All Men Are Brothers (1975)

Chang Cheh / Wu Ma

Hong Kong

101 min, color, Mandarin (English subtitles)

Review © 2003 Branislav L. Slantchev

This is the sequel to Chang Cheh's The Water Margin, a nearly impossible adaptation of several chapters of a voluminous Chinese epic about 108 heroes. There are several changes, in content, mood, and tone. First of all, all women in this film have positive roles, something quite unusual for this director. Second, Tien Ching shows up again despite having gotten himself killed before, this time as the weakling crown prince who gets himself killed. Confused? Third, everyone who gets near a battle dies, unheroically and in full dress if one is an extra, and heroically and with a naked chest if one is a main character.

That is a compliment?	Chang Cheh: master of erotica

Through the services of the courtesan Li Shishi (played by the singer and infrequent actress Betty Chung), the Liang Shan outlaws get themselves hired out to the Emperor Chin, who promises them full pardon if they only help him defeat a rebel general based in Hangchow. Their attempts to get the guy are not entirely successful seeing as they end up with a bunch of brothers variously skewered in stupid frontal attacks. This fascinating tale is told with on-screen titles and a lot of red paint.

Tickling in-flight prohibited	Black Whirlwind: idiot

The outlaws, being not entirely dumb, finally decide to infiltrate the rebels and send a group of seven to figure out a way to take the city from the inside. Unfortunately, this group includes the perennially annoying, stupid, and aggressive Black Whirlwind (Fan Mei Sheng), who immediately blows their cover by getting into a brawl with soldiers. The rebels seal the city, making it impossible for the outlaws to sneak out and tell their comrades how to take the city. The taking plan, by the way, is a bit hazy at this point. A work in progress, so to speak.

Wang Chung, Danny Lee, Yue Fung, and Wong Kwong Yue hatching a plan	Yue Fung as the thinking wife

Since the idiot Whirlwind is so good at fighting, the outlaws have him create a diversion while David Chiang scales the wall and escapes. This works out well except that Wang Chung suicides after being mortally wounded during the distraction. The crown prince (Tien Ching) and two rebel generals track down the retreating Whirlwind (did I mention he was dumb?) and then, being not quite smart themselves, they attack the outlaws at their hideaway inn forgetting that Chen Kuan Tai is tattooed.

Field surgery	Tien Ching, the weakling prince

They soon see the tattoos, for which one general pays with his life and the prince with his person, which gets kidnapped by the outlaws. Upon finding out that two of their comrades have fallen, they summarily strangle the poor prince and then dangle him from a post in a sort of psychological warfare. Chen Kuan Tai's death is an excellent example of the modern fighting man devised by Chang Cheh: he fights overwhelming odds, and then dies slowly and heroically, preferably bare-chested. The director tried to transfer this idea to women as well, but it did not quite work: a bare-chested female is anything but heroic.

Gratuitous shot of Yue Fang	Liu Kang says 'Boo!' to Chen Kuan Tai

In the meantime, David Chiang and Ti Lung ride horses. This by itself is not cause for alarm, but then they also have a plan, which involves Danny Lee swimming to his death, an undertaking he happily accepts. He then swims and dies, which is only one way to show the bastards who's boss. Just to make sure that he has not forgotten anyone lurking in the city, Chang Cheh kills off Yue Fung, who plays the beautiful woman warrior and wife to a guy played by Wong Kwong Yue, whose character is also slaughtered. Whirlwind also dies, leaving basically only David Chiang alive.

Typical Chang Cheh hero	David Chiang and Ti Lung, heroes

In the final assault on the city, David Chiang kills the last surviving general before attacking the rebel chief, who uses this opportunity to cut off Ti Lung's left arm. While David is slowly dying in true hero fashion, the one-armed Ti Lung battles with the cowardly rebel until he gets him lying on his face. Somewhat unexpectedly, Ti Lung then dies while still standing on the guy, who is too scared to even breathe. This, while not a typical Chang Cheh death, is very much in sync with the mythological stories where true heroes often die standing and remain standing and frightening after dying.

Yue Fung: a Chang Cheh-worthy woman	Finally idiot Whirlwind gets his poker

In the end, everyone is dead, at least by my count, which certainly leaves the Emperor with one short pardon to write. Chaotic, epic, choppy, zoomy, and aimless, this sequel is exactly what a true sequel should always be: much bloodier than its predecessor, and making much less sense. Chang Cheh has gotten this part down to a pat. The music is appropriately bombastic but the fighting is only marginal. As a whole, All Men Are Brothers is a bit of disappointment compared with its prequel, which did not exactly set a high standard for quality itself.

Naval battle scene	Ti Lung, one-armed & dying, but cool

The Celestial Pictures DVD is standard-issue, with anamorphic widescreen picture at the correct 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The video is generally cleaned up well, which cannot be said for the sound. The remixed Dolby Digital 5.1 Mandarin track has frequent drops and strange changes in ambient, as if portions of it have been re-recorded on better contemporary equipment. This can be a bit distracting at times but does not happen all that often to be annoying. The bright English subtitles are easy to read and do not have many errors. The extras are few: a photo gallery, trailers, and talent files.

November 8, 2003