One Armed Swordsman Box Set
By Chris Hyde
August 24, 2004
A triple bill of Shaw Brothers martial arts classics comes packaged together in the new One Armed Swordsman box from Celestial Pictures.
Probably the best known of the directors to work at the historic Shaws studio was Chang Cheh, a legendary filmmaker who created many memorable kung fu films. Titles like Boxer From Shantung, The Girl With the Thunderbolt Kick, Blood Brothers, Heroes Two and so many more were all helmed by this man whose style generally resulted in sprawling and bloody revenge epics. Not always overly concerned with the finer machinations of plotting, Chang’s movies tend to revel in their macho maiming; these classically simple stories are also often accompanied by sweeping camerawork that enhances the dazzlingly brutal action that is nearly always the main event.
The One Armed Swordsman (1967)
Towards the very beginning of his career, Chang teamed up with star Jimmy Wang Yu for a project that would smash Hong Kong box office records and set him up for all of his future success as a director. That film was The One Armed Swordsman, and it was such a hit that it spawned a series of sequels in the following years. Opening right in on the action front, the movie begins by showing a master’s life being saved as his servant steps in to defend him from attackers; touched by his charge’s devotion this swordsman vows to raise the man’s son Fang as his own. Fast forwarding to some years later, we then see that the orphan’s status causes much friction with his half-siblings as his brothers and sister (Pan Yin-tze) mistreat him on a daily basis. Their conflict grows to a point where the boy decides to leave and strike out on his own—but his adopted kin don’t take at all kindly to this departure.
During a confrontation with his envious brothers and smitten sister on the way out of town, Fang suffers the crippling injury that gives the film its title. Stumbling off into the snow and thought dead by his family members, Fang is found by a young peasant woman (Chiao Chiao) and slowly nursed back to health. At first left helpless by his single-appendaged life, he eventually begins to practice a form of martial arts that suits his damaged body. Though it initially appears that Fang might abandon his kung fu past for the pastoral life of a farmer, circumstances arise that send him back to his adopted family’s homestead to confront the villains who have wreaked havoc there. Unveiling his signature one-armed style, Fang lets loose in an action packed finale that’s a firestorm of fury and a major precursor to the type of stylized fighting that would become standard for the Shaws.
One large reason for the success of the film’s action sequences is that Lau Kar-leung, who also makes a brief appearance as an actor here, choreographed them. Though it seems as though Chang and his action director are still learning the ropes, their collaboration works well enough that the fight scenes are staged nicely and are interesting in form. The pace is somewhat more stilted than it would be in later Chang films, and there’s certainly less bloodshed than would subsequently become the norm. But though Jimmy Wang Yu had no formal training in the martial arts (he was, instead, a water polo player) he comports himself quite well and creates an honorable hero whose reasons for battle seem believable and true to character.
Return of the One-Armed Swordsman (1968)
After the great success of their initial rendering of the tale of the one-armed swordsman, a few of the principals returned for a follow up just a year or so later. Chang and Lau Kar-leung came back as the director/fight choreographer team (though Tang Chia also helped out with this latter chore), and with their refined cinema technique the result is action scenes that outdo the original in both scope and presentation. Fang and his wife have now settled into a happy life as peaceful agriculturalists, but as you might imagine that isn’t going to last for too long. (And hey, would anyone buy a ticket if all they did was to hoe rows of bok choy for two hours? I think not). In a Chinese variation of the every-time-I-try-to-get-out-they-pull-me-back-in trope, Fang is forced to once again dust off his fighting skills and put the hammer down on a rapacious band of villains.
Working in the fields one day, Fang is confronted by a black and white pair of swordsmen who invite him to a martial arts competition that is being put on by eight area masters. They imply that participation is not optional, and yet Fang still attempts to adhere to the promise that he has made to his wife to retire from fighting. But all of the area clans have been invited to this tournament, and shortly after the duo depart a friendlier visit is made by the chief of a local clan and his young sons. He beseeches Fang to join him in going to the match - as he suspects the octet of looking to wipe out the local families so that their dominance will be complete. However, Fang remains unconvinced, and though his conscience is piqued, he vows to remain true to his word.
The elder then sends his sons home and begins the long trek to the match, instructing that if he doesn’t return that the youths should gather all the sons of the clans and once again try to get Fang to aid them. This is of course just what happens, and so after we’re stylishly introduced to the villains one by one, the sons eventually go back to cajole Fang into coming to their assistance. One of the clan kids foolishly tries to force Fang’s hand by kidnapping his wife, thereby kicking off a series of events that ultimately results in our hero battling the colorfully named bunch of demons that are attempting this hostile takeover. Among the miscreants taken on here are dangerous foes like Ape’s Arms, Spinning Wheel King, Hell’s Buddha, Poisonous Dragon and the like — though perhaps the nastiest is the only female member of the octet, the beautiful but deadly Thousand Hands (played wonderfully by Essie Lin Chia). What it all adds up to is a climactic final battle with the head honcho of the evil band, the Furtive King, in a spectacular finale that wraps up this action-packed adventure film.
