One of the world’s greatest martial arts film directors tackles the literary work of one of the world’s greatest wuxia novelists and comes up with one of the world’s greatest martial arts classics featuring the Venoms crew. Chang Cheh’s film adaptation of Louis Cha’s The Sword Stained with Royal Blood is only one of several adaptations, other notables being a 1993 production starring Yuen Biao and Ho Meng-hua’s Swift Sword, another Shaw Brothers production released a year prior. Chang’s version rises above the pack for its unrelenting old school kung fu action brought to brilliant life by Chang’s third generation of kung fu stars, doubling as action directors.
To date, there is no English translation to this particular Louis Cha novel, originally published in 1956, so it would be impossible for me to compare Chang’s film to its source material. As a wuxia film in general, it exhibits Chang’s brand of rugged masculinity, unflinching brutality and directness that contrasts sharply from the more visually and emotionally sophisticated works of fellow wuxia filmmakers like King Hu, Chor Yuen and Tsui Hark. Yet this less artistic approach is also the film’s strength. Chang boils what could have been a convoluted plot down to a series of highly-engaging and increasingly tense kung fu battles. It is here that the physical efforts of Philip Kwok and his cohorts shine amid a swirling stew of colorful and clear martial arts etiquette that only a mind belonging to a creative talent such as Louis Cha could conceive of.
The adventure begins, as many do, with the exile of a young boy who grows up to meet his destiny as a great warrior. After his father, a Han loyalist and hero, is betrayed by the Emperor and sentenced to death, Yuan Cheng-chih (Philip Kwok) is spirited away to the reclusive master of the Lung Yau school of martial arts.
Having grown into a righteous young man of considerable martial skill, Cheng-chih sets out on his own. He discovers the hideout of a long-dead martial arts master known as Golden Snake Hsia Shiue-yi and lays claim to his buried martial arts manual, sword, and collection of darts. He also discovers the whereabouts of a lost treasure and instructions to deliver a portion of it to a certain woman.
Cheng-chih sets out to find her in order to honor the dead man’s wishes and ends up meeting a spoiled and not-so-cleverly disguised young woman posing as a man named Wen Ching (Candy Wen). It’s enough to fool the naive Cheng-chih, who befriends Wen after she takes a liking to him. She brings him into her household, which is home to a wealthy clan of martial artists known for their mastery of the Five Element Array. Cheng-chih’s stay grows unsettling, first when jealous quarreling sparked by his presence erupts between Wen and her male cousin. Things get a lot more complicated when a trio of angry martial artists storm the household and accuse Wen of theft. It turns out that they are members of Cheng-chih’s school and just as the situation threatens to turn into a full-scale battle, he intercedes in order to find a peaceful solution. As a result of his intervention, Cheng-chih’s skills draw the attention of the master of the house (Wong Lik), who recognizes the kung fu techniques of his arch-enemy. As hidden truths about the Wen clan and their dark part are revealed through flashbacks, Cheng-chih finds himself forced to fight their infamous Five Element Array in order to complete his quest and escape in one piece.
Let’s get one thing straight, this movie is the real deal when it comes to classic kung fu action. Venoms stars Philip Kwok, Chiang Sheng and Lu Feng are in top form, while supporting talent like Wong Lik and Lung Tien-hsiang are right up at the same level. The martial arts choreography, which mixes a variety of authentic and fanciful techniques, is some of the best the Venoms have every done and covers just about every aspect of their far reaching abilities. Kwok alone is an amazing talent, who dishes out flips, kicks, lightning-fast sword technique, and high-precision open hand sparring. On top of that he busts out the charm on several occasions and gets to have some fun, despite playing an uncharacteristically noble hero. The real fun is in the formation kung fu that primarily takes place towards the end. Fighters in colorfully-gaudy matching costumes run in neat little circles around Kwok with an assortment of weapons flashing. The scene builds in intensity and complexity as the contest transforms from a seemingly benign test to an all-out battle to the death.
It’s rare when kung fu action is able to draw the viewer in so that they can see through the fighters’ eyes. Chang and the Venoms team manage to do this repeatedly here. Even though we may not understand exactly how the techniques are laid out, it’s not hard to get an overall sense of how Cheng-chih is able to decipher the Five Element Array as if looking at a chess board and plotting his course to victory.
For gore fiends limbs are detached from torsos, but there’s still nothing to compare with the more outrageous destruction in The Five Venoms. Overall, the action holds up quite well by modern standards. There isn’t a lot of wirework for a swordplay film and this should sit well with purists, who will get to revel in long combinations of moves that often highlight the actors’ nature acrobatic skills and weapons handling.
Chang Cheh made some great martial arts films with his Venoms stars, but The Sword Stained with Royal Blood is possibly their best when it comes to plotting and choreography. Kung fu movie neophytes may have to overcome the gratuitous zooms, campy costumes and stilted chemistry between Kwok and modest martial arts actress Candy Wen, but these are negligible elements for anyone chiefly interested in seeing great kung fu screen fighting.
by Mark Pollard
