The Swirling Mists of Chor Yuen: 70s Shaw Brothers Wuxia II: SENTIMENTAL SWORDSMAN (Trilogy) HEAVEN SWORD AND DRAGON SABRE (1&2)

There are seemingly hundreds of old Shaw Brothers kung fu and wuxia films on Prime. If you watch enough of them you can, in fact, begin to distinguish directors and sub-genres that fit your exact likes and go on your own massive Shaw Bros. bender. Me, I avoid the post-5 Fingers of Death types, full of sweaty young bald dudes smacking each other around and going through their shame/training/revenge arcs in overlit small villages, with nary a female marital artist in sight, only a tavern maid who the young bus boy saves from ruffians, and then his family pays the price later, etc.. These are usually dubbed in English, rather than subtitled as they translated more internationally. That can get annoying as you begin to discern the voice of the same nasal Brit doing all the male characters, like a half-assed Frank Oz (you know who he is when you hear him). Me, I prefer the more esoteric "swordplay thriller" wuxia, from Shaw Brothers, in the original Cantonese with subtitles. Many are full of gorgeously-lit nights, rich with elaborate decor, expansive sets, swirling mists, and strong female characters as deadly as their male counterparts, if not more so.

The best and weirdest of these are usually directed by "Chu Yuan" (aka Yuen Chor - I'm not sure why he's always Chu Yuan in the credits, but then Yuen Chor everywhere else). You know it's a Chu/Chor when an old woman triumphs in a fight to the death with three experienced male martial arts heroes (as in the climax of The Proud Twins) and it's believable (she's from the badass all-maiden Pa Mei clan--and she kills or beats up any member who 'strays' off the virgin path). His ouevre is also stocked with dazzling swordplay, wire-aided spins, jumps and kicks, recurring characters (from well-known Chinese myths and novels, apparently), period fantasy garb where everyone is dressed like gossamer princesses (even the men), and plot points that generally avoid the tedious barrages of picaresque peasant suffering, government corruption, betrayal, prolonged crying jags, etc, in favor of cool supernaturally-tinged mysteries awash in Bava-style gel lighting, and that celestial mist. 

Sometimes the food is poisoned by smiling princess or the "Devil Grandma" and everyone is challenging each other to duels in the dead of night with magical weapons, finding hidden kung fu manuals, and drinking themselves to death as plum blossoms shed their snowy petals in a slow cascade against the gorgeously obsidian soundstage night sky. Heroes wander from one beautiful background to another as they seek to level up against the one or two higher-ranked swordsmen. There's seldom any vengeance to seek, beyond some ancient grudge of the hero's teacher or parents passed on to the next generation, who often fall in love instead. The villains are generally sophisticated gentlemen or ladies, often masked since they're someone close to the hero (twist!), and the battles tend towards almost Leone-level cool (Leone is clearly a big influence on Yuen Chor, to the point that in many films hero Ti Lung walks around in a Clint Eastwood pancho). Hawksian professional courtesy, old school gallantry, Bechdel test-acing and standing around acting cool are all Chor staples. making him kind of the Howard Hawks/Mario Bava hybrid of Shaw Studios. In short, sublime. While other directors as busy showing the brutality and corruption of a nasty emperor, shirtless exterior training montages, and final sweaty showdowns, Yuen's wuxias are launching strange invincible light-shooting weapons, drinking the blood of giant serpents, and attending big showdowns under soundstage setting sun amber glow over everything, beautiful as any real life magic hour, if not more so. It all swirls together to create a rarefied neither/or space that evokes the essence of a dream.

