By Mark Pollard | Published April 2, 2008

Freelance writer Steven Hart recently capped a concise, yet insightful examination of what he considers to be the best sword-fight movies of all time. He sticks to a very small number of Western sword fighting films so there is no mention of chambara or wuxia films. What I appreciate most is Hart’s major criteria which is character and plot advancement through action. He quite rightly points out that while the likes of THE MASK OF ZORRO and other swashbucklers of old contain lots of swordplay action, it’s all indistinguishable. The same could be said of the fighting scenes in many chambara and wuxia films, as well as a lot of kung fu and general martial arts movies. There are many technical aspects of filming that make any fight sequence a success but what makes them truly great is how they effectively incorporate a revealing narrative.