Nan xia Zhan Zhao

This film is typical of the genre. Usual mediocre cinematography combined with sometimes brilliant acting and otherwise cheesy fx. The English dubbing is particularly funny as some of the translation ends up with ghastly puns and one liners. Good for some laughs.

Four guys in red and the leader in blue have stolen some pearls and are walking through some volcanic looking areas to avoid the main roads and mostly Chan Chao (Tien Peng) but he has already found them. The guy in blue seems to have escaped and is on a ferry boat crossing a river but Chan Chao is the other passenger. He surrenders then surprises him with a poison needle and Chan Chao falls in the water. Blue guy reports back to Chen Hung-Lieh. He has a problem with his wife in that she married him but won't put out because she loves Chan Chao. Chan Chao ends up rescued by a boat man and his pretty daughter but he has a job to do and leaves her. It gets complicated with a second lead character. Eventually Chan Chao arrests Chen Hung-Lieh and marches him off to the capital but encounters many fights along the way.

The fights are of note because they are quite diverse and imaginative. There are strange fighters, even strange creatures, weird weapons and much use of wire work with the strange weapons. There are even some comedy fights so nothing gets boring in the movie from start to finish. I rate it a notch above average for the fights and good pacing. I consider the current 7.6 rating on IMDB too much though.

My copy is a digital file that plays on a HDTV as VHS square size with dual hard subtitles that are cut off on both sides. This movie must have been a major production in 1975 based on the credits and production values yet it never was released beyond China and Taiwan in theaters or DVD. It may have been on laser disk in Hong Kong but I can't confirm. It otherwise only came out as a fan project around 2011. There is a wide screen version available but I don't have it. It is available only from other collectors.