Recommend Martial Arts Movies

Also a scene in this a lot like the noose hanging one in the trailer for Atomic Blonde.

Kung Fu: Trailers Of Fury is an odd release. It's just a collection of trailers found in an old English cinema, but it's made worthwhile by the audio commentary and the main documentary (both of which feature Ric Meyers, who I'd guess is America's foremost expert on Chinese martial arts films).

The documentary frustratingly doesn't spend much time on the 80s or 90s and doesn't really go any further.

Unfortunately there's a lot of Brucesploitation trailers, but also a few interesting obscurities in there too. Lo Lieh is in more of the trailers than anyone else.

Some Interesting things from the commentary and documentary...

- Hong Kong films sometimes picked up unknown western actors and pretended they were a famous in the west. There's a really cute actress called Jennie Jones in the Death Blow trailer and I can't find anything else about her (her name is difficult to search because of the more famous Jenny Jones).
- Meyers says that despite Hong Kong film people putting so much passion into their work, they're frequently surprised anyone likes their work.
- How miserably these films paid actors sometimes.
- How normal it was for a Hong Kong film person to be an actor, choreographer, director, stunt person, camera crew and do hundreds of films.
- Oliver Stone's eagerness to talk to Meyers about Chinese actresses.

Snake In The Eagle's Shadow trailer shows you a cat vs snake fight I'm pretty sure wasn't in the version of the film I saw. Apparently they removed the snake's teeth so it couldn't properly hurt the cat. It's still quite alarming though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lMC-vk9it8

Not sure how this thread has gone on this long, without a mention of Ninja Thunderbolt!

Four Shaw Brothers films.

HOUSE OF TRAPS

Loved the architecture in this and the room of traps (not a whole house) is pretty cool. Shame about the ugly costumes.
I've never been attracted to Chang Cheh films but I'm starting to warm to them. They often have large male casts (I've seen Ang Lee and others remark that Cheh had no interest in women) and its not surprising there are queer studies of his films considering the relationships and costumes.

KILLER CONSTABLE

Probably the best of the 88 Films Shaw remasters so far, particularly in the cinematography. I liked fights in the rain and its far more morally complex than most old martial arts films.

MASKED AVENGERS

Another Chang Cheh. Even for martial arts films, his set pieces violate the laws of physics in a ridiculous way. I'm surprised some of these films are from the 80s, they look a lot older to me. It's quite fun, I'm getting to like Philip Kwok as an enigmatic oddball.
Animal cruelty warning: a chicken gets impaled by a spear.

THE FLYING GUILLOTINE

I had seen the more brutal knockoff Master Of The Flying Guillotine (better known than the original) years ago, this is way more handsome and puts more effort into the drama.
I've never understood how Golden Harvest are the more modern lively studio yet old fashioned conservative Shaw Brothers have more extreme sex and violence.

Saw a HOUSE OF TRAPS screening last year, fun stuff. Not Cheh's best, but definitely enough interesting elements to make it worthwhile. MASKED AVENGERS is still on my list.

It was only last year I actually knew who he was but just discovered last week he co-directed Seven Golden Vampires!

heh yes. that's such a strange one due to the co-production!
have you seen FIVE DEADLY VENOMS or FIVE ELEMENT NINJA (aka CHINESE SUPER NINJA) yet? Would also recommend SHAOLIN MARTIAL ARTS, KID WITH THE GOLDEN ARM and of course ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN.

I've seen Five Element Ninjas and One Armed Swordsman (maybe the sequel too?)

I saw a godawful copy of Attack Of The Joyful Goddess for about 20 minutes but the picture quality of the dvd was so bad I had to stop. It's got some really nutty scenes in it though.

Been meaning to see Five Deadly Venoms (might have actually seen a bit of it but wasn't intrigued or in the mood at the time) but thanks for noting the others.

Crippled Avengers and Heaven & Hell are other fan favourites I hope to see.

Useful poll results. Imagine we were cool enough to do this poll.

http://www.shaolinchamber36.com/kungfufandom/index.php?/topic/7425-the-top-ten-must-own-shaws/

Shows much more than the top ten.

Heh, at least two people on that list saw The Magnificent Ruffians

I doubt these will be good but I'm impressed with the massive scope and some of the design.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLs6shM3t90
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRg8bbc22IU

This is awesome.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJLavwjY4xQ

oh god, 2 wacky

Wolf Devil Woman - Pearl Cheung/Chang Ling (and many other variations of those names) writes, directs and stars in this shoestring budget fantasy/horror/martial arts film.
A couple flee from a group of monster men (one wearing what looks like a Halloween mask from a costume store, but this is supposed to be his actual face), to save their baby, they kill themselves and cover the baby in their blood to keep it warm then headbutt the snowy hill they're on to hide the baby under the avalanche. Wolves find the baby under the snow and bring her up in their ice cave.

