Searching for a Shaw Brothers Martial Arts Movie produced in 1981

[Bavarian Samurai]

Hi dear KungFu Fandom community,

I am looking for a martial art movie Shaw Brothers produced in 1981 in Hong Kong. The only more famous actor in this movie was Chen Kuan Tai.

A very good friend of mine was during that time in his early 20s in Hong Kong and in that movie for a short scene.

He played an opponent of the movie`s subhero, not of Chen Kuan Tai. He played a German guy who fought the subhero with japanese martial arts and had also some german text. He wore suspenders, and in the beginning of his scene, he grabbed his suspenders and snapped them. He remembers that the storyline of the movie played in the early 20th century during the boxer riot and the chinese hero fought as well against japanese guys. (It was not "Boxer Rebellion", since the movie was released already 1975)

He thinks the working title of the movie was “Beast from the East”. But I couldn’t find any Shaw Brothers movie with this title. Nor could I find a Chen Kuan Tai movie produced in 1981 with the plot taking place in the 1900s.

He thinks this movie was probably only released in China or only Hong Kong.        

Would be awesome if someone of the community remembers this scene, knows the movie by any chance and could tell me the actual title.

Thank you Guys.

Best regards,

Bavarian Samurai

Edited September 9, 2023 by Bavarian Samurai

[ShawAngela]

14 hours ago, Bavarian Samurai said:

Hi dear KungFu Fandom community,

I am looking for a martial art movie with no (international) famous main actors Shaw Brothers produced in 1981 in Hong Kong.

A very good friend of mine was during that time in his early 20s in Hong Kong and in that movie for a short scene.

He played an opponent of the movie`s hero. He played a German guy who fought the hero with japanese martial arts. He wore suspenders, and in the beginning of his scene, he grabbed his suspenders and snapped them. He remembers that the storyline of the movie was that the chinese hero fought against the japanese invaders.

 

Back then the production guys promised him to send him a copy of the movie, but he never got it.  

 

He thinks the working title of the movie was “Beast from the East”. But I couldn’t find any Shaw Brothers movie with this title. Probably this movie was only released in China.        

Would be awesome if someone of the community remembers this scene, knows the movie by any chance and could tell me the actual title.

Thank you Guys.

Best regards,

Bavarian Samurai

I don't know what are suspenders (the things that hold trousers ?), but are you sure that this movie was a Shaws' one ?

[Chu Liu Hsiang]

Offhandedly, only Shaw movie comes to my mind where actors played German characters, namely BOXER REBELLION, but it was made before 1981.

[ShawAngela]

3 hours ago, Chu Liu Hsiang said:

Offhandedly, only Shaw movie comes to my mind where actors played German characters, namely BOXER REBELLION, but it was made before 1981.

I don' t remember that it was "a hero fighting Japanese invaders"  plot in this movie, or am I mistaken.

[Chu Liu Hsiang]

More like hero fighting all kinds of invaders, and there were some Japanese soldiers among them.

[ShawAngela]

1 hour ago, Chu Liu Hsiang said:

More like hero fighting all kinds of invaders, and there were some Japanese soldiers among them.

I took a look at this movie's page on hkmdb (cast and pictures), and I think that you are right about the title.

At first, reading the question, the first movies that came to my mind were Fist of fury (but it was a Russian opponent, not a German one) and Fearless  !

Maybe if we knew the name of the actor who played the German opponent, it would help a little bit.

[ChillyChong]

Only movies can think of are My rebellious son and Ninja in deadly trap(aka hero defeating the japs) which could even barely fit to what you are looking for. years are close but latter is not Shaw movie. Tho it has Shaw stars,

Edited August 27, 2023 by ChillyChong

[One Armed Boxer]

6 hours ago, ShawAngela said:

Maybe if we knew the name of the actor who played the German opponent, it would help a little bit.

^^ This! @Bavarian Samurai - give us a name to work with!

[Bavarian Samurai]

On 8/26/2023 at 3:08 PM, ShawAngela said:

I don't know what are suspenders (the things that hold trousers ?), but are you sure that this movie was a Shaws' one ?

Yes, suspenders are the things that hold trousers. It was a Shaw Brothers Movie, because my friend sat next to Gordon Liu Chia-hui (36 chambers of Shaolin) in the same mask, who was shooting another Shaw Brothers movie at the same time.

[Bavarian Samurai]

On 8/27/2023 at 3:17 AM, ChillyChong said:

Only movies can think of are My rebellious son and Ninja in deadly trap(aka hero defeating the japs) which could even barely fit to what you are looking for. years are close but latter is not Shaw movie. Tho it has Shaw stars,

Thank you. Just watched the two movies "My rebellious son" and "Ninja in a deadly trap". I didn't find the particular scene of my friend in "My rebellious son", and "Ninja in a deadly trap" played during the Ming dynasty. The movie my friend had his short scene played in the early 20th century (1900s).

[Bavarian Samurai]

On 8/27/2023 at 5:11 AM, One Armed Boxer said:

^^ This! @Bavarian Samurai - give us a name to work with!

