Espadachim de um Braço

I have been a huge fan of HK action films for many years and have amassed a collection of 500+ kung fu films. Have heard about this film since forever, and assumed it was ground- breaking, influential, yada yada yada... but never really sought it out. I guess 'cause it's older than most and it's a swordplay film rather than all out kung fu action the likes of which Chang Cheh later specialized in (i.e. the Venoms films). However, finally having sat down and watched the remastered rerelease, I was absolutely blown away. One of the most emotionally intense HK films I have seen. Ignore naysayers... they must be heartless robots. Dramatically it is certainly on par with Lau Kar Leung's own films, and bears unmistakable thematic connections to his body of work (especially 8 Diagram Pole Fighter). Not to mention it's wonderfully filmed. If scenes are too dark, you just have a bad copy. The restored Celestial version is beautifully dark and vivid... no problem following the action. And there is plenty of action. Choreography is slightly dated, but it's 1967! The fighting is easily as good as anything from the era. And yes, I've seen the films the other reviewer mentions... also great films, but by no means superior fighting-wise. In fact, I'd venture to say it's an important milestone in the progression of kung fu choreography... with the fighting playing a pivotal role in the storytelling. Okay, most days I too would prefer to watch a Venoms movie, with my jaw dropped open in disbelief at the superhuman abilities on display... but come on... this undoubtedly deserves the credit it receives. Any true fan of HK films needs to see this.

Theater acting was very noticeable in this production, and the practical effects were as well, theater-like down to the last scene and the formulaic combats of the "this one person must die to advance the plot" variety.

Overal, a bunch of joyous kung-fu-ish nonsense - you will see what I mean, intertwined with a very theatrical drama featuring specific postures for different emotions and a bunch of men whose traditional theatrical exaggerated angular eye and flowing beards makeup probably contributed quite a lot to the extreme insistence of Western popular media on "slant-eyes" and "fu manchu" stereotypes, without understanding that a lot of the Shaw Bros movies of teh time featured classical Chinese theater conventions.

Overall, not a bad movie for a relaxing evening which brings some unintentional laughs.

An evil gang attacks the Chi school of Golden Sword Kung Fu. One student sacrifices his life to save his teacher and his school, his dying wish is that his son be taken in as a student. Young Fang Kang grows up in the school and treasures his father's broken sword and the memory of his father's sacrifice. The other students (including the teacher's daughter) resent him and try to drive him away. The teacher's daughter challenges him to a fight and when he refuses she becomes enraged and recklessly chops off his arm! Directed by Chang Cheh ("Five Deadly Venoms"), this was the first Hong Kong film to make HK$1 million at the local box office, propelling its star Jimmy Wang to super stardom. I am really beginning to appreciate the kung fu genre, especially when there is a gimmick -- a swordsman with one arm? Sounds good to me. And apparently it sounded good to many other people, because there was a sequel and a few spinoffs, too.

We are here in the mythology of the one-armed swordsman. Jimmy Wang Yu is this one. He loses his arm to a woman who loves him and hates him at the same time. He leaves his Kung Fu school to live in anonymity. But his past will force him to put forward his talent because of a woman.

The scheme is ultra classic. And the form too. Chang Cheh will make a more violent version of the film with the brilliant La Rage Du Tigre (1971) which will be much more violent, furious and masculine (the women have no influence on the story) and also less mawkish than this one which lacks subversion in an unsurprising framework. Jimmy Wang Yu does what he can, but he is not really helped, supported, transported, by the other actors who are a bit bland or else in sneers, nor by the two actresses (for the only two female characters) who are in the embarrassed pettiness. The fights are not particularly memorable, except for the super villain (whom we discover at the end) with his particular tools and his secret boot that allow us to get out of the routine of the usual fights for this kind of production.

THE ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN (1967) is often cited as Hong Kong's first real martial arts film, i.e. with emphasis on martial techniques, styles and training rather than on clan politics, corrupt officials, and court intrigue. Star Jimmy Wang Yu is much more intense here than in most of his previous starring roles (e.g. TWIN SWORDS and TRAIL OF THE BROKEN BLADE) and his fighting is much more ferocious. Overall, this is a bleak, somber film, with occasional tearjerking and melodramatic moments. The darkly handsome Wang Yu brings the right tone of brooding and melancholy and makes the climactic moments of violent outburst quite satisfying.

Wang Yu plays Fang Kang, a martial arts student whose right arm is chopped off in a sudden confrontation with his master's impetuous daughter and then must learn how to fight with his left. He runs off and finds a simple farm girl, Hsiao Man (Chiao Chiao), to take him in and care for him. She has a half-burned old swordfighting manual which she gives to Fang to teach himself left-hand sword techniques. Her father had died after a sword fight (over the book) and her mother had started to burn it. Her mother had warned her to never fall for a sword fighter and she urges Fang never to fight. However, after he is humiliated by some martial arts students when they try to flirt with Hsiao Man, Fang resolves to fight again.

Fang is forced into action when his former master, Teacher Chi, and his students are attacked by Long-Armed Devil who has called on evil swordsmen, including Smiling Face and his two loutish students, to raid Teacher Chi's school during Chi's retirement party. Long Arm gets things rolling by sending his two henchmen to kill any students they can waylay. The henchmen have a sword-lock on their swords with which they can trap the opponents' swords and slay the opponent with a right hand dagger to the belly. Ultimately, only Wang Yu's short, broken sword is capable of counteracting the sword-lock.

Wang Yu returned to the role of Fang in THE RETURN OF THE ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN (1968), which is even more focused on swordfights and bloodshed (and is also reviewed on this site). He later left Shaw Bros. to star in ONE-ARMED BOXER (1971), which, along with his last Shaw Bros. film, THE CHINESE BOXER (1970), was a seminal film in the budding kung fu genre.