Wu quan

The movie is bit like the "Drunken Master", and maybe it's no coincidence that Jackie Chan is the martial arts director in this movie (opening credit states "Sing Lung" which is Jackie's Chinese name).

The movie wouldn't have worked if someone with Angela Mao's kung fu skill wasn't playing the part. Her moves are crisp, and always ends in a beautiful pose after she's finished with the move.

The movie has Taiwanese look and feel to it, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was made in Taiwan. They did one thing right in this movie, and that is to give starring role to Angela Mao. Usually she's co-stared with some other less talented actors which spoils the movie.

Honestly, this is one of the best choreographed Angela Mao movie, and is recommended for viewing by all Angela Mao fans.

Fei Fei (Angela Mao) wants to kill a bad guy, but her Kungfu isn't good enough. She learns from 2 masters - who have a competition going on whose style is best - but still isn't good enough. A visit at a brothel inspires the 2 masters to create a new style called dancing girl, and after Fei Fei adds a few ideas of her own, she can challenge the bad guy again.

This is a really funny movie. Jackie Chan mentions in his autobiography he worked as a stunt coordinator on this movie, and it shows. Admittedly the variety of styles is taken beyond the border of silliness, but as a comedy, "Dance of Death" is fast, elegant and tireless. A great leading role for Angela Mao, although one wonders why she had to dress like a man for the part.

Martial arts choreography for this film is credited to "Chen Lung" - this is almost certainly Jackie Chan using a pseudonym. The release date of the film is 1980, but it was probably made in '78, when Chan worked with director Chen Chi Hwa on a couple films, including "Half a Loaf of Kung Fu" (early Chan starring vehicle) and "36 Crazy Fists" (which Chan choreographed without performing in. "Dance of Death" apparently uses the same crew and many of the same players, and looks and moves very much like the two Chan films. Those with a sense of different 'Fu styles should pay special attention to Mao's use of the middle-finger-knuckle fist (sometimes called phoenix fist or - wrongly - dragon fist in other films) - Chan actually introduced this into the 'Fu film idiom in a film credited to Low Wei (but probably directed by Chan himself), "Dragon Fist". Also pay attention to Mao's use of Snake-fist moves; her interpretation of this style is pure Chan - compare with his use of this style in "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow".

This said, the film would be little worth noting, due to a very weak script - the comedy is second rate, and the film feels incomplete - except for one essential element - Angela Mao.

Introduced to the 'Fu film world by Bruce Lee in "Enter the Dragon", Angel Mao's career gradually withered away due to an apparent lack of acting skills. She seemed capable of only two emotions, impatience and outrage. Thanks to this film, we can now see that her real curse was the type of role into which she was frequently cast. In "Dance of Death" Mao is allowed an opportunity to play comedy with a much wider range of emotional response, and frequent moments of humor. This may be the first performance I've seen from her in which she actually smiles. And she is quite charming when she does. In fact she handles comedy very well, and overall comes across as a performer one would like to see again and again. I should also mention that, although she wears male clothing throughout the film, she exudes a captivating femininity and sexuality - which actually becomes part of the plot and action of the film at the end. This film thus becomes a testament to the abilities of a performer who was otherwise underestimated throughout much of her career.

The story begins with Angela Mao's character running into 2 kung fu master's with their own unique style fighting eachother. You have the typical beggar drunken master and what I'm assuming to be an opium pipe smoking master who've been fighting for 20 years but have always ended up in a tie. Angela Mao's character convinces these 2 master's to teach her their unique styles in order to see which master's style is truly the best. The story is a bit complicated but also very simple. Angela Mao finds herself defending a runaway kung fu student that's fleeing from the bird clan. The bird clans goal is to finish off the lineage of an old kung fu fighter that killed their master's brother. Anyways Angela Mao defeats the bird clan that is comprised of 3 dumb and silly goons. Although she defeats these goons, their master's are angered by this, since Angela's interference means that the runaway was able to get away without being killed. The master's take this into their own hands and track down the runaway to his uncles school of kung fu, there they defeat and kill everyone except for Angela Mao who was saved by the runaway who decided to sacrificed himself. Thus a story of revenge unfolds. Angela Maos character spends most of the movie training and defeating the goons and the master's servant in a very comedic way. During most of the later half of the fights Angela Mao uses both of her master's techniques which they keep track of inorder to determine who's kung fu style is best, but Angela purposefully uses both styles an even amount so as to make her master's think that they're evenly matched. It's quite funny seeing them argue that their technique is winning just for Angela to switch styles and even the playing field. The finale of the movie has Angela fighting both the main evil master (who of course has white hair, cause that's how you know a master is both evil and an expert at kung fu) and his protégé. So here's my personal opinion on the movie itself, I think that Angela Mao's character is depicted as a man because she's an orphan that's been disheveled from constant traveling and homelessness thus appearing rugged and worn out. What I loved about the ending is that in order to defeat the main villain she has to use a (dancing style) against his crazy horse style. Which really depicts her femininity and her soft fluidness of a woman. The femininity of her style gets to a point in which neither of her masters wants to take credit for it which is quite hilarious. All in all I think this movie is a perfect watch if you're drunk, not cause it's bad but because it's funny and enjoyable.

....especially for the fact that we're apparently meant to assume that every character in the movie assumes that Angela Mao's character is a man; she's constantly referred to as such in the dialogue, but there is absolutely nothing "manly" in the way the gorgeous Angela looks and sounds. More lighthearted than some of her other films, and even resembling a slapstick comedy at times, "Dance of Death" is made up by about 10% plot and 90% fighting. And the fighting itself is mostly of the type that I have a problem with in these "old-school" kung fu movies: it looks too much like a carefully planned, elaborate stage performance / demonstration of various styles, and it lacks intensity. Of course movie fighting HAS to be carefully planned, but the trick is not to LOOK like it. (**)