No. But it´s mildly entertaining anyway.
Lates martial arts flick I viewed:
Great entertainment!
[quote=“Phil H, post:560, topic:368”]Not seen Stoner. Is it good?[/quote]I thought it was good fun, the showdown at the end is fantastic.
[url]http://img707.imageshack.us/i/imagescam2b23t.jpg/[/url] [size=12pt]Hap Ki Do[/size] (1972, Feng Huang)
This must be one of the better martial arts movies, on a par with Bruce lee’s superior Hong Kong efforts . It’s probably also Angela Mao’s best effort. She excels as Lady Kung Fu (the alternative title, so hey you experts, is it Hap ki Do or Kung Fu after all?) even though it’s Ing Sik-Whang (apparently her real-life teacher) who really leads the spectacle to a terrific climax in the final fifteen minutes.
Three young Chinese, a girl and her two brothers (called younger brother and older brother), get the chance to study Hap ki Do in occupied Korea. After an incident involving the Japanese oppressor they’re forced to fly to China. They were granted permission by their “master” to start in Hap Ki Do school, on condition that they will try to avoid trouble at any cost. Getting into trouble is of course exactly what they do, almost immediately, thanks to the short-tempered ‘younger brother ‘ (a wonderful Sammo Hung).
The story is the traditional stuff of rivaling schools in a rapidly evolving story of honour, murder and revenge. As usual the Japanese are all evil (one even sports a lovely Hitler moustache), while the Chinese (and in this case the Koreans) are all suave and peace loving (except for those collaborating with the Japs). The camera work is rather traditional too, but the action is tremendous, and just goes on and on, the film seems an interminable display of virtuoso martial arts techniques. And somehow Fen Huang manages to make his very studio bound movie look good. Even those soundstages with their painted backgrounds look nice. He also keeps some of the usual silliness (gravity defying trapeze acts and excruciating comic relief) to a minimum. The story is simple but very effective, and overall this is a surprisingly somber and dark movie.
With three nationalities involved, it would be nice to know which language was spoken on the set.
Recommended
I’ve followed this one a couple of times on ebay Scherps but always missed out. I shall have to give it another try based on this. Sounds like one I’d definitely like.
I love HAPKIDO, I’d say that and WHEN TAEKWONDO STRIKES are her two best films.
I watched a download from CG
It’s of superb quality, but unfortunately it’s an MKV file (not an AVI file)
I had troubles before with those files so I planned to avoid them in the future, but I didn’t pay attention this time. I finally had to download a special player in order to watch it.
So far I haven’t found a way to burn it on a disc (I had to watch it on my PC, which is of course feasible, but not very comfortable)
Yes, the film is word looking for, a feast for the eye (and Angela isn’t exactly ugly either)
VLC player does not play MKV files then ?
I have converted MKV files to standard dvd Vob format in the past but takes for ever on my computer.
Use the matroska software for mkv files, it’s a free software, MKV files are of better image quality, but not visible if you wacht the fims in the computer
[quote=“ENNIOO, post:567, topic:368”]VLC player does not play MKV files then ?
I have converted MKV files to standard dvd Vob format in the past but takes for ever on my computer.[/quote]
Mine didn’t (but maybe I did something wrong)
I downloaded Media Classic player (or something like that), and it played very well
Like El Topo says, those MKV files are of superb quality
I had another once, and downloaded the software to burn it to a disc, but it took ages to do so, and I got a watermark in the middle of the image
Hapkido is a great kung fu movie, I think it’s maybe even better than Bruce Lee’s Fist of Fury
It’s available at a fair price from HK Flix
[url]http://www.hkflix.com/xq/asp/filmID.541101/qx/details.htm[/url]
[quote=“Lindberg, post:570, topic:368”]Hapkido is a great kung fu movie, I think it’s maybe even better than Bruce Lee’s Fist of Fury
It’s available at a fair price from HK Flix
[url]http://www.hkflix.com/xq/asp/filmID.541101/qx/details.htm[/url][/quote]Pan media discs are bootlegs.
This is probably the best one to get 
The Pan media disc is not bad though, widescreen and uncut, I have this one myself
Better than watching the movie on your computer 
The Hong Kong Legends release is better picture quality but more expensive
I hate them Pan Media discs, the only one I am tempted to get is CHINATOWN KID, but I know as soon as I do a proper one will end up coming out!
![http://img707.imageshack.us/i/imagescam2b23t.jpg/[/url]](http://img707.imageshack.us/i/imagescam2b23t.jpg/%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
[quote=“Bad Lieutenant, post:574, topic:368”]I have Chinatown Kid on good old vhs:
[/quote]I’ve got that Dutch release too, the same version was released in the U.K. but the BBFC cut a fair bit out, the IVL DVD is a totally different cut of the film, I prefer the Vhs version, just need that version in original language letterboxed with subs!
Re Lazenby
Since turning down appearing in further Bond movies after OHMSS he had difficulty finding work in the film industry, but he did appear in a few martial arts movies in the early 1970s
He was also a practitioner of martial arts himself so this wasn’t as absurd as it might seem ;D
It’s even said he was supposed to star opposite Bruce Lee in an upcoming movie after Enter the Dragon in 1973, but then Lee sadly and unexpectedly passed away
I’ve also seen Stoner, which you mentioned before, have not seen A Queen’s Ransom though
My favourite Lazenby movies are Freeze Bomb (with Jim Kelly from Enter the Dragon) and The Man from Hong Kong (with Jimmy Wang Yu)
Lazenby actually plays the villain in both
And re the fight choreography in these films, most are pretty theatrical and staged to look exciting and spectacular
Most of the time it’s not quite ‘authentic’ techniques that are shown, not even in the films by Bruce Lee or other real life martial arts experts
So there’s often a certain difference between movie fighting and authentic martial arts
[quote=“Lindberg, post:576, topic:368”]Re Lazenby
Since turning down appearing in further Bond movies after OHMSS he had difficulty finding work in the film industry, but he did appear in a few martial arts movies in the early 1970s
He was also a practitioner of martial arts himself so this wasn’t as absurd as it might seem ;D
It’s even said he was supposed to star opposite Bruce Lee in an upcoming movie after Enter the Dragon in 1973, but then Lee sadly and unexpectedly passed away
I’ve also seen Stoner, which you mentioned before, have not seen A Queen’s Ransom though
My favourite Lazenby movies are Freeze Bomb (with Jim Kelly from Enter the Dragon) and The Man from Hong Kong (with Jimmy Wang Yu)
Lazenby actually plays the villain in both
[/quote]Man from Hong Kong is fantastic, love the Sky High song by Jigsaw 
I would never have expected that Lazenby had made these movies, and above all: that he had fans
I totally lost sight of him after his single appearance as Bond (in a film I never really loved) and only saw him again, years later, at the side of Sylvia Kristel, in some kind of Emanuelle rip-off. Incidently, they were only delivering comments on the action scenes (if you know what I mean), not taking part in them (I guess they were both over fifty)
Viewed The Man from Hong Kong recently and is good fun.