Since Shaw studios cranked out so many films, so fast, they wisely kept all their sets standing across numerous soundstages, all connected to each other so some fights take place over long tracking shot through ornate plum blossom-filled gardens, temple ruins, secret lairs all aglow in foggy green and purple gel spot lighting, waterfalls, cliff face alcoves, little green water pools in the rock, meditation chambers, secret caves, ancient ruins, bamboo forests, indoor/outdoor restaurants, brothels, gambling dens, palace reception halls, booby trap-filled hallways, clan meeting halls, thief-filled roadside inns, and mystical fox ghost dens, all in a single scene. While the more fight scene-centric kung fu-style films seem to forego beauty in the name of athleticism, the Chu Yuan swordsman thrillers all keep the beauty and mystery on par with the dazzling if balletic (at times) swordplay. They also add dry wit, and elaborate charade-style plots where one mystery reveal tops another, and every setting has its own colorfully-named gang of killers waiting in ambush (was The Warriors a hit in Hong Kong, too?). Swordsmen heroes uncover elaborate murder plots, protect invincible weapons, search for lost siblings, discover long-missing kung fu manuals (and attain the mystical powers therein overnight), and--above all, seek a duel with the one opponent who can finally give them a fair fight. Some of these champions and villains have chi of such power the practitioner glows red and shoot rays of light out of their palms. 

Really, there is nothing their equal in any other country, period, or genre. 

Here are some of my favorites (all on Prime), and of course, check out my round-up of more fantastical supernatural based wuxias from my last big wuxia bender: Wild Wild Wuxia!

 THE SENTIMENTAL SWORDSMAN 

(1977) Dir. Chu Yuan (aka Yuen Chor)

***

Sentiment is not always a plus in the martial arts world, or so the bad guy--the evil Plum Blossom Bandit--says to the venerable ace swordsman hero Chi Lu-hsiang (the venerable Ti Lung) after praying on his sense of honor and loyalty. Now in self-imposed exile from his wealth and lady love, the venerable Chi Lu just coasts around the country, knocking back jugs wine, pontificating Taoist-drunk style in that 'talking to the air' Ti Lung way, and slowly getting a Doc Holiday-style consumptive cough. Since he's ranked the #3 in the martial arts world, poor Chi has to duel constantly with up-and-comers trying to make a name for themselves, but our Chi Lu would much prefer to gaze wistfully at the plum blossoms and just watch the world go by 'cough'. He drinks because his one true love wishes she was with him instead of the husband Chi Liu gave his everything--lands, girl, house---to out of gratitude for saving his life ten years ago, like a prize-ass chump. Or is that --like many alcoholics (myself included)-- he'd rather drink to to numb the pain of losing his only love than get the love back, even if she's right there, pining for him in lonely solitude? If that sounds like Geoffrey Firmin to you, then, cheers, old man! It maybe sounds like me, too. We'd rather drink over losing you then have you back. It is the way of the holy drinker. 

Other cool characters include the beautiful, vain badass Lin Xanier, proudly bearing her status as "the whore of martial arts world, " offering to marry the man who finds and kills the Plum Blossom Bandit, thus drawing all the horny martial artists on the top twenty list to a grand brawl. She's contrasted with the modest beauty of the sad (sober) creature Lin Hsin-ehr (Li Cheng), pointlessly sweeping up Chi Lu's empty courtyard, for no conceivable reason, waiting for the man she loves to return to his own home, the beautiful estate he gave up out of his woefully misguided sentiment to a 'friend' he never should have trusted. 

The ironies compound: despite the title, Chi Lu doesn't even carry a sword, preferring to parry with his fan. He bats his opponents around with it, blocks strokes with his fan (folded), and when he gets tired, just whips it open, wizzing some of the darts out of the folds, killing his foe instantly via at least one to the neck, the opened fan bearing the words: "Little Li's Darts That Never Miss." Who would want to duel with a guy who does that? Isn't that cheating? Either way, he's doing a lot of killing with those darts --a bunch of martial arts social climbers have been duped into thinking he's the Plum Blossom Bandit (who, incidentally, throws poison plum blossom darts and dresses like a pink ninja). Luckily a young bumpkin wanderer-- the irrepressible Ah Fei (Derek Yee)-- shows to cover Chi Lu's back. Other bad guys include a fake plum blossom bandit, a despicable old member of the 'Seven Incredible Men' who poisons Li's wine, and a doctor who notes that "Nothing is better than drinking to death" and then cures Master Li... with another glass of wine! You were poisoned by wine and the cure is more wine!" I love this doctor. "Why would trivial matters such as life and death get in the way of drinking?" he asks. Lu gets it; he keeps drinking though his consumptive coughing (or is it an ulcer?) and though he gave up everything to another man; he'll never give up dinking, not for anyone! Even his own survival! What a heroic swordsman! 

