THE EUNUCH (1971) #65

THE EUNUCH (1971)

Released May 12^th, THE EUNUCH (1971) is the creative work of prolific screenwriter Lo Wei who surprisingly did NOT direct this movie himself but instead works with brand new director Teddy Yip Wing-Cho. The action director is Simon Chui Yee-Ang and the man that put it all together is the great producer Runme Shaw. This is a very straightforward story of treachery and revenge somewhat based on historical fact. All right, let’s get busy!

Pai Ying is THE EUNUCH

From the middle of the Zhou Dynasty (6^th century B.C.) to the end of Imperial China in the Qing Dynasty (1912 A.D.) the Emperors of China did not trust men and their carnal desires and so used Eunuchs to work in the palace close to their concubines so there was no chance of sexual impropriety in the court. Unfortunately the Eunuchs found other ways to betray the trust and misuse the emperor’s power that was uniquely theirs. The eunuchs were hated with a passion that is often reserved for those that are "different" and so there are many such stories in Chinese history about their misdeeds. This is just one of them that is also one of revenge. Please enjoy it,... if you can. 

Chung Wah as the Imperial Crown Prince Zhu Jin

Yeung Chi-Hing as Prince Jin's teacher

CAST REPORT

the good: Lisa Chiao Chiao as Yan Yan. Chung Wah as Crown Prince Zhu Jin. Yeung Chi-Hing as Old man, Man Gongsun, Zhu Jin’s teacher. Yung Yuk-Yi as Old woman master, Yan Yan’s teacher.

the bad: Pai Ying as The Eunuch, Gui Dehai. Wang Hsieh as General Ye Zicong. James Tien as General’s guard. Yeung Chak-Lam as General’s guard. Little Unicorn as General’s guard.  

HONORABLE MENTION: Sammo Hung as first challenger in contest. 

Lisa Chiao Chiao as Yan Yan

Yung Yuk-Yi as Yan Yan's teacher

FIGHT TIME: THE EUNUCH (1971) was choreographed by Simon Chui Yee-Ang by himself (he often shares the chores with Sammo Hung) the last time he choreographed by himself was on A Taste Of Cold Steel (1970) and he once again does a great job and even improves on his previous work. I counted six (6) fight scenes including the extra long finale but I never felt bored at any time during the film. I loved his work most notably with the pole and Lisa Chiao Chiao’s solo fight at the temple was fierce!

HONORABLE MENTION: Not only was Simon Chui Yee-Ang’s choreography top quality but Lisa Chiao Chiao’s performance during her solo fight at the temple equally exceptional. I totally believed each killing technique and I also believed her taking on such a large number of men at one time with a combination of skill and rage!! Bravo!

Lisa Chiao Chiao after she realizes she has been played...

RECOMMENDATION: THE EUNUCH (1971) is an emotionally charged journey of Chinese history that is well worth watching. In addition, it is Teddy Yip Wing-Cho’s first directed movie and since he goes on to direct (and write) THE THUNDER KICK (1974), (direct only) SLEEPING FIST (1979) and (direct only) THE THUNDERING MANTIS (1980) it is, at least in my opinion a collectible conversation piece for kung fu flick lovers of all ages. So, overall I’m going to say it is a must-have and certainly a must-see as an interesting part of Shaw Brothers and karate / kung fu movie history. See you next time!

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NEXT UP: THE GOLDEN SEAL (1971)

BROTHERS FIVE (1970)

BROTHERS FIVE (1970)

BROTHERS FIVE (1970) (released March 26th), is produced by Runme Shaw, the elder of the two brothers. It is written by Lo Wei and I Kuang, two very skillful and talented screen writers with a deep understanding of the genre. The action direction is handled by Simon Chui Yee-Ang and Chu Yuan Lung (better known as Sammo Hung Kam-Bo) and they are also very skilled craftsmen to say the least and the whole kit and kabootle was directed by the very prolific Lo Wei. Let's get busy!

