What was the last classic martial-arts film you watched?

[Coliseum1972]

April Fool , 4/6

Lydia Shum , Betty Pei among others star in this comedy about 2 rascal men up to mischief : forging casino chips , bank robbery etc

since it was chinese I didnt understand everything but I enjoyed it nonetheless......one of the men had a gorgeous black (groenendael ?) dog

Wish someone would  make subs for it , maybe some day.......

 

 

[One Armed Boxer]

On 11/15/2015 at 4:31 PM, Tex Killer said:

The bravest revenge was enjoyable flick with standard storyline about vengeance and special sword. 

I recently got around to watching this one, and found it to be one of the most entertaining old school wuxia flicks I've seen in a while. I gave it the full review treatment over at COF - 

https://cityonfire.com/the-bravest-revenge-1970-review-chien-lung-polly-shang-kuan-tien-peng/

[SDJ]

Shaolin Invincible Sticks
I generally find Tso Nam Lee pretty reliable when it comes to picking any movie he's done, and trusting that it will range from good to great. This one wasn't bad, but it came pretty close to breaking the streak with some truly painful comedy, minimal action, and over-use of undercranking in what action there is. I do love the "feel" of these old Taiwanese cheapies but this one was tempting to turn off at times.

[sym8]

Dragon lord-Not a fan of this Chan vehicle but the finale is something to behold.Chan does very little in terms of Kung fu fighting but what he does do is throw him and his co-stars bodies around so much I think the word ouch was invented for this.Great finale from a dull movie.👍👍

[ChillyChong]

Snake in monkeys shadow. Jackie Chan movies may have better cast but in action monkey does not lose much if at all to drunken master or snake in eagles shadow

[sym8]

Leg Fighters-Tan Tao Liang starrer which passes the time.Goofy comedy is annoying and the fight scenes have that thing(don’t know what you call it)where they have taken a frame out to make it try and look faster(just looks jumpy though)Like I said passes the time though.👍👍

Edited September 30, 2023 by sym8

[SDJ]

Oh yeah. I'll take those frame splices over conspicuous undercranking any day though.
The comedy in Leg Fighters is bad, but I've seen stuff with SO much worse comedy (and so much more comedy).

Edited September 30, 2023 by SDJ

[Super Ninja]

2 hours ago, sym8 said:

Leg Fighters-Tan Tao Liang starrer which passes the time.Goofy comedy is annoying and the fight scenes have that thing(don’t know what you call it)where they have taken a frame out to make it try and look faster(just looks jumpy though)Like I said passes the time though.👍👍

Frame cutting, Worth is calling it frame removal. If you listen to his commentary on the Pearl River release, he explains the frames were cut out from the actual prints, usually for posters and stills, but also to speed up the fights and add power to certain techniques. Interestingly, Worth says this was common practice. Before The Leg Fighters, I only knew Kuo did it, now I know Lee Tso-nam used the technique as well. 

[sym8]

5 minutes ago, Super Ninja said:

but also to speed up the fights and add power to certain techniques.

It always amazes that when they watched it back they didn’t think it looked either stupid or damaged film.These performers had so much ability yet they still found the need to do this.It’s the same when undercranking is used to Keystone Cops levels,I just don’t get it.

[SDJ]

Snake & Crane Arts of Shaolin
Tough to watch. A wuxia-esque gigantic cast of characters phase in and out of cheap locations (mainly dirty dilapidated sheds and sterile wintry fields) for 80s minutes around Jackie, whose character doesn't amount to much more than crossing his arms a lot and acting smug in his eye makeup. Some OK early Jackie fights here and there, although that fight with those two ladies may be the worst fight I've ever seen in a kung fu movie that's generally liked by MA cinema lovers. 

Edited October 5, 2023 by SDJ

[Yihetuan]

One Armed Swordsman vs Nine Killers - Dir. Hsu Tseng-Hung & Lee Jeong-Ho [1976] (Taiwan)

This Taiwanese Korean co-production is a very middling effort in the continuing saga of Jimmy Wang-Yu's one armed boxer character. Yes, that's right. One Armed Boxer rather than Swordsman as the title of this film is actually a misnomer as Wang-Yu doesn't even employ a sword. To his credit, Wang-Yu doesn't reinvent the wheel here and does what he does best and that's the hybrid basher block and chop technique mixed with stunt doubled tumbling and trampoline effects. The problem is we've seen this done all before and better in other films.

