There are few things about Chinese culture that is more alien to western culture then the concept of royal eunuchs. That said there's little in this film that would clear up the matter for anyone. Presented here, the eunuchs are just another of the gangs that populate Chinese films.
This obscure late Shaw production is a very mixed bag of bits and pieces. The story follows a "lovable" rascal as he gambles and gets into various bits of trouble with outlaws and rebels. He eventually gets into a situation where he has to impersonate the eunuch servant of an elderly eunuch who is an evil martial art master. This gets the rascal involved with the emperor who is studying martial arts. The whole movie revolves around a quest for all the copies of a special Buddhist text.
The movie is a mixture of comedy, bawdy sex jokes and kung-fu action. The film is very gory at times but it's way over the top and presented as humorous. The rascal's mom works in a brothel and is twice seen in a very strange position with a sick old fat man. I still can't figure out what exactly was going on between the two. The rascal lives in the brothel also. Despite the situation, there is no nudity except for a gambler who gets his clothes ripped off.
Wong Yu tries his best in role that seems it could have been written for Alexander Fu Sheng. The film is briskly edited and well choreographed but the rambling nature of the story makes it hard for Wong Yu to carry the burden of holding it all together. Liu Chia Hui appears as the emperor and is good for the time he is on the screen but it's not his film. One plus for the film, the martial arts are done without wires, a few trampolines maybe but no wire-fu.
A curiosity.
