The famous story of the Shaolin Temple's betrayal by the White-Browed Hermit, and the subsequent revenge by Shaolin firebrand Fang Shih-yu, is the stuff of legend. It has been filmed many times by many directors, but few are remembered as fondly as this production. The potent combination of director Chang Cheh and international idol Alexander Fu Sheng caught lightning in a lens. Even so, many were concerned, since this was one of the director's first kung-fu films without the collaboration of his long-time martial arts choreographer Liu Chia-liang. But with new action instructors Hsieh Hsing (future fighting star of Master Of The Flying Guillotine) and Chen Hsin-yi (who also choreographed Jackie Chan in To Kill With Intrigue) - not to mention his talented co-director Wu Ma (future director of the groundbreaking Dead And The Deadly) -- Chang continued his string of hits with this action-packed adventure.
In this horror anthology an old man dies from an overdose of virility pills, a cop goes on the run after extorting money from a hooker, and a mortician's ghost goes on the rampage.
Based on a famous Chinese opera, this period drama stars the beloved screen pairing of the wildly popular Ivy Ling Po (Vermillion Door) and Li Ching, one of Hong Kong’s most famous on-screen couples. Ling Po was renowned for playing male Cantonese opera roles while the child star Li, plays the enchanting female lead. While visiting a temple, a young impoverished scholar, Zhang Sheng, is enchanted by the daughter of an influential family, Hong Niang. When the safety of Hong Niang is threatened by revolutionaries, Zhang does all he can to keep her from harm. Seeing the love between the young couple, Hong’s maid (Fang Ying) helps bringing the young couple together, who secretly have their rendezvous in the West Chamber, in spite of her family's objections! It is romance, tears and classic melodrama as the couple fight for love.
19-year-old Alexander Fu Sheng pairs up with veteran martial arts star Chen Kuan-tai in this Chang Cheh masterpiece of heroism and self-sacrifice. Shaolin student Chen is badly wounded by the Qing army, and the young Fu hands him to the evil general by mistake. Now the two heroes must settle the score with the general once and for all. Top-notch performances with action choreography by the famous Liu Chia-liang.
Young Chang Shun (Ti Lung) meets Wen Jou (Li Ching) when her sports car breaks down, drives her home and falls in love with her. Dancing with Wen Jou at a nightclub, Chang meets her brother Wen Chiang (Chen Hung-lieh) who dislikes him intensely. Wen Chiang's gang is after Chang and Wen Jou is forbidden to see him again. When Chang and his pals are beaten up by Wen Chiang's crowd, the humiliated Chang takes the pistol he's found and heads for Wen's home. He shoots him dead. Chang next dates Jou and the two go for a drive. Their car is tailed by the cops and soon surrounded. Chang reaches for his pistol and is gunned down, but his weapon is not loaded...
Frankie Wei Hung is the Swordsman At Large, who is hunted down by practically everyone. A superlative sword is created just for the purpose of taking his life, but the blade becomes more coveted than the hero's death by it! Bandits, beauties and blade masters battle for grandeur in this exciting story of deceit, betrayal and death; expertly guided by the director who brings showcases to the Shawscope screen!
Margaret Hsing Hui, Tina Chin Fei, Frankie Wei, Yu Feng
Famed action director Chu Yuan helmed this engaging Chinese Robin Hood adventure with martial arts battles choreographed by Yuen Cheung-yan (Charlie's Angels, Daredevil). Action star Yueh Hua is a master thief who earned his nickname by gliding on walls. The film features universal screen idol Connie Chan Pao-chu in her final performance as the Lizard's faithful partner-in-crime against a corrupt police chief, played by genre veteran Lo Lieh.
Cherrie Chung plays Rita, a rich merchant's mistress whose idyllic life as well as her neighbours' are shattered when violence visits the village. Both Rita and the coquettish Mrs. Wang are having affairs with the village postman. One day, Mrs. Wang disappears. A little lame girl, Marble, tells her grandmother that she saw two people quarrelling and one falling into the water one rainy night. When the police find no evidence of foul play, the precocious Marble and her friends carry out their own investigation. She gets in way over her head; now the killer knows there is a witness to his crime.
Cherrie Chung, Ku Feng, Chin Yen-ling, Tang Chen-yeh
In swordplay movies, females played a more central role in the plots and the swordswomen created in the genre are some of the most charismatic figures in Hong Kong cinema thanks in great part to Cheng Pei-pei. In The Jade Raksha, Cheng Pei-pei becomes a human combine harvester as she hacks and whacks a path through life avenging the death of her family under the moniker "The Jade Raksha." Cheng Pei-pei gained international recognition in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
The beautiful Ching Li works for her father's stocking company while treacherously becoming the secretary to her father's competitor Li Tzu-yang. They fall in love as she teaches him new meanings to the words 'mannequins' and 'hosiery'.
Ching Li , Tien Ching , Ling Ling, Ling Hsiao , Cheng Chun-mien
Soon-to-be legendary director Chu Yuan had just joined the Shaw Brothers when he helmed this thriller of bickering bandits. Audiences loved watching three pairs of cunning male and female crooks trying to steal a million gold taels from the Fu Lai Treasury House … not knowing that one of them is actually an undercover hero. Even without him, there's no honor amongst thieves, so the double-crosses and deadly duels come fast and furious, all choreographed by Hsu Erh-niu.
Ivy Ling Po, Lo Lieh, Tsung Hua, Chin Han, Wang Ping
Directed by Chu Yuan, the film follows the ups and downs and love and losses of the large Yang clan. Set in the early 1920s, the household with the four distinctly different brothers go through love and heartaches, taking the audience along on a richly emotional ride. It is a classic tale of tradition versus individualism and family values versus freedom.
Li Ching, Wang Ping, Tsung Hua, Yueh Hua, Ching Li
This film was actually a lively forerunner to the gambling film craze, which eventually swept Asian cinema. Here, it's cardsharp versus cardsharp with a lot more kung-fu action, in a battle of wits and fists to become the king of the casino. The double stings and triple crosses raise in complexity and imagination until what started as an unusual box office risk became a top ten hit of 1976.
Costume drama auteur Li han-hsiang adapts thee erotic and mystic tales from the Chinese classical literatures and visualizes them on screen into an instant cult classic. Starring the hottest stars Tien Ni, Hu Chin, Chen Ping, Yang Chun, and Yueh Hua, the stories span across time from the Tang to Ming dynasties, filled with exotic characters such as emperors, concubines, monks, and fortune-tellers, intertwined in a world of adultery, lust and greed. Costume drama buffs should not miss it.
