Immortal Warriors
This 1977 period martial arts film starts off
quite promisingly, but somewhere along the way it begins bogging down in
too much plot. Complaining about there being too much plot may seem like
a shallow thing to say – but there are times when all you want to do is
watch some fairly mindless action – people whacking one another among a
flurry of somersaults and spins. This film actually has a reasonably complex
story that I just wasn’t in the mood for. What I really wanted was plenty
of Polly Shang Kwan showing her wonderful impish humor and her great athletic
skills – and though she looks terrific in her head-dress and battle gear,
she didn’t have nearly enough screen time or enough action scenes to suit
me.
There are tragic elements within that should have
involved me more than they did, but they simply left me impatiently waiting
for more action. After five months of being besieged by a rebellious army,
the castle of Sung General Lu Teng is finally overridden. As he sees the
end coming near, Lu Teng plans his death – and that of his family, but
the faithful servant, Gua Ah Leh (Lady Rose in Miracles) offers to replace
Lu Teng’s young son with her own so that the family line will continue
to survive.
She has to watch her own son have his head cut
off, but in an ironic twist the commander of the enemy army unknowingly
decides to adopt this boy and keep Gua in his employ. The boy, Wen Lung,
thus grows up along with the daughter of his father's killer, Polly, believing
that the Sung’s are his enemy. They are trained by Lo Lieh (in a white
wig) in the martial arts and become quite proficient by the time they are
still young. While still a teenager, Wen becomes a General and is ordered
to attack the Sung’s in the ongoing war.
It’s a bit confusing at first telling who are
the good guys and who are the bad guys – but since the Sung’s wear neat
little golden helmets while the other guys run around with ratty racoon
tails hanging down their faces, I must assume the Sung’s are the ones we
are suppose to be rooting for. Style should count for something. The Sungs
learn who Wen really is but can’t get close to him to tell him the truth.
How to do this? Why not have someone pretend to defect - but how
to make it convincing? Ah, of course, cutting off your arm brings a certain
degree of authenticity to the plan.
They finally convince the young man of the truth
– and now he must avenge his family that he never knew against the family
that he has come to love. A thorny issue for a teenager you must admit.
Should I ask dad for the keys to the carriage for a date or should I kill
him. Most of the action is swordplay rather than hand to hand – and not
particularly inspired for the most part. Polly is in a few fights – but
nothing that really allows her to display her talents to their best effect.
My rating for this film: 5.5