Three of Shaw Brothers' finest martial arts directors, who, between them, had made more than a hundred classics, united for this unique anthology film. Yueh Feng writes and directs a clever love-and-kung-fu triangle, Cheng Kang both writes and directs kung-fu courtesans battling brigands, and the "godfather of the kung-fu film," Chang Cheh, creates a cliff-hanging, swashbuckling mini-movie with maxi-action. It's three times the substance, style, skill, and stars in what truly stands as a motion picture event.
Shih Szu, Yueh Hua, Lily Ho, Lo Lieh, David Chiang, Ti Lung
Even at an early time during Hong Kong's erotica cinema development, highly renowned directors were willing to sacrifice their reputations and established actresses were lining up to take off their clothes. In Facets Of Love, the undisputed king of epic dramas, director Li Han-hsiang, gets some of Shaw's sexiest ladies to strip for camera. It's three sexy vignettes centering around a Ming Dynasty brothel that steams with secret erotic myths, trysts and twists of pleasurable indulgence.
How far would you go for love? Or lust? These are the questions posed in this sinfully entertaining Sung Dynasty period effort. Split into two tales, the first one involves a devilish magistrate who tries to tempt a Buddhist monk out of his self-professed celibate control by hiring a pretty prostitute. The second story is the tragic tale of an exploited young girl, the queen of femme fatale Shaw Yin-yin, who is forced to work in an unscrupulous couple's brothel.
Adapted from the most widely read Ching Dynasty novel, this touching love story has proven a challenge to many filmmakers, and it is acclaimed as the most successful one. A sumptuous feature that took three years of planning and production, it was a hugely popular and critiqued hit which stands out as a classic combination of both 18th century literature and 1960s moviemaking.
Loh Tih, Pat Ting Ning, Ting Hung, Tu Chuan, Jen Chieh
The heroine Yu Fei Xia is accused of stealing the book of martial arts secrets. To prove her innocence, she disguises herself as a man and finds her way into the Shaolin Temple to find out the truth...
A bandit became a warlord in the northern China by helping Russia fight against Japan. Because of his ignorance and silly behaviour, he was seen as a joke to the people. The warlord was finally killed by the daughter of a troupe master whom he had killed for no reason.
Da Yung is the son of an entrepreneur of a big corporation. Lian Lian is the niece of a Kindergarten’s principal. Fate has brought them together as Da Yung loses his wallet by mistake when they first met. Further misunderstanding occurs when Da Yung tries to use Lian Lian as an excuse to drive the two women he does not love away. Legendary actress and Golden Horse winner Joan Lin stars in this romantic comedy.
Shaw Brothers fans have known and loved Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon villain Cheng Pei-pei for decades as one of the sweetest, most attractive, most heroic stars ever in Asian cinema. She was only 20 years-old, and just three years into her remarkable career, when she took the lead in this fascinating martial arts murder mystery which combines battles with bullets. This kung-fu Nancy Drew must face a secret serial killer with too much blood on his hands to let her live…!
This period horror movie stars 70s idol Hsing Hui and a young Yon Fan (Yon Fan, director Sense of Color, The Purple Pavilion) star in this fascinating spine chiller with one chilling reminder... never marry a possessed woman, she'll never let you go! Young business man (Yon) marries pretty, much sought-after young bride (Hsing), never knowing that she carries the spirit of a girl raped by her uncle and murdered along with her parents... Justice must be done, and it ain't pretty!
From director Lo Chen comes The Shepherd Girl, a heartwarming 1963 musical from Shaw Brothers! In this musical drama, Julie Yeh Feng stars as Hsiu Hsiu, a beautiful shepherd girl who falls in love with a handsome boatman named Liu Ta-lung (Kwan Shan). Unfortunately, she cannot afford to marry him because her father has a tower of debt due to gambling. To complicate the matter, a rival suitor promises to pay off all her father's debts on one condition: that Hsiu Hsiu marries him. She initially declines, but jealousy gets the better of her when she assumes Ta-lung is flirting with another woman. In retaliation, she starts flirting with her possible husband-to-be. What she doesn't know is that her jealousy is based on an actual misunderstanding!
In this third instalment of Shaw Brother’s Journey to the West, Monk Tang San Zang (Ho Fan) is trapped by seven seductive spiders, hell-bent on achieving immortality by eating him! Monkey (Chou Lung Chang), Pigsy (Peng Peng) and Sha Wu Jing (Tien Shun) have to fight with the spiders to rescue Monk Tang San Zang.
When directors in the late '70s began jumping on the kung-fu comedy bandwagon renowned director Chang Cheh stuck to his guns of traditional brotherhood and moral code films made popular by him in the '60s. So in keeping with the spirit of the venomous success of the cultish THE FIVE VENOMS, Chang reunites the Five Venoms in arguably his second biggest cult hit in the West, THE KID WITH THE GOLDEN ARM. As the film's lead martial arts instructor and one of the stars, it's also one of Lo Meng's finest moments on screen playing the righteous villain Golden Arms whose eventual showdown with the drunkard Hai Tao (Kuo Chue, fight choreographer for BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF) is graphically artsy and balletically violent. You won't be disappointed.
In Pale Passion, Chin Ping-hsing's only directed film, the gorgeous Chiang Li-ping plays a scorned wife Ah Hsia in an unsettling tale about cheating, adultery and blatant abuse, which develops into a deadly love triangle. The vivacious Elaine Chin Yen-ling plays the other woman Ah Hsing, who teaches the hypocritical husband Ah Fa (Ai Ti) that what goes around comes around! Unknown to him, karma returns in a much more damaging way...
The Pure and The Evil begins with two teen girls who are inseparable but ends like Fatal Attraction where guttered sexuality leads to insanity. Rose and Fang were from opposite ends of the spectrum, but nevertheless were close. The refined Fang moves to America but returns years later to see her old buddy Rose who immediately takes an eye to her fiancé. Things quickly digress into erotic deteoriation as Rose's thorns begin to stick in Fang's and her fiancé’s sides.
