Arguably, the greatest kung-fu film director of all time is Liu Chia-liang. Unarguably the greatest kung-fu film character of all time is Huang Fei-hung. So what do you think would happen when you put these two titanic talents together? You get one of the finest "pure" kung-fu films ever made, with nary a character getting killed, but the thrills coming a mile a minute as two pugilism schools tests each other for a full hundred minutes. Following the director’s only other Huang Fei-hung film, CHALLENGE OF THE MASTERS, Lau returns his dynamic adoptive brother, Gordon Liu Chia-hui, to the leading role, then gives the king of screen villains, Wang Lung-wei, one of his few anti-heroic roles... just in time for a stunning climax unparalleled in its adeptness and invention.
The beautiful phantom Hsiao Chien has haunted readers since her appearance in the classic haunted story collection, Strange Stories From A Chinese Studio. Many film makers have tried to adapt the tales, but none have captured the eerie, horrific beauty as well as this expressive, vivid, ethereal and haunting production. It is given extra significance by its star, the enchanting Betty Loh Ti who committed suicide later.
This is Sun Chung's very first film for the Shaw Brothers, making it especially interesting and important. He hit the ground running with this action-filled tale of a :Devil Girl" who is setting one clan against another to get her hands on two amazing mirrors with supernatural powers. Only a noble swordsman (played by Liu Tan) and beautiful swordswoman (played by The Thundering Sword star Shu Pei-pei) can stop her.
Taiwan’s glamorous onscreen couple, Ko Chun-hsiung and Chang Mei-yao, star in this unique World War II romance. When a Chinese man living in Japan-occupied Taiwan is drafted into the military, he leaves his pregnant and unmarried mistress behind. When he is presumed dead, she becomes a cabaret singer and gradually descends to the likes of prostitution. When he returns, will the couple be able to finally find happiness?
King of mischief and general silliness, Wong Jing brings us this outrageous take on theft and honour! The notorious Shih family, now retired, seem to have gone back to their old ways when a series of high-profile robberies hit town bearing their stamp. Private detective Kuan (Wang Yu) thinks Shih turk, security adviser (Patrick Tse Yin), is behind it all. Then suddenly Kuan also becomes suspicious of a Japanese named Miyamoto and finds himself being chased by a ninja! Who is the real thief?
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
The swordsman genre well under way, even directors like the es¬tablished Yueh Feng, who had directed romance stories since 1938, gave it a spin. THE BELLS OF DEATH, a whirlwind story about a man who embarks on a life long journey to learn the sword then find and eliminate the three men who killed his family and abducted his sister, features an appearance of relatively new Shaw Brothers' faces hoping to make the grade and become the next Jimmy Wang Yu, David Chiang or Ti Lung. Amidst fountains of blood and guts, actor Wu Ma rang true as his bells of glory eventually tolled. He went on to star in 180 movies (including several with Jackie Chan and Jet Li) and become one of Hong Kong's premiere, new wave, ghost story film directors.
It is love beyond the grave, as a young scholar and his beautiful lover are torn apart forever by his dastardly uncle and his friend, who drive the girl to commit suicide... but with death comes revenge for the enchanting ghost. A spooky yet heart-wrenching tale...
Chang Mei-yao , Yang Li-hua , Lei Ming , Tsui Fu-sheng
It's Meng Yuan-wen (star of The Master Strikes) versus Kuan Feng in this wild and wacky wushu saga of a priceless pole with a spectacular secret. A master martial artist's silly disciple struggles to save it from an evil white slaver, the slaver's duplicitous wife, and even his own bone-headed, but greedy, companion. Hsu Hsia choreographs the abundant action, as he had for both Five Superfighters and Drunken Master. The result is both sublime (for its kung-fu) and engagingly ridiculous.
Meng Yuan-wen, Chin Huang, Pan Ping-chang, Kuan Feng
It's a fun and wild romp that mixes pleasure with pleasure. A nightclub owner, playboy Peter Chen Ho, has his ways with three sisters while gallivanting across Asia. Each one has a dangling relationship to save - ensuring a series of mishaps and comic moments. The film also introduces young up and coming starlet Betty Ting Pei as one of the sisters.
With the 007 craze at its height, it is little wonder that Interpol operative "009" is as adept with casinos and cars as he is with girls and guns. For "Bond" fans, this film is truly "From Hong Kong, with love...!"
Margareg Tu Chuan , Tang Ching , Shen Yi , Chang Pei-shan
Take three of the most attractive women - Maggie Cheung Man-yuk, Cherie Chung Cho-hung and Rosamund Kwan, to ever grace the Hong Kong screen, mix them with two of the most lovable rogues (Kenny Bee and Nat Chen Pai-chiang), place them in the exotic beauty of Hawaii. Prince Charming is one of the first huge hits by director-writer Wong Jing, Hong Kong’s most prolific filmmaker of the past twenty years.
Long before he became internationally famous for directing Bruce Lee's first film and giving Jackie Chan his big break, Lo Wei was famous for his acting. He was, in fact, a wellknown matinee idol in the 1950's. He enjoyed appearing in front of the camera throughout his career - even in his five years working at the Shaw Studio. This was one of his most central roles, as the loyal swordsman ShangkuanHao, leader of the Black Dragon Clan. Sharing the screen with him was swordswoman supreme Cheng Pei-pei, the lovely and luminous superstar who also created an international stir with her one and only villainous role (in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon). Here she is as most fans love her best: the heroic woman warrior who saves the country. But she must face the duplicitous White Dragons, the Flying Leopard, and the Red-headed Monk, among others, to secure the throne and safeguard a hoard of treasure.
Cheng Pei-pei , Yueh Hua , Wu Fung, Lo Wei, Tien Feng
