Dragon Swamp
(Du long tan, 1969)

Lo Wei

Hong Kong

105 min, color, Mandarin (English subtitles)

Review © 2005 Branislav L. Slantchev

Once upon a time there was a girl who was as gullible as she was beautiful. Her name was Fan Ying (Cheng Pei-pei) and she fell madly in love with a really bad guy by the name of Tang Dachuan (Huang Chung-Shun). He beguiled her and got her to marry him and bear him two children, a boy and a girl. But in fact he lusted after the treasured Dragon Sword that belonged to Master Fan (Lo Wei), her father. So he got her to steal it for him but they were discovered and the awesome martial arts of Master Fan defeated Tang who managed to escape with his son, leaving the poor Ying to her fate. For her filial sins, she was sentenced to spend two decades in the Dragon Swamp... if she could survive the dangerous Swamp Master. Her father took her little girl to raise her himself.

The exile to the Dragon Swamp	Advanced alarm system

So begins this involved saga of multiple identities, long-lost loves, retribution, and penance. The action takes place twenty years after the aforementioned events, when Ying's daughter Qing-erh is all grown up. She is a bit careless though, and lets a masked man see her perform the routine that deactivates the alarm system guarding the precious sword. Naturally, the sword gets stolen and she is sent to recover it. Ostensibly, the story is a lot like any other martial arts story that involves a supernatural weapon. However, this one will focus not on the weapons or the fights (although there are plenty of both) but on the human dimension.

Master Fan's apparently co-ed school	Cheng Pei-pei being suspiciously cute

Focusing on the human dimension is usually a recipe for disaster for these films. They are shot in a hurry, with actors many of whom really aren't all that great despite their looks and acrobatic skills. There is plenty of fluff in this film as well but I have to say that Cheng Pei-pei (who plays both the mother and the daughter) carrier herself admirably and singlehandedly succeeds in getting the entire film acquitted. She goes from playful to deadly in an instant, but when necessary she can be dreamlike, betrayed, bereaved, and forgiving. Combine all of this with her dance-like fighting scenes and you have a winner right there.

Lo Lieh in the customary villainly role	Cheng Pei-pei is deathly intense

Now, the story gets a bit involved when the young Qing-erh meets the Roaming Knight (Yueh Hua) who still pines for his long-lost love who naturally turns out to have been Ying. The twist is that Ying left him for the scheming Tang, and caused such pain that the knight has forsaken his name, his identity, and has wandered aimlessly around for years. Little wonder, then, that he is immediately electrified when he spots Qing-erh in the hallways of the duplicitous Yu Jiang (Lo Lieh), who turns out to have been the sword thief. He knows that the two of them are no match for the Dragon Sword (which apparently can slice through just about everything), so he decided to turn to the Swamp Master for help.

Instant attraction, 20 years too late	The silly flitting scene

Some intricate gender-bending later (explained with elaborate face masks and a voice-alteration device... don't ask), the Swamp Master (Kang Hua) agrees to help, but of course we all know that he is really a she, that is, she is Ying herself. She has defeated the original master and has impersonated him, spending two decades in the company of a bunch of amorous ladies honing her... ahem... skills. At any rate, she has become a formidable martial arts master herself, so when she ventures outside the swamp to help recover the sword, all hell breaks loose.

Dragon Swamp mistress with entourage	Use the Force, Ying

There is no need to tell the rest of the story. It will suffice to say that there is much fighting, some stealing, some harassment of a young lady in a tavern, and then lots of fighting again. The important thing is that the villains (Tang and Yu) are given a chance to make amends for their evil ways, and an even more astonishing secret is revealed in the end. The tragic loss of the cool Roaming Knight is just salt to rub in the wound, and it does give the film a decidedly dramatic feel, especially because his death scene is marvelously shot against a painted backdrop with darkening skies.

Early 'Hellraiser' promo	Fan Mei-Sheng harasses Qing-erh

One really neat thing to watch for in this film is the first ever appearance of the Force---yes, that's right, the Force, which in Ying-as-Swamp-Master's hand ends up employed much like it was by Darth Vader a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. There's the added special effect of a reddish glow emanating from the palm of her hand as she activates it, and Yu ends up sliding backward and getting thrown down by the invisible field. I am not saying the Lucas stole it from here, of course, but it's sort of cool anyway. The other interesting innovation involves the poison darts with which Ying acupunctures Yu's entire face: if that does not remind one of Hellraiser, I don't know what will. Again, not to allege any impropriety here, but it's fun to see so many ideas that have become cult classics now pop up in this almost forgotten early film.

Fair-shmair, three against one is righteous!	Huang Chung-Shun can be intense too

In addition to the occasionally inspired acting and the innovative weapons, the film is also enjoyable for its careful special effects. I am not talking about the silly flying stuff (especially the awkward scene where Roaming Knight flits like graceful hummingbird from branch to branch across the treacherous sand dunes barring the entry to the Dragon Swamp. I am not talking about the atrocious SFX that involve various lizards blown up to look like dinosaurs guarding said swamp. These are too obvious to be satisfying. What I did like was how they aged Cheng Pei-pei, and how they employed painted backdrops in all those scenes hinting of forbidden romanticism between Roaming Knight and Qing-erh.

Roaming Knight a-roaming no more	SFX galore

In the end, there is much to recommend in this film despite the plodding pace and the abundance of cheerful silliness that is somehow incongruent with the overall tragic tone. Lo Wei is one of those directors who overflow with ideas but who also lack the good sense to say "No" or "Enough" when necessary. So his films usually end up in sentimental overdrive, complete with martial art scenes overload. Still, he has had the good sense to keep casting Cheng Pei-pei, and this makes most of these films enjoyable, at the very least. This one has much more going for it, especially my favorite Yueh Hua, even if his role is marginal.

What? We're still filming?	The prodigal son is forgiven

The Celestial DVD comes with a relatively decent anamorphic transfer of the film's original 2.35:1 ratio, but I have to say that the colors struck me as a bit off. The color cast was especially evident when I did the screen captures and had to touch them in Photoshop. Still, for a 1969 film, Dragon Swamp looks quite nice, and the vivid colors do justice to both the flame-lit scenes and all those studio paintings. The Mandarin soundtrack has no problems, and the English subtitles are readable and without mistakes. The disc has the usual extras: a photo gallery, talent files, several trailers, and a reproduction of the original (uninspired) poster. A good film that definitely deserves to be in your Shaw Brothers collection (if you don't have one, you should).

November 27, 2005