I already tried to find the movie by searching with my friends name, but I got no results on Google. Since he had only a short scene, his name was not in the cast of this movie.

[ChillyChong]

2 minutes ago, Bavarian Samurai said:

I already tried to find the movie by searching with my friends name, but I got no results on Google. Since he had only a short scene, his name was not in the cast of this movie.

Try hkmdb.com

[sym8]

18 hours ago, Bavarian Samurai said:

I already tried to find the movie by searching with my friends name, but I got no results on Google. Since he had only a short scene, his name was not in the cast of this movie.

If you give us your friends name there are people on here that know there shit and might be able to help more👍🙏

[Bavarian Samurai]

On 9/2/2023 at 8:58 PM, sym8 said:

If you give us your friends name there are people on here that know there shit and might be able to help more👍🙏

My friend did not give the production company his name, because it was a rather spontanious circumstance that he played as an extra in a Shaw Brothers movie. So it doesn't make sense to search for his name.

[Bavarian Samurai]

I edited my initial question with more information I got from my friend.

[ShawAngela]

3 hours ago, Bavarian Samurai said:

I edited my initial question with more information I got from my friend.

Is your friend a  Chinese one ? Could we find him on the "Unknown SB-actor" hkmdb page ? None of the Chen Kuan Tai' s 1981 movies seem to have the elements you mention. Who was the subhero you are talking about ? What was his name in the movie ? What was his story in the movie?  You have to give us more precise  informations if you want us to help you. That's so strange that we can't get your friends' name, and I find it even more strange that he didn't give it to the Shaws. Even if he had a short scene, he had to be paid for it, so, at a moment, they had to write a paper with his name and salary on it in my opinion. Or maybe you could show us a picture of him from the 80's ? And I think that even if his name was unknown from the Shaws, maybe his name could help some of us who are skilled in investigating such things as finding a movie' s title.

And I'm not sure that there was ever a  Shaws' movie released only in China, but maybe I'm mistaken about this matter.

[Bavarian Samurai]

20 hours ago, ShawAngela said:

Is your friend a  Chinese one ? Could we find him on the "Unknown SB-actor" hkmdb page ? None of the Chen Kuan Tai' s 1981 movies seem to have the elements you mention. Who was the subhero you are talking about ? What was his name in the movie ? What was his story in the movie?  You have to give us more precise  informations if you want us to help you. That's so strange that we can't get your friends' name, and I find it even more strange that he didn't give it to the Shaws. Even if he had a short scene, he had to be paid for it, so, at a moment, they had to write a paper with his name and salary on it in my opinion. Or maybe you could show us a picture of him from the 80's ? And I think that even if his name was unknown from the Shaws, maybe his name could help some of us who are skilled in investigating such things as finding a movie' s title.

And I'm not sure that there was ever a  Shaws' movie released only in China, but maybe I'm mistaken about this matter.

My friend is German and was in 1981 in Hong Kong, was recruited as an extra for a Shaw Brothers movie, and because he knew about and practiced already back then japanese and chinese martial arts he got a fighting scene with one of the hero`s (Chen Kuan Tai) fellows. He said that they even rewrote the script of the movie to give him a short fighting scene.

My friend doesn't know that I try to get the movie, it should be a surprise. That's why I don't wanna share his name here and because I don't want his name be found on search engines. He said he was paid in cash for the short scene he had and the couple of hours on the set.

And he said he did not give his name to the production company because it was only a one time thing.

But if the guys who are skilled in investigating such things as finding a movie' s title send me a personal message, I am happy to share his name with hem in a personal message.

Thanky you for your time so far.

[odioustrident]

Battle for the Republic of China was released in late 1981 and is a Shaw Bros. co-production that includes Chen Kuan Tai.  There are a handful of action scenes and it's possible that some (but not all) of them were shot in Hong Kong.  I can't remember a foreign fighter in the movie but I could easily be forgetting.  The film had different units shooting footage and is sort of episodic.

How certain is your friend of the year he worked on the film and Chen Kuan Tai's role? Is it possible that he worked on a TV series or that his footage was cut from a film mentioned already?

[thekfc]

@Bavarian Samurai  Could it be Winner Takes All?

[Bavarian Samurai]

On 9/11/2023 at 8:48 PM, odioustrident said:

Battle for the Republic of China was released in late 1981 and is a Shaw Bros. co-production that includes Chen Kuan Tai.  There are a handful of action scenes and it's possible that some (but not all) of them were shot in Hong Kong.  I can't remember a foreign fighter in the movie but I could easily be forgetting.  The film had different units shooting footage and is sort of episodic.

How certain is your friend of the year he worked on the film and Chen Kuan Tai's role? Is it possible that he worked on a TV series or that his footage was cut from a film mentioned already?

I watched "Battle for the Republic of China" and could not find a scene where a guy snapped his suspenders before he were beaten up by the subhero. So therefore I guess it was not this movie.

Of the year he is pretty certain.

Of course there is a possibility that his scene never made it to the final movie.

He said they told him that the scene he was in was for a movie. But there is also the possibility that the movie was never finished or cancelled and did not come out at all, yes. Or that the scene was used for a series.