By Jean Lukitsh | Published March 10, 2010

One of the long-lost original Wong Fei-hung movies has turned up on Tudou, a Chinese video-sharing site similar to Youtube. Someone posted an entire feature-length film from 1956, WONG FEI-HUNG’S LION DANCE VS THE GOLDEN DRAGON (aka WONG FEI-HUNG GOES TO A BIRTHDAY PARTY AT GUANSHAN), in three segments on the site. It was probably taken from a 1999 VCD release, and the digitizing has left some unfortunate blurring of the image. But finding one of these films in any form is cause for celebration. Purists can rejoice in the fact that the soundtrack seems to be the original Cantonese one.

For fans of old school kung fu cinema, WONG FEI-HUNG’S LION DANCE VS THE GOLDEN DRAGON is a history lesson in the genre’s roots. The cast includes Lau Cham and his son Lau Kar-leung, Yuen Siu-tin (Yuen Woo-ping’s father), and Shek Kin. The kung fu actress Yam Yin is one of the female leads – this is the first time I’ve ever seen her in a film. She’s an appealing presence here, playing a justice-seeking street performer/vigilante. And she wields a mean broadsword in the free-for-all that ends the film.

Yam Yin and Yuen Siu-tin.

There are no subtitles, but this synopsis from the Hong Kong Film Archive site was helpful:
“The natives of Guanshan invite Wong Fei-hung to celebrate his forthcoming birthday in his home village with the underlying intention of seeking his help to arrest the cat burglar Flying Spider. Wong succeeds in delivering the robber to justice.”
Shek Kin is the Flying Spider. He has the local magistrate in his pocket, and a gang of thugs, including nineteen year old Lau Kar-leung, working for him. Yam Yin and her uncle, played by an underused Yuen Siu-tin, are also on Shek’s trail, and eventually team up with Wong Fei-hung (Kwan Tak-hing) and his students. The students include Lau Cham, who plays Lam Sai-wing, and Walter Tso Tat-wah, who plays the trouble-prone Leung Foon.

For patient viewers, WONG FEI-HUNG’S LION DANCE VS THE GOLDEN DRAGON has many charms. The vintage filmmaking and acting styles on display are a window into popular taste in mid-20th century Hong Kong. As for the fight scenes, they hold up very well. Shek Kin’s agility, his jumps and his light footwork, impressed the hell out of me. He was in his early forties here, younger than I’ve ever seen him, but still no kid. He and Lau Cham were the veteran kung fu guys in the cast; Kwan Tak-hing and Yuen Siu-tin came out of the opera tradition. But all of them, the leads and stunt men alike, had to learn the complex syncopated routines and execute them safely with a minimum of rehearsal time. Seen in that light, the LION DANCE fight scenes are astonishing and inventive, snapping from a series of close-in one on one match-ups to long shots of multiple simultaneous brawls. The fights make good use of the extensive sets, as people leap and somersault from one level to the next. The choreography is realistic and grounded and relatively fast. If modern screen kung fu looks faster, it’s often because it’s broken up into tiny pieces which can be performed at top speed without tiring the performers. But in the original Wong Fei-hung movies, the fights were more like two- or three-person sets performed at kung fu tournaments. It’s much harder to memorize long sequences and do them at high speed without injuring your partner.

Lau Cham, Shek Kin, and Yuen Siu-tin are among the kung fu actors in the cast.

So I’m posting the links below. If you don’t have the time or inclination to watch a nearly two hour long black and white unsubtitled vintage kung fu movie, at least check out the fight scene at the beginning of Part Two. It’s five minutes long, and demonstrates the state of the art of kung fu filmmaking in 1956. And let’s all keep our fingers crossed that more of these old films turn up.

Part One
Part Two
Part Three

Related Topics:
Kwan Tak-hing  •  Lau Cham  •  Lau Kar-leung  •  Shek Kin  •  Walter Tso  •  Wong Fei-hung  •  Yam Yin  •  Yuen Siu-tin