Xin du bi dao

It's very confusing. Director Che Chang made a series of five films which starred Yu Wang as the One-Armed Swordsman. However, Chang ALSO made some other films with the phrase 'One-Armed Swordsman' in the title...but not the same guy! In this case, the great martial arts actor David Chiang stars as Lei Li...A One-Armed Swordsman! Confused? I sure know I was! It is possible that the titles I am talking about are only the English language titles...but they do involve a hero who is missing an arm. My assumption is that the franchise was so successful that Chang decided to put out as many one-armed films as possible! Oddly, however, this is the only one- armed film with Lei Li.

By the way, the version of this I was was the American dubbed one. Because of this, it might have been edited heavily...I have no idea but this often is the case with martial arts films. It is a Shaw Brothers film...which generally is a VERY good thing, as they tended to make some of the best martial arts film of the era.

When this film begins, we can see that Lei Li is kind of stupid...at least when it comes to losing his arm. He's attacked by some jerks and he defeats them. When their master comes along and confronts Lei Li for this, Lei Li challenges him to a duel--and the loser promises to give up an arm!!! Naturally the master wins and he's decent about it...telling Lei Li to forget about the bet. But Lei Li is an idiot and soon lops off his arm in a memorable (and silly) scene! This is how this one-armed dude came to be in this film. Unfortunately, after this, Lei Li is pretty defenseless....or so he thinks. Jerks come to town and bully the crap out of him...simply because everyone sees him as a useless one-armed guy...and he is during much of the film. What happens next to make him go from a one-armed loser to a one-armed hero? See the film and find out for yourself.

This is clearly a better than average martial arts film. Even with the celery-crunching sound effects and silly dubbing (typical of most films in the genre), the fighting scenes are better than usual and the story a bit different from other one-armed films. Oddly, however, they did no follow-up films with Lei Li...and I would have enjoyed this.

As a beginning martial artist at the time I saw this film,I was amazed at how realistic the fight scenes were.This man could handle a sword and to this day I wonder how they made it look so real.

I usually like more realistic action films like Bruce Lee. Not the latest Die Hard where they break the laws of physics every ten minutes. And I don't like the current stuff with too much CG and wire-work.

That said, I love this film. Especially in the original Mandarin. Fine production values, two heroes Chiang and Jimmy Wang Yu and a great villain "Hero Lung." A classic movie baddie.

The only possible improvement would be if Bruce Lee had starred. Still, I'll have to say Chian is perfect as a young master swordsman who would rather cut off his own arm than live with dishonor.

I've heard that Jimmy Wang Yu was not a trained martial artist, but a pretty tough guy in real life. Too cute guys.

Chang Cheh had already directed an iconic "One-Armed Swordsman" (Jimmy Wang Yu) a few years earlier but for reasons unknown to me decided to 'reboot' with "The New One-Armed Swordsman", featuring David Chiang as the protagonist. Unlike stern and stoned-faced Wang Yu, Chiang plays the ever-jolly, jovial Lei Li, a very skilled traveling swordsman who is forced to cut his own right arm off after loosing a fight with villainous mastermind Lung I-Chih (Feng Ku), leader of the "Tiger Gang". Li retires from being a fighter and resigns himself to becoming an aid at a local restaurant, constantly subjected to the mockery of the patrons. When fellow traveling swordsman Feng Chun-Chieh (Lung Ti) rides into town, he and Li bond almost immediately but Feng likewise looses a battle with I-Chih and is killed in the process. Li swear vengeance and goes up against I-Chih, his supposedly unbeatable weapon, an interlinked, triple-iron staff (a weapon that "can only be bested by three swords") and his army of goons.

"The New One-Armed Swordsman" was one of the first Hong Kong films to become a hit in (West)-Germany (under the title "Das Schwert des gelben Tigers" or "The Sword of the yellow Tiger"), sparking a wave similar-minded films to flood the market. Indeed, during the early 1980s you'd have been hard-pressed to pass a cinema that was not showing at least one Kung Fu flick or a video store that wasn't stacked.

Especially David Chiang does an amazing job, being very charismatic, at the same time makes the viewer believe that he could pull it off and decimate a legion of fighters with only one arm. Like in many other movies that feature this duo, Chiang and Lung Ti have a very good chemistry, something like the Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis of martial arts movie. Perhaps even too good a chemistry: As some may have pointed out, the constant gazing at each other and assuring themselves of their friendship, at times reminds one of "Brokeback Mountain" (and relegates the supposed love-interest, the cute-as-a-button Ching Lee to a mere sister-figure). Feng Ku is a reliable baddie and is well versed in changing from an almost fatherly figure to a menacing fighting machine within an instant.

The special-effects are bloody but may seem a little dated, especially in times where most martial-arts-movies are saturated with CGI and actors flying around on wires. But for those interested in honest, hard-working Kung Fu and sword fights, there can be few better recommendations than "The New One-Armed Swordsman".

8/10

THE NEW ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN (aka TRIPLE IRONS, 1971) follows director Chang Cheh's earlier one-armed swordsman films (ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN, RETURN OF THE ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN) but replaces departing star Jimmy Wang Yu with the director's newer find, David Chiang, who is joined by frequent co-star Ti Lung. It's a colorful, occasionally moody historical adventure shot on Shaw Bros.' sprawling Hong Kong backlot and features a climactic battle in which the titular hero takes on an army of bad guys single-handed.

David plays a swordsman tricked into a duel to defend his honor with a corrupt swordfighting teacher (Ku Feng) who causes him to cut off his own arm. He leaves the `gallant fraternity' and broods in isolation, making a living as a waiter at a roadside tavern. When a wandering swordsman, played by Ti Lung, learns who he is and gives him a pep talk, David is stirred, but refuses to take action. When Ti is killed by the same corrupt teacher, who uses a lethal three-section staff, David is finally spurred to action and, armed with a dead warrior's sword given to him by the tavern owner's sympathetic daughter (Li Ching), he goes after the offending gang of fighters and figures out a 3-sword move designed to beat the 3-section staff. Before he's through, he leaves a trail of corpses littering a massive bridge leading to the gang's fortress.

David Chiang may not have been the best martial artist, but he had a wiry, energetic quality that served him well in this type of slashing and swirling fighting style. He also exuded a brooding intensity that came in handy in his portrayal of the onetime swordsman, who is crippled both physically and psychologically and has turned his back on his calling. Chiang and Ti Lung worked well together in violent tales of male bonding in turbulent eras. The villains here, Ku Feng and Chen Sing, both excelled at playing devious and crafty characters capable of unctuous charm one minute and great cruelty the next.

Famed martial arts director Lau Kar Leung worked on the fight scenes, in which kung fu takes a back seat to swashbuckler-style sword- and weapons play. (Lau was an expert in both styles of fighting.) This was one of a group of costume epics made by Chang Cheh prior to his series of Shaolin-themed martial arts films, dating from 1973-76, which put kung fu in the foreground and were made initially in collaboration with Lau, who broke off in 1975 to direct his own films.