Die Herrschaft des Schwertes

Shaw Brothers martial arts film that's more focused on story and character than on it is on fight sequences, which left me a little disappointed because I didn't find myself all that interested in the characters or story here. The story is about two feuding clans, which seemed to play out more like a tale of royal court intrigue than your typical you-killed-my-master kung-fu film plot lines, which is probably a good thing in most cases, except this royal court intrigue wasn't all that compelling. The few martial arts sequences present, primarily swordplay over hand-to-hand fighting, are well done, but are far too brief. I was also quite surprised at the amount of nudity in the Shaw Brothers production, which usually shied away from that sort of thing (although brutal bloody combat was perfectly acceptable). I read several other reviews where other reviewers loved this film, so it does have it's defenders, but I am not one of them.

This movie makes my list of the best martial arts movies of all time for the year of 1976. It's a story of martial arts clan feuding with intrigue and betrayal. The movie is more focused on the story and characters and the fight sequences are few and short. The fights account for less than 20% of the run time. That is not a description of what I like in a martial arts movie yet this is definitely one of my favorites. I have watched it about three times over the last ten years or so and it stands up.

The nudity in these movies is always female gratuitous nudity. I have no problem with this as long as the babe is hot.

Most of the fights are with weapons. I prefer authentic Chinese weapons. "Legendary Weapons of China" is my top movie of all kind. This movie has many fanciful weapons that look cool but in reality probably would cause only little harm or might not work at all. One character carries 72 hidden weapons at all times. I can see how this is fun for the audience. However, as a lifelong martial arts practitioner I expect respect for authentic legendary weapons.

Enough of what I consider flaws. The features of the movie certainly overcome all flaws. The pace of the story adjusts for the action and dialog. This mix flows smoothly to lock the attention of the audience from start to finish. The fight sequences are short but the substance and uniqueness of each one hits both quick and satisfying. Finally, the Shaw sets and costumes are always a feature and I think this movie topped everything that came before.

Stimulating those two senses, it seems to have put off some viewers.

The nudity; unsophisticated. The plot; too many loops and lunges, as it's all a deep criminal conspiracy of changing hands with traitors. But the suspense and surprise of betrayal makes the unsavory nudity just another tool to shock the viewer for this film.

Then, there are claims that there is not enough action in this film, especially coming from the Shaw Bros. studio. It is actually the action here that is the most sophisticated, as those who are intrigued by the pacing and plotting in the dialogue will find it that much sweeter when the swords are drawn.

And surprisingly, the minimal yet scintillating choreography elevates the final duel to one of the most memorable and impactful scenes I can ever recall, even making some other Shaw Bros. fight scenes seem like the Star Wars Prequels.

If you want a film that will keep you on your toes and ruffle some feathers, look no further than KILLER CLANS.

This film was adapted from a very dark novel and was "sanitised" - perhaps to make it more family friendly or for those seeking some not- too-intellectually/emotionally-challenging escapism. As such the motives and actions of the characters will not always make sense. Despite the plot-holes, this film was fun to watch. The artificial sets are beautiful to look at and there are clever and creative contraptions in the designs. The leading man and lady lacked "screen presence" in this version. In fact, they were wooden, bland and unconvincing (after taking into account the drastic oversimplification of their characters). The supporting actors did a better job. An entertaining way to pass some time.

Another one of the dozen main character kung fu films that Yuen Chor directed. It starts out confusing as it's hard to follow the crowd of characters parading across the screen but fortunately a number of them are killed off before long and we are down to half a dozen. We also get to spend some time with a few of them so we can start to associate and care about them. A few more characters get introduced before long but it works better as they are in individual scenes.

The photography and sets are, as usual for a Yuen Chor film, excellent. The new film transfer is rich and sharp. The action is good although sometimes the actors are off time (reacting to punches that haven't happened yet). The acting is standard Shaw Bros. The subtitles are generally good but some dialog is obscure to non-Chinese audiences.

The film is slightly "adult" with some brief useless nudity and sex scenes. The fights are moderately bloody but nothing like some Chan Cheh films.

Reasonably good. If you can get through the first half-hour, you'll have a good time.