Only the Shaw Brothers Studio could conceive and produce such a spectacular clash of esoteric weapons. Fans of the internationally popular "FLYING GUILLOTINE" films will appreciate the continuous kung-fu confrontations with some of the most intriguing and exciting martial arts machinery ever seen on screen. The studio's first international action star, Lo Lieh (who burst upon the scene before even Bruce Lee in KING BOXER) leads the charge as holder of the title tool -- an ultra-cool flying boomerang with blades. He must take on the terrible Iron Ball Chain, Golden Net, and other deadly devices to gain control of a special elixir which will cure an all-too-treacherous royal official. Tang Chia and Yuen Cheung-yan, the underrated giants of kung-fu choreography, stage some of the best sword on shield action ever in this fun and unusual fight-fest. There are double crosses and ambushes galore before the culminating clash of sizzling steel that has to be seen to be believed.
Yueh Hua, co-star of Clan Of Amazons and Clans Of Intrigue, tears up the screen as a corrupt magistrate, so obsessed with finding a hidden treasure that he not only jails and tortures his daughter's lover, but buries his daughter alive as well! Ironically, it is in her coffin that the secret to the hidden treasure is revealed, setting off a frenzy of destruction. Kung-fu choreographers Chen Ti-ke and Hsu Hsia have their hands full with this tale of martial arts masochism.
Chi yau-tung (actor/director Ling Yun) is the "bandit with a thousand faces". But after holding up a caravan full of money and escaping with a slash on his face, police officer Ma Tak (Tian Feng) is on Chi's tail. So Chi calls on his twin brother to help with mixed results.
Ling Yun, Tian Fung, Fang Yin, Chiao Chiao, Shen Yi
The Deadly Breaking Sword elevated director Sun Chung to the martial arts directorial rank of Chang Cheh. Starring the incomparable Ti Lung and Jackie Chan's kung-fu comedic rival Alexander Fu Sheng, acclaimed fight choreographer Tang Chia had a field day increasing the stars' venomous fighting appeal. Armed with the "Deadly Breaking Sword" technique, Tuen Cheng-tsin (Ti Lung) joins forces with thief Ko Mun (Alexander Fu Sheng) to defeat an assassin being "acupuncturingly" controlled by the evil Dr. Kuo.
Incredibly, the title serpent is not a harbinger of horror, but actually the film's hero. This virtuous viper sniffs out bombs, fights gangs, battles a baby-killing rodent and even takes on a duplicitous woman. This one-of-a-kind thriller will be applauded by reptile fans everywhere.
Huang Fei Hung is the most famous character in martial arts movie history. The unique experiment cast Ku Feng, one of Shaw’s finest actors, as Huang Fei Hung, in a battle against a corrupt gangster’s plan to frame him for robbery and murder. Despite the unusual approach, there's plenty of action as Huang and his students, including the beautiful Chen Ping, fight for honor and harmony.
This is a film that has won the Best Colour Film Art Direction at the 1977 Golden Horse Awards. Liu Yung (one of Bruce Lee's favorite co-stars) takes center stage as the Ching Dynasty main character, who seeks out court corruption with the help of a streetwise youth played by Wang Yu (Dirty Ho). They use wit and style to teach the corrupt officials a lesson, and when those officials learn that Liu Yung is the emperor, they beg for his forgiveness. This production proved so popular that director Li Han-hsiang took over to helm two successful sequels.
THE KUNG-FU INSTRUCTOR is martial arts film director Sun Chung's loose homage to Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo where unlike Toshiro Mifune's Sanjuro character being a snarling, bastard, drunk swordsman looking for a drink, popular actor Ti Lung's Huang Yang role, is an upright, righteous, weapon instructor looking to keep his limbs. Huang is a famous martial artist trapped into teaching kung-fu to the wrong clan while the opposing "good" clan tries to save him so he can instruct their members. Besides kung-fu comedienne Wang Yu starring in one of his few serious roles, Sun became the first Shaw Brothers' director to use a Steadicam which gives the film's action and editing style a unique brand of tension and rhythm. The pole fights are also out of this world.
Rarely has a title been more accurate, but considering the action which fills this film, it also could have been called THE BRUTAL FIVE or THE CRUEL FIVE or THE VICIOUS FIVE.... if the title referred to the villains, that is. In any case, the heroes are certainly outnumbered as gang after gang of robbing rapists invade this poor town. At first the fiends just want a village locksmith to help them open a stolen safe, but soon the entire community is being held hostage, threatened, and tortured. Although reminiscent of THE SEVEN SAMURAI, the director and his revered action choreographers, Liu Chia-liang and Tang Chia, design each of the many struggles with gritty depravity and desperate power. The result is an especially realistic, even grueling, exercise in suspense.
David Chiang, Ti Lung, Wang Chung, Chen Kuan-tai, Danny Lee
Shih Hsin-chiao (Ling Yun) is a journalist who trained under mentor Lu Tao-jan (Chin Han). Lu's daughter, Chih-pai (Tien Niu) is infatuated with the good-looking and intelligent Shih, but Shih sees her only as a child. When he returns from a long stay abroad, he finds that things have changed. Chih-pai is now an attractive young woman in a relationship with rich boy (Wang Yu). A miscarriage and Lu's death throw Shih and Chih-pai together...
Master of the "brotherhood" films, award winning director Chang Cheh has always had a good eye for martial art talent and in INVINCIBLE SHAOLIN he re-introduces what was to become known as the THE FIVE VENOMS to the world of heroic bloodshed. Chang intelligently weaves a mythical tale of treachery centered around the historic attempts of the Ching Dynasty trying to destroy the Shaolin Monasteries. It's a story of misunderstanding, revenge and doomed heroes who finally realize their error in judgment through the sanctity of their martial arts. The various fighting styles used are choreographed with such amazing precision and insanity, that it's hard to believe that all this psychotic stylish action was shot and made up as they went along. It's marvelous to behold.
Julie Yeh Feng plays a devoted wife and a mother dying of an incurable illness. Her goal now is to find a new mother for her child and a new wife for her husband before she dies. Because of all her personal tragedies and on-going hard life off-screen, audiences connect with Julie on a personal level, hence making her one of the most beloved actresses of her time.
Director Chu Yuan teams with star Ti Lung and famed novelist Chu Yu for this intriguing, exciting production which weaves mystery and suspense in with the kung-fu action. Ti plays a framed kung-fu master who's seeking revenge after fifteen years in prison, and must survive one attempt on his life after another...
Mr. Virgin is a romantic comedy about a twenty-nine year-old man Chao Yu-ting (Alfred Chang) who has seemingly been cursed. He becomes paranoid when a Feng Shui expert tells him it will be unlucky for him to marry before the age of thirty... so comical chaos line the days up to his next birthday!