Flying Dragon Villa used to be a stronghold of justice for the common people. Under the leadership of Hero Gao Shi Yu, the knights of Flying Dragon Villa were known as defenders of the weak ands as upright people. Then came the villain Chief Long Zhen Feng who murdered Hero Gao Shi Yu and took over Flying Dragon Villa. 

However, one could not expect a man the likes of Hero Gao Shi Yu to go quietly into the night. On his death bed he he asked his close friend Yan Hang Kong to help his sons escape Flying Dragon Villa. Yan Hang Kong escaped with the five boys but they were pursued by Chief Long Zhen Feng and his men, The Four Evils of Ji Bei. Enlisting the aid of some martial art instructors, Yan Hang Kong separated the five brothers but told his young daughter, Yan Hsing Kung, all about Hero Gao and his five sons. After her father's death, she set out to find the locations of the five brothers and reunite them to take revenge with the help of a secret martial arts manual. Will she succeed? 

CAST REPORT

the good: Cheng Pei Pei as Miss Yan Loi Hsing Kung. Lo Lieh as Gao Xia, fifth brother. Chang Yi as Scholar Gao Zhi, second brother. Yueh Hua as Valet Gao Wei, fourth brother. Chin Han as Blacksmith Gao Hao, first brother. Kao Yuen as Security Chief Gao Yong, third brother. Sammo Hung as Security Escort Chu 

the bad: Tien Feng as Master Long Zhen Feng. Little Unicorn as Flying Fork Master Wang. Wang Hsieh as Wang Liao Er. Ku Feng as Lord Wan Bo Fu. James Tien as Master Ding Zhi Shan. Lee Ka-Ting as Master Yau. 

HONORABLE MENTION: Luk Chuen and Someno Yukio do stunt / extra work

FIGHT TIME: BROTHERS FIVE (1970) was action directed by Hsu Erh Niu and Chu Yuan Lung (Sammo Hung). I counted twelve (12), that's right twelve fight scenes which is the most fights scenes in any movie I have counted yet so far. The work is absolutely one of high quality with the under cranking expertly done except in some of the exchanges in the finale fight scenes. Nothing new but still exciting none the less.

HONORABLE MENTION: Kao Yuen's (he played third brother, Security Chief Gao Yong) solo fight scene against the guards outside of Flying Dragon Villa was superb and worth watching multiple times!

BROTHERS FIVE (1970) has a veteran director, two of the most skillful script writers in the industry and one of the two action directors on the project will go on to become arguably one of the best action directors from Hong Kong. The actors of BROTHERS FIVE (1970) are some of the best Shaw Brothers has to offer. And BROTHERS FIVE (1970) is a good movie, in fact it is a very good movie. BUT, but... It just seems to me to be a little off Shaw Brothers' usual overall high quality and I need to be honest about it. So what's wrong? Well, it just seems to me that the movie belongs more to the Shaw Brothers of the sixties than the Shaw Brothers of the seventies. Bottom line though, it is still worth watching and I can recommend it for casual viewers of wuxia movies but for collectors --not so much. See you next time!

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NEXT UP: THE GOLDEN KNIGHT (1970)

THE GOLDEN SWORD (1969)

THE GOLDEN SWORD (1969)

Our next movie in 1969 is also produced by Sir Run Run Shaw. Lo Wei directs and writes the script for the film adaptation of the I Kuang novel THE GOLDEN SWORD. This time Mr. Wei uses action directors Sammo Hung Kam-Bo and Simon Chui Yee-Ang. Let's get busy!  

To director Lo Wei's left is BRUCE TONG YIM CHAAN in his first appearance!

The Chief of Golden Sword Lodge, Eight Arm Dragon Bai Chun-Tun voluntarily rides away from his fortress with two masked horsemen in the middle of the night and goes missing, leaving his man at arms, Uncle Pang at the doorway apparently wondering what is going on. Bai Chun-Tun is also the chief over 36 clans in an Jiang Hu association and it searches for him for seven years before electing a new chief to replace him.  

