L'hirondelle d'or

Being the second film I've seen from King Hu (the first being A Touch of Zen), there were definitely some clear differences with the ways both films handled the characters. The initial portrayal of Golden Swallow as formidable in combat and Fan as harmless, yet noble recalled the characters in A Touch of Zen, but as the film went on, the clearer it became that Fan had a lot to hide, both in regards to his superior fighting skills and his history with the bandit's leader. While Golden Swallow can fight well in combat by herself and kill a few bandits here and there (albeit taking some scratches in the process), Fan is shown to understand the craft far better than her and can kill his opponents much quicker. How surprising it will be when, given the strong emphasis on Golden Swallow's rivalry with Jade Faced Tiger, she gets overshadowed and pushed aside during the final fight by Fan's rivalry with Liao (a dynamic which was given comparably less screen time in the film). It's an unexpected change of focus and, while such an idea would normally be a flaw, it's a more than fitting narrative choice for this film, given how well Fan was developed throughout the film (if I could change one aspect though, I'd give Liao some more prominence since he lacked the memorable development which Fan had). Not sure I like this film more than A Touch of Zen, but the former film has sat better with me upon reflection. The idea of slowly revealing the true colors of a formidable fighter who eventually rips through the fabric of the narrative has resonated with me quite well.

This is the movie that started it all, the watershed wu xia movie in Hong Kong to which pretty much all the kung fu and wire fu movies owe a debt. King Hu was the visionary director who introduced this new style of movie making to the world, and Come Drink With Me is the movie where he first did it.

Such an important movie in HK history was clearly going to be one of the jewels in Celestial Pictures' remastered Shaw Brothers series, and indeed it was chosen as the flagship title - a restored print did a small tour of the world to build up interest in the catalog and secure distribution. The DVD was one of the first released, and is a very nice package with beautiful picture and sound quality, great subtitling and an interesting set of interviews. After so many years it's great to see the movie looking and sounding so good.

Come Drink With Me begins with a group of bandits attacking a government party and capturing an official, who they hope to use as a hostage exchange for their leader, currently in prison. The government sends out an agent to negotiate the deal, the legendary swordsman Golden Swallow. Golden Swallow is played wonderfully by a young Cheng Pei Pei, in the "woman dressed as a man" character that would become a regular wuxia feature. They first meet in an inn that strongly resembles that from Dragon Inn (1992), where they engage in a battle of words and martial arts prowess that leaves the bandits in no doubt that Golden Swallow is not about to let them get away with their plans.

Like seemingly all King Hu movies, the plot is layered and intricately woven, full of intrigue and politics and power plays. There's always more going on than meets the eye. It manages this without being at all difficult to follow though, unlike many of its imitators and successors.

Come Drink With Me is full of colourful characters, such as the cheerful bandit Smiling Tiger or the singing drunken beggar played by Yueh Hua. Without a doubt the movie belongs to Cheng Pei Pei though, who is beautiful, graceful, fierce and proud, and a tremendous fighter. It's easy to see why audiences loved her, and her character left such a lasting influence on the wu xia movie.

The production values in the movie are very high, with beautiful sets, locations and costumes and very nice cinematography. King Hu's skillful camera work is legendary, and the imagery is not as memorable as the imagery in Hu's later work such as A Touch Of Zen it is still of very high quality and way above its peers.

The action scenes are probably the main legacy that Come Drink With Me left behind it though. As all the interviews on the disc agree, Hu's approach to choreographing and filming the sword fights raised the bar of Hong Kong martial arts movies to unparalleled levels, and really started the 'fight scene as art form' philosophy that would quickly come to be the defining characteristic of the colony's cinema. By todays standards there is no question that the fight scenes look slow and crude, and are a long way from the grace and beauty that the wu xia movie would eventually achieve under directors such as Tsui Hark and Ching Siu Tung (who has a small part in the movie as a child actor!). However, many of the cinematic styles and techniques were making their first appearance in this movie, so it is fascinating to see them and imagine how exciting they must have been to audiences at the time. The image of Cheng Pei Pei with her twin short swords is one that will linger in the memory for some time even now.

Come Drink With Me had quite a reputation to live up to, and the difficulty a keen viewer had in seeing it until now doubtless enhanced that. Probably there will be many viewers that wonder what all the fuss was about, but I think few could dispute that it is a well crafted movie even without considering its historical importance. As is obligatory with any King Hu review though, I do have to point out that it is not as good as A Touch Of Zen

Shaw Brothers. Shaw Brothers. Shaw Brothers. We meet again.

Okay, so one day I was sitting around browsing the internet, and I thought to myself, "Hmm, why don't I download a bunch of Asian films to watch later?" Just in case you haven't already guessed, this was one of them. After watching several of the others, I finally decided to sit down to this one. The reason this one caught my eye is because it starred the lovely Pei-pei Cheng, who you may know from "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon", where she played the not-so-lovely Jade Fox. Those of you who know me know I love watching women kick some ass in movies, and this was a Shaw Brothers film on top of that, so I just HAD to get up in that.

Yeah, it was pretty damn cool. Those of you who have to have some sort of deep plot and spellbinding visuals in every film you watch probably wouldn't get a whole lot out of this, but I have an open mind and this is my kind of film, so I instantly took a liking to it. Pei-pei Cheng was fascinating to watch and undeniably beautiful. She just has that sort of presence that draws you to her. Whenever she wasn't on screen, the movie definitely felt lacking in my eyes, but thankfully, she's on screen pretty darn often considering she's the main character. The fight choreography was obviously impressive, and there were some brutal scenes that will likely stay with me for a while, such as when a young apprentice is cruelly murdered in cold blood. For being as old as it is, this is also a very fast-paced film. Sure, there are some slow spots - not that they bothered me - but it's constantly moving forward, which made it all the more engaging. The story itself is solid for this type of film, but nothing too surprising. The print I saw had very good visual and audio quality, which was nice. Great, now I'm just stalling to make the review longer.

Well, it's simply a good film. I wasn't blown away, but I enjoyed it about as much as I'm capable of enjoying a martial arts film from the 60's these days. The fights alone are worth the price of admission, so if you haven't already seen this, what the hell have you been watching lately?

Cheng Pei-Pei was the Michelle Yeoh of the Sixties. A stunning action star who was as cold as ice in a fight. In this film she takes on around 40 or 50 guys and still manages to keep her cool. Seeing her two-fisted sword technique as the Golden Swallow is well worth the price of admission.

Beautifully shot early Kung Fu movie.

The fight choreography is primitive and lacks the excitement and creativity of later martial arts movies, but overall the movie delivers.

Has all the classic characters. Drunken hobo, wandering bounty hunter, evil Abbot, and ghostfaced villain.

Worth watching.