Member Cold Bishop Posted June 19, 2014 Member Share Posted June 19, 2014 Vengeful Beauty (Ho Meng-Hua, 1978) - Ha! I always knew this movie shoehorned in elements from the Flying Guillotine series. What I didn't realize is that this film is pretty much an alternate sequel to the first film. Norman Chu may be renamed Ma "Sen", but there's no doubt he's essentially the same character as Chen Kuan-Tai/Ti Lung in costume and demeanor, even carrying around Ma Tang's patented Umbrella. Surprisingly, it takes much of the same tact as the Cheng Kang/Hua Shan sequel, de-emphasizing the character in favor of a more traditional wuxia heroine, in this case Chen Ping's Bloody Hibiscus. Ho's preoccupation with family is included in the parallel narratives of Chen's hero and Lo Lieh's villain, and his taste for melodrama is there with the central love triangle and the "physical disability" drama of Chen Ping's pregnancy, but ultimately this is just an unpretentious cat-and-mouse thriller livened up by a few touches of Exploitation cinema (check out the topless fight). The fights aren't choreographically brilliant, but they're novel and inventive enough not to lose our attention. An early fight has the fighters scaling bamboo trees and fighting on their branches. And Lo Lieh uses one of the most WTF? fighting strategies I've ever seen in a kung-fu film. The film even goes all Chor Yuen/Gu Long near the end with a few unexpected plot twists. Not a great film, but superior pulp trash, handsomely filmed as always by Ho Meng-Hua. What's people's opinion on Dragon Missile, Ho's other faux-Guillotine film? I've seen it written off as a pretty woeful experience, but if it's as fun as this, it'll be worth a look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Eastern Evil Posted June 19, 2014 Member Share Posted June 19, 2014 Dragon Missile is pretty good. Hell, It has Lau Wing & Lo Lieh! The dub makes it even better - for me, anyway. Fan Mei-sheng & Norman Chu are also in this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted June 19, 2014 Member Share Posted June 19, 2014 I agree with Eastern evil, I really enjoyed Dragon missile and Liu Yung is very good in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member KyFi Posted June 19, 2014 Member Share Posted June 19, 2014 I'd say Dragon Missile is not in the top tier of Shaw movies, but it's a respectable second tier movie. Well done and entertaining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Tex Killer Posted June 20, 2014 Member Share Posted June 20, 2014 was quite interesting drama, Ku Feng gives yet another solid performance. Not totally without action though, there is 2 fights and later of them is pretty good. Now OOP but definitely worth picking up if it comes across. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Tex Killer Posted June 22, 2014 Member Share Posted June 22, 2014 Rivals of kung-fu was okay, there is few decent good scenes with best being wong fei hung takes on ~12 polefighters. Nice to see Sek Kin in action, his potential was not used nowhere fully in enter the dragon... Negative side in movie is, ~30 minutes from beginning is tedious stuff, I almost took disc off before movie got better. I have not yet seen "master of kung fu" but I believe it´s superior to this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cold Bishop Posted June 22, 2014 Member Share Posted June 22, 2014 Master of Kung Fu sounds like the reverse: it starts well, peaks in the middle, and then turns into a formulaic bore. The peak being watching Ku Feng absolutely kill it with the three-sectioned staff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted June 23, 2014 Member Share Posted June 23, 2014 Disciples Of Shaolin (1975) Boy, seems like every time I see a Shaw Bros movie these days it turns out better than the previous one (I enjoyed this one even more than Marco Polo or 36th Chamber Of Shaolin). This film is great in all departments: acting (Fu Sheng steals the show here), choreography (loved that action), soundtrack (especially the cue that plays whenever Fu Sheng wipes his shoes (great running gag BTW) and the recurring spaghetti Western tune)... My only complaint would be that Chi Kuan Chun doesn't get enough screen time. We know of his character's backstory through a flashback and some dialogue (not even by him), he barely has a line and only really comes into play in the end after Fu Sheng's character is killed (this death scene and the scene by his grave are really powerful BTW - the use of black and white for a couple of scenes makes them look even better, made me wish the whole film was in