In many ways, this sequel actually tops the first installment for entertainment value. With the main character’s traits already established in the first film, this one gets to concentrate far more on the fighting — and the results are indeed spectacular. Once the swordplay starts it almost never lets up, and the action is wildly inventive as well as far gorier than in its predecessor. The body count is huge, the weapons are many and varied and the breathless pace and highflying camerawork all combine to make this a truly great martial arts extravaganza. The final hour is more or less an unending brawl as Jimmy Wang Yu cuts his way through his foes and demonstrates his amputee style with an amazing flourish. At the end there’s little doubt that what you’ve seen is one of the truly excellent swordplay epics to emerge from the Hong Kong studio of the Shaws, one that no fan of kung fu film should miss.
The New One-Armed Swordsman (1971)
By the year 1970, Jimmy Wang Yu had left the Shaw Brothers studio. The One Armed Swordsman franchise, however, was so valuable that the company decided to entrust Chang Cheh with making a similar film with a different actor as the star. Chang then chose David Chiang, an underrated player whose work has often been overlooked in assessments of the genre’s history, to recreate the lead role. The origin story in this instance revolves around a confident, double sword-wielding man who is lured into a duel with an evil master (Ku Feng) and ends up with his arm chopped off.
After this incident, the damaged fighter Lei Li retires to a life of tavern work in hopes of forgetting his former troubles. He passes his days brooding and selling wine to the young daughter of a local blacksmith (Li Ching). One day a traveling swordsman (played by the marvelous Ti Lung) with his own beef to square with the devious Master Lung comes to the inn, and after some investigation befriends Lei Li. This begins to set the one-armed man on a path of psychological healing, though at the same time he is attempting to rebuff his female companion’s offers to give him a sword for protection.
When this newfound ally goes off to the lair of the villainous man who dispatched Lei Li’s arm and fails to return, the story is set up for the revenge angle that drives so many of director Chang Cheh’s works. Though there are times in the film’s first hour where the pace is just a bit slow, for this final denouement there is no such difficulty. Lei Li duels his way through many fighters at the stronghold of Ku Feng until he finally confronts this wicked enemy who crippled him and attacked his friend. These final fights are stunning in execution, once again teaming director Chang with the incredible action choreography of Lau Kar-Leung.
When held up against their earlier collaborations, it’s obvious that by this point the work of the director and his action counterpart was far more mature and professional than it was at the time of their initial one-armed adventure. The proceedings here are much more skillfully done, and the use of music and slow motion are handled in a way that makes the film resonate during the fight scenes. To be sure, there are still many of the shaky tracking shots that are common in Shaw films; but the overriding sense of action and excitement in the combat scenes renders these far more an asset than a liability. It’s interesting to see just how accomplished the director’s style has become in the few short years since the initial entry in the series—there’s a palpable sense that the artist’s style is crystallizing into something more substantial than his earlier efforts might indicate.
The Box Set
Readers cognizant of the R3 Celestial releases of the Shaws' films will for the most part be familiar with the extras included with each movie here. There are some production stills, a few behind the scenes shots, the original poster, some biographical sketches and a batch of newly made trailers. (Aside: here’s hoping that Celestial goes back to including the original trailers for these films on their DVD’s — though often in poor condition, these previews are vastly preferable to the annoyingly hyper-cut new versions). The only real additional material included for this box set comes on the first disk, which contains a 17-minute feature titled Chang Cheh: The Master, as well as containing a handful of animated films that were the result of a contest that Celestial solicited from students.
The fair paucity of extras within this set is no real cause for complaint, however. Celestial Pictures, simply by packaging these three epic films together in gloriously re-struck versions, has valuably preserved its history for genre fans and brought it into the digital age. Individually, this trio of films are all easily good enough that alone they might have stood as worthwhile documents of a cinematic era that offered simple thrills and visceral excitement as a matter of course; taken together they exist as a truly weighty testament to the vast talents of the people that created them. Combining the usually excellent dramatic work and high production value standards of the Shaw’s studio with the breakneck choreography of Lau Kar-leung and the brilliant helmsmanship of filmmaker Chang Cheh, this is simply a threefer that every fan of the genre must have in their possession.
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