However Bai Yu-Lung, the missing chief's son requests permission to look for his missing father for another three years because he has "a feeling" his father is still alive. His request is granted.

While out in the frontier looking for his father, Bai Yu-Lung meets Ngai Jin-Feng of the Beggar Clan. They form an instant liking of each other which becomes a bond. She becomes his companion as he searches for his father and after the three years are up they get married. 

The next morning after their wedding a mysterious box is discovered among the wedding gifts that turns out to contain The Dragon Hall Golden Sword last seen with the missing chief ten years ago. Then, two masked riders that look similar to the two riders that rode off with the missing chief show up again and using kung fu far superior than everyone present take by force Bai Yu-Lung.  

Suddenly, Uncle Pang tells everyone he knows what is going on and he directs them inside the fortress to explain to the existence of Dragon Hall Palace and the events of the past ten years. From here everything just gets, well, weird...

CAST REPORT 

THE GOLDEN SWORD (1969) does not break down in the typical good guy bad guy manner. The only logical way to classify the cast without spoiling it for those whom have yet to see it is to divide the cast into the "first half" of the movie and the "second half" of the movie. 

So, in the first half, we have Lo Wei as Eight Arm Dragon Bai Chun-Tun but he spends the first half of the movie missing. Next we have Kao Yuen as Bai Yu-Lung who spends the first half of the movie looking for his father. Cheng Pei-Pei is Ngai Jin-Feng, Yu-Lung's better half and the movie's "red herring". Yeung Chi-Hing as Golden Dragon Hall's keeper Uncle Pang. 

HONORABLE MENTION FIRST HALF:

In the first half of the movie we meet The Beggar Clan that raised Jin-Feng and The Three Cripples, of which two are Ku Feng and James Tien. Also Sammo Hung Kam-Bo does a cameo as well as Chin Yuet Sang's cameo as a martial elder that an interesting run after a horse.

Next, in the second half, we have Wang Lai as Lung Xing Zi, Kao Pao-Shu as Seventh Lady, Huang Chung-Hsin as Saintly Swordsman and Alice Au Yin-Ching as Chen Yu-Lan.

HONORABLE MENTION SECOND HALF: a great, big, huge, stone tablet. 

SAMMO HUNG far right cameo / stunt fighter

FIGHT TIME: THE GOLDEN SWORD (1969) had two action directors, namely Simon Chui Yee-Ang and Sammo Hung Kam-Bo. I counted eight (8) fight scenes in the entire movie and while some of them were quite short they were all quite good, especially the unarmed combat. These unarmed fights were above anything I have seen in all of the movies I have reviewed in the 1960's so far. I was very impressed!

HONORABLE MENTION: The unarmed fights in the second half of the movie far outshone the armed fights of the first half. 

As stated when we started the review, THE GOLDEN SWORD (1969) is an adaptation of a novel written by Ni Kuang (I Kuang's pen name) and as such inherits the difficulty of such adaptations. That said, this is hardly a straight forward tale and not being familiar with the original work has us at a disadvantage. The easy part is recommending this as a collectible work, unquestionably one should have this movie as part of any early Shaw Brothers collection. On the other hand I am compelled to recommend this movie for viewers because it is not a bad movie in and of itself but rather, I dare say, perhaps it is just told poorly under all of the above named circumstances. See you next time!

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NEXT UP:  HAVE SWORD WILL TRAVEL (1969)

RAW COURAGE (1969)

RAW COURAGE (1969)

Sir Run Run Shaw produces another pursuit / wuxia film from the fertile mind of Director / Scripter extradinaire Lo Wei this time taking place during the Ming Dynasty. The action directors are Bruce Lee's childhood friend Little Unicorn (credited as Hsiao Chi Lin) and Simon Chui Yee-Ang (credited as Hsu Erh Niu). Let's get busy!

During the Ming Dynasty [1368 - 1644 (276 years)] it was very common for Han crown princes and eunuchs to fight among themselves for power after the collapse of the Mongolian rule. Good guys, bad guys? It was all relative based on who you believed was the rightful heir to the throne. Our next story is steeped in this historical fact. 