B&W haha). That said, as little as we see him, the character has great fighting skills and is very enjoyable to watch - it seems like while Fu Sheng's style, much like his character, is exhuberant but not so dangerous, CKC uses a less exhuberant but more agressive and violent fighting style (his character doesn't seem to be an agressive or violent type, but he's clearly not as bright and innocent as Fu Sheng's). I still have two more SB films to watch, two Shaolin cycle movies (that actually DO have something to do with Shaolin): Men From The Monastery (1974) and Shaolin Martial Arts (1974). Even better movies ? Disciples Of Shaolin will be hard to top, but again, that's what I thought of 36th Chamber or Invincible Shaolin... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member the moose Posted June 23, 2014 Member Share Posted June 23, 2014 Men from the monestary is pretty good. But not as good as Disciples and Marco. Shaolin Martial Arts however is, in my opinion, the second best movie ever produced by the studios. I love it, I've watched it again and again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member the moose Posted June 23, 2014 Member Share Posted June 23, 2014 I have watched the first 20 minutes or so of deadly breaking sword - I will watch the rest tonight. As it's from the team that bought us avenging eagle I'm unimpressed so far. The opening sword fight with Ti Lung is not too bad, then there was the fight with Fu Sheng in the gambling house against 3 extortioners - very unimpressed with this fight scene to be honest and considering it was 1979 i would expect more speed and power and creativity. I hope the fight scenes improve. The story hasn't really developed so far so maybe it will be a really intriging plot that keeps my eyes glued to the screen like AE had. I do like the quirky camerwork in Sun Chung's movies, and this has some impressive camerawork. I'll pop by tomorrow when I have seen the whole movie to give my verdict. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member the moose Posted June 23, 2014 Member Share Posted June 23, 2014 Forget my previous post above. I watched the whole of this movie. It is absolutely amazing. Even better than Avenging Eagle in my opinion (probably shot back to back with this by the same team) - It has gone straight into my all time top 5 Shaw Bros movies. The plot is so engaging, the performances are so good, the set designs and camera work are flawless. The fights do indeed improve a bit - but all the other elements come together so well, you can't help but become so immersed in the stories and characters. Aided by the fact that the characters are 3 dimentional. Like Avenging eagle, it portrays a dark, cynical morally murky world. And appears to be a protest statement about the power of money on people and how it shapes our values. Sun Chung deserves much more recognition than he gets. 5 out of 5. - The themes of this movie speak to me on a deep level. If you haven't seen this movie, go get it now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Tex Killer Posted June 26, 2014 Member Share Posted June 26, 2014 1st time I saw this from dvd. I did not like this a lot when watched as a kid from vhs and still not think it´s worth more than half of kudos it has received. But seeing this in correct aspect ratio, chinese spoken and uncut(at least 3 section staff fighter was missing from vhs release) was nice experience. CKT and Lo Lieh are great and at least subtitles made more sense to CKT`s failure and WY´s success than dub did. ***1/2/***** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Tex Killer Posted July 7, 2014 Member Share Posted July 7, 2014 *the mighty one. Usual story of revenge&lost kung-fu manual was spiced up by great action scenes. Villain and heroes even had telekinetic powers:tongue:, time did fly with this... *sword and the lute. Final part of trilogy(others are twin swords and temple of red lotus) is weakest one but still good flick. Jimmy is in quite small role@movie, lo lieh gets more screen time. *Flying guillotine part 2. When I first was this I thought it`s not as good as part 1 but now years later I will change opinion. Story is almost as interesting as in prequel but great fighting makes difference. Final assault at emperor is furious goodie:bigsmile: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted July 7, 2014 Member Share Posted July 7, 2014 Men From The Monastery (1974) While it's an enjoyable movie with an interesting story and some great action, I still put it pretty low on my list (so far, only Legend Of The Bat is "worse" in my eyes). People