My copy is a digital file that plays on a HDTV as black and white in a square video in Chinese with no subtitles. I do not speak Chinese. The movie opens with a lot of talking. Many men are addressing the emperor. A scruffy looking guy enters by doing cartwheels. His message to the emperor is clearly bad news. Cut to outdoors. The emperor and his group speak to a woman on horseback.
Most of these actors are from Chinese Opera and act like it with stiff poses and big expressions meant to be seen all the way in the back of the theater. Many scenes are set up as if on stage. The great Sek Kin stands out. His facial expressions and movement are subtle. Despite the language barrier, Sek Kin's acting told me the story. His expression alone made his dialog unnecessary to understand what was happening.
I will praise Sek Kin again for his fight at about the 57 minute mark. A lot of swords are swinging in this sequence and Sek Kin is in the middle and looking fabulous.
The martial arts movie genre had its golden age between 1967 and 1984. Three things combined to form the genre: Chinese opera, acrobatics, and puppetry. The fights in those movies were far from realistic but were amazing to watch because of Chinese opera. The stylized and formal moves of the fighting in the operas formed the basics of fight choreography. Acrobatics made the fighting moves even better. Just watch any of the Five Venoms movies to see glorious examples of fighting and acrobatics combined. Puppetry added the final ingredient. This made the fighters and even the weapons and props able to fly.
Adjusting for the year and genre, this movie rates about average in my book.