Emperor Jianwen's palace is set upon by forces loyal to Emperor Yongle. With defeat eminent Emperor Jianwen trusts his infant son to the Chief of the Black Eagle Society,  Shangguan Hou asking him to unite with the righteous heroes of the Jiang Hu to restore his (Emperor Jianwen) reign with the infant crown prince. 

A short time later, The Black Eagle Society is paid a visit by swordsmen of the Jiang Hu loyal to Emperor Yongle including the godson of Eunuch Qiren: Yen Tsang, Chief of the East Sea Clan and Yu Hua Chiao of the "Scarf" Clan asking for the Black Eagle Society to switch loyalties to Emperor Yongle and to turn over the infant crown prince to them. In the violence that subsequently ensues,  Chief Shangguan is mortally wounded. Chief Shangguan, his daughter Hsiu Yi, and his top disciple Chin Chen Hsiung retreat to his fortress's inner sanctum and he gives his daughter the infant crown prince and a mission to rendezvous with his brother the Chief of the White Dragon Society on February 15th in his place to fulfill the wish of the dead Emperor Jianwen.  

Hsiu Yi and Chen Hsiung leave the fortress but are discovered by a few patrolling soldiers. They are helped by a elder calling himself "Old Beggar" and he assists them in going on the run from Yen Tsang and his men while journeying to rendezvous with the White Eagle Society. "Old Beggar" tasks his student Chou Fei Yun with helping them pass the many military check points all the while staying out of the grasp of Yen Tsang. Will they reach their destination in time? 

CAST REPORT

The "good": Liu Kei as Emperor Jianwen, Lo Wei as Black Eagle Society Chief Shangguan Hou, Cheng Pei Pei (looking very young) as Shangguan Hsiu Yi, daughter of Black Eagle Society Chief,  Wu Fung as the disciple of Black Eagle Society Chief, Yeung Chi-Hing as Mo Wen Tien aka "Old Beggar", Yueh Hua as Chou Fei Yun, "Old Beggar's disciple 

The "bad": Tien Feng as East Sea Clan Chief Yen Tsang, Poon Oi-Lin as Yu Hua Chiao of the "Scarf" Clan, Lee Sau-Kei as Old Monster

HONORABLE MENTION: Lee Kwan as Little Beggar, James Tien  as a border guard and Someno Yukio as one of the East Sea Clan swordsmen

FIGHT TIME: RAW COURAGE (1969) has two action choreographers: Hsiao Chi Lin aka Little Unicorn (childhood friend of Bruce Lee) and Simon Chui Yee-Ang. This is very much their early work so their is no need to judge it too harshly especially considering it is state of the art for 1969. The fight scenes are clear and with an exception or two easy to follow and makes use of under-cranking which is not over-done. There is plenty of shouting to emphasize effort in technique and I was pleased by that as well. If there was a fault it was with the sheer number of opponents faced by the heroes which got a little hard not to smile about. I counted eight (8) fight scenes which over one hour and forty-eight minutes is still plenty. Nice job.

HONORABLE MENTION: Cheng Pei Pei does an earnest job fighting here like it was for real and so while I have never seen her look so young before I have never seen her fight harder. Fantastic! 

RAW COURAGE (1969) is one of the early Shaw Brothers movies that deserve a look-see just to get a taste of what the sixties were like for the wuxia genre. A historical look a the great Cheng Pei Pei is also another reason to seek out this movie that I am certainly going to recommend but for people with a taste for the nostalgia and collectors only. 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: THE SWORDMATES (1969)

DRAGON SWAMP (1969)

DRAGON SWAMP (1969)

DRAGON SWAMP (1969) is Runme Shaw's production of a fascinating fantasy / wuxia tale from the fertile mind of director and script writer Lo Wei. Using the captivating canvass of the Shaw Brothers beauty Cheng Pei Pei, Lo Wei and make-up artist Fong Yuen add a wonderful dimension to what otherwise had been another "they stole my magic sword" wuxia tale. Let's take a look. 

