Der Clan der Ninja

Ninja In The Deadly Trap is a pretty good low budget martial arts movie that is elevated by its all star cast of Shaw Brothers stars Ti Lung and 3 of The Five Deadly Venoms Kou Chui aka Phillip Kwok, Chaing Sheng and Lu Feng. Also appearing as head of the ninja clan is Yasuaki Kurata, who is highly respected and works frequently in Hong Kong movies. While this production is not close to to quality of a Shaw Brothers Production and is not in the same class as director Chang Cheh's similar Five Element Ninjas that came out around the same time, Ninja In The Deadly Trap will please most martial arts fans with lots of crazy ninja action and the excellent kung fu one would expect from The Venom Mob. This was directed by Phillip Kwok and is unknown to me if he choreographed the fights also, but the fight scenes are awesome. Ti Lung is very elegant and has a commanding presence as The General. Most of the Ninja stuff(with exception to some of the more over the top moments) are pretty accurate as far as weapons and the way they went about their business. I think that Five Element Ninjas is superior to this film in every way, but this movie has a better cast and is pretty entertaining and solid martial arts film in its own right. Also, for Venoms fans, this is I believe the only movie that Lu Feng has a completely heroic role. I guess the original title of this film was Heroes Defeating Japs, which is a pretty ridiculous title for all you anti pc film lovers out there. While I can't regard Ninja In The Deadly Trap as a stone cold classic, I did enjoy it and should please most fans of the genre.

I enjoyed this classic Japanese vs. Chinese Kung Fu battle of a film. A Chinese general and his son are the targets of a Japanese Ninja planned assassination plot. The general's son finds the "Master of the Three Arts" who has trained three brothers in three different arts to perfection. The general's son uses these three brothers to help fight the Japanese ninjas who attempted to kill the Chinese honchos by poisoning them, throwing knives at them, and every thing else. I love the three brothers and how they work into the film. Check it out!

This film was put together after the closing of Shaw Bros. production studio by three actors who had achieved fame as members of director Chang Cheh's "Venoms" ensemble. They clearly learned a lot from Chang Cheh during that period, and this film is very handsomely put together and presented, and the acrobatically choreographed martial arts are precisely staged and well photographed. There are a number of weaknesses to the film, largely having to do with pacing; this film seems to go on far longer than it actually does, because the dramatic momentum is diverted toward the three heroes, when it clearly ought to lead toward the general, perfunctorily enacted by Ti Lung, who is given little to do but sit around looking aristocratic. 3 of the original Venoms and Ti Lung? this casting should itself produce electricity; instead, the filmmakers depend inordinately on the ninja to develop suspense, and, except for old pro Kurata, the performances of the ninjas are all pretty flat.

Still, as an "old school" kung-fu flick, this is solid entertainment - as fair a means of spending 95 minutes as one could think of, as long as one isn't looking for anything special.

I am constantly pleasantly surprised by old kung fu flicks. Typical of the genre, anti-Japanese sentiment makes for a good action flick, as Ninjas try to bump of the Chinese general who keeps Japanese pirates at bay. With the aid of three martial arts experts, the generals son seek to save the generals life. There isn't much in the way of charater development, and the Ninja spies are pretty obvious, but some of the fight scenes are pretty good, including one of the better sword fights I have seen, between a chinese and a samuri. Well worth a look for the kung fu buffs.