The "nine killers" hot on his tail are rather nondescript even if they feature such Shaw stalwarts as Lo Lieh and Chen Hung-Lieh (who either must have the brightest teeth of any kung fu actor or he's the first to jump on the veneers bandwagon). The other problem which may be specific to my copy (German print, English dubbed) is the really poor editing. One minute Wang-Yu is fighting a hermaphrodite monk and the next cut he's out on the trail again. Not sure if it's censored for the Korean market or what but quite a few "bloody death" scenes are abruptly cut out. Anyway, this is for Wang-Yu "one armed" completists only.

[SDJ]

Snuff Bottle Connection (rewatch after half-paying attention to my first viewing it many moons ago)

Just one of the all-time great no frills KF movies. Not too much comedy, constant action, funny dub, perfectly OK plot that makes complete sense. I like how it sticks to its period setting to an exaggerated degree by treating that single flintlock pistol as if it's some sort of devastating, legendary weapon within the world of martial arts (rather than a game-changer weapon that exists outside the world of martial arts)

Edited October 16, 2023 by SDJ

[Coliseum1972]

sad to hear Meng Hoi passed , Ive seen :

Kidnap in Rome

Godfather squad

Deadly chase for justice

They were okay

are there any other MH films that are decent/good ?

 

[Super Ninja]

1 hour ago, Coliseum1972 said:

sad to hear Meng Hoi passed , Ive seen :

Kidnap in Rome

Godfather squad

Deadly chase for justice

They were okay

are there any other MH films that are decent/good ?

 

The one you really need to see is The Buddha Assassinator (1980).

[ShawAngela]

I just finished to rewatch White Butterfly Killer 1973 after many years.

I enjoyed it as much as the first time. Four very good female fighters in the same movie with non stop action movie, plus one of my favourite actors Chen Hui Lou, it was a great wieving !

[ShawAngela]

I just finished to watch Not scared to die 1973 for the first time.

Wow ! What a great no stop action movie ! I can't understand the reviewers on hkmdb who seem to haven't liked this movie and find it a lot of flows.

It was so unusual to see Wong Ching playing a kind hearted hero, here ! When I think that one of the reviewer says that it's "a poor attempt starring an unknown kung fu star" !

[ShawAngela]

After having watched it many many years ago, I watched again Struggle karate 1971 two days ago. Starring two of my favorite actors, Chang Ching Ching and Wong Yung, and as the villains, the always well cast Yi Yuan.

This is an excellent non stop action movie. Too bad that I only own it in Turkish language, so, I didn't understand what was the relationship between Chang Ching Ching and Wong Yung, who wore the same pendant. Chinese and English subtitles popped up twice during the movie, but it wasn't in interesting scenes...

If someone have this movie in Mandarin with or without subtitles, it would be great to let me know !!

[Chu Liu Hsiang]

RIDER OF REVENGE - these old Taiwanese movies have so much atmosphere, and manage to create a world full of stories and characters who are at the same time improbable and believable (if that makes any sense, I might not find the correct adjectives in English). They inspire me more than any perfect CGI turmoil.

[ShawAngela]

I just finished to watch again Seven indignant 1973 after many years and I still love it as much as before.

What a superb non stop action movie that needs a better release in its original Mandarin language with English subtitles !

[thegoldenstate]

@Chu Liu Hsiang, I am right there with you regarding the Taiwanese wuxia classics. During the pandemic I went through a phase of taking in a whole slew of ones from the late seventies and early eighties -- particularly ones based on Gu Long novels and/or ones which the man himself actually scripted. It was interesting to see how the "indie" directors treated his source material, as compared to Chor Yuen's approach towards same. 

Lately I've been immersing myself in the late sixties/early seventies ones, i.e., Rider of Revenge-era. Hopefully I will post more on here about my thoughts concerning these and in particular some of my favorites. There are many times when I want to respond to a post such as yours but then I get distracted by some other life stuff and drop the ball so to speak. 