Under Chu Yuan's direction, the rich atmosphere and expansive shadowy, mist and water-enshrouded indoor/outdoor sets keep the eye continually seduced, like cold wine down a parched throat after walking out of the hot sun into a chilly lounge, with just the right amount of wit, mystery, exotic atmosphere, emotional sweep, and Sergio Leone-style cool dude posturing to keep one's attention through the barrage of confusing plot reversals.

THE RETURN OF THE SENTIMENTAL SWORDSMAN

(1981) Dir. Chu Yuan (aka Yuen Chor)
***1/2

"There is no truth in the marital arts world - only dead people, gold, and fame"

Correctly considered one of the few sequels better than the first, laden with swirling mists and plum blossom evenings ("they've bloomed too soon," notes Ah Fei "and will die sooner."), Return of the Sentimental Swordsman has an almost mystical reverence for alcohol coupled to savvy awareness of the process of alcohol addiction (and evocations of Rio Bravo and My Darling Clementine). Rather than the previous film's Plum Blossom bandit (the masked pink ninja villain of the first film) it's the real plum blossoms that count here, seen at night, under softly falling snow, amidst tiny waterfalls and glowing lanterns, with mist rolling over the ground--if you have a good HD TV with deep blacks it's probably one of the most beautiful soundstage-recreated gardens you'll ever see. There's so much beauty it even lures the still drinking and coughing titular swordsman Chi Lu (Ti Lung again) back home, where his lady love lives now. alone, still hoping he'll finally come to stay at his own house. But Chi Lu is also looking for trusty Ah Fei, who's been missing from the martial arts world for awhile. Hopeless Ah Fei! Turns out he's cohabitating with that slutty martial art groupie Lin Xanier (Linda Chu), that "whore of martial arts world" from the last film, and has become a tranquil nonviolent early-to-bed health nut! Oh, Ah Fei!! Spending his days counting the plum blossom blooms, blinded by love and tranquilized by the drugs Lin spikes his tea with at night so she can sneak down to the whorehouse and whoop it up with the head of the Money Clan! Wake up, sleepy Ah Fei!

Once he finds out, heartbroken Ah Fei plunges into alcohol addiction and winds up imprisoned in the Money Clan's brothel, groveling around on the carpet for a drink as the prostitute's laugh and pour wine down onto his face, deepening the connections to Rio Bravo, especially at the climax when Tung Li's lady love brings Ah Fei his old clothes and sword after he's finally sobered enough to join his old friend in a duel at Summit Mountain. The duel is set at dawn, and the Money Clan leader's golden robe looks great in that artificial early light as the red sun pierces through the mists and trees, the sky gradually getting brighter as the duel wages on.

While the echoes of Rio Bravo are clear, there is also evidence of Yuen Chor's aforementioned familiarity with the Sergio Leone westerns: various Morricone-esque electric guitars and weird rhythmic strains erupt during big duel and its lengthy staring contest interludes.  As with the first Sentimental film, there might be one too many frustrating melancholy exchanges between Chi Liu and his glum platonic but still patient love, but the scenery is gorgeous and Yuen knows how to parlay the need for fighting and jostling amongst martial artists into an endlessly fascinating series of sword battles, exchanges of midnight coolness, honor, and last words, all amidst the blossoms and delirium tremens. Fights flow endlessly but never monotonously. Each is better than the last. More slow motion than one might expect for a Shaw Brothers film. But hey. It doesn't get any sublimer. 

