I have about three copies of this movie all under the many different titles. Only one has the 1:57 run time shown here as the rest are shorter. Note that my full length copy is true wide screen with 5 options for subtitles. The others have square videos similar to the old VHS tape format and are English dubbed.
It starts with a kid startles a horse causing it to run off with its cart. Cheng Pei-Pei is there and a fight breaks out when the horse is stopped. She fights again versus more guys inside a house. James Tin Chuen seems to be a beggar but is a Chinese patriot in charge of the rifles they hide. They all sit down at the table and Granny explains the whole back story of the movie. They go to a large tea house under false names to find someone.
One of my shorter versions of this movie starts at about 12 minutes into the longer movie with the scene of Cheng Pei-Pei and two girls arriving at a large tea house. Jackie Chan is rude to Cheng Pei-Pei and a brawl starts. Our girl is arrested. Her jailer recognizes her as the sister she pretends to be. If you watch this movie I recommend you find the wide screen subtitle version or forget it.
Back in 2015 I I watched the "VHS" version initially, did not like the movie, then posted my review here. I since watched a better quality version and rewrote my review.
Though I recommend the longer version I still have to say the run time is too long. It seems if they went through the trouble to build a set then they were going to show you everything they built even if it required the actors pointless walking from one end to the other.
I felt the fights were good but could have been better. Simple things like lack of power and focus were obvious in some sequences. Also with most of the fights being hand to hand they tended to look alike toward the end. Guns and martial arts just don't mix even though the guns are historically accurate. Finally, the characters were bland in that the bad guys were just not that bad and the good guys not that great either.
Overall, I just rate this as average for the year and genre.
