This
Shaw Brother's wuxia came as a nice surprise. It punches way above its weight.
I wasn't expecting much with a director (Lin Fu-ti) who as best as I can
tell only directed this one film for Shaw having spent most of his career
directing in Taiwan and a few films for Cathay towards the end of their days
as a production company. The main male protagonist is played by Chuan Yuan
who appeared in about one-hundred films but mainly in small roles - small
enough that I didn't remember him at all. This may be his only leading role.
But the main female role went to Shu Pei-pei who wasn't a top tier female
actress for Shaw but has shown her action credentials in a few films. It
is hard to imagine that in a year when Chor Yuen and Chang Cheh were dominating
the box office with their action films that this film got much play. But
it is terrific for what it does and for what it doesn't do. There is a lot
of fine brutal merciless action with a set piece finale that is exhausting.
From the first kill to the last kill, thirty minutes will have passed. It
never fails to be interesting. On top of this, it has a focused plot that
verges on Mission Impossible and just sticks to it. And thankfully there
is no romantic entanglements - the men and women are there for one reason
- to kill and kill. No time for flirtations.
It begins with Lord Sun (Lee Pang-fie) giving four Imperials guards a mission.
A near impossible mission. Previous attempts have all failed and no one has
returned. There is of course no option to decline. They are Imperial Guards.
Lord Sun tells them that one high official played by Ching Miao is suspected
of being a traitor and to be plotting with the Mongols to attack the capital.
But they have no evidence. These four have to get it before the attack. All
they need to do is track him to his highly guarded fortress in the mountains
that is nearly impassable with bandits, traps and traitors everywhere. There
will be a secret agent hiding in the mountains as well as troops ready to
attack the fortress once they are inside. What could be easier. The four
are two women - Shu Pei-pei and Yue Wai (a very pretty actress who was to
marry soon after this film and retire) - and the two men are older guards
with physiques that would scare no one - Lee Wan-chung (Smiling Tiger in
Come Drink with Me) and Lu Wei. Lee does a lot of smiling in this one as
well.
They come up with a clever plan though. The agent in the mountain (Chuan
Yuan) will pretend to be a wandering swordsman and help protect Ching Miao
on his walking journey to his hidden fortress. He fights off bandit attacks
time after time to such a degree that Ching asks him to accompany him for
a price. On the way they come across a village that has been slaughtered
and find two damsels in distress frightened out of their minds. Can they
please come along. They are of course our two female Imperial Guards. Next
the two male Imperial Guards show up pretending to be sent by a Lord to take
one of the women to be married. She refuses. but they won't leave her alone.
This is the set-up as this small group goes along fighting off bandits (that
is Sammo in the cave being killed as he usually was in Shaw films) and getting
closer to the fortress. Nobody letting on what their true agenda is. It is
clear that the wandering swordsman has no idea who the women are. When one
of them jumps over a river to kill a few men, his jaw nearly hits the floor.
Then they are in the fortress and the killing begins in earnest. The five
of them plus one man who was on the inside - a slaughter of killing with
darts, swords, knives and everything else. Totally without pity. Traitors.
You show them no pity. They come upon a large group sleeping - nod at each
other and start killing them in their sleep. Another cool moment is a line
of guards on duty and the two women wipe them out in seconds with a cascade
of darts. Then there are the four Giants. Four huge men with metal clubs.
The fights with them are lengthy and ferocious. One of the six gets a sword
stuck all the way through him, falls into the water, drags himself out and
keeps fighting. It is a great combination of large group fights and one-on-one
fights. Shaw made so many good martial arts films that ones like this
fell through the cracks, but it was very entertaining.
