Du bei dao wang

RETURN OF THE ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN (1968) is a direct sequel to ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN (1967), a seminal Hong Kong martial arts film that, unlike earlier swordplay films with Wang Yu (e.g. TWIN SWORDS, MAGNIFICENT TRIO), placed the emphasis on technique and training in order to defeat a superior enemy.

Also directed by Chang Cheh and starring Jimmy Wang Yu, RETURN dispenses with the whole training routine and focuses on a turn of events designed to get the title character out of voluntary retirement and back into action for a series of swordplay battles. A martial arts tournament is set up by Unknown Nemesis (Tien Feng) as a pretext to lure rival martial artists into a trap. Word of this treachery reaches Wang Yu and he reluctantly leaves his farm and wife (Chiao Chiao, returning from the first film) to free the imprisoned swordsmen and wreak vengeance on Unknown Nemesis. After the first half-hour the film is virtually nonstop bloodshed and swordplay, all beautifully photographed on lavish Shaw Bros. studio sets.

Future kung fu star Ti Lung appears as an ill-fated fighter in an early scene with crafty villainess Essie Lin Chia. The fight choreography is by Tang Chia and Liu Chia Liang (Lau Kar Leung), who would both have a great impact on the kung fu films of the 1970s. While Wang Yu went on to star in ONE-ARMED BOXER, he never again played a one-armed fighter in a Shaw Bros. film. When Wang Yu left Shaw Bros., Chang Cheh made THE NEW ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN (aka TRIPLE IRONS, 1971) with David Chiang in the title role and Ti Lung in support.

Return of the One-Armed Swordsman, directed by Cheh Chang, and starring Jimmy Wang Yu as the One-Armed Swordsman, sees the return of the titular hero. Now in retirement and enjoying life as a humble farmer, vowing to never pick up the sword again, Fang is approached by two expert swordsman, inviting him to the mansion of the kings of martial arts, a group of ruthless fighters who seek to kill all rival swordsman and take over all the schools of martial arts.

This is one of the campiest martial arts films I have seen in a while, and by extension one of the most fun. Fang picks up the sword after his wife (played by Chiao Chiao) is kidnapped. He unites the students of the martial arts schools, whose teachers have been kidnapped by the kings as hostages. And this is where the fun comes in. We have a seductress with a a thousand blades, a sword-gun, a tunnel digging master, a rope-blade warrior, a strong man, shield blades, the king of kings - who's balde is unknown, and hundreds of armed adherents. The One Armed Swordsman sets out to best all of these warriors, and free his wife and the masters of the schools, while building a following of young students bent on helping.

This film is wonderful. It has some of the campiest elements of any martial arts film I have yet seen. The different styles of the kings are ridiculously enjoyable, and so strange they elevate to a higher plain. In my opinion, this is a cult masterpiece, with only a few ratings on IMDB at the time of writing. Too bad, as this film is a recognizable jem. Much fun to be had in this one, and highly recommended to anyone looking for a good martial arts flick. The first in this series is worth a watch, but does not approach the quality of this rare "sequel that's better than the first." Give this under seen jem a go, it deserves the reputation.

A great sequel to the original film 1967 with the two main characters husband and wife reprise their role but went straight to the plot a against the eight dagger clan more action less drama more blood shedding and fight scene... it's already built up all the storyline in the first one... the second one is just smooth sailing onwards

Smooth transition from the original to the sequel... great antagonist and protagonist.

"The One-Armed Swordsman" is a classic and one of the best martial arts films of all time. So, it's not surprised that the movie had sequels. While not nearly as good, Yu Wang is back as the title character and it's interesting enough to merit watching if you like these sorts of pictures. If you don't, this one is unlikely to convert you.

When the film begins, a group of baddies named the 8 Kings attack the leaders and best students of the 40 martial arts schools. They then send an ultimatum to all the surviving students back home...."Cut off one of your arms or we'll kill your masters". Not surprisingly, they decide instead to seek out the One-Armed Swordsman and enlist his help. Will he come out of retirement to help? Well, considering the title of the film, it's pretty much a foregone conclusion.

Along the way, they encounter a lot of treachery and baddies. My favorite was the evil woman who smiles so convincingly...as she murders folks right and left. She is an amazingly good villain and it's a shame she's only in a small portion of the film. In addition to her, you'll see LOTS of blood and gore and tons of ridiculous fight scenes using 'wire fu'. This is the most serious problem of the movie. In the first film, there is some wire fu but mostly it's just really, really great swordsmanship and martial arts. Here, however, the quality of the fighting is much, much lower with blood substituting for quality fighting. Not a terrible fighting film but certainly not near the quality of the first one despite having the same leading man and director. Diverting but far from a must-see. After all, you DON'T expect total realism from a one-armed film...but you do expect better than this.

By the way, if you want to make this film a drinking game, I suggest everyone take a shot every time a character is mortally wounded yet miraculously, for a few seconds, begins fighting again despite losing gallons of blood or having HUGE swords thrust through them! I especially love the scene with the guy impaled with a sword and he manages to kill a dozen more guys for about the next five minutes before he ultimately expires!

After watching the original One-Armed Swordsman, directed by Chang Cheh and starring Wang Yu in the title role, I knew I had to watch this direct sequel, as the others had David Chiang replacing Wang Yu as Fang Gang.

Continuing where the first movie left off, we see Fang Gang leading a life of a farmer, without a care of JiangHu politics. But as the saying goes, and in martial arts movie, so long as you're a reputable swordsman, trouble will always be looking for you. The emergence of the evil Eight Demon Swordsmen clan brought about chaos, with their issuing of forced challenges and a grand meeting amongst the swordsman clans. The senior members of various clans get annihilated or captured, and its down to the junior members to try and convince Fang Gang to come out of "retirement" to assist them in their quest of rescue, and getting rid of the Eight Demon Swordsmen.

It's also pretty cool to see the main villains being crafted with various deadly weapons and different personalities. Like the one with the deadly chain-attached sickle, or the mean looking knife-shield. How about a weapon which seemed to fire pellets of poison, and a sword with extensible blade? Perhaps the more interesting villain was the lady assassin, with her demure looks, and deadly hidden knives, giving a new meaning to back-stabbing! However, being villains, our hero and his gang of merry men, while on the way to the villains' fortress, get to dispatch them one by one in deadly, bloody fashion. Although by today's standards the blood is pretty fake looking, it's still quite a bloody affair with slashing, stabbings - knives through body, and squirting blood. But I must add that it did give a sense of cheesy nostalgia to how blood was created for the screen in those days.

Classic martial arts movie scenes like the bamboo forest also get featured in this movie, though the forest did look a bit sparse, since it was filmed in a sound stage. Added to the fight scenes was a demonstration of superb "qing-gong" (light-skill, fleet-footedness) by Fang Gang, though the wire work used was extremely elementary, and came across quite laughably. Back in those days, this sequence would have been da bomb though.

The story's nothing to shout about - it has almost every thematic element that you'd expect from a martial arts movie, and classic scene settings like forests and inns. But it sure is one heck of a fun ride - bigger, bolder, badder than the original, with a lot more disposable characters for the body count.

Code 3 DVD extras contains a pretty weak lineup of only the trailer (and trailers for other movies), colour stills, the poster, selected cast and crew biography and filmography, and a one screen production notes. The DVD for the original seemed better and more thorough.