Cast Member: Chen Hung-Lieh

‘Come Drink With Me’ has convinced me of King Hu’s mastery of film-making and I would certainly consider his work here to be almost equal to the best of Chang Cheh and Liu Chia-Liang.

A few moments of Wang Yu madness creep into the film to enliven things, but this is mostly a hard slog to get through.

At the end of the day, ‘Temple Of The Red Lotus’ works as more of a historical artefact than a genuinely exciting swordplay feature.

While it hasn’t aged well in comparison to ‘Come Drink With Me’ and even some of Chang Cheh’s early work, it still proves to be a mildly diverting Shaw Brothers’ swordplay film.

A four-star movie that, due to its heavy-handed closing shots, loses half a star; the same idea was used with much more sophistication at the end of ‘Anonymous Heroes’.