The Spirit of the Sword
(Huan hua xi jian, 1982)

Chu Yuan

Hong Kong

85 min, color, Mandarin (English subtitles)

Review © 2005 Branislav L. Slantchev

Among the innumerable collaborations between Chu Yuan and Ku Lung, this one differs from all the rest in starring Lau Wing instead of Ti Lung and Cecilia Wong instead of Ching Li. Other than that, it's pretty much the standard (but still entertaining) concoction using the time-tested and audience-approved formula that mixes some melodrama with moderately intense martial arts, spiced up with a pinch of betrayal (applied multiple times) and garnished with the occasional red herring in the form of a totally unrelated story running concurrently and almost independently of the main one. Served lukewarm wrapped in the implausible universe of a fantastic martial arts world characterized by... well, martial arts.

Obligatory soft focus shot of Cecilia Wong	Strange beauty+poetry=coincidence?

I have been known to gripe about this setting mostly because of the trite plots that it produces. I mean, how many variations on "one clan wants to rule the martial arts world" can you possibly get? And what is the "martial arts world" anyway? As far as I can tell, it is apparently a place where a lot of people train to fight and kill each other with no other ostensible source of income. They all live in posh villas, usually on some picturesque lake or at least a small pond. Tons of underlings train there but without getting a whole lot of their troubles as they are liable to getting killed as soon as some wandering swordsman waltzes through the gate.

The moonlit water fight with the Samurai Killer	The dignity aquatic

When they do not ponder the Tao of the Moon, the clan rulers plot against each other, or scheme how to avoid each other's plots. All this maneuvering relies more on brawn than brain and usually results in gallons of red sauce and enough ripped fabric to keep a small third-world textile factory employing children for years. In spite of lapsing into poetry at inopportune moments, most heroes cannot bring themselves to think beyond flailing around with a sword or some magical weapon. This inevitably leads them into traps that would shame a Boy Scouts flunkey. They also tend to fall in love with very pretty, but tragically flawed, women.

Midnight freestyle improv	First of many impromptu rescues

The flaws of these women are indeed tragic for their arise from the script-writers total inability to envision any worthwhile role for them. That is, anything that does not involve being pure evil beyond redemption, undecided evil that will switch sides just when most expected, or, at the other extreme, being an incompetent ornament that spends most of its time being kidnapped, tied up, and used as bait to lure the hero to some near-miss doom, or a carbon copy of the hero himself, all martial arts expertise and astonishing stupidity included. At least Chu Yuan likes his leading ladies unlike Chang Cheh who uses them as simple foils against which the manly virtues of the male heroes can be better appreciated.

Till death or betrayal do us part	Sherwin Williams experimental lab

Having said of all this, I am at a loss to explain my continued fascination with these ridiculous films. Chu Yuan in particular is a long-time favorite, with all his pained moons, maidens playing the zither alone at night in the middle of some especially menacing forest, and plodding stories driven not so much by logic or action as they are by the characters explaining themselves and their behavior to each other. For all the convoluted twists in the plots, the essential outlines of a Chu Yuan/Ku Lung story can be spied from the opening credits. There's going to be a very honorable hero who will fall for some very pretty wench who will have some divided loyalties at best (or will die early on otherwise). He will be pursued by assailants with unknown motivation, will sometimes fall into their traps and will foil their tricks at others. Several characters will switch sides for reasons that will not become clear until the very end when they will explain themselves (and probably die anyway).

Bai Baoyu roughing it out on his assignment	Little Princess explaining script nuance

The Spirit of the Sword (not the be confused with The Soul of the Sword, spirit and soul being two totally unrelated concepts, follows this schematic as diligently as if enforced by a committee. The results are as original as a Model T but since I sort of follow Henry Ford's philosophy, I will accept any iteration as long as it has some maidens in distress filmed in soft focus and some gallant heroes waving long penetrating swords (insert random phallic allusion here). This one has not one but three (by some counts, five) beauties although the scarcity in the male hero department is a bit disappointing.

Wong Yung practicing Sitting Duck stance	Mary Hon and Yeung Jing-Jing: eye candy

Basically, the rule of the Martial Arts World (tm) is contested among five powerful clans, named for no good reason after the long-discredited five basic elements. Purple Robe Duke (Yueh Hua) has ruled for a long time, causing the rules of three of the competing clans to unite against him. They hire a Samurai Killer (Yuen Wah) who glides on water, dives, strips in mid air, and eventually manages to hurt the Duke enough to get him to retire in seclusion to his admirably advanced submarine. (It is apparently water-proof although one cannot help but notice the crack in the hatch when Shum Lo closes it.) The Duke dispatches his young brother Bai Baoyu (Lau Wing) and his page (Sun Chien) to meet someone and deliver something. Yes, he's a bit vague about it. Bai promptly runs into the seductive Little Princess (Cecilia Wong) who promptly gets abducted by masked men who prove to be incredibly inept at killing her. Which should have at least caused Bai to wonder about it.

Huge full moon+white beard = wisdom	Gratuitous shot of Mary Hon

Thinking is not Bai's strong suit (his raven-black locks are), and so he rescues Little Princess several times, even after getting tricked into going to some pretty wood with lots of women to cure her from poisoning (don't ask). At least that episode has a nice funny bit. They attempt to drug Bai and he pretends to be drunk, managing to catch the evil Dongfan (Chan Maan Loh) by surprise with the Clintonesque "Ha-ha! I did not inhale!" Then he meets what looks like Little Princess who immediately hands him a cup but before he drinks it, he goes "Ha-ha! I know that this wine is poisoned!" and emerges victorious in the Mensa test of wits again. That is, until few minutes later when she goes "A-ha! I knew you would think the wine is poisoned, so I actually smeared poison on the cup itself!" Unfortunately, our hero is unable to answer this with a witty repartee because he's unconscious. The tragedy turns into a farce, as Marx would have said, when later in the film she hands him a flower to hold... and it turns out to have been smeared with poison. Deja vu? No, that's just the inevitable result of Lau Wing not reading the script.

Too smart to fall for same trick fifth time...	...maybe not

When all is said and done, of course, our hero has to confront the two major villains. Now, Bai is armed with an impressive array of skills, which he learned from the Chief of Huanhua Palace (Cheung Ying) while being bitch-slapped by his various assistants. As impressive as the Chief's teaching abilities are, one cannot help but wonder about the jealously guarded secret skills that one can learn between sucker punches. At any rate, when Bai faces off Lo Lieh and his minions, he can perform a wide variety of acrobatic feats but the finale is a disappointment because it comes almost instantaneously, with Bai managing to slice a long veil, freeze Lo Lieh's moustache, and deflect a burning stick. Not much by hero standards but hey, at least Little Princess remains alive.

Random flame-throwing violence	Cake icing ad gone wrong

This is actually one of the best Celestial DVD's I have seen. (The screen caps in this review have only been resized and sharpened, no other retouching.) The print is nearly pristine, with vibrant colors that do justice to the many color-coded scenes, and it is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. The Mandarin soundtrack is serviceable: there is nothing to challenge it, so it's as good as one would wish for. The extras are limited to the usual stuff: a reproduction of the original poster, stills gallery, trailers, and talent files for the lead actors. Recommended for Chu Yuan fans, and definitely one of the films that can serve as a reliable introduction to his work.

December 2, 2005