Single-Black-Male
Joined Feb 2003
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Single-Black-Male's rating
Although a very dull film overall, the only redeeming feature about it is the duel between Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone. Once they both explode into the action, the film starts to take off, but a bit too late to maintain audience interest. However, the duel itself is worth noting because it comes a year after 'The Prisoner of Zenda'. Flynn and Rathbone feel each other out first before they aim for the kill. In 'Zenda' they combine their fighting with a combination of repartee and parrying. In this film it is omitted. That may be why it was a dull film overall because there wasn't sufficient dialogue to pull the whole thing together.
Throughout this film you see a constrained Bruce Lee. Lo Wei is deliberately holding him back in order to introduce him to audiences and to save the best of his fighting for the second film. What we see here is a humane Bruce Lee who has feelings, a sense of humour, enjoys sex and is in control of his temper. He strikes up a good friendship with Shu Sheng who life is eventually claimed by the antagonists. When Bruce witnesses the mistreatment of his family in the workplace, he still holds back. Until...they break his necklace. At that moment, he explodes into action with centrifugal force, picking off each opponent with pin-point accurate kicks. It is a work of art that is akin to 'Samson and Delilah'.
The 34 year old Victor Mature as Samson metes out death with energetic beauty both at his wedding feast (poor lad) and whilst bound on the road. It is an inspired moment where he unleashes an explosion of power, picking off soldier by soldier one by one. He draws them in to his own style of fighting rather than engaging in Philistine tactics, and manages to get the better of them. I love the way he hurls the sword and the spear into the backs and front of the Philistines, cutting through armour, flesh and bone. The centrifugal force that he uses to smash the skulls of the Philistines on the road is probably akin to Bruce Lee's 'The Big Boss' where he fights his way out of the ice factory. Fantastic piece of action.