Chan Shen
Rivals of Kung Fu
Huang Fei Hung is back, in a new adventure written and directed by veteran Huang filmmaker Wang Feng. Newcomer Shih Chung-tieng stars as the Confucian healer who fights jealous villains with wisdom, intelligence, and fabulous kung-fu.
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Opium and the Kung Fu Master
Tang Chia is considered one of the greatest Kung fu choreographers ever, but he only directed three movies of his own. The first two were weird and wonderful Kung fu phantasmagoricals, but this, his last, is not only his greatest, but one of the greatest ever. Ti Lung, in one of his finest performances, plays Tieh Chiao-san, head of the Ten Kwangtung Tigers, who falls victim to opium, the title drug which crippled China. The tragedies and drama that ensue are as stunning as the Kung fu, created by a superlative team of six martial artists. It leads to a truly unforgettable climax, as a trembling Tieh, still weak from going cold turkey, must face the gangsters who have ruined his town while he was addicted. A legitimate masterpiece and one of the finest, most effecting martial arts movies Shaw Brothers ever produced.
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Bastard Swordsman
Actor Lu Chin Ku really hit his stride as a director of mystical kung-fu epics, like “Holy Flame of the Martial World”, and this – truly one of the best of its kind. Hsu Shao-chiang (aka Norman Chu Siu-Keung) stars as a put-upon illegitimate son of a “Martial Arts World” master, who nearly sacrifices all to learn the “Silkworm Style” - making him a veritable “Spider-Swordsman”! That’s just the pay-off to this eye-filling, mind-bending kung-fu phantasmagorical which elicited cries of joyous disbelief in virtually all the cinemas where it was shown. Featuring a top notch cast including “Venoms” Lo Meng, Sun Chien, and Wang Li, this extravaganza truly warrants the description: “unforgettable”.
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What Price Honesty
Pai Piao, Danny Lee and “Venom” Sun Chien star as idealistic police school graduates who run afoul of incredibly vicious, murderous corruption in this powerful production that was years ahead of its time.
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Bat Without Wings
Acclaimed director Chu Yuan was credited for bringing mystery thriller ingredients into his atmospheric martial arts epics, and this is one of the most impressive examples. The title refers to the feared nickname of a notorious rapist and murderer who swoops down to destroy one swordsman’s fiancé and frame another. Or does he? The two tragic men team with a beautiful swords-woman to find the truth – only to discover incredible traps, ambushes, duplicity, avarice, and betrayal between them and the mystery’s final solution.
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Rendezvous with Death
This tale of a swordsman’s treacherous journey is considered one of director Sun Chung’s very best martial arts movies. It’s not so much the plot that makes it great, but what Sun does with it, inspiring the cast and crew to create some of their finest work.
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Full Moon Scimitar
No team of “Martial Arts World” sword-and sorcery epic-makers ever matched that of exceptional director Chu Yuan and best-selling author Ku Lung. This is one of their most powerful and interesting, giving screen idol Derek Yee one of his most challenging roles. Here, he is the ambitious, proud master of the “Meteor” style of swordsmanship, who is brought to the edge of suicide by betrayal. A good woman saves him and brings him to, literally, the Valley of Happiness. But even that’s not enough for the obsessed swordsman, who takes the title weapon (his father-in-law’s wedding gift) and goes on a selfish rampage of violence and sex. Master kung-fu choreographer Tang Chia guides a first rate cast (including king screen villain Wang Lung-wei as the “Immortal God of Eagle”) in one of their most memorable productions.
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Swordsman and Enchantress
Master kung-fu choreographer Tang Chia leads the king and queen of Shaw Brothers’ swordplay, Ti Lung and Lily Li, to the amazing "Deer Sword" and escape from the insidious maze-like "Toy Land".
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Shaolin Hand Lock
Prominent Kung fu actor David Chiang teams up with Chang Cheh's award winning screenwriter Ni Kuang to create a visual masterpiece full of exotic martial arts skills and fights in Shaolin Hand Lock. Chiang, who learned the secret 'Shaolin Handlock' technique from his father, is on a mission to avenge his father's death, which was ordered by the evil Ling Hao, played by Shaw Brothers' penultimate bad guy, Kung fu star, Lo Lieh. Adding to the great success of this film was the glamorous yet outlandishly inventive action sequences staged by acclaimed martial arts choreographer Tang Chia and an imposing visual edge and meticulously stylish directing by the brilliant director Ho Meng-hua who was responsible for giving early film breaks to Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung.
