Tian long ba jiang

THE INVINCIBLE EIGHT (1970) was one of the earliest releases from Golden Harvest Productions, a studio set up to compete with Hong Kong's reigning Shaw Bros. studio, and offers a Shaw-style swordplay adventure with a director and some actors hired away from Shaw, as well as some new faces recruited by Golden Harvest. It has its pleasures, but ultimately, it's not as good as the Shaw productions it was copying. The "invincible eight" of the title are the sons and daughters of eight generals who had been murdered by General Hsiao (Han Ying Chieh) in the course of his rise to power. The film chronicles the gradual assembling of the eight, some of whom first meet in General Hsiao's dungeon, and their campaign to avenge the deaths of their fathers. One of the eight is not a martial artist at all, but a cook, who learns to wield his meat cleaver to lethal advantage.

In the film's first three-quarters, the heroes do a rather poor job of taking on General Hsiao's top lieutenant, Wan Shun (Pai Ying) and his "Nine Whips," whip-wielding guards who always manage to subdue the heroes and either capture them or drive them away. As a result, the fight scenes lack the necessary suspense because the heroes never seem to have a chance. Only after they devise a method of neutralizing the whips are the "invincible eight" able to come back for a set of final battles in the last 15 minutes with lots of swordfighting and whip action. Even then, the film undercuts the excitement by having the eight fight the toughest and most formidable opponents first, ending with an anticlimactic bout with a single, less powerful villain. The fights aren't terribly well-staged either, and rely on too many impossible leaps and somersaults. No real skill seems to be involved on the part of the actors, several of whom rely on stunt doubles for the heavy lifting (or leaping).

Angela Mao plays one of the eight, but she doesn't have a starring role. This was only her second or third film and she was still a kung fu diva in training, a couple of years away from her triumphs in HAPKIDO, LADY WHIRLWIND, and WHEN TAEKWONDO STRIKES. Aside from the big ensemble fight scene at the end, she has only one solo fight midway through the film when she's surrounded by the Nine Whips, with only a metal fan as a weapon. The real surprise here is Shen Tien Sha, a heavyset young woman who later became known as Lydia Shum, famous for her comic roles in later waves of Hong Kong films (and who died in early 2008). She's quite a vigorous fighter here for someone her size (although she's doubled for the more strenuous bits) and plays the most impetuous of the eight. Also in the cast is Tang Ching, a seasoned lead who had excelled at Shaw in such films as INTERPOL and VENGEANCE IS A GOLDEN BLADE, both of which are also reviewed on this site. Li Kun, Tang Ching's sidekick in INTERPOL, plays the comic relief cook. James Tien, a frequent Golden Harvest player, is another of the eight. Sammo Hung plays one of the "Nine Whips," although I must confess I never counted more than eight whip-wielders in any scene they were in.

Nora Miao, a notable Golden Harvest discovery, plays Chiang Yin, a beautiful young woman at the general's villa who, along with officer Hai Tao (played by Hsieh Hsieh), had been raised by the general even though their fathers were among the murdered generals. When the two find out the truth, they turn against their adoptive father and join the other six seeking revenge. There was a chance here to develop some human drama based on a natural tension between the need for vengeance and a bond with the man who raised them, but the film has no time for such dramatics. There are too many walls to leap over.

Signs and written messages are not translated in the Fortune Star disc seen for this review. This is especially a problem at the very end when an important message is written in ink on the wall of General Hsiao's villa after the final fight. The words were clearly meant as a declaration of intent and explanation of what happened. It would have been nice for non-Chinese readers to know what was written.

The director, Lo Wei, had made several films at Shaw, including a few swordplay films with Cheng Pei Pei (who would come over to Golden Harvest a couple of seasons later), such as DRAGON SWAMP, THE SHADOW WHIP and BROTHERS FIVE, which bears many similarities to INVINCIBLE EIGHT but is a much better film.

As with so many Golden Harvest films, the score is a hodgepodge of themes from American westerns and cues from James Bond soundtracks, as well as familiar fanfares from a Chinese music library. The film is now out on DVD as part of the Fortune Star Legendary Collection line. It's a very nice widescreen print. The optional English subtitles are marred by various spelling and grammatical errors and frequent mis-timing. The film's original trailer is included as an extra and it calls the film a "top-budget production," which is something of an exaggeration. The trailer also offers glimpses of an outdoor fight scene between the eight and their pursuers that is missing from the film proper.

When Raymond Chow left Shaw Brothers to start a new studio to compete with Shaw Brothers he used Shaw as a business model and it shows in this early Golden Harvest movie. The studio system uses many actors and does not want any one actor to be too popular and then start expecting more money. Here we have eight lead roles for the good guys and both Pai Ying and Han Ying-Chieh for the nasties. It begins by introducing everyone in a tea house while an assassination attempt fails.

This was when actors were actors and not martial artists. The studio did not want any actor getting hurt and holding up production. This is evident by the fight choreography and the choice of weapons. Swords are fairly safe as sword choreography mostly involves the actor raising the sword followed by the stunt men striking it or the actor swinging the sword and the stunt men flying off in every direction. The whip is also a safe weapon. I begrudge calling it a weapon. Yes, you can hurt someone with it but in martial arts there is really no such thing as a whip fight. In this movie there were many whip fights. I also do not like when the production makes up hokey weapons such as Nora's scissors that she uses to snip the whips. But that was the state of martial arts movies then.

Overall considering the year and genre I rate this movie just a tad above average. In movies like this sometimes it is more important not to be bad. Other than my griping about weapon choices there is nothing bad here. The characters are all individuals and do not blur into a crowd of eight look-alike fighters. Pai Ying and Han Ying-Chieh always played villains I wanted to punch in the face personally. The pace is good so I was never tempted to fast forward. The final fight is also above average and leaves the audience feeling satisfied in expectations.

The Invincible Eight, or the original title Eight (Heavenly) Dragon Warriors is a high quality Kung Fu action movie starring Angela Mao, Nora Miao, and Lydia Shum.

An evil general is causing misery to many people. His nine henchmen carries a whip that forms an iron attack formation. Eight martial artists that bear grudge on the general team up to dispatch him, but first they must break the henchmen's deadly whipping attack.

I like kung fu movies from Golden Harvest of this era, because it had modern looks to it. This is probably due to the fact that they focus more on the character rather than just the fight scenes, or the story. The actors they've recruited also aren't as stiff as the Shaw Brother's actors. Golden Harvest's choice of actors will be vindicated as many of them became major celebrities in future Hong Kong entertainment industry.

The quality of this film is very high for a fledgling movie studio. While Angela Mao hasn't developed her signature style kung fu action (or the long pony tail), the overall quality of the movie I'd say is equal or better than any movie the Shaw Brothers have produced. I didn't know that Lydia Shum has played a kung fu artist role in her career. She will be missed.

This is a good kung fu action movie, and worth a watch if you're a '70s martial arts movie fan, or interested in seeing the early career works of the leading ladies in this film.