The JADE DRAGON SWORD is a coveted treasured sword from the Shangzhou Dynasty. Unfortunately, after being used to murder an enlightened personage that was a reincarnation of the holy Buddha it became cursed. Whoever attempts to own the sword is possessed with a madness and their family is fated to be broken. The sword came to be trusted to the Taoist Lingshan Chunyang Monastery. 

Under the current abbot, Master Fan Chung Yun, the Jade Dragon Sword was stolen by Tang Dachuan the White-Faced General. Tang Dachuan seduced Master Fan's student Fan Ying, a 17-year-old impressionable young girl who betrayed everyone and everything she knew for the "love and kindness" of the sweet-talking devil. Three years and two children later (not to mention a certain Jade Dragon Sword) the two lovers hiding place is discovered by Master Fan. Tang Dachuan escapes with the older child and leaves behind Fan Ying and the younger child. Master Fan recovers the Jade Dragon Sword and punishes Fan Ying to a twenty year banishment in the Dragon Swamp but he takes the youngest child with him to raise in his monastery.  

20 years later, a grown up Qing Erh practices the 8 diagram steps at the Jingang Pagoda unaware that she is being observed but when it is discovered that the Jade Dragon Sword has once again been stolen Qing Erh suspects that she is the one responsible for the thief's ability to walk the correct steps to get the sword. She sneaks out of the monastery determined to reclaim the sword for her teacher and ask for his forgiveness. It is not the sword, however, but her face that sets up the incidents that become a fascinating adventure for the young girl and for us. 

DRAGON SWAMP (1969) has an all-star cast but Cheng Pei Pei owns this movie with a duel performance as Fan Ying and her daughter Qing Erh. I have no idea why this movie is not every bit the classic as Come Drink With Me (1966). She nails both roles very convincingly. Director and scriptwriter Lo Wei plays the big good Master Fan Chung Yu and Huang Chung-Hsin plays the big bad Tang Dachuan the white-faced general. Yueh Hua is Roaming Knight Xi Zheng Yuan and Lo Lieh is Head of Security Yu Chiang.

HONORABLE MENTION: Sammo Hung Kam-Bo rises from extra to bit part as "gambler at Chiang's party". 

FIGHT TIME: Sorry, but I found no one credited with the action direction for this film. Although both Lee Siu-Pang and Han Ying-Chieh, (both capable action directors at the time), are in this film neither one is credited anywhere as action directors for this movie. That said, I counted are six (6) full fight scenes and I have learned that that's plenty of action for this time period. The scenes are also pretty well done but I have notice the debut of the concentric circles clock-counter-clock stuntman-go-round that the extras do while waiting for their turn to die in fight scenes and I can't help but smile.

HONORABLE MENTION: As I mentioned before, Sammo Hung Kam-Bo rises from stuntman extra to bit part as "gambler at Chiang's party".  

As I said before,  I have no idea why this movie is not more well known. As famous as Cheng Pei Pei is, DRAGON SWAMP (1969) is a tour de force of Cheng Pei Pei's acting skills as we see her in her 20's 40's and looking like she is in her 60's.   Fong Yuen absolutely deserves another mention as the make-up artist and Lo Wei has indeed whipped up another fascinating story but it is Cheng Pei Pei's acting skills that sell her characters in all their different stages. Bravo to Cheng Pei Pei for giving the Shaw Brothers another classic film that is also epic. Yes, by all means, see it, buy it, borrow it but sorry, no stealing. 

When people summarily dismiss martial art movies from the 1960's, I understand. The level of personal skills that Bruce Lee brought to the movie world raised the bar for every single movie industry in existence. Yet, if you discard our history like that, what of movies like this? We are not better off for not having seen this movie. I am glad however to witness a movement to not only own these classics but to watch them as well. I am also humbled to be able to do my part by blogging these reviews. Good or bad, like or not, let's keep watching. 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: THE FLYING DAGGER (1969)