Ring Of Fury (1973) Ricky Chong: Singapores First Kung Fu Film?

[DragonClaws]

I've been late finding out about this early 70's Martial Arts production, Ring Of Fury(1973). Karate Master Ricky Chong's one and only movie. Did the Singapore film industry, make more Martial Arts movies, other than the ones starring Dorris Young a.k.a  Marrie Lee?.

More on Ring Of Fury and Doris Young, in the following article.

This article comes from the following site Link- http://singaporerebel.blogspot.co.uk/2005/07/spore-make-amends-with-film_05.html

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BUSINESS TIMES
Published July 1, 2005

Smash! Bang! Pow!
That's what cult cinema in S'pore is about. GEOFFREY EU looks at independent cinema in S'pore in the 1970s


ON the front cover of an anthology of B-movies called Mondo Macabro: Weird & Wonderful Cinema Around the World, there is a picture of a young woman dressed as a nun and looking decidedly un-angelic - instead, she's toting a four-barrelled shotgun and ready to rumble.



Cult heroes: Doris Young as Cleopatra Wong and Peter Chong in Ring of Fury
In the world of cult cinema, it is an iconic image, immediately recognisable by fans (including the director Quentin Tarantino, a self-confessed movie nerd) as a still from Cleopatra Wong, a cheesy, low-budget cult classic about a high-kicking, hotpants-wearing Interpol agent on the trail of a counterfeiting gang. From an international perspective, it remains one of the best-known Singapore films ever made and is still screened regularly on the cult circuit.

The 1977 film - and a handful of other films like it - once had the potential to spearhead the independent cinema movement in Singapore and spur it on to greater heights. It starred an 18-year-old Singapore actress named Doris Young, who under the screen name Marrie Lee was touted as a female counterpart to the late Bruce Lee. In reality, the movement - which marked a distinct departure in style from the staple diet of studio films churned out by the likes of Shaw and Cathay-Keris - sputtered to a halt by the end of the decade, but for a brief period in the 1970s, filmmaking in Singapore was a showcase for innovative and exciting local talents.

Next month, Cleopatra Wong and an earlier, never-before released movie called Ring of Fury, will be among some 31 feature films and 15 shorts shown at Screen Singapore, a month-long smorgasbord of local cinema from 1955 to 2005. According to Raphael Millet, the French Embassy's cultural attache and the curator of the festival, films like Cleopatra Wong and Ring of Fury offer much more than simple entertainment.

'They are good B-grade movies that have high historical document value,' says Millet, who is writing a book on Singapore cinema. 'It was a time when almost nobody was shooting here, and they capture Singapore during the modernisation process - that's why they don't deserve to be lost.' He adds: 'The movies were independently produced and reflect a very fine cinematic spirit and attitude. Nobody takes the films seriously, but they are interesting if you look at them with the right perspective.'

Another reason that the 1970s-era films are worthy of attention, says Millet, is that they are action-oriented, deal with modern themes and herald the use of both English dialogue and colour photography. Prior to this, the studio films were shot primarily in black and white. 'These films were Asian without being regressive,' he says. 'For a country like Singapore, they are considered progressive and highly innovative.'

Anyone familiar with the first Bruce Lee films - such as The Big Boss and Fist of Fury - will be instantly aware of the style and mood that Cleopatra Wong and Ring of Fury were attempting to capture. To a large extent, they were inspired by the Bruce Lee Phenomenon.

Tony Yeow, writer and co-director of Ring of Fury, was working as a television producer in Hong Kong when he met Lee, who was at the height of his fame. 'I was inspired by the man and wanted to do something dedicated to him,' says Yeow. 'The Bruce Lee craze had hit Asia and I had an idea to do a local Bruce Lee film.'

Ring of Fury was shot entirely on location in Singapore on a shoestring budget of between $80,000 and $100,000, says Yeow, but it was banned here because the authorities objected to its subject matter - it was about a food seller who refuses to pay protection money to a gang of thugs and who exacts revenge when his mother is murdered.

Yeow says the story was based on real-life observations. 'Filmmakers have a social conscience. When we see something happening, we have something to say.' Ring of Fury was given a new lease on life when it was picked by Millet for the Paris Asian Film Festival last year. The positive reaction to the film, which was dubbed in Mandarin and stars Singaporean karate expert Peter Chong, was the catalyst for mounting Screen Singapore.

Chong, an Eighth Dan black belt holder, was running a karate school and was approached to do the movie. The gangster parts were given to instructors from various martial arts schools and the fight scenes - which impressed filmmakers in Hongkong - were more or less real. 'We were told to fight from here to there, and that was it,' says Chong, 65. 'The fighting was real and there was no choreography.'

