Mystery of Chess Boxing, The (1979)

Independent Taiwanese filmmaker Joseph Kuo re-teams with his SEVEN GRAND MASTERS stars for this kung fu cult classic. It’s a cheaper knockoff of Ng See-yuen’s superior SNAKE IN THE EAGLE’S SHADOW, but gains points for featuring the excellent screen fighting of brothers Jack and Mark Long. In its available English-dubbed format, it also offers genre fans high camp value and mostly entertaining nonsense in keeping with most of Kuo’s latter films.

James Lee I-min attempts, but ultimately fails to match Jackie Chan’s performances in EAGLE’S SHADOW and DRUNKEN MASTER. He plays an amiable, yet slightly mischievous simpleton desperate to avenge his father’s death by learning kung fu to defeat the murderer, a notorious fighter known as the Ghost Face Killer.

Lee joins a kung fu school where he gradually earns the respect of his fellow students by mastering the art of serving rice bowls. The only one who isn’t impressed is the school’s first brother and resident weasel, a character very similar to the one played with greater success by Dean Shek in EAGLE’S SHADOW. Lee’s only friend at the school is the cook, briefly played in a guest role by Simon Yuen. It isn’t made nearly as clear as it was in EAGLE’S SHADOW that the hopeful hero isn’t going to be taught anything useful by the master of the kung fu school. In desperation, Lee begs Yuen to teach him what he knows, but all Lee gets out of the elder master is strength training with a massive iron cooking lid.

Meanwhile, we’re treated with interspersed scenes of the Ghost Face Killer (Mark Long) humorously confronting a series of fighters by leading off with silly verbal challenges and a series of flashy forms representative of the fictional Five Elements kung fu.

When the kung fu school master discovers one of the Killer’s trademark talismans in Lee’s possession, he wrongly assumes Lee is working for the Killer and kicks him out of the school. Yuen sends Lee to his friend Chi Siu-tin (Jack Long) for further training. Chi happens to be on the Ghost Face Killer’s hit list so it’s just a matter of time before these two squares off with Lee caught in the middle.

With his flirtatious granddaughter (Jeannie Chang) looking on, Chi begins taking Lee through some odd training, which initially involves games of Chinese chess to prepare the mind. It moves on to a painful stretching regimen where Lee is suspended in mid-air by ropes with legs spread eagle and weighed down by stacks of bricks. The scene is vaguely reminiscent of a similar training exercise in Jean-Claude Van Damme’s BLOODSPORT. The relationship between all this training and its practical value in fighting is only shown once, but quite memorably when Lee applies strength training with thick ropes in his final match against Mark Long.

At some point Simon Yuen’s day of shooting came to an end and he’s killed off by suggestion only. Lee discovers this when attempting to visit Yuen. In the available version of the movie, there is apparently a fight at this point but we never get to see it. Instead we see a mysteriously bruised and battered Lee back at Jack Long’s house, where he steps up his training before the Ghost Face Killer arrives.

There’s definitely some odd editing going on that makes this movie feel incomplete and disjointed. It’s not as bad as Kuo’s 36 DEADLY STYLES thankfully, where Mark Long plays another relentless and colorful killer, but seemingly in scenes from a different movie altogether. Even the milder slip ups in CHESS BOXING suggest that Kuo had fallen quite a ways from his days of producing polished martial arts features like TRIANGULAR DUEL and THE BLAZING TEMPLE.

CHESS BOXING is often counted as a favorite of kung fu movie connoisseurs ever since it made a splash on New York’s 42nd Street with its outrageous English dubbing, wild action and memorable villain. Ocean Shores originally distributed the film as NINJA CHECKMATE, no doubt to exploit the ninja movie craze started by Lau Kar-leung when he released HEROES OF THE EAST (aka SHAOLIN CHALLENGES NINJA) at the end of 1978. Of course, the film has nothing to do with ninjas. The film has also notably been a key inspiration for members of Brooklyn hip hop masters the Wu Tang Clan with member Dennis Cole assuming the name “Ghostface Killah” and a track off their triumphant debut album titled “Da Mystery of Chessboxin.’”

To be sure there is a fair amount of hype that comes with this movie despite the fact that it hasn’t enjoyed a quality release since its initial run (at least to date). In its present form, CHESS BOXING is a good, but not great kung fu movie. The derivative story is poorly handled, the non-action editing stinks and production values are threadbare.

What keeps this film engaging is the all-important action, although that too is flawed. As suggested earlier, the training sequences are disappointing. Granted, virtually nothing could top the most imaginative sequences produced at Shaw Brothers, but there’s little effort shown to offer up anything new or creative here.

James Lee is a modest screen fighter, who handles the kung fu comedy elements well enough and manages to get by in the rest of his scenes. But he’s completely overshadowed by Jack and Mark Long. These were two of the best screen fighters working outside of the major studios during the ’70s and early ’80s. Some of their best work is with Joseph Kuo, whom they teamed up with for at least five movies beginning with THE SEVEN GRAND MASTERS.

Although their action scenes are often augmented by undercranking and limited trick editing, the Longs are both able to unleash a phenomenal array of dynamic moves. CHESS BOXING really comes alive when both stunt actors are fighting onscreen. It is noticeable however that Mark Long is doubled for some of his more intense acrobatic moves.

A gratuitously violent ending following a long and satisfying final bout definitely sees THE MYSTERY OF CHESS BOXING finish strong. In addition, Mark Long’s onscreen killing spree, with frequent evil laughter, in the guise of the nearly-matchless Ghost Face Killer is priceless by old school kung fu movie standards and provides audiences with the best genre villain since Hwang Jang-lee appeared as the super-kicking Silver Fox. It’s just a shame that Kuo cuts corners everywhere else. The “chess boxing” itself is the film’s one imaginative addition to the genre. Unfortunately, it’s never exploited to its full potential as Jackie Chan did with both drunken boxing and emotional kung fu.