I remember WHICKER’S WORLD when i was a kid but not WHICKER’S ORIENT.
In this episode “What makes Shaw Run Run” alan visits the studios.
Fantastic stuff, it’s just a shame it’s filmed off the tv or a wall, i’d love to see a decent copy of this, hell, if they released the series on dvd i’d buy it just for this.
Golden Swallow was viewed this morning and I was looking forward to see what Chang Cheh would do with the great character from Come Drink With Me. Unfortunately, although it’s a pretty enjoyable flick and has its merits, for me it isn’t a patch on the original.
For starters, and to be honest this is its biggest flaw, Cheh pushes the wonderful Cheng Pei Pei to the sidelines and makes her a semi whimpish lovesick girl rather than the pocket sized amazon she was in CDWM. In GS the story is far more focused on a new male character, Silver Roc and a love triangle involving him, Golden Swallow and a second male lead, Golden Whip played by Lo Lieh. This was, so I recently learned, due to Cheh’s belief that hero characters need to be male but it really is a shame as Pei Pei is wasted and she was magnificent in the original.
On the plus side, the exterior locations are beautiful and really add something (as they did in CDWM) and the male leads are both pretty good anyway, although I prefer Lo Lieh over Wang Yu personally. Oh and of course with Cheh there is a lot more blood spilled which adds an extra source of nastiness to the mix. Overall, a good film but a tragic waste of Cheng Pei Pei’s talents. If I’d had her on the payroll I would have had her in every other shot.
[quote=“Phil H, post:62, topic:2162”]Golden Swallow[/quote]I still need to get one of them, unfotunately it’s one of the oop ones.
Watched THAT’S ADULTERY, starring Yueh Hua, Ku Feng, Hu Chin, Li Ching and a host of others. Contains four amusing tales of…
…you guessed it, Adultery
Watched The One Armed Swordsman last night and think this could well be the best Chang Cheh picture I’ve seen so far. Much slower paced than I expected and in many ways is more a drama than an action picture for much of the film. But this was all to its benefit. It also has a big Japanese influence I felt; with Jimmy Wang Yu (who was much better in this than in Golden Swallow in my opinion) often coming across more as a Samurai than anything else.
Great film and I can see why it was so successful.
Phil,
I agree with your take on GOLDEN SWALLOW–as far as it isn’t anywhere near as good as COME DRINK WITH ME.
I also think they wasted Ching Pei Pei in this film, as well.
However, the film does have one of my all-time favorite Wang Yu slay-fest sequences!
I found this shot online which shows the beginning of the sequence I am referring to:
And I am with you all the way on ONE ARMED SWORDSMAN that is just an excellent film on all counts! And it is my favorite Chang Cheh film.
Edit: for some reason the picture did show up the first time I posted this message…
[quote=“Chris_Casey, post:66, topic:2162”]Phil,
I agree with your take on GOLDEN SWALLOW–as far as it isn’t anywhere near as good as COME DRINK WITH ME.
I also think they wasted Ching Pei Pei in this film, as well.
However, the film does have one of my all-time favorite Wang Yu slay-fest sequences!
I found this shot online which shows the beginning of the sequence I am referring to:
Yeah, it does have its moments for sure and is certainly not a bad film. It just doesn’t rate as a sequel to CDWM as far as I’m concerned.
Tonight’s Shaw Brothers flick was something very different, although yet another Jimmy Wang Yu film. Asia-Pol is a 1967 espionage film made in conjunction with the Japanese studio Nikkatsu and was good camp fun without being anything special. Best feature for me was the female lead, Japanese actress Asaoka Ruriko. She was a honey.
[quote=“Phil H, post:67, topic:2162”]Asia-Pol[/quote]Apparently the Japanese version differs considerably, i’d love to get my hands on that version to see.
Actually, it doesn’t differ that much, if at all. The biggest differnce in the Japanese version is that the lead role is played by Nitani Hideaki instead of Wang Yu.
Villain is still played by my man Shishido Jo (aka Joe Shishido), the lovely Asaoka Ruriko is still the lead actress.
Almost all, if not all, the camera angles are the same, plot points are mostly the same.
I have the Japanese version (no English subs) on VHS (recorded from Japanese TV by a good friend of mine).
I’ve never sat down to do a running comparison of the Nikkatsu version and the Shaw Bros. version, so I might be misremembering a detail or two; but, overall, it is largely the same film.
I actually prefer the Japanese version, personally—but, what would you expect from a guy that created the Nikkatsu Action Lounge and the first English language website dedicated to Shishido Jo? ;D
Nikkatsu Action Lounge:
http://nikkatsuaction.ning.com[/url] (the new site)
http://shishido0.tripod.com (the old site)
Yaju no Webpage: A tribute to the dynamic Shishido Jo:
http://www.angelfire.com/ok4/shishido[url]http://nikkatsuaction.ning.com
Next time we do a trade Chris i’d love to check that out 
Would love to, amigo.
However, I don’t have any way to duplicate the VHS I have or even to transfer it to DVD-R.
However, I will work on sorting out a way to make a copy for you someday, brother!
It will likely be several months from now, as I am preparing to move a few States away and already have most of my Asian cinema collection packed away.
But, I will keep you in mind on this one and see that I get you a copy one of these days.
Promise!
Keep in mind, though, there are no English subs on the tape.
However, I don’t imagine, in this case, it would hamper your viewing enjoyment too much since you know the story already! 
Cheers Chris, no rush at all mate, funny enough most of my stuff is boxed up at the moment as i to am waiting to move (don’t know where yet though)
I just watched Vengeance! (thanks to Yodlaf for sending me a copy of this). The fight scenes are staggeringly beautiful and the final battle with our white-suited hero is the best fight I’ve ever seen in a movie. An absolout masterpiece. 5/5.
[quote=“John Welles, post:73, topic:2162”]I just watched Vengeance! (thanks to Yodlaf for sending me a copy of this). The fight scenes are staggeringly beautiful and the final battle with our white-suited hero is the best fight I’ve ever seen in a movie. An absolout masterpiece. 5/5.[/quote]glad you enjoyed it
Have Sword, Will Travel
Good film with a terrific final sequence in a pagoda which reminded me a lot of Peckinpah in style but in some ways surpassed him. The slow motion bloodletting was heightened by having them played in dead silence; no sound effects or music. This made the whole thing more chilling for me. Excellent stuff and lifted what was, until then, a decent but run of the mill swordsman flick. Memorable.
These arrived today, both original vintage Shaw posters from the 1960’s.
I’m extremely please, especially since i’ve never seen any Shaw posters in such fantastic condition, other ones i have have pin, tape and rips in them.
Those are excellent posters! I have never seen any in that good of a condition before, either.
May I ask where you found them?
[quote=“Chris_Casey, post:77, topic:2162”]Those are excellent posters! I have never seen any in that good of a condition before, either.
May I ask where you found them?[/quote]
Someone had them on ebay, unfortunately they didn’t have any more though.
I figured it was eBay. Good find, amigo!
Watched LEGENDS OF LUST, i’m starting to enjoy these sexy anthology films, this one has three stories, the first one was quite good, the middle one was so-so and the last one had me smiling throughout. :-\