Chong says that many of the locations - including underground tunnels in Labrador Park, a granite quarry in Bukit Timah, Clementi Hill and a fish farm in Punggol - are either inaccessible or no longer exist. 'When the film was banned, everybody became a bit demoralised,' he says. It was the end of his brief movie career. 'Looking back, it was good fun, even though we got injured now and then. We had some pretty good fights.'

Doris Young, who starred in three Cleopatra Wong films (after Cleopatra Wong came Dynamite Johnson and The Devil's Three, which were filmed in the Philippines), was working as a receptionist in a Shenton Way nightclub when she answered a newspaper ad that inquired, 'Are you smart, sexy and seductive?' A joint Singapore-Philippine production was looking for someone who could ride a motorbike. She auditioned in a miniskirt and boots and got the part.

She was given the Marrie Lee screen name to imply an association with the late Bruce Lee. 'Some fans thought that I was his younger sister,' she says. From the start, her films, co-produced by Singaporean Sunny Lim and (apart from the first one) directed by Filipino Bobby Suarez, were targeted at an international audience. Scenes were filmed in English (although the voices were dubbed) and post-production was done in Hollywood.

Young, 46, now says that for 20 years after her movie career, she cringed every time she watched her screen persona. Nowadays, she's a lot easier on herself, but she will never forget the local critic who wrote rather uncharitably that she was 'Cleopatra Wrong'. She remembers fondly the crowds who gathered to watch the action at different locations like Sentosa, the Chinese Gardens, Plaza Singapura and the Seaview Hotel.

Despite having to perform stunts like jumping through real glass and dangling in the air from a helicopter and shooting for up to 48 hours without a break, she says the experience was both interesting and memorable. 'We have the potential to make international films,' she says. 'We have foreign as well as local talent and we know the business - we just need someone to guide us.'

According to Philip Cheah, director of the Singapore International Film Festival, independent cinema in 1970s Singapore is defined by fewer than 10 films, including the three Cleopatra Wong films, Ring of Fury, Two Sides of the Bridge (a 1976 Mandarin-language social drama about differences in life between Singapore and Malaysia) and Saint Jack (1979), a Peter Bogdanovich film which was banned here because it portrayed the seamy underside of Singapore.

Cheah says the freewheeling spirit of independent filmmaking in those days was such that it could have spawned a B-movie industry to really put Singapore on the cinematic map, especially since many great filmmakers cut their teeth in independent cinema. 'But of course the filmmaking environment was too stuffy,' he says, and we are left to ponder on what might have been. 'We had a film industry then, but we let it slip away.'

'You enjoy Ring of Fury for its representation of a physical side of Singapore which is now gone,' says Cheah. 'These are also very physical films - actors actually did those stunts. These films are so freaky that they are timeless classics and that's why Tarantino loves Cleopatra Wong - if the filmmaking passion is there on screen, someone watching it will feel it.'

He adds: 'It's not high art - to do trash cinema, it's the imaginativeness of the improvising.' Ironically, the producer of Saint Jack was Roger Corman, the acknowledged king of the B-movie genre. Cheah likens Cleopatra Wong producer Sunny Lim to Corman. Lim made two more films - Bionic Boy and the Cleo Wong vehicle Dynamite Johnson, featuring pre-teen Johnson Yap as an early-day spy kid with bionic qualities and martial arts chops - before moving to Malaysia, where there were fewer restrictions on filmmakers.

Ben Slater, a Singapore-based writer who is researching a book on the making of Saint Jack, says it's curious how the film has slipped under the cinematic radar for so long. 'It's a really great film, made with strong help from local talent,' he says. 'Ironically, local filmmaking slumped after the 70s but potentially, Singapore had well-trained and professional film crews to support the industry.' He adds, 'Saint Jack captured Singapore in 1978, when it was moving from a post-colonial port town to a future metropolis.'

Three decades on, that sense of place and time - not to mention a uniquely Singaporean B-movie sensibility - can be seen in films like Cleopatra Wong and Ring of Fury. Says Ring star Peter Chong: 'Go and see the film - just imagine how different Singapore was - and how young I was then.'

Cleopatra Wong, Ring of Fury and other cult classics can be seen at Screen Singapore, which runs from Aug 1 to 3. It is organised by Phish Communications and the main sponsor is the Singapore Film Commission. For more information, visit www.screensingapore.com.

 

[Fist of the Heavenly Sky]

Any more info on the Ricky Chong fellow? I couldn't even find a HKMDB page for him. I assume he goes by other names?

[DragonClaws]

9 minutes ago, Fist of the Heavenly Sky said:

Any more info on the Ricky Chong fellow? I couldn't even find a HKMDB page for him. I assume he goes by other names?

I dont think the movies listed on the HKMDB, unless its under another title?.

Here's a link to a short video interview with Mr Chong, with some brief Karate demos. The only information I know about the man, is posted in this thread.

