Valley he finds a haven for villains and the evil people there promptly trick him and beat him nearly to death. But Lan Cun Xiu, the Poison Scholar has come to Happy Valley to turn over a new leaf, so he deceives the other residents of Happy Valley into letting him keep Hero Lian to use as a human guinea pig while the villains decide to keep the female infant with the intention of raising her and training her to be a champion of evil. However over the course of eighteen years she (Xiao Lu Er) learns her true identity from Lan Cun Xiu and is told to find Chang Zhai and revenge her father's death.

Lily Ho as Xiao Lu Er

Kao Yuen as Hua Yu Chun

Now they both walk the Jiang Hu on a collision course with destiny. I am not going to keep it from you, this is an epic tale, and an adaptation worthy of the original novel and is a must see!

CAST REPORT

the good: Lily Ho Li-Li as Xiao Lu Er. Kao Yuen as Hua Yu Chun. Ku Feng as Lian Lan Yan. Fan Mei-Sheng as Yu Chi Zhou Guang. Violet Pan Ying-Zi as Tse Xin Chan. 

the bad: Chang Pei-Shan as Chang Zhai / Chang Ting Le. Essie Lin Chia as Jie Jie. Chia No as Black Face. Kwok Chuk-Hing as Er Jie

HONORABLE MENTION: Lily Ho Li-Li has captured the spirit of the character Xiao Lu Er from Gu Long's novel and draws us in enough to enjoy the movie. Good acting! 

FIGHT TIME: THE JADE FACED ASSASSIN (1971) is directed by Yan Jun who (according to the credits) doubles as the action director. I counted ten (10) fight scenes including the finale and there is plenty of action here to entertain us along with a great story. I must say though, the action has a low-tech, old fashioned feel (not as slick as say, Tang Chia’s work). Funny thing is, the choreography is very well suited for the feel of the movie and complements the background music and overall style of the film. Good job overall 

HONORABLE MENTION: Liu Chia-Yung has a minor cameo, and I spotted Wang Chung and Yuen Cheung-Yan as extras / stuntmen.

RECOMMENDATION: THE JADE FACED ASSASSIN (1971) is a “must see” and opportunity to experience popular Chinese modern literature without learning to read the most difficult written language (imo) on earth.  As the first adaptation of Gu Long’s very popular novel it should have some collector’s value as well. Get this movie at all cost, don’t say I didn’t tell ya! See you next time!

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NEXT UP: THE DUEL (1971)

THE GOLDEN KNIGHT (1970) #047

THE GOLDEN KNIGHT (1970)

Producer Runme Shaw gives us THE GOLDEN KNIGHT (1970) a wuxia, suspenseful who-done-it with an complex script by Liang Yen (Yip Yat-Fong) [Black Butterfly 1968)] and [The Jade Raksha (1968)] co-written by Huang Feng (Wong Fung). It released April 17th and was directed by Yueh Feng [Rape of the Sword (1967)] and [The Bells of Death (1968)] with action direction by Han Kuo.  (A word about the title: in Chinese there is no such convention as adding an "s" to indicate plural nouns so the title in English could have been translated: THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS and as such would have been much more accurate considering the events of the movie. )

It is a solemn day for the Jiang Hu. The Supreme Grand Master, having been very ill and recognizing his time on earth is nearing an end, has written manuals of his six martial skills to give to six of the major heads of the martial clans. The Poison Palm, the Zen Finger, the Azura Sword, the Deadly Sabre, the Jingang Palm and the Iron Body manuals are all ready to be given to the grand masters of the six major clans on the appointed day at the appointed hour.  

On the appointed day at the appointed hour however only five of the six grand masters had arrived. Grand Master Yu Yun-Yang of Huang Shan Clan had not yet arrived so the Supreme Grand Master reserved the Poison Palm manual for Grand Master Yu Yun-Yang since it was the Huang Shan Clan's specialty and gave the remaining five manuals to the attending five grand masters and bid them to return to their clans. 