I quite like this, its energy overcomes the budget at times and I thought the fight scenes worked quite well (lots of wire work), Pearl has a few really cool costumes (and her bird claw rope weapon), I'm always happy to see snowy mountains and the weaknesses are amusing but don't spoil it completely. I wish more trash films were this watchable.

I'm a bit troubled by the rabbit scene. It appears to get shot by an arrow but I wasn't sure if it was really shot or if they used some trickery, I kept rewinding and it didn't look bloody or react the way I'd imagine an arrow shot rabbit would. Who knows?

Pearl directed a few films in the early eighties and Matching Escort is supposed to be an enjoyable oddity too but I cant find any information about her later life.

Wolf Devil Woman is English dubbed and "free" if you're subscribed to Amazon prime but there's subtitled versions on youtube. I have no idea if any creators or copyright holders see money for the Amazon streaming.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLg-lfaBbkY

Brave Archer - Another Chang Cheh film but this time an adaptation of a classic Jin Yong book series, so he didn't get to follow all his usual inclinations (there's a romance with a fun female lead). There is a main trilogy and an unofficial sequel Brave Archer And His Mate with the same director and star. There's only one brief scene of archery in the first film and I don't know if the later films feature more, so the title might seem misleading.

I've often found it hard to follow Chang Cheh films, but this time there's a relatively large sequence near the start introducing the very large cast (some posing and showing off moves), perhaps acknowledging it wont be easy to keep track of the characters? Some experts say Brave Archer is hard to follow and relied somewhat on the popularity of the novels, so I feel less bad about not keeping up.

There is some shoddiness (like the inconsistent eye injuries and some of the romantic dream scenes are bizarrely austere) and the absurd fairy tale logic wont work for everyone but I was engaged enough by the mythology. Two of the female characters were very enjoyable (one referred to as "Iron Corpse") which is apparently a real rarity for Chang Cheh and perhaps to please the fans of the books.

Fortunately the first volume of the source material (which Ashes Of Time and Eagle Shooting Heroes were also based on): Legends Of The Condor Heroes by Jin Yong is getting an English translation release in a few months. not many Jin Yong/Louis Cha books available in English but they're very important in the wuxia genre.

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There is an absolute ton of Shaw Brothers films available on subscription of Amazon Prime, no extra buying. This includes a lot of the films about to come out in the 88 Films Shaw series, so it seems like someone has been clumsy in allowing this (I'm committed to buying the series so it doesn't matter in my case). A great amount of them only have English dubbing as an option, so I'm wary of what I want to watch multiple times to hear the original audio.

thanks for the heads up, i never bother looking to see if there's anything good on Prime because there never usually is

I'd like to hear what you think about them, even if you don't like them at all.

Pretty much uncritically love the Shaws tbh, but let's see what's there

Well you'll have a great time, there's like over thirty Chang Cheh films and most of the classics.

The eccentric vagabond teacher in Brave Archer referred to as the Pope's brother. The commentary says it's a dig at the Vatican but I don't understand how this Song dynasty Chinese guy is supposed to be the pope's brother.

I would love it if the Shaw series films would comes out in box sets considering how many series there are like Brave Archer, Black Magic, Sentimental Swordsman, One Armed Swordsman, Bewitched/Boxer's Omen, Flying Guillotine and others.

On amazon prime there's also a couple of Sammo Hung, Leslie Cheung and Maggie Cheung films. Chang Ling and loads of cheap Taiwanese films. Tsui Hark's Butterfly Murders.

There's sooooo much good Shaw stuff on Amazon Prime, I just signed up and my mind boggles at it
Wish there was always the option to choose the original language, but since I grew up watching this stuff on TV with the cheesy dubs I'm kinda used to it

Wolf Devil Woman is actually playing near me this week (screened off VHS, lol), hopefully it lives up to your praise

Wow!

I wouldn't say praise but it's good by low budget trash standards.

Amazon Prime search engine is maybe the worst ever devised. have started to find the movies tho, might make a start tonight

Come Drink With Me is great of course, tho the last act feels a bit rushed and I think it's a shame when the focus moves away from Cheng Pei-pei. She's as cool as she is crushworthy and the villains are great fun. The fights, especially the big temple fight in the middle, are really well thought out, they explore the mechanics of space and emphasize the strategic struggle as much as flashy skills.

Did someone else take the lead at the end? I don't really remember.

