One Armed Swordsmen (contains major spoilers)

[moongirl]

Warning--if you haven't seen this, you may not want to read this post.

This is probably a stupid question, but here goes anyhow.

I've seen this a few times now, and every time I watch it, I'm left with the same question--who the heck is the Brother Dragon that we see in the beginning? Is this some "original" Brother Dragon whose identity Chin adopted later on? If so, where'd he go? When Chin Chiu Ying "tells the truth", he talks like Brother Dragon was a persona he created for himself. Every time I see this, I get the feeling that it was really Li Hau (David Chiang), and that that was how he lost his arm and what caused him to give up his life of crime, but this is never really revealed in the film. What are your thoughts on this?

I also get the feeling that something is being lost in translation--like, what about that flashback scene David Chiang describes where he throws a rock at Brother Dragon for no real reason--what the...? It almost seemed like the people who dubbed it didn't really know what was going on, and they just made up some dialogue to go along with the action in that scene.

All in all, though, I really like this film, but the picture is dark and hard to watch--are there any better versions out there? (I have the defective "insta-action" version.)

[The Dragon]

I agree with you 100%! I was always lost on the whole brother dragon thing, and they were chopping arms off left and right in this movie. Then when the old master says he cut the head off the guy to conceal his identity, I was stupified even more! Someone please help us figure this mess!

[moongirl]

Yeah, I thought that beheading was strange too. And we never even see or hear about the person that got stabbed behind the wall hanging.

Well, I forced myself to watch this again and there's stuff that Chin talks about at the end that I guess is supposed to explain all this, but it's a little whacky...

When Chin is confessing at the end, he talks about this incident where the former abbot, who was also his former teacher, having discovered that Chin was Brother Dragon, went to the secret meeting place to confront him. He also says that Jimmy and David were both there and that he decided to use the incident to divert suspicion from himself. He doesn't really explain when this happened, but maybe that's the scene we see in the beginning. The Abbot hides in the cemetery posing as Brother Dragon to confront Chin (and slaughters all his men while he's there?!), which would explain why he knew the Shaolin finger sword technique, or whatever, that Chin noticed he was using. This would also fit in with the story David Chiang tells about how he saw the dis-armed Brother Dragon run away to the Shaolin Temple--Chin says that the abbot fled back to the temple after the confrontation, to be killed by Chin a short while later.

It's a little weird, but it's the only thing that seems to fit. Any thoughts?

[vengeanceofhumanlanterns]

This is one of my staple films. I watch it it alot. However, I'm gonna check it out once more before commenting on who I think they're reffering to.

[The Dragon]

This is one of my staple films. I watch it it alot.:l However, I'm gonna check it out once more before commenting on who I think they're reffering to.

[moongirl]

Well, I watched this again--Brother Dragon in the opening scene says he has to kill Chin because Chin has recognized him... It's like it makes sense with what Chin says about the abbot at the end, except with the roles reversed. I'm wondering if this is supposed to be not actually what happened, but the version of it he tells the kid at the beginning, since when we next see Chin, he's talking about this with the student. Vengeance, have you rewatched this yet?