Li bie gou

I have this film in a VHS edition released by Tai Seng's Martial Arts Theater under the title, THE DEADLY SWORD (1980). It's based on a story by Ku Lung, who provided the stories for so many enchanting costume tales of the "martial world" produced by Shaw Bros. in the 1970s and '80s, including THE MAGIC BLADE, KILLER CLANS, CLANS OF INTRIGUE, DEATH DUEL, and SWORDSMAN AND ENCHANTRESS, all reviewed by me on this site. THE DEADLY SWORD is not a Shaw Bros. production, so it lacks the polish and elegance of those films. While it has much larger sets than usual for a Taiwanese swordplay adventure, it still looks pretty cheap. The big problem here is that the English dubbing sounds so amateurish, with bad actors using exaggerated voices to read lines that were poorly translated from the original and often make no sense. As far as I can tell, the plot has to do with a stolen shipment of money and the attempts of the hero, security officer Yeung Chun (Barry Chan), to clear his name and free his men from jail after he's been accused of stealing the money himself. In the course of it, he regains his father's weapon, the sword of the title, referred to most often as the "deadly hook," which looks pretty crude when we finally see it. We never see him trained in its use, yet he wields it in battle like an old pro. There's a large cast of subsidiary characters, including members of the "Dragon Club," although I'm not sure how necessary many of them were to the plot.

There are a few nifty swordfights, and the lethal hook makes an effective weapon when it finally goes into action, but most of the staging is not terribly imaginative. (The first fight scene doesn't begin until the 18 minute-mark, a long time without action for a film like this.) Ling Yun plays the villain, a change of pace for him, and he has one sword technique training scene involving dozens of lit candles that might have been handled with a little more spectacle in another, better movie. Candice Yu On-On plays Su Min, Captain Yeung's sweetheart, and she goes on the run with him for part of the film. She's a lovely actress and was in some of the Shaw Bros. Ku Lung adaptations (DEATH DUEL, LEGEND OF THE BAT, THE SENTIMENTAL SWORDSMAN), where she was seen to much better effect, although I suspect she has a much bigger part here. Tien Yeh, a regular villain in these films, frequently intervenes in the fights, although it's not immediately clear where his sympathies lie. I'm not terribly familiar with the star, Barry Chan. I've had this tape for 14 years, but I always stopped watching it because of the dubbing. This week I pulled it out again and only finally finished it this morning after forcing myself to put up with it. If you're a Ku Lung completist or a fan of Candice Yu, you should probably see it. Otherwise, it's not recommended.

The movie opens with two men discussing the deadliness of various weapons. Barry Chan slices a block of ice with a special sword then holds an auction. He has a talk with Got Siu-Bo.

My copy is a digital file with dual Chinese and English hard subtitles. It is not the version Brian Camp watched and reviewed. I can relate to his bemoaning of the dubbing as I have viewed movies that were totally ruined by the voice overs. "Sun Dragon" with Billy Chong is an example of a movie with horrible dubbing. Unfortunately the subtitles on this movie only create another problem. They are white on white so anytime something white is in the foreground the words are washed out. Also, though wide screen, it is not a true wide screen so the subtitles are also chopped off at the left and right. The translations were not fluent either. Such problems are par for the course in this genre so I blow it off and move on to the action.

They finally stopped talking and a brief scrap with spears broke out at the 18 minute mark.

Barry Chan began his movie career in dramas then appeared in 1972 "Chinese" or "The Dragon's Vengeance" with Doris Lung Chun-Erh in a martial arts role. I rated the fights in that movie as poor to acceptable. In most of his leading roles he teamed with a female fighter or strong male fighter such as Chan Sing.

This movie was not worth the effort it took to watch and I cannot recommend it at all.

THE DEADLY SWORD is another low rent wuxia story from Taiwan. It commits the cardinal sin of an action film which is that it's boring; despite the amount of plot twists and turns, nothing much happens in this movie, and even worse there's not much action either. It takes a good twenty minutes for the first fight scene to begin whereas most of these low rent films kick off immediately to keep the viewer interested.

This is a film which features the unmissable pairing of Barry Chan and Jackie Chen; it was only inevitable that these two performers would pair up at some point and they're one of the screen's greatest double acts. I'm only kidding. None of the actors in this film are distinguished and the best thing about it are the costumes. I did like the titular weapon which is a unique curved sword but it's a shame the fight choreography is below par which saps the film of its entertainment value.