Director: Yuen Chor
Year: 1976
Country: Hong Kong
Alternate Titles: Tien ya ming yue dao, The Moonlight Blade
Genre: Kung-Fu/Martial Arts
Plot:
Resting in his palace, a man learns that his old nemesis has arrived for a duel and begins their fight. Before long, however, a series of assassination attempts on the two convinces them an enemy has designs on a mystical weapon known as a Peacock Dart. Entrusted with protecting the weapons as well as the owners’ daughter, they set out to uncover the truth about the assassination attempts while trying to settle an old conflict between the two of them.
Review:
This turned out to be quite an enjoyable and effective effort. As was typical of the time, the fighters wield fantastic weapons, can survive ordinarily mortal wounds, and leap up over two-story buildings in a single bound. Beyond that, there's plenty of martial arts acrobatics to wonder at, including numerous sequences where hordes of swordsmen fall victim during the onslaught, a fantastic sword-fight finale, and the confrontations with several assassins to keep the film going. These are expertly choreographed, ensuring even the briefest of assassins to appear on-screen look good, while the various hordes of opponents being taken out are quite impressive to behold.
Given that, the cast here does respectable jobs. Both Lung and Lieh are such professionals by this point their competence is expected. Lung’s Hung-hsueh, being more quiet and stoic, comes off rather one-note but that’s from the story rather than his performance as he plays the part well and looks in fine form during his fight scenes. Lieh’s Man-fei, by design more bewildered and confused, is better as his complete surprise by everything, the deeper into the plot they go, is a believable and likable character. With reliable stalwarts Lily Li, Norman Chu, Fan Mei-sheng, and Ku Feng also in the cast, this one manages to feature some solid, skilled workers who don’t embarrass themselves yet can hold their own in a fight. The real standout, however, is Teresa Ha Ping as the Devil Grandma, who is quite chilling and creepy in her scenes and serves as an appropriate nuisance to the duo.
The direction is one of his finest efforts for the Shaw Brothers studio. Taking a more European-centered take on the sword-fu genre, favoring more dramatic, long-take camera movements rather than the traditional quick-cut editing favored at the time. From high-angle POVs to long tracking shots, this one plays more European in its look and feel than most of the studios’ contemporary titles. The lavish sets, including the elaborate full-size chessboard and the main temple for the final battle, are woven into the film rather nicely while retaining that traditional Shaw Brothers feel, giving this an effective mix of both styles.
However, if there’s a flaw here it’s the film’s story. While adapted from the titular novel, this still seems way too convoluted and complex for its own good. With way too many characters in the film, including a useless sojourn where he meets up with a starving prostitute, doesn’t need to be there alongside the numerous assassins that are all after the weapons, the film does have characters that don’t need to be there. Likewise, an interesting twist brought up at the end could’ve been explored further. Initially, he is told the true villain of the piece doesn’t exist, that it was a mythical being rather than a physical person and he has now become that person. Just then, a figure emerges and claims to be the real Yu, ruining a great philosophical ending. However, these issues really harm this one.
Overview: ****/5
Still one of the better entries in the Shaw Brothers catalog, this one entertains mightily with plenty of solid kung-fu action, a mythical weapon, and a rather enjoyable style that gives this a lot to like. While there are a few minor issues like a lackluster story that is overly complicated by too many side characters, the film belongs in the second tier of the studio’s efforts and is well worth the effort for fans of kung-fu cinema.
This review was originally published on Asian Movie Pulse and is gratefully republished with their cooperation.
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