Link- http://www.straitstimes.com/files/once-banned-gongfu-film-now-a-restored-classic

 

 

[One Armed Boxer]

1 hour ago, DragonClaws said:

Did the Singapore film industry, make more Martial Arts movies, other than the ones starring Dorris Young a.k.a  Marrie Lee?.

I know that Singapore made quite a few martial arts TV series back in the day, but don't think its film industry (if you can even call it that) ever really had a kung-fu movie scene.  It's worth noting that all of Marrie Lee's martial arts flicks are from the Philippines, not her native Singapore.

[DragonClaws]

21 hours ago, One Armed Boxer said:

I know that Singapore made quite a few martial arts TV series back in the day, but don't think its film industry (if you can even call it that) ever really had a kung-fu movie scene.  It's worth noting that all of Marrie Lee's martial arts flicks are from the Philippines, not her native Singapore.

Thanks for that, even if they wasnt an industry like in Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan. They must have made a least more than one, Martial Arts movie?, unless they all got banned lol.

[Fist of the Heavenly Sky]

22 minutes ago, DragonClaws said:

Thanks for that, even if they wasnt an industry like in Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan. They must have made a least more than one, Martial Arts movie?, unless they all got banned lol.

I too find it odd that Singapore doesn't have at least a small martial arts film scene, considering that the Chinese make up about a plurality of it's population. I certainly reckon that Raymond Chow had proposed Singapore as a setting for the next Big Boss sequel that was never meant to be.

[DragonClaws]

1 hour ago, Fist of the Heavenly Sky said:

I too find it odd that Singapore doesn't have at least a small martial arts film scene, considering that the Chinese make up about a plurality of it's population. 

It's always baffled me, why they havent produced more Kung Fu movies, back in the 1970's boom period. Guess they were satisfied with just importing other Asian productions?.

[Fist of the Heavenly Sky]

1 minute ago, DragonClaws said:

It's always baffled me, why they havent produced more Kung Fu movies, back in the 1970's boom period. Guess they were satified with just importing other Asian productions?.

I think they might've, but Singapore being a small country as it is (and not nearly as close to the Mainland Chinese territory like Hong Kong, and therefore not really benefiting from available distribution routes), I'd assume there wasn't much priority, if any at all, with preserving the work. Regardless, I'd wager that Shaw Bros/Golden Harvest have used Singapore as a setting for filming every now and then, which is better than nothing.

[One Armed Boxer]

51 minutes ago, DragonClaws said:

It's always baffled me, why they havent produced more Kung Fu movies, back in the 1970's boom period. Guess they were satified with just importing other Asian productions?.

You have to bare in mind that Singapore didn't gain independence until 1965, and for the first few years it was still considered a third world country.  During the kung-fu boom of the 70's it was very much focused on developing its economy to first world country status, & recovering from the race riots of the late 60's, so as a consequence of this cultural aspects like a film industry naturally tend to be sidelined. 

The other factor is it's a country with 4 massively diverse official languages - English, Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil, so it's very difficult to make a movie that would please all of the population.  You're correct in saying that Singapore imported (& still does) most of the movies shown there from the countries that appeal to the demographic of the population - movies from China for the Mandarin speakers, movies from the Indian Tollywood industry for the Tamil speakers, Malaysian productions for the Malay speakers, and the usual Hollywood blockbusters that are in English language. 

There are some rare instances of Singapore and Hong Kong co-productions, the one that immediately springs to mind is Gordon Chan's '2000 AD' starring Aaron Kwok, which was also filmed there.

[DragonClaws]

13 hours ago, One Armed Boxer said:

You have to bare in mind that Singapore didn't gain independence until 1965, and for the first few years it was still considered a third world country.  During the kung-fu boom of the 70's it was very much focused on developing its economy to first world country status, & recovering from the race riots of the late 60's, so as a consequence of this cultural aspects like a film industry naturally tend to be sidelined. 

The other factor is it's a country with 4 massively diverse official languages - English, Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil, so it's very difficult to make a movie that would please all of the population.  You're correct in saying that Singapore imported (& still does) most of the movies shown there from the countries that appeal to the demographic of the population - movies from China for the Mandarin speakers, movies from the Indian Tollywood industry for the Tamil speakers, Malaysian productions for the Malay speakers, and the usual Hollywood blockbusters that are in English language.

Great post, appreciate you shedding some light on the Singapore film situation in the 1970's.

 

13 hours ago, One Armed Boxer said:

There are some rare instances of Singapore and Hong Kong co-productions, the one that immediately springs to mind is Gordon Chan's '2000 AD' starring Aaron Kwok, which was also filmed there.

I'd like to know if there were any earlier co-productions? from the 70's or 80's.

[HyperDrive]

I recently found this site about movies in Singapore. It's about filming locations but it does have a filmography.

https://sgfilmlocations.com/

I think the filmography is incomplete as it doesn't have one called Wounded Tracks which was released on Tai Seng VHS here in the US.