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PERILS OF THE SENTIMENTAL SWORDSMAN

(1982) Dir. Chu Yuan (Yuen Chor)

***1/2

Perils of the Sentimental Swordsman skips the mopey romantic sudsy drama of the previous two films and works as a stand-alone adventure, with Ti Lung's consumptive wanderer Chi-Liu (Ti Lung, looking kind of like he's been drinking for real and, with his flowing blue gown, use of a girlish white fan for a weapon instead of a sword, and hair done up in a tiara thing with ribbons, reminds me a bit too much of a girl I rolled with in the early-90s.) pretending to turn outlaw in order to infiltrate the 'Ghostly Village,' an interdimensional, extradition-free settlement accessible only via a disappearing cloud bridge!' Undoubtedly the coolest of all Yuen Chor's Really Cool Places, evoking the fox ghost realm in Full Moon Scmitar (1979) coupled to Bat Island (seeable in another Chi-Liu Hisiang stand-alone adventure, Legend of the Bat (1978- there's non-HD DVD floating around). I love that the first thing the Charon-like guide shows you after he leads you across  the bridge to the Ghostly Village is the liquor store: "Hell's Cellar: do you need to buy any wine?" Chi-Liu's fame ensures he gets handed a gorgeous little pad, with a servant ("this is a blanket") but you know there's no time to party or chillax. He has to find his contact (for awhile we're not even supposed to know he hasn't turned bad for real- the whole first 10 minutes are very confusing). The mincing gay stereotype who looks like Joe E. Brown emceeing Cabaret" and seems to sense something about pasty, girlish Ti Lung that maybe even Chi-Liu doesn't know about himself, fan and light blue gown and ribbons aside, but it would suddenly make sense why avoids going home to the girl he loved who's waiting for him still, and the whole pink plum blossom bandit thing from the first film... hmmm. it's all clicking. 

Meanwhile, love may be blooming between the "The General"? a badass gambler/party animal and the  irrepressible Lo Lieh; and maybe between a mysterious guy in black who follow Chi-Liu to the Ghostly Village after trying to kill him and a cute girl who grew up there but doesn't know who her parents are since everyone in the village remains incognito to each other. Turns out the masked 'phantom' who runs the place is organizing a revolution out in the real world, so the 'ghosts' can all come back to 'Earth' without fear of incarceration. You better believe Chi-Liu's got work to do.

The thing is, who else is a spy for the throne and who isn't? People try and confess being a spy to out each other, so who can you trust? Meanwhile some real ghosts fly around in an immaculately green-lit mist-shrouded haunted ruin atop a nearby hill.  Spending a night up there after another lost bet, Lo Leih does the old slapstick ghost comedy bit, trying to eat food but every time he turns around because of a noise, a sneaky ghost grabs whatever he was about to eat and then disappears before he looks back, etc. etc.  Sure it's a tired cliche, but the scene is all bathed in Bava-esque emerald green light, diffused by the Chor Yen-trademark mist. The sword fights are fine as usual, but it's really the spooky elaborate beauty of the sets and eccentric characters I vibe with most, and why this is one of my top ten Shaw Brothers films. Evert scene is filmed inside the big Shaw soundstages, beautifully lit, always dark or at dusk/dawn, that golden magic hour glow washing over the mist and cherry blossoms. And the mincing has to be forgivable in the midst of all that sublimated subtext. I love the colorful never-ending parade of villains--like scruffy old drunken scoundrel Dugu Fei, aka "the Handsome Loner, also known as 'the one who disdains his kinfolk." Whoever did the subtitle translations deserves a lot of credit as they seethe deadpan wit yet never condescend or pander. And this time there are no exterior shots, and very few daytime shots! Everything occurs from dusk to dawn, magic hour to magic hour, aka the time of ghosts, eddying through the gorgeous swirling mist, exploding tombs, gambling dens, reception halls, and those Shaw Brother's interlocked gardens/apartment/gardens, vast soundstages bigger than most city blocks, every corner and space planned and gorgeous, the mist whirling vape-nados wrapping it all in a sublime Bava-esque atmosphere that's like crack for film lovers with deep blacks on big screen HD TVs.  

