Todesduell im Kaiserpalast

The beginning is promising. A young boy betrays his family who hides a refugee and tells the pursuer (Lo Lieh) where the hiding-place is - just because he wants a valuable telescope for reward. His father decides to kill the boy in order to restore the honor of the family. This tragic occurrence leads us into a colorful action adventure in extraordinarily beautiful studio sets which unfortunately is not free from problems. Too many characters are introduced which creates some confusion regarding what the conspiracy is all about and takes away attention from the emperor Chien Lung (Pai Piao). The movie slows down too often; a few scenes like the discussion about how the meal for the emperor should be cooked, or a musical competition between girls at the court are not necessary. Still I recommend to watch the movie till the end, because the creative fights against a bunch of warriors in red cloaks are fun - plus Ti Lung makes a great hero!

Sets are great, colors are great, actors are great, and Chor Yuen's direction is as usual great.

So why only a seven? Because it is unusually slow for this type of movie, all the extra creativity seems to be crammed int he last 15 minutes. So much so that the end is even a bit expedited. Like if Chor Yuen had planned an extra half hour of film, but suddenly realized he had already 2 other major motion pictures to create this same year.

Still if you're short on time zap through the main body of the picture and do enjoy the last 15 minutes.