Drunken Cat/Drunken Hero has to face off against his nemesis from school

Legend Of The Mountain is coming from Eureka soon. I've heard it's inferior to Raining In The Mountain but maybe not. I am bracing myself a bit because King Hu films can be really long.

http://www.denofgeek.com/uk/movies/kung-fu-movies/53019/10-of-the-weirdest-kung-fu-movies-ever

Here I'm talking about four Taiwanese films starring Hsiao-Lao Lin, including the Child Of Peach trilogy. I don't know why but she used to play male roles a lot (including these four films), not simply the common trope of women disguised as men. If the plot hadn't told you she was supposed to be playing boys, you'd never know that's what she's doing. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I really wasn't sure it was her in Magic Warriors, but all the databases say it is her. She's very cute, charming and I love her costumes.

It's worth noting that the first two Child Of Peach films feature men playing evil women and seduce some of the male heroes, this is played for humor but the second time is odd in that a masculine ghost woman (offscreen) fucks a comedy sidekick's brains out.

However outlandish all this sounds, keep in mind these are all low budget, although Child Of Peach is a bit more expensive looking. I assumed that these are all children's films but I'm not sure with all this violence, sex and gross out.

Kung Fu Wonder Child - Includes hopping vampires, a monster man, an evil sorcerer who turns into a 2D animated dragon, a facehugger and lots of toilet humour. Hsiao-Lao Lin dresses the same here as she does in the Child Of Peach films. This is reasonably entertaining but doesn't do anything well enough for me to recommend it much. The way the 2D dragon fights the characters and sight of a villain's spirit magically growing from a monster man's forehead were quite interesting though.

Child Of Peach - Based on the Japanese Momotaro legend. Features a Kabuki looking demon with red hair and white skin, large magic peaches that assemble into a big peach creature, monster people, a little fairy girl, a trio of children who can turn into animals or turn parts of their bodies into animal parts (a bird girl, a dog boy and a monkey boy). This is easily the best of the trilogy, with better effects, more impressive settings and use of real animals.

Magic Of Spell - a big downgrade from Child Of Peach but if you have the patience to get past of the lousy drama and comedy, the action scenes are quite imaginative, better and faster than the first film and still has some nice settings. The bird girl looks really cool in this, one transformation a bit odder this time. The thousand year old Ginseng boy forcing the Peach Boy to eat him is quite memorable too.

Magic Warriors - A further downgrade with less to redeem it. Despite a greater quantity of colorful characters transforming into animals, plants and objects, and a little boy doing a watery shit all over villains faces, it's mostly just boring. It's counted as a Child Of Peach film but it has none of the same characters. Hsiao-Lao Lin plays Little Flying Dragon this time, with different hair and more makeup.

sounds interesting, i'll have to look into these

Wolf Devil Woman aka Wolfen Ninja was a cute delight btw, I'll try hunt down the sequel at some point (known as Matching Escort lol)

I watched those four films on youtube and that seemed the only option.

Bat Without Wings - this is quite similar to Human Lanterns in many ways but focused on swordplay. The villain has make-up and hair obviously copied from Gene Simmons and a crazy friend chained in his lair.
I found myself pausing a lot to admire the set design. I really like it when Shaw Brothers do the historical gothic setting but it looks good as often as it does frustratingly cheap. So near yet so far.

Battle Wizard - features magic frogs and snakes, a fire breathing wizard with extending steel bird legs, a brute with sharp teeth and a chain extending crab claw on one arm, and the hero getting his super powers from drinking the blood of a giant snake (like in Brave Archer) so the evil wizard wants to feed the hero to his gorilla (a man in a lousy costume) so it can claim the powers.
This film runs on lots of old fairy tale logic and fails to make it work but it's short and amusing.

Butterfly Murders - The first Tsui Hark directed film and it feels really different than his later films to me, maybe a bit darker and less crowd pleasing? I spent a long time assuming this was just a supernatural murder mystery but the martial arts gets going eventually and the later confrontations are more engaging. Not only is there wire-fu but some of the characters use wire devices extensively. Two of the heroes have great hair.

The Victim - Sammo Hung directing and co-starring with Bryan "Beardy" Leung. Quite similar to Knockabout but with a much more flawed maneuvering of the serious parts. Still a lot of fun and I increasingly appreciate Sammo directed fights after seeing more martial arts films.

The Pirate - Ti Lung as a sort of Robin Hood pirate. There is a battle between two ships at the start but most of the action is on land. It's fine.

The Shadow Whip - A young woman (Pei-Pei Cheng) and her uncle wield their whips brutally against large crowds of attackers. Some fight scenes are jerkily sped up and that doesn't work at all and the villain reveals himself in a really dumb way but it's pretty good overall. Pleasant snowy setting.

One Armed Swordsman - Maybe only a year ago I seen this? After hearing so much about how enormously influential this film is, I think maybe it's one of those innovative films that has been so thoroughly absorbed into culture that it just doesn't stand out that much anymore. I enjoy it okay but I cant imagine ever pressing anyone to see it unless they needed to see it for the historical importance.

