Duel at Tiger Village (1978)

Of all of the classic kung fu stars, Chen Kuan-tai has turned out to be one of the leading ladies men and that’s saying a lot in a genre that’s not known for its romantic leanings. It didn’t start to happen until he broke from Chang Cheh’s male-dominating heroics. In The Flying Guillotine, Chen settled down with the lovely Lau Ng-kei. Later, Lau Kar-leung humorously brought kung fu and foreplay together by pairing Chen with the equally-lovely Lily Li in Executioners from Shaolin (1976). Two years later we have Chen Kuan-tai, now working the independent film circuit following the success of The Iron Monkey, joined by the delectable kung fu actress Chia Ling for Duel at Tiger Village and yet another excuse to delve into flirtatious martial arts among fighting heroes.

It is important to stress Chen’s screen chemistry with his leading ladies because that is what fuels the otherwise mediocre Duel at Tiger Village. The budget is ultra low with all-too-familiar sets and cheap visual gimmicks. Most of the cast apart from Chan Sing and the two leads are forgettable. The only other element that is of value is the kung fu action, which features some terrific one-versus-two and open-handed sparring.

The story in the film is complex in nature, but carried out with all the sophistication of a Three Stooges short, while being a lot less funny. It concerns a plot to replace the Qing Emperor with a double. But the situation gets complicated when his wife spots the fake and is murdered to maintain the secret. Chen Kuan-tai as Chief Inspector Cool Head (yes, Cool Head) is assigned to the case, which is resolved quickly when the murder weapon is easily traced to a scapegoat named Lee Shan. Cool Head suspects foul play and just as he’s about to seek out the truth, Lee is assassinated while in prison. The case is officially closed, but Cool Head refuses to give up. With the knife that killed the Emperor’s wife as his only lead, he sets out to find the real killer. While doing so, two females dressed as beggars and led by a girl named Tadpole (Chia Ling), who turns out to be Lee’s sister, join Cool Head to avenge their brother’s death. The villains who conspired to take over the throne send out suicidal assassins to kill Cool Head and his female companions as they fight their way to the rather obvious ring leader in this conspiracy.

The main problem with this film is that Cool Head never really has a specific plan for how to find his murderer. The script is too inept to offer any logical course of action, so his only recourse is to try and question his attackers who have been ordered to kill themselves rather than be caught. In one hilarious scene, a pair of thugs spot Cool Head, shout his name and then immediately kill themselves. It’s nonsense like this that makes the filmmakers’ attempts to have an involved plot pointless. Chen Kuan-tai is above this sort of amateur filmmaking after proving himself as an actor and a martial arts star in many quality Shaw Brothers films. But like Ti Lung, he slugs his way through the Taiwanese B-grade flicks with the same energy he does better fare, which is much appreciated.

Thankfully, Chan Sing is around to fill a baddie role and thus allows Chen to have a worthy adversary in at least one fight. It’s a knockout too. There is virtually no weapons or prop use, but the two engage in some fierce hand-to-hand sparring that is varied and intricate, with just enough legwork mixed in to keep things interesting. It is not uncommon to see as many as fourteen individual moves and countermoves per take. Tom Cruise may have been proud of the twenty-something moves he had to memorize for a street fight in The Last Samurai, but he didn’t have to follow that with another series of forty or fifty eight-to-fourteen-move combos. Give it up for old school action choreography because those actors and stuntmen busted their butts for these scenes, even in what turns out to be a less-than-perfect movie.

Adding to the fun are some excellent group battles, one in particular features some intricate two-on-one action where the lone defender is consistently blocking and countering two attackers at the same time which is one of the more difficult scenes for any action filmmaker to shoot. Also fun is the weapons use that includes swords and bows that come into play, as do hidden darts, and a whole bunch of knifes. A deadly umbrella is a highlight, as is a surprisingly gruesome ending.

Sadly, things get really corny at times, as when Cool Hand and Tadpole enter a secret lair in the “Tiger Valley.” The Emperor’s palace is already cheap enough, but having lame colored lighting on barren hallways and goofy traps like falling spiked ceilings appear out of nowhere is a bit much. The kicker is when the pair encounters a group of wannabe Bronzemen that they must fight through. It’s easily the lowest point in the film as it’s a horrible rip-off of Joseph Kuo’s Shaolin films.

On the bright side, Chia Ling is an excellent co-star who works well off Chen while holding her own in her action scenes. The two have a running love-hate relationship of sorts throughout the film that can get a little tedious as when Chia endlessly refuses aid after being wounded. But their more playful interactions are entertaining, and offer a more sexual subtext between a fighting screen couple than usually portrayed in kung fu movies. It’s a shame that it doesn’t happen more often. What you usually see is a wide divide drawn between the stoic or comical screen heroine and the more feminine ideal of a chaste bride or seductress. Chia Ling is able to bridge the gap without completely breaking from genre convention.

Despite some decent fight scenes and the successful screen chemistry of Chen Kuan-tai and Chai Ling, Duel at Tiger Village is unable to rise above being average. An underlying problem is pacing which is thrown off by sloppy story structure. This makes the film feel a lot longer than ninety minutes, which is not a good thing. Chen Kuan-tai’s work at Shaw Brothers set a high standard that unfortunately, most of his foray’s into independent film have failed to match and this is no exception.