The Devil's Mirror

Sun Chung is one of the unsung heroes of the Shaw studios. While it can be argued that Sun Chung might have been the best action director at the Shaw studio, he never had a film with quite the story appeal of anything from Chang Cheh or Liu Chia Liang (with the exception of AVENGING EAGLE). This is his first film for the Shaws and it shows a surprising command of the craft for a first time effort.

The film has a number of weaknesses, namely the plot and the very poor wire work which contrasts to the excellent fight choreography. A fairly typical wuxia story is ramped up by the inclusion of the Jiuxian witch and her quest to possess the twin magic mirrors which will free the legendary "Fish Intestine" Sword from the golden tomb of Emperor Wu. A fairly brief bit of body double nudity and a remarkable amount of bloodletting stand in contrast to the juvenile proceedings of the film. If anything belies that this was a first directorial effort, it's the uncomfortable mix of silly fantasy kung fu with some intense battle scenes that are a signature of Sun Chung's later work.

The film moves along at a fast pace so it's entertaining despite the drawbacks.

The clans meet to discuss the witch problem. Some don't take her seriously, others do. The beautiful witch discusses her plans too. She has a traitor on the inside and wants the two magic mirrors. The owners of the mirrors fear to use their ultimate weapon. The witch has men under her spell and their faces are distorted by a worm and she has the cure if they obey.

The studio system of making movies was on the way out in 1972 and turning toward creative control of actors such as Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. This movie is an example of the studio system at its best. Fabulous costumes accumulated over the past twenty years, extravagant sets that have been used repeatedly such as the bridge and seven story pagoda, all the gold paint in China to make one cave, actors picked at random and just going by the script, and the best stunt men in history getting paid ten dollars a day to do the impossible were assembled in a studio and in a few weeks a very good movie was put on film. Editors spliced it together and added sound then it was sent to theaters, made money, and then was tossed to the side like a used napkin. I'm always amazed as how entertainment was so disposable back then and no one knew they were making the best movies ever.

Excellent fight choreography and execution plus all the elaborate details mentioned before combine to make an above average movie the year and genre.