Cast Member: Yeung Chi-Hing

Shen Chiang’s ‘Call to Arms’ is about as dull and listless as they come, never once engaging its viewer even at the most basic levels of entertainment merit.

‘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.

‘Death Duel’ is a bleak, nihilistic swordplay film that embodies all of the qualities that one expects from a Chor Yuen adaptation of a Gu Long story.

‘Disciples Of The 36th Chamber’ is a quality film; from the choreography to Liu Chia-Liang’s artistically composed frames, this is a more sophisticated kung fu film.

The director has taken complicated source material and distilled it into something arresting before, but here he finds too many sub-plots to balance and too many characters to accommodate.

I really can’t find much to criticise in this movie. It’s a short, tight story that is well told, well acted, exciting and at times surprising. Good times.

This is a rollicking action-adventure that is packed with top kung fu entertainment but because of a lack of depth misses out on a higher grade.

Without any argument, ‘One-Armed Swordsman’ is therefore a quality swordplay film that has much to offer to viewers today.

The real draw, and the skill of Chor Yuen, is to make an ensemble of eccentrics, oddball antagonists and superheroes appealing and a means of covering up the unapologetic holes in the narrative.

Li’s ghostly anthology achieves its ends as a series of cautionary tales of the ills that might befall those who succumb to their own greed and desires.

Although an above average kung-fu flick (as you’d expect from Chang Cheh) this is one of the weakest of the Venoms films.

While I normally find myself quite happy to suspend disbelief for a Gu Long/Chor Yuen collaboration, ‘Swordsman And Enchantress’ is a real test of my patience.