Return of the Deadly Blade (1981)

Two swordsmen with different missions, one (David Chiang) out to avenge his father’s death and the other (Yasuaki Kurata) an undefeated fighter looking for a new challenge, cross paths as they seek out Master Li (Norman Chu), a notorious swordsman rumored to have resurfaced after eighteen years.

The outrageous swordplay excess of action director Ching Siu-tung meets legendary old school actors David Chiang and Yasuaki Kurata in Return of the Deadly Blade. It’s a wonderfully-entertaining wuxia pien with nearly non-stop action cranked into overdrive and the zany humor of a Yuen Po-ping kung fu classic.

The film literally kicks into high gear immediately as Hwang Jang-lee makes a cameo appearance as ‘Gam the Invincible Rings’ who battles Master Li (Norman Chu) until defeated. Afterwards, sword master Li disappears for eighteen years. Following rumors of his reappearance, Gam’s son Siu Wan (David Chiang) abandons his lover to seek revenge. Meanwhile, a “playboy” swordsman known only as ‘The Lonely Winner,’ who uses a wooden sword and has never lost a fight, sets out to find Li in hopes of meeting his match in a duel. As Siu Wan travels he is repeated ambushed by agents of a mysterious woman while a fighter with a grudge plots against The Lonely Winner who is also pursued by a feisty young woman warrior determined to get the better of him. The two swordsmen’s paths gradually converge as they continue to battle all sorts of fighters and draw closer to Li for a final showdown.

Despite the mystery built up around multiple villains with murky motives, Return of the Deadly Blade is much simpler than your typical wuxia tale. It’s basically a road flick with two swordsmen getting into one fight after another on the way to their destination. Chiang plays the straight man while the story gets a healthy dose of irreverence from Yasuaki Kurata’s roguish hijinks. It’s the usually reserved Kurata who makes this film as he continually clowns around with a woman he meets who seemingly hates his guts and lays traps for him everywhere. But it’s nothing more than flirting among martial heroes. Drunken Master-like antics pop up in the form of potty humor and slapstick fighting in a bathhouse.

The action choreography and editing is the unmistakable work of Ching Siu-tung (House of Flying Daggers) who takes traditional screen swordplay and infuses it with new energy through high-impact cuts and exaggerated stunt work. Compared to his later work with directors such as Tsui Hark, Wong Jing, and Zhang Yimou, the wirework isn’t quite as sophisticated and the production scale is small. But all the drive and exuberance is there. This can be witnessed in off the hook scenes such as when Chiang and Kurata are ambushed while crossing a river by submerged ninjas who break into waterski attacks! Lo Lieh has an extended cameo as a vagabond swordsman whom Kurata stumbles upon and promptly gets into a fight with following an exchange of insults. This riverside scene is made even better when Chiang dives in from nowhere for a three-way tussle among genre favorites that will surely delight fans. Another ninja shows up for some great action on a rope bridge. The weapons used by all are interesting, particularly the darts. Towards the end, Kurata’s character eventually goes mad following a personal tragedy, leaving Chiang to take on a wheelchair-bound Norman Chu in a highly improbable, but enjoyable duel.

R is not the best wuxia film ever made, especially when it comes to budget and art direction that appears modeled after the typically cheap Taiwanese wuxia films of the day. But for Kurata’s role, the unusual mix of Seasonal and Shaw Brothers actors, and the quantity and quality of fantasy martial arts as of 1981, its loads of fun.