Perils Of The Sentimental Swordsman 1981

[Guest vengeanceofhumanlanterns]

Upon finally viewing this film with legible english subs and a crystal clear picture I feel like I've finally actually seen this flick. This film has a very serious tone and the plot actually unfolds at an understandable pace. The music is very cool, especially when they arrive at Ghostly Village, like something out of the old school horror films of the 30s and 40s. Nice atmosphere. Some of Chu Yuan's films stories are so "seemingly" disconnected and convoluted that they can "admmittedly" be somewhat impossible to follow, but Perils is not. In fact Perils is very easy to watch in this respect and in every other respect as well. The fights are extremely well executed here. All of varying length (some very short and some drawn out depending on the characters involved-some are bad ass' some are not) and they are imaginative thoughout.

You have some pretty cool character's here: Broken Hearted Sword, Golden Finger, Soul Snathing Bell, The Mysterious Swordsman, The Black Wind Clan, The Handsome Loner (who's in his sixties though this guy is excellent), and Old Hawk. There are some cool sets as well: Ghostly Village, Hell's Cellar, and Bat Island is revisited.

The choreographing is excellent here and as I've stated the story's tempo and how it unfolds are very sensically done, considering Chu Yuan is condensing some very long Ku Lung chapters into a hour and thirty minute film, in this instance, mission accomplished. I was really pleased, considering all the flack this film was getting just prior to it's release, I was a bit wary of just how it was gonna hold up. I haven't seen my beat to hell bootleg for years.

The cast all carry themselves well throughout the entire film and though near the end the story seems a bit explanatory, it's only for this moment do you notice any effect on the film as a cluttered plot. In fact it's nothing that hurts this film at all.

I must note. Chu Yuan seems so appendaged to filming this particular shot, as though the viewer were looking through some branches of a tree or bush, where they are witnessing the approach of a character in the story who'd be completely unaware of the camera or the viewer. It also seems as though he may have been trying to lend a three dimensional effect to the scene with this camera angle. Chu Yuan's cool. I dig it. I know there's plenty of people out there who are either sick of his trademark style, but theyd have to admit, Chu Yuan and crew put a great deal of effort into their productions.

I'd easily rate this film 4/5 no problem.

peringaten, I think you may really appreciate this one.

[Guest tino]

Nice review. I watched Sentimental Swordsman and Return this week to put me in the mood for Perils. Cant wait to watch it tonight.

[Guest Markgway]

Perils isn't related to those films.

[Brigadier Chow]

Mark is right, the character featured in Perils is Lu Hsiao Fang and in the first 2 it is Chu Liu Hsian. Contrary to popular belief, I enjoyed all 3 of these films, even when I watched them on crappy VHS.8o

[Linn1]

it's a hybrid of those characters.

[Guest Markgway]

It's a sequel to 'Legend of the Bat' is it not?

[Brigadier Chow]

Yes, Clans of Intrigue was the first.

[Guest HAZ74]

This was a great movie. Pyrotechnics. A remote village of theives, murderers, & weirdos. A couple hot girls. Decent swordplay. The sets were pretty cool. The end was a bit convoluted, but you could make sense of it. This movie was not a waste of time. I only wish that it would have been connected in some way to the previous sentimental swordsmen films. It seems like they gave it that title because of Ti Lung & the fan. 8 green faced ghosts out of 10.

[Guest peringaten]

Somehow bypassed this thread and flick before. Sounds good.

[Guest ignamelogin]

it's a hybrid of those characters.

Linn, I'm not quite sure why you think it's a hybrid. While Gu Long has written many books with similar lead characters, ie: the handsome, womanizing wanderer; and his best friend the icy cold-hearted but loyal swordsman are pretty. But despite their overt similarities Chu Liu-Hsiang from Clans of Intrigue and Liu Xiao Feng from Clan of Amazons are popular for very different reasons and different epics. Liu Xiao Feng is known to "salivate at the sight of every beautiful woman," but is really looking for the true love that he lost long ago, while Chu Liu-Hsiang is more merry because he already has a harem of beautiful lady followers. Even Li Chin Huan from the Sentimental Swordsman, also played by Ti Lung, while suave like the other characters, is more of a love-stricken drunkard and thus more melancholy than the other Gu Long knight errants. All of the characters and their stories are very famous and for their Chinese audience quite distinct.

Perils of the Sentimental Swordsman is indeed a sequel to Clans of Intrigue and Legend of the Bat. Without giving anything away, the film actually flashbacks characters in the two prequels, but it's not necessary to watch them to enjoy Perils as it stands alone quite well. Following vengeanceofhumanlanterns comments, this is probably Chu Yuans most straight forward Gu Long adaptation. While that makes it easier to understand, the plot is a bit too simple and lacks the dizzying conspiracies and tense betrayals of the previous entries. It's mildly entertaining, but just that, the first two have much more personality.