Dragon Missile - Considered a sort of spiritual sequel to the Flying Guillotine films, this time with a set of boomerang swords doing the decapitations. These weapons cut through large rocks and steel poles yet they're somehow captured by nets! Most of the cast are villains, including Lo Lieh as the main character with boomerang swords.

The Lady Is The Boss - This is a lot of fun. Kara Hui comes from America to revitalize a failing martial arts school by recruiting at discos and teaching sex workers to protect themselves, but her crass American hucksterism, new approaches and take-no-shit-from-anyone attitude doesn't please everyone. There's disco fights, bicycle action, tiny children kickboxing and Gordon Liu looks pretty funny in disco clothes.
Some may be disappointed that the spotlight goes away from Kara Hui towards the end, but I'd recommend you seek this film out.

Lady Is The Boss has been on my list for ages and finally came to Amazon Prime (and general US distro?) a few months ago, gotta get to it

The first two are Shaw competitors that I learned about in this piece.
http://www.davidbordwell.net/essays/shaw.php

Jade Bow (1966) - The fighting isn't particularly noteworthy but it's a cute romance. A shame they couldn't show an onscreen kiss, looks like it's deliberately avoided to comply with censors.

Redress (1969) - A bit like King Hu, but the youtube version I could find was not the best way to view it, it had german dubbing and comedic English subtitles. I did quite enjoy the subtitles, with all the talk of Fanta and Sprite, and when a crowd is gathering their weapons the subtitles say "Get the cutlery! The Good stuff!"

Red Heroine (1929) - apparently the first wuxia film. Unfortunately I didn't get much out of it apart from some interesting hairstyles, storytelling techniques and the general look of the film was inevitably different from wuxia films I'm used to.

I hope Lady Is The Boss comes to the UK bluray series

Sad that Gordon Liu has been in a nursing home so long and with all those family troubles. I haven't seen much of his films but he's such an impressive looking guy.

Super Inframan - This is a Shaw Brothers attempt at the tokusatsu/kaiju genre with a bit more martial arts than I suppose is normal. A lot of people seem to love this (including Roger Ebert) but I just found it boring. Not just daft or outlandish enough to be fun for me. Some of the monsters were kind of funny riding in the speedboat but the only thing that really amused me was the villainess exclaiming "What a Chinese Inframan!" (possibly an inaccurate subtitle but I like the idea of a villain being upset at how Chinese an Inframan is, whatever that means).

I just talked about Legend Of The Mountain in the King Hu thread because there's hardly any martial arts in it.

not really the right thread but have you ever seen Big Man Japan Robert? i think you'd appreciate it.

Saw Super Inframan about a month ago, it was.. OK. I found it goofy and amusing, but it felt really, really long, though I don't think it actually was. The villainess was excellent though.

I've seen the trailer for Big Man Japan. I've heard it's good but I'm not really into kaiju films but maybe it gets by on the comedy? Is it that funny?

i think it's pretty funny yes, in a very dry way. kind of like Kaurismäki or somebody almost.

Someone said on a martial arts forum that 88 Films are going to start releasing Golden Harvest films, if that's true I'll be over the moon but getting released on a monthly basis like the Shaw films seems too good to be true right now. Must have been nice for anyone who was buying them when Hong Kong Legends was bringing them out on dvd, a lot of them are very expensive now. Iceman Cometh wasn't cheap.

Five Deadly Venoms on film4 tonight, englishers. 01:35...

My local Alamo has been showing a lot of the new-ish digital restorations, it's been awesome. Saw KING BOXER and THE DUEL (1971) for the first time, both had way more action and gore than I was expecting from that time period. CRIPPLED AVENGERS was also a real treat.

I missed Five Deadly Venoms but I needed my bed.

Rigor Mortis - Maybe the strangest tribute to an earlier era of films I've ever seen. There's nothing retro about it and the tone is completely different than the films its looking back to: kung fu comedy horror. This is bleak and everyone seems like they've fallen far from their glory days. It has some of the cast of Mr Vampire but I think it's better than Mr Vampire and with slightly better special effects I think this could have been something quite special. As it is, I still recommend it.

Long Road To Gallantry (1984) - Based on same source material as Jade Bow (1966) but with superior martial arts, Kara Hui and Rosamund Kwan. Soundtrack sounds very Italian at points, the first fight scene even has proggy keyboard bashing. Despite so many improvements on Jade Bow, I'm not sure it's definitely better.

I just got my Eureka copy of Iron Monkey. Next they're doing a box of Police Story 1-2! I haven't seen the second or third so I don't know why they stopped at the second.

Recently read criticisms of Celestial, who do the remasters of all the Shaw films. They cut out some scenes if they cant be restored to a certain standard and aren't integral to the story. I understand why this upsets fans but there aren't really many alternatives to a newbie like myself.

Can't see why you couldn't include an uncut version alongside the remaster on the disc