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HEAVEN SWORD AND DRAGON SABRE

HEAVEN SWORD AND DRAGON SABRE 2

(Dir. Chor Yuen AKA Chu Yuan)
*** 

Good luck keeping up with the byzantine plot of this strange two-part affair, especially since it kind of starts in the middle of some presumably-massive novel by Louis Cha. I think you would have had to read it twice to figure out what's happening as we whizz past one crazy fight, betrayal, running off with the child of my enemy's mother's secret lover who is really my uncle, or maybe my father, and you were raised in secret to exact revenge for the revenge your brother took 20 years ago after believing a possible lie about who your real father was, etc. I don't think it's taken from the same source material, but it help to have seen The Battle Wizard before diving into this opus, as it borrows a lot of elements, but kind of cuts it down and throws in more monsters. Both have a hero thrown over a cliff landing in a special, nest-style oasis where he mends his wounds and finds ancient power in eating or drinking the blood of hot red frogs or giant pythons and maybe a secret kung fu manual in a hollowed out tree. There's also Hsueh-Erh Wen as a snake-handling venom-loving girl (!) in each so, yeah, maybe the same source, or maybe serpent girls are just staples of HK fantasy movies (fingers crossed)

Once all the background stuff is presumably made clear, the film finally picks a time and place and slows down enough we can follow. Dashing young hero (Tung Shing-Yee) seeks to find out who's behind his foster father going crazy after an evil monk killed his family and planted seeds of dissent against the Ming clan with all the other schools. The two titular magic blades are--when brought together--possessed of some dynamic magic that can unite the clans and give their owner lethal power, as usual, but they really don't figure that prominently. Mostly there's a long series of clever poisoning tactics, perilous journeys and crazy compromises made to retrieve the antidotes, forbidden romance, hair-raising rescues, apothecaries where heroes heal for years a t a time, interrupted weddings and old friends becoming bitter enemies and vice versa. 

One of the most endearing traits of these Chinese epics is the prevalence of female warriors, and female-led. fighting clans like the Er Mei, the ladies-only counterpart to the males-only Shaolin Temple. At Er Mei they keep their women sharp and ready for ultra-violence by forbidding all  contact with men (they take an especially harsh view of pregnancy). Here the Er Mei clan is led by a rigid white haired old super Buddhist nun with super deadly kung fu schools, who kills the girls who transgress, and eventually passes the reins to the secret love of the leader of the Ming clan, which makes his rival in the other clan super jealous, and around and around. 

The first film flows much better as the focus stays on young Tung-Shin Yee, curing himself from a Buddha's palm wound inflicted on him while a child, growing up under the protection of a renowned pharmacist who tries every cure in the book to keep him alive. All this will lead him to the promised secret cliffside oasis, eating the red frogs, finding the secret manuals, saving and taking over the Ming clan and getting to the bottom of all the grudges that have led to their being unfairly blamed for all sorts of calamities inflicted by their accusers. It climaxes in part two with the very long but awesome 'Gang Ming Summit' --everyone from each clan showing off their skills, feats of strength and airing of grievances (ala Festivus), sometimes to the death, repairing friendships, reuniting famlies, and--of course--killing, a combination breakdancing battle, Kumite (ala Bloodsport),  HR-mandated encounter group and meditation retreat, just with more swordplay and slightly less backstabbing. And since the good don't kill the losers in the inter-clan duels, that's how you know who's actually good. 

At the end, even the villains may well take note of the power of the Amanita Buddha by renouncing their past, shaving their heads and joining the Shaolin monks in humble contemplation. Glory to Amitabha! I kind of love that for an ending as it vibes with my own saving through the power of AA. Glory to the higher power as you understand it. 

All is emptiness...All is emptiness. (and a never-ending supply of old Shaw Bros movies, always a click away)

 (ps - I'd still lick the red frongs, if you know what I mean--McKenna forever!)