seem not to like it much and I can see why. Its major flaw IMO is a very flawed narrative. The idea of focusing on 3 central characters and explaining each of them is interesting, but the movie needed more development. While we see why the first two are so close, how they became friends and all (the backstories of these guys is well-done), their link to the third character (and his link to Shaolin for that matter) is very obscure. Also, the burning of Shaolin is glanced over in a few seconds and is merely referred to in some dialogues afterwards - extra scenes focusing on the impact it had on the characters (dialogues, eventually a mourning scenes) would have made this deeper. The film is barely 90 minutes, but adding an extra half hour with more training scenes (like that third guy or some of his friends who claim they're from Shaolin) and a bigger focus on the temple itself (what happened there, how all these characters ended together) would have made the narrative more structured. But beside that issue, I found this one very enjoyable - Fu Sheng and Chi Kuan Chun once again make a nice pair (see my views on Disciples Of Shaolin) and the villains are quite badass (especially Kong Do, he is kinda scary in this one). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Tex Killer Posted July 12, 2014 Member Share Posted July 12, 2014 Chen Kuan Tai is his usual cool himself in this "sequel" to boxer from shantung. Great film, very recommendable .Sometimes I felt was too predictable what is coming next, but minor detail. Bolo is cool as henchman with kind of low level martial arts skill but fights to death like tiger.. Last 15 mins are goosebumper when CKT takes on 30-40 thugs... I got ivl @ebay from member at this forum:bigsmile: , while it`s OOP thai united is still available for those who don`t do torrents or dvd-r`s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member NoKUNGFUforYU Posted July 17, 2014 Member Share Posted July 17, 2014 The Villains 1973 One of the worst Shaws I have seen in a while. A tyrannical father allows his son (Chen Hung Lit) to bully, abuse and humiliate the towns people. He alienates his other, studious, hardworking son (I assume he is the 2nd born, and has to eat shit his whole life) played by Yueh Hua. Chen rapes Shih Szu before going on a mission to extort money, then the dad beats her with a staff for having the audacity to accuse his precious son of knocking her up, even though he basically confirms that with his son that he is using his cousin for sex. Chen comes back, murders the servant who took the rap for him and is platonically taking care of his "wife" or "woman" or really, property, then kills a few other people before running off south to rob banks. Oh the horror, the pompous old fart has lost face now, as his son has made him ashamed, and somehow we are all supposed to feel bad for him, as he is a wealthy patriarch. Even Shih Szu starts bawling at his death bed, despite the fact that he was nothing but rude, cruel and abusive to her and her family. Everyone seems to be brainwashed by Chinese tradition. I have actually heard about stuff like this from my Chinese in-laws, where the grandma was beaten by the first wife, and somehow she felt bad that she offended her, etc. All I could think is what a miserable lifestyle these people lead, and it was no different than something you would hear about in the Taliban. Also, on a side note, the father tells Shih Szu that he doesn't appreciate the "free love" or "modern attitudes" of her family. Her dad, who never see, was not into materialism, but an intellectual who loved poetry. He was probably was a very compassionate person, which seems like a sin here. The fights are for the most parts melees, and are ok, but there is no stand out duels or anything. Chen and Hua are decent screen fighters and I have a new appreciation for Yueh Hua. He wasn't on the level of Fu Sheng or Chen Kuan Tai, but he was a good actor and decent enough at fighting to pull it off. While this flick is a rarity, I just can't recommend it to anyone but completists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member BaronK Posted July 17, 2014 Member Share Posted July 17, 2014 I, don't, think you get the title of the thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member NoKUNGFUforYU Posted July 17, 2014 Member Share Posted July 17, 2014 LOL, I guess you're right. hopefully I save some people some time. I know as a collector and a viewer, some of us, myself included, have gone to a lot of trouble to find some of the more obscure titles- Thunderbolt Fist, Flight Man, Invisible Girl, and