On their way back to their clans the five grand masters ran into Grand Master Yu Yun-Yang on his way to their meeting with the Supreme Grand Master and told him of the Supreme Grand Master's intention. The five grand masters then continued on their way back to their clans and Grand Master Yu continued on to see the Supreme Grand Master. But when Grand Master Yu arrived at the Supreme Grand Master's home he found the Supreme Grand Master and his servant had been murdered. Grand Master Yu immediately called out to the five grand masters to return to the Supreme Grand Master's house. 

Hearing Grand Master Yu's cries, the five grand masters ran back to the Supreme Grand Master's house as quickly as they could. When they arrived back at the Supreme Grand Master's house, they found the Supreme Grand Master and his servant dead and Grand Master Yu's bloodied belonging but not Grand Master Yu's body. The five grand masters assumed that Grand Master Yu had been murdered and carried off and could do nothing else but return to their clans and report their experience to The Tongxin Clan, Golden Knights, the clan of justice in the Jiang Hu. 

The Tongxin Clan Golden Knights are the court of justice for the Jiang Hu and all matters of law are brought before them. Shortly after the murder and disappearance of the Supreme Grand Master and Grand Master Yu, the Iron Body Manual was stolen from the Huashan Clan and the Deadly Sabre manual was stolen from the Kongdong Clan with members of both clans being killed in the process. There were two attempts made on the Zen Finger manual at Shaolin Temple but they were both unsuccessful, no one was killed and the manual was not stolen. Circumstantial evidence points to the daughter of the missing, Grand Master Yu Yun-Yang, Yu Fei-Xia --but did she commit these crimes of murder and theft, or did someone else? 

CAST REPORT

the good: Lily Ho Li-Li as Yu Fei-Xia / Jiang Yi-Ming. Kao Yuen as Lu Yi-Nan, a Golden Knight. Wang Hsieh as Master Jing Zheng-Lun, a Golden Knight.  Fan Mei-Sheng as Guan Xi-Yang, a Golden Knight. Wong Ching-Ho as Shaolin Abbot Yi-Shu. Ku Feng as Monk Tieh Teng, a Golden Knight.  Chuen Yuen as Chief of Tongxin Clan Golden Knights. 

the bad: Yeung Yip-Wang as Master Bao. Shu Pei-Pei as Ai Qing. Hsu Yu as the Censor's wife. Lan Wei-Lieh as a fake Imperial Guard.

HONORABLE MENTION: Cheng Miu and Sammo Hung Kam-Bo guest star in small roles.

FIGHT TIME: THE GOLDEN KNIGHT (1970) credits Han Kuo with the action direction of the movie but director (Griffin) Yueh Feng has too much of a heavy hand with his hand held shaky cam that readers of my past reviews know I am not a fan of. There were only six (6) fight scenes in the entire movie and they were not too bad for what I could see of them but the constant movement of the camera really robbed me of a clear view in many of those scenes and it was very annoying. That said, Han Kuo kept the movie's pace fast and exciting and I hardly noticed that there could have been another fight or two just for good measure. An acceptable performance. 

THE GOLDEN KNIGHT (1970) is a movie that, as I think about it, is probably easier to experience by Mandarin Chinese speakers than by English subtitle readers. The double flash-back one third in the movie that is actually the movie's beginning along with the lack of detail in the subtitles about just who The Golden Knights were leaves one playing catch-up quite a bit on the first viewing. If that wasn't challenging enough if the viewer has no knowledge of the Jiang Hu then the viewer really needs to watch the movie a second time before it feels like a smooth story-telling.   

If the viewer does bother to view the movie a second time and think along the lines of an episode of Law And Order Criminal Intent then they have a much better chance to discover the well crafted (but hard to translate) "who done it" scripted by Yip Yat-Fong and Wong Fung. This is one of those movies I believe would do well as a modern remake with jacked-up martial arts scenes. As it is, I can still in good conscious recommend it for ones casual viewing pleasure but as a collectible, maybe not so much. See you next time! 

If you liked this review please comment on the blog, become a follower of the blog, join me on my Facebook account by sending me a message first and then a friend request so I know who I am friending (  https://www.facebook.com/Michael529P   ) and like my Facebook page: SHAW Brothers Kung Fu Movies 1965-1986. I thank you and would appreciate it very much!

NEXT UP: HEADS FOR SALE (1970)