It’s not often that a Shaw Brothers film deserves the kind of cult status generally reserved for war films like KELLY’S HEROES or THE DIRTY DOZEN, but ANONYMOUS HEROES is one such film. Ti Lung and David Chiang are supremely charismatic as roguish scrappers turned rebels with a cause while the film is perfectly balanced by director Chang Cheh’s violent male chivalry and the incredible martial arts choreography of Lau Kar-leung and Tang Chia.
In the 1930s, warlords are dividing up China in an attempt to control the country while rebels struggle to unify the country. A local warlord has just received a shipment of 3000 new bolt action rifles that will give him a tremendous advantage. In a rare role where he’s both a good guy and bereft of age-enhancing wigs, character actor Ku Feng is a rebel looking for someone to aid him in stealing the rifles. He finds David Chiang and Ti Lung who play two wild and crazy guys who are quick with their minds, even quicker with their fists and ready and willing to take on all comers.
Apart from providing SB with a prerequisite pretty face, Ching Li joins the trio by offering to get her father, an officer in the warlord’s army, to give her two trucks to carry the stolen rifles to a waiting train. Our heroes kidnap another officer and fake their way into the warlord’s armory. The mission nearly fails when procuring falsified authorization to take the arms nearly fails. But the weapons are finally loaded on the train. The warlord discovers the truth and is hot on their tracks until they derail, hide the goods and slip into a neighboring city to meet their contact. After getting the goods to the rebels Ti, Chiang and Ching make their final stand against the warlord’s forces.
ANONYMOUS HEROES is the kind of rousing adventure film that you’ll want to watch over and over again. David Chiang and Ti Lung are amazing and it’s no surprise. They starred in dozens of films together, many under the direction of Chang Cheh, but mostly in traditional period kung fu or swordplay films. This is one of the few action films they all worked on in a semi-modern setting. These fellows are in top form and it’s obvious that they work well together.
One early scene depicts a rambunctious fight between the two that nearly brings their modest abode down on their heads. The combat, involving some traditional kung fu with less emphasis on particular styles, is outstanding and only gets better and more furious as the film progresses. Ti Lung is the more competent of the two when it comes to martial arts combat, but they both make terrific action leads that exude confidence.
Ching Li is one of the great kung fu queens of Hong Kong. She’s not in a fighting role, but is no less charming as the friend of Chiang and Ti. Ku Feng has probably never had a bad role thanks to his versatility and lack of overly distinctive traits. He fits right in as always with his slightly wizened demeanor.
Shaw Brothers puts on a good show when it comes to the actual production. 1930s or ’40s-era trucks and motorcycles are used while dozens of soldiers with rifles and bayonets, and even a train are put to good use. Admittedly, models used to depict the train derailing look pretty hokey and a few outdoor scenes are obviously indoors, but these complaints are negligible in the wake of the film’s greatest asset, the action.
The use of guns is cleverly limited to allow for the maximum amount of hand-to-hand or bayonet combat. By the end, our heroes are holding off an entire army ordered to take them alive. Probably taking longer than they should have, a decision to open fire is finally made after countless solders are shot by our heroes. The film’s tone gets progressively more dire and tense as the odds become impossible. And like nearly all Chang Cheh films, a spectacularly bloody finale awaits the viewer.
Lau Kar-leung distinguished himself in independent and latter Shaw Brothers classics featuring more lovingly authentic kung fu, but his masterful efforts on this early classic is noticeable. Likewise, Tang Chia who excelled at large scale combat scenes featuring weapons use has a field day with masses of soldiers bearing bayonets on rifles.
This film is simply a blast. Chang Cheh’s later films with the Venoms crew may be more popular in the West due to greater circulation, but early efforts like this one have the same examples of heroic bloodshed that influenced a generation of filmmakers, fine leads like Ti Lung and David Chiang, some of the highest production standards Shaw Brothers ever had, and superior action direction. With a veritable dream team of filmmakers, stars including Chan Sing, and miscellaneous extras including Yuen Wo-ping and Fung Hak-on working on ANONYMOUS HEROES, it’s no wonder that the film is so great.
by Mark PollardRelated Topics:
Shaw Brothers • The Anonymous Heroes (1971)