Anyway, glad to hear that you are enjoying them! They truly do showcase an atmosphere that I don't think is really available in any other genre or subgenre from whatever eras...

[SDJ]

I noticed when I was watching Invincible Super Chan (despite its many faults) that a "cheap" movie from back then often looks better than an relatively expensive movie from the same timeframe that's mainly set-bound. The more artificial Shaw Brothers look has its own charm as well, but ultimately, you can't fake nature--if you want to show nature all you can do is point a camera at it. A boring shot of the most boring field in the world has nuances in the grass and color of the sky sets can't reproduce. 

Now if a movie mainly takes place in what's supposed to be a lavish, flourishing palace or fancy brothel or something, that's where the Shaw Brothers approach could shine, since real interior locations with the look they were going for invariably look pretty run down.

Edited November 10, 2023 by SDJ

[thegoldenstate]

This is not exactly one of the points you are making, but it made me think of one of my peeves regarding the Shaw Brothers classics -- that of their sets being reused in film after film. For example, that long set of steps in Executioners of Shaolin leading up to Pai Mei's digs and down which Hung Hsi Kuan tumbles to his death show up in more of their films than I can remember at this point. It's almost like the live-action equivalent of those old Hanna Barbera cartoons in which a character would move past the same scenery repeatedly because the animation studio were evidently saving time/labor drawing costs, etc.

For that matter the first time I saw Five Deadly Venoms as a kid I found the scenes in which the characters were walking through the "streets" and interacting with vendors to be off-putting -- it was so obviously an indoor set that it resembled some sort of shopping mall more than it did the actual town or village setting that it was supposed to be portraying.

So back to what you mention, for me I always found the look of even the cheapest independent productions somewhat refreshing, as they would generally be filmed in the beautiful hillsides of Taiwan, or on locations in the New Territories of HK, which made for great visuals even on a miniscule budget. The sixties and early seventies Shaw productions seemed to have made use of actual outdoor settings much more frequently, whereas in the later years of the studio most everything seems to have been filmed on their rather sterile-looking soundstages. (That said, sometimes the obvious artificiality of the scenery has its own charms, and helps emphasize that we are being transported into another world of sorts...)

Edited November 11, 2023 by thegoldenstate

[ShawAngela]

I just finished to watch The great hunter 1976 after many many years.

I had forgotten how this movie was good. Non stop action movie, with Wang Yu, Chia Ling, Xu Feng and Chen Hung Lieh. What's there to ask for more ?

[ShawAngela]

I'm revisiting some old dvdrips I got from our friends @bigrogie and/or @JAMALmany, many years ago.

Two days ago, I watched Return of the hero of the waterfront.

I had totally forgotten the plot and I only remembered the last fight. I hadn't even realized that the main villain was Addy Sung at that time !! Great fights !

I also watched The fugitive 1970 with Tien Yeh. I vaguely rmembered that he was a convict who wanted to visit his mother before the execution, but that's all. This reminds me of a movie with Shan Kuan Ling Fung and Tien Peng (and maybe Kong Ban) with a similar plot, but I don't remember the title. This is a grzat wuxia movie, in which Yi Yuan plays a good and understanding constable, for once.

[ShawAngela]

I'm in my period "revisits" and " Chang Ching Ching's" movies.

Yesterday, I watched Paid in blood. Once again, I had totally forgotten the plot, but I enjoyed it as much as the first time. Chang Ching Ching and Kong Ban are my favourite wuxia couple in movies ! Yi Yuan plays his usual Devil's character. I wonder how all these movies in which he plays a similar role with a similar outfit (black with red lines) are related to each others. I don't remember the titles at this moment, but I know that he wears these clothes in several movies. hkmdb doesn't mention his character's name in some of them, so, I can't tell if it's really the same character or just a stroke of luck that the clothes are the same.

I also watched Extreme enemy, still with Chang Ching Ching and Wong Yung. I loved it. I still wonder who the girl in black was though, and how she was related to the heroes...

 

Since it seems that some companies are interested in releasing good quality prints of these old movies, it would be so great that one of them releases all these First Films company movies. The prints I have are yellowish, the subtitles are hard to read, and the images aren't very precise... but well, it's better than nothing !