Mang nu jue dou gui jian chou

Fans of this genre are well aware that some of these movies have three or four titles and the titles rarely relate to the story. There is a title duplication problem with this movie and I am trying to clear it up. There are two different movies with "Duel with Devil" as a title. IMDB links here after a search for any of the title variations. (There is also the 1977 Angela Mao movie "Duel with the Devils" but it should be easy to differentiate that movie.) Here are the movies: 1971 Taiwan "Duel with Devil" or "Duel with the Devil" starring Chiang Pin, Chang Ching-Ching, Yi Yuan, and Ma Chi 1970 Taiwan "Paid with Blood" or "The Blind Swordswoman" or "Duel with Devil" starring Chiang Pin, Chang Ching-Ching and Yi Yuan

So you can tell what movie you watched I am reviewing both of them.

1971 Duel with Devil, Taiwan - with Chiang Pin, Chang Ching-Ching, and Yi Yuen. I have the Fusian DVD release of this movie. On the DVD box it reads "digitally remastered", "Classic Collection" and the title "Duel with the Devil". The back has ISBN 0-7396-0756-2. The summary is that the movie is about mistaken identity regarding two characters named "Devil" and that is accurate. Pay attention to these Taiwanese actors - Chiang Pin played the good devil in this movie and also in "Sorrowful to a Ghost" and acted in over 70 other movies. Yi Yuen played the bad devil and was in over 150 other movies. Chang Ching-Ching is the girl, in 36 films until 1973. Ma Kai, the oldest one here, born 1924 also played in 104 films.

It opens with a man riding a horse over the opening credits. Cut to a bandit chief tells his men they will ambush their enemy Ofiicer Wang. A message on an arrow flies in. It warns them not to attack Officer Wang. A voice, apparently from ventriloquism, identifies as Dare Devil and backs up the warning. Two of the gang attack Wang on the road anyway. Dare Devil leaps in and saves him. This is actor Chiang Pin.

To make things more confusing there are two characters named Dare Devil and the other is Yi Yuen. From his face alone you can tell that he is the villain. He plays the same or a very similar character in at least three other movies.

Cut to Chang Ching Ching practicing sword with her master, Ma Chi, under the waterfall. He explains the plot. Chang Ching-Ching wants revenge for her mother against her rapist but that would also be her father. That is the other devil character played by Yi Yuan. So it is complicated with a small chance of living happily ever after.

Fans of martial arts movies of the golden age from 1967 to 1984 would get an average serving of exactly what they expect with this movie. The fights are almost all sword fights and they are not bad. There is an average amount of gravity defying leaps. Taiwanese movies of this era tend to be a tad heavy on the drama. That does slow the pace down but not so much as to need the fast forward.

Now for the other movie with the same title. 1970 Taiwan "Paid with Blood" or "The Blind Swordswoman" or "Duel with Devil" starring Chiang Pin, Chang Ching-Ching and Yi Yuan He movie begins with a swordsman (Yi Yuan as the villain "Dare-Devil") comes across a dead body and it has a face mask that matches his own face. He swears revenge for his brother. After the credits he trashes a martial arts school. He demands the "soul seizing sword". Cut to Chang Ching-Ching puts that same sword in hiding. She finds the slaughter at the school and Dare-Devil. They fight and she is blinded thereby becoming the Blind Swordswoman in the alternate title. The villain continues killing his former school mates and the master comes out with the magic sword. Dare-Devil kills him and takes the sword. You can surmise how the rest of the story goes.

I do not have the DVD for this movie. The DVD pictured here may not be accurate because the actor Ma Chi is pictured and he does not appear in this movie. He does appear in the other movie as Chang Ching-Ching's teacher. I do have the DVD for that movie but the two pictures on the boxes are different. My copy of this movie is a digital file that seems to have come from a VHS. The video is square and the poor resolution is typical of a copy of a copy of a copy of a VHS tape. There are dual Chinese and English subtitles that are always chopped off on the sides.

Taiwanese movies of this era tend to be heavy on the drama. In this movie drama was kind of necessary because the story line just involved getting the sword from the villain. The fights are all sword fights. They are all basic and start to look alike after the second one. The only variations are the added leaps and some magic from the sword reflecting light. Of course a blind swords woman would never see that magic light and the audience would have to be blind not to see that coming. The final fight takes us to a bamboo forest. Most fans of this genre love sword fights in a bamboo forest. By ending that way this movie left a good feeling and made up for some of the earlier mediocrity.

This movie is only for fans of martial arts movies of the golden age from 1967 to 1984. I rate it average for the year and genre. If you are such a fan you might as well watch this one too as there's nothing wrong with it.

There you have it - two reviews - you're welcome.