Watched Devils Mirror last night. Nearly non-stop sword fighting. Has to be one of the highest bodycounts I’ve ever seen! Theres some supernatural stuff going on (A witch type villain trying to get power by aquiring the devils mirrors) Anyway it has super cheesy effects, an incredible amount of blood, and its fun to watch 
Also I have To Kill a Mastermind on the way!!
Watched VENGEANCE OF A SNOW GIRL, I enjoyed it but for some reason expected it to be better than it was.
VIRGINS OF THE SEVEN SEAS - Watched it this evening, great fun. Not quite what I expected (with the comedic elements) but I still loved it. :
Plenty of tits and high kicks!
Cat Vs. Rat… Satisfyingly-presented version of the my fighting-style is better than your fighting-style plot-line. Light-hearted, rather than grimly serious, as the ‘groupies’ of two kung-fu instructors keep conjuring various fight-scenarios for Adam Cheng and Sheng Fu (‘cat’ and ‘rat’). -Scenario’s that prompt the-2 to keep seeking new advice from their masters, who become tediously vexed. Crisp, balanced action for-the-most-part, though the final-brawl strains believability a little. Nobody is gasping and panting-for-breath, which made the earlier scenes ‘work’. Good film for Saturday-morning waking-up, w/coffee.
[quote=“kit saginaw, post:364, topic:2162”]Cat Vs. Rat… Satisfyingly-presented version of the my fighting-style is better than your fighting-style plot-line. Light-hearted, rather than grimly serious, as the ‘groupies’ of two kung-fu instructors keep conjuring various fight-scenarios for Adam Cheng and Sheng Fu (‘cat’ and ‘rat’). -Scenario’s that prompt the-2 to keep seeking new advice from their masters, who become tediously vexed. Crisp, balanced action for-the-most-part, though the final-brawl strains believability a little. Nobody is gasping and panting-for-breath, which made the earlier scenes ‘work’. Good film for Saturday-morning waking-up, w/coffee. [/quote]I’ve not seen it for ages. Is that the one where they can’t step over a certain line in the street?
Yes, it is. -A variation of the village split in-half theme from 1979’s The Kung-Fu Instructor, directed by Chung Sun. The group from the bad half tries to convince Yue Wong to teach 'em a special fight-move.
FINALLY saw To Kill a Mastermind. Its a fansubbed version… Quality is ok…Unbelievable that this one hasn’t received a DVD release! Excellent movie.
Hadn’t watched a Shaw film for a bit so remedied that today with The Twin Swords (1965). It’s early production date makes it something of an oddity compared to most other films of this sort I’ve seen. Stars a very young looking Jimmy Wang Yu and Lo Lieh and is a strange mix in a way. Quite old fashioned at times, in particular in the way it uses regular musical interludes with the singing delivering exposition to explain what is happening as well as what has gone before. And then, next thing you know, a little girl is lopping off the hand of an evil monk henchman and there’s claret flying all over the place. Fight scenes are OK if a little dated but the editing is decidedly jumpy in places. Wang Yu is the lead male but annoyingly spends half the picture blubbing like a girl. Lieh’s character seems much more promising but then gets killed off before you know it.
All in all, not the best Shaw but interesting and has its moments.
[quote=“Phil H, post:368, topic:2162”]Hadn’t watched a Shaw film for a bit so remedied that today with The Twin Swords (1965). It’s early production date makes it something of an oddity compared to most other films of this sort I’ve seen. Stars a very young looking Jimmy Wang Yu and Lo Lieh and is a strange mix in a way. Quite old fashioned at times, in particular in the way it uses regular musical interludes with the singing delivering exposition to explain what is happening as well as what has gone before. And then, next thing you know, a little girl is lopping off the hand of an evil monk henchman and there’s claret flying all over the place. Fight scenes are OK if a little dated but the editing is decidedly jumpy in places. Wang Yu is the lead male but annoyingly spends half the picture blubbing like a girl. Lieh’s character seems much more promising but then gets killed off before you know it.