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The Brave Archer 2
This magnificent martial arts saga takes up where the renowned original left off. Our hero Kuo Tsing is winning the hand of fair maiden Huang Yung. However, almost immediately, clan rivalries in the “Martial Art World” lead to Kuo being wounded by Ouyang Feng and Huang being named the new leader of the Beggar Clan. All this is mounted with sparkling energy by three kung-fu choreographers and a star-packed cast. International favorite Alexander Fu Sheng is back as Kuo. Niu Niu shines in her show-stopping role as his fiancée. In addition, the mystical martial arts mayhem serves as a showcase for “My Young Auntie” Hui Ying-hung, king of villains Johnny Wang Lung-wei, and “Venoms” Kuo Chue, Lo Meng, and Sun Chien as well as other famous action stars literally too numerous to mention!
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The Sentimental Swordsman
One of director Chu Yuan's crowning achievements, The Sentimental Swordsman epitomizes the lone, virtuous, heroic swordsman with a twist. The film uses melodrama as a vehicle for swordplay and Chu bamboozled audiences by infusing the Oedipus complex. Swordsman Li Hsin-Huan, magnificently played by the highly respected and popular Ti Lung, is also a hero with a weakness: he drinks too much and believes in love and emotion. Shaw Brothers’ fiery yet worldly femme Ching Li plays Li's girlfriend given in the name of tricked honor. It's finally payback time. Yet it's Li's oneness with nature that wins the day. Chu's swordsman films created romantic worlds lavishly infused with flamboyant atmospheric settings as evident by the film receiving the Special Award for Best Cinematography at the 1978 Golden Horse Awards.
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The Web of Death
It’s back to the Shaolin Monastery for one of the most unusual action-packed tales to invade its hallowed halls. Lo Lieh is the ringleader of the Snake Sect, intent on reviving a particularly deadly faction known as the “Five Poison Web” (which is also "The Web Of Death"’s Chinese title). To achieve his ends, he has an affair with the sexy ringleader of the Scorpion Sect, Angela Yu Chien. But there is also the Centipede Sect to contend with, as well as other assorted martial artists, among them such top Shaw Brothers talents as Yueh Hua, Ching Li, and Lily Li. Under the fluid direction of Chu Yuan and action choreographers Tang Chia and Yuen Cheung-yan (member of the martial arts world’s esteemed Yuen Family and brother of "Matrix" master Yuen Woo-ping), "The Web Of Death" goes places where no other Shaolin kung-fu movie has gone before or since.
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The Spiritual Boxer
One of Hong Kong’s top action directors of all time, Liu Chia-liang makes a mind-numbing directorial debut in The Spiritual Boxer, which not only quickly established Liu as a genius director but also encouraged other martial arts choreographers to take up the directing reigns. It was also the debut film of kung-fu comedienne Wang Yu as the main character, who in reality was part of Liu’s clan of stars that he personally trained for a film career. It's Ghostbusters meets George C. Scott’s The Flim-Flam Man as Wang plays a fake ghost catcher who catches more than he bargained for. With this film, Liu is also credited with introducing comedy in to the kung-fu genre, the pre-cursor for Jackie Chan’s kung-fu comedies.
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The Deadly Knives
When an unscrupulous Japanese financier’s sordid family tries to rape and pillage everything noble kung-fu student Yen Tzu-fei holds dear, he must use his fists of vengeance to prove there can be no forgiveness or mercy.
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King Boxer
Months before Bruce Lee burst into the international scene with Enter the Dragon, this powerful story of tragedy, torture, redemption, and revenge premiered across America under the unforgettable title "Five Fingers Of Death". And, under that title, it went on to become the first international martial arts movie hit, and a perennial best-selling video. It made a continent-spanning star of Lo Lieh, and established the Shaw Brothers as the preeminent studio for high quality action and adventure. Now, finally, after more than thirty years, the original King Boxer takes its rightful place as the film that started it all for the Western world. Not surprisingly, the tale of an honorable fighter’s retraining in the “Iron Palm” style after corrupt invaders crush his hands remains as potent and exciting as when it premiered.
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