It does however have a comedy featuring Pencak Silat though.

https://sgfilmlocations.com/2015/02/02/pendekar-bujang-lapok-the-bachelor-warriors-1959/

 

 

[DragonClaws]

14 hours ago, HyperDrive said:

I recently found this site about movies in Singapore. It's about filming locations but it does have a filmography.

Thank you dude, I'll have to check out those links you posted.

Couple of stills from the movie.

 

High flying Ricky Chong.

 

The henchmen on the right, is rocking a 70's Bruce Lee look.

 

IMages from the following article about the movie, Link- http://www.sindie.sg/2017/01/stop10-jan-2017-ring-of-fury-by-tony.html

[DragonClaws]

@shaw golden, you clearly know your stuff when it comes to 1970's Asian cinema, do you know of any Martial Arts themed productions from Singapore at the time?.

[DragonClaws]

[DragonClaws]

 

Found out about this FREE screening, a bit too late.

 

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血指环 (Ring of Fury)

Posted on 08/06/2018 by admin

Monday 2nd July, 2018

19: 30 – 21:00: Evening Screening (K – 1.56)

The event is free but please register if you wish to attend: BOOK TICKETS

血指环 (Ring of Fury)

Tony Yeow and James Sebastian

1973  l Singapore  l 78 mins

Mandarin with English subtitles

Introduction from Karen Chan (Executive Director, Asian Film Archive, Singapore)

A humble noodle-seller refuses to pay protection fees to a gang of thugs, resulting in tragedy befalling his family and loved one. To exact revenge, he learns martial arts to deal with the gang led by an iron masked man.

Inspired by the kungfu craze sparked by Bruce Lee of the 1970s, Ring of Fury is Singapore’s first and only martial arts film featuring local karate master, Peter Chong, and a host of amateur actors.  With no budget for special effects, many of the unscripted, unchoreographed, and prolonged fight scenes in the film were raw and genuine fights between lead actor Peter Chong and the other stunt members.

Ring of Fury was banned for its portrayal of gangsterism and vigilantism at a time when Singapore was aggressively ‘cleaning up’ its national public image. The ban lasted for 32 years before the film made its long overdue debut at the 2005 Singapore International Film Festival.

Restored in 4K by the Asian Film Archive through Cineric Portugal film laboratory in 2017, the 35mm sole surviving print showed signs of severe deterioration, discolouration, and vinegar syndrome that caused differential shrinkage. A build-up of mould merging with the faded colours of yellow and cyan made the print images appear magenta. The mould proved to be so challenging that the laboratory specially wrote a new algorithm to resolve this problem.

 

[DragonClaws]

 

Ricky Chong turns himself into the human cart, as he perfect his on-screen fighting skill's..

 

 

[Yihetuan]

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Released in 1973, the film was rejected by censors in the country and not approved for public screenings due to its “portrayal of gangsterism and vigilantism at a time when Singapore was aggressively ‘cleaning up’ its national public image”.

James Sebastian + Tony Yeow's Ring of Fury [1973] restored by Asian Film Archive now available on YT.

https://www.nme.com/news/film/a-notorious-banned-singaporean-martial-arts-film-is-now-on-youtube-after-45-years-2670189

https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/entertainment/total-knockout

 

[fabhui]

Watched this the other day and it had a bit of Bruce Lee's The Big Boss vibe about it but with a lesser budget and much less talent.

The lead actor reminded me of a mix between Wang Yu and Sonny Chiba but with neithers charisma. 

Like The Big Boss, it's also missing footage due to the censors which in this case is now gone forever. 

[DragonClaws]

 

 

Thanks for posting that here @Yihetuan, there's some further links/info about the movie in the following thread.

 

 

[ShaolinMapache]

It's great that this is remastered now but the giant watermark is very distracting. 

[Yihetuan]

Thanks @DragonClaws. Maybe @SMK can merge the two threads? I didn't realize that earlier thread existed or I would've posted the news there, so to avoid having two threads on the same topic, it would be better to just have yours.

[SMK]

10 minutes ago, Yihetuan said:

Thanks @DragonClaws. Maybe @SMK can merge the two threads? I didn't realize that earlier thread existed or I would've posted the news there, so to avoid having two threads on the same topic, it would be better to just have yours.

They have been merged. 🙂

[Perfect Turd Podcast]

We recently found out about this film and its recent release on YouTube. We've done a spoiler review and discussion on it banning

https://youtu.be/k2JLHQ3IFBg

[SMK]

31 minutes ago, Perfect Turd Podcast said:

We recently found out about this film and its recent release on YouTube. We've done a spoiler review and discussion on it banning

https://youtu.be/k2JLHQ3IFBg

Very cool. I'm going to check out your video now. 

Welcome to the forum.