2 reviews
It starts with two swordsmen fight and the one in white lives. Cut to the governor's palanquin is attacked by masked men on a rainy night. Ling Yun (as the lead character whose nickname is Twin Blades of Doom) arrives to save the carriers lives then seems upset that he killed people. He tells mom and pop there's trouble again and they must leave. By the time he can pack, his parents have been killed by the masked gang. He finds out it is the Ghost Gang (the big killers are named by colors).
Ling Yun is a Shaw Brothers dramatic actor playing an action role as was typical of this time. His moves include many "karate chops" and overall he displays good speed and power. I find no action director credits for this film. The fights are all above average compared to other 1969 films.
My criticisms are slight. The story did drag after the street performers entered the story and could have used more fights. Also, I never liked the lens technique that Shaw Brothers often used to shoot daytime for darkness. This technique darkened the foreground characters while the sky in the background remained bright and blue. This was particularly annoying during fight sequences because it just made the action hard to see. I rate this movie just a notch above average for the year and genre of martial arts movies from the golden age 1967 to 1984.