Chu Liu Xiang yu Hu Tie Hua

1980 Taiwan with Alan Lau Tak-Hoi, James Tin Chuen, Lee Kim-Ping, Suen Ga-Lam, and Liu Ping

James Tin Chuen is mostly known for his role opposite Bruce Lee in "The Big Boss'. Suen Ga-Lam started swinging a sword in her early 1970s movies such as "Boxers of Loyalty and Righteousness" with Jimmy Wang Yu.

It starts with "Who are these two guys and why are they fighting?" The winner gives an offering to an old guy sitting on a throne so stiff he might be dead. Change of plans – they try to take all the offerings. With a wave of his hand he takes out all three. Alan Lau Tak-Hoi attacks him with a paper fan and defeats him but I did not see how.

After the opening credits Alan talks to a monk. Three men and Shally Yue San appear. They accuse him of killing Wood Man (we just saw that) and he denies it. A masked girl appears and tosses the monk a piece of jade which seems to prove Stone Mercy Goddess is the real killer. Alan is off to find her. He meets his buddy Hu Tieh Hua (James Tin Chuen) at the tea house. Hu is in love with the blank eyed waitress but marriage is unthinkable.

The two go to find their old friend Dead Cock. First he has a crippling leg wound then he doesn't. The mystery of Stone Mercy Goddess deepens. They cross the desert where men die from hallucinations. A stone called the happy star is found and seems important. At the shack a man dies from the trick of the poison soup. Next is the oasis mirage. They meet a king who was overthrown and living on the run at the moment his trusted men try to kill him to get the secret of the happy star but his daughter saves him. Almost saves him, our guys come in at the end. Surprise, the daughter princess wants to marry James Tin. The goddess is spying on them and leaves a warning note. The bride is killed. Our guys are off to a mysterious tea house to meet even more mysterious characters.

Overall some of the fights are good, some are not. As usual they get better toward the end. The action director was Siu Wong-Lung who also plays the role of the scruffy assassin. He also action directed another 1980 movie "Legend of Chu Liu Hsiang". The was also a recent Chinese TV series of the same lead character, but I have yet to view it.

This movie has no other reviews here or on HKMDB. I am a hard core fan of this genre and never heard of it, I picked up a copy simply because I found it. Yet, this is a high budget epic movie to compare to anything Shaw Brothers made. Another fan tells me Rarescope was to release a wide screen DVD but never did, otherwise it only exists in PAL format in Chinese. Perhaps more fans will discover this movie along with another from 1980 with the same lead "Legend of Chu Liu Hsiang". Of note the character's name is also spelled "Chu Liuxiang".

The main character is based on the wuxia novels by Gu Long. In the book Chu is a martial arts expert with strong qinggong powers. He uses a fan only in self defense. He robs the rich to help the poor and lives on a house boat with three women. Some of this is carried forward into this movie.

My copy is a digital file and wide screen with wonderful vertical scratch lines from a real movie projector. There are hard subtitles in Chinese and English. It has all the appearances of film to a laser disk, unrestored. The color is also washed out in places but overall this is good.

I rate this movie above average and it has my highest recommendation for all fans of the genre.