Top: Chin Ping and Jimmy Wang Yu in TIGER BOY (1966). Below right: A page from “Southern Screen” magazine promoting TIGER BOY (1966). Source: Soft Film
AKA: Hu xia jian chou, 虎俠殲仇
This rare, landmark wuxia film was Chang Cheh’s first solo directing effort, a low budget “experiment” scripted by Chang and funded by Shaw Brothers to test