All in all, not the best Shaw but interesting and has its moments.[/quote]Have you seen TEMPLE OF THE RED LOTUS Phil? It is a sequel to it (and if I remember rightly Twin starts right after Temple finishes), and THE SWORD AND THE LUTE is the third film.
Haven’t seen either but what you say now makes the opening have more sense. It just jumped into the couple being in danger without any real explanation and I thought for a while there was a fault with my copy but soon realised it was as intended. Perhaps I’ll try and get hold of the other two to fill in the gaps.
For God’s sake, no blubbing here …
Watched SWORD OF SWORDS, bit of classic Jimmy.
Lots of Shaw Bros DVDs are on sale at DeepDiscountDVD… Just ordered a few I dont have including All Men Are Brothers blu-ray for $8.99!
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[size=12pt]RETURN OF THE ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN[/size] (1969, Chang Cheh)
The second in Chang Cheh’s trilogy, following The One-Armed Swordsman ('67), preceding The New One-Armed Swordsman ('71)
For a couple of years, Jimmy Wang Yu has lived a peaceful life with his wife on a farm, but when an invitation for a strange tournament arrives, he knows he’ll soon have to take up his sword again (luckily he has been training all the time)
For me the least interesting part of the trilogy, it lacks the emotional impact of the first movie, as well as the high energy (and better storytelling) of the third entry (with David Chiang). I know, scripts were hardly ever of high interest within SB cinema, but in this case it’s still attached to the all too traditional storyline about a tournament. You often have the idea that in those days half of the population of China was preparing for a tournament in which the other half would be beaten to death or hacked to pieces. The first movie had this dramatic loss of the arm, and the psychological battle of the one-armed protagonist picking up his life again. The third movie, would have a more intersesting story of a man who has given up his sword, but is forced to take it up again when his friend is killed. Here the story is a bit suffocated by the predictability of the tournament plot. Otherwise it’s of course an above-average achievement, Chang Cheh (nearly) always knew what he was doing. It’s also the bloodiest of the three movies. Hardly ever seen so many cherry red blood spilt. Ever watched this one, Mr. Tarantino?
There also a scene that seems to have influenced a key scene in The House of the Flying Daggers
[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/542/returnoftheonearmedswor.png/][url]http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/87/returnoftheonearmedswor.png/[/url]
![http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/87/returnoftheonearmedswor.png/[/url]](http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/87/returnoftheonearmedswor.png/%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
I agree as far as story and characters go its the least interesting of the 3… Actionwise its very good though! Apropos Davig Chiang, I just watched Shaolin Abbot (aka Slice of Death), underrated movie imo.
Nice to find this thread! I’m a big SB fan. I lived in China for a few years and bought a few hundred films. I’m a big fan of the Chang Cheh, Venoms, Ti Lung, Cheng Pei Pei, Lo Lieh, Lau Kar Leung, Gordon Lui & Kara Hui. I don’t really care for David Chiang, Jimmy Wang Yu and I can’t understand the popularity of Alexander Fu Sheng. Each has made a number of good films yet I still find them typically lacking charisma.
BTW very impressed with Angel Face’s knowledge of the Shaws and particularly Chang Cheh films.
Imo the best Fu Sheng movie is Chinatown Kid… David Chiangs best movie came after his Shaw Bros movies: The Loot.
Watched the Dragon Dynasty Blu Ray of THE FIVE VENOMS this afternoon. What can I say, the print is absolutely gorgeous.
[quote=“Yodlaf Peterson, post:378, topic:2162”]Watched the Dragon Dynasty Blu Ray of THE FIVE VENOMS this afternoon. What can I say, the print is absolutely gorgeous.
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3 or 4 scenes of kung fu and the other movie all talking and talking…
[quote=“sartana1968, post:379, topic:2162”]3 or 4 scenes of kung fu and the other movie all talking and talking…[/quote]It’s not always about the amount of fights though (even though loads of fights are great )
Have you see THE MASTER STRIKES BACK with Ti Lung? Not that many fights but what a powerful film.