so on, only to find that they were pretty awful. Of course, in the case of Thunderbolt Fist, some would say "so bad it's good" or "WTF?" There are some good rares out there, but I wouldn't put this up there. Hopefully someone decides against spending a lot of time trying to find a copy of this one. It will probably show up on Youtube, that is about what it was worth to me. Sorry to be harsh, but the movie really rubbed me the wrong way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted July 17, 2014 Member Share Posted July 17, 2014 Well, are tastes are in the Mother nature, but I totally disagree with you and I found that The villains was a superb Shaws' movie, and Yueh Hua and Chin Feng were excellent in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cold Bishop Posted July 19, 2014 Member Share Posted July 19, 2014 I actually agree with NoKUNGFUforYU on this one. I know Chor Yuen was a fan of melodrama and the movie is well directed - no one was better at emphasizing the various angles and planes of the studio sets - but the movie is strangled by its conservative attitude. Chen Hung-Lieh's hammy overacting doesn't help either. No nuance or subtlety which the movie desperately needed. The only thing that impressed me was ***SPOILERS*** that it allowed Yueh Hua to kill Chen. Most traditional melodramas would have avoided the fratricide, instead having Shih Szu, being the despoiled woman, sacrifice herself to do it. **SPOILERS*** but the rest I could do without. The emphasis on poetry however makes it something of a forerunner to the Gu Long cycle. And if you want to see Cheng Miu as a monstrous father who isn't let off the hook, there is always the brilliant 12 Gold Medallions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted July 19, 2014 Member Share Posted July 19, 2014 Talking about monstruous fathers, there is also Tien Feng as Wang Yu's father in My son...What a sad fate Wang Yu has in this superb movie ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted July 22, 2014 Member Share Posted July 22, 2014 The Water Margin (1972) Can you say "grand scale epic" ? That film is very impressive in how huge it is. And not only is it huge in scale, it's also great as a movie. I'd put it up there along with Marco Polo and Disciples Of Shaolin as one of my very fav' Shaws. Tex Killer (who recommended that set to me) said it was the only one of the 4 he didn't like - boy, if this one is the dud of the set, I wonder how the other 3 can be greater than this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member paimeifist Posted July 22, 2014 Member Share Posted July 22, 2014 It is a sequel to Delightful Forest right? That is probably my favorite Ti Lung performance, as far as fighting goes. This may be my next purchase as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Tex Killer Posted July 22, 2014 Member Share Posted July 22, 2014 The Water Margin (1972) [ Tex Killer (who recommended that set to me) said it was the only one of the 4 he didn't like - boy, if this one is the dud of the set, I wonder how the other 3 can be greater than this. Hehehe...tastes differ but I am glad you liked it. One day I might give it a rewatch... Paimefist someone will correct if I am wrong but I think it goes in this order Tiger killer>delighful forest>water margin>all men are brothers. I think tiger killer is pretty dreadful movie with less than 10 minutes of action and uninteresting story. Much credit for ti lung, his screen energy saves something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted July 22, 2014 Member Share Posted July 22, 2014 Hehehe...tastes differ but I am glad you liked it. One day I might give it a rewatch... Paimefist someone will correct if I am wrong but I think it goes in this order Tiger killer>delighful forest>water margin>all men are brothers. I think tiger killer is pretty dreadful movie with less than 10 minutes of action and uninteresting story. Much credit for ti lung, his screen energy saves something. Not sure if there were movies happening before WM, but it would make sense (the opening suggests we're picking up from something). However, AMAB is indeed a "direct" sequel to WM (despite many events occuring and some time ellapsing between the two). My guess is you should re-watch WM, but without expecting too much action or big fights. The film isn't really an action flick, more like a big epic. Concerning Delightful Forest, I don't know if it's related to WM and AMAB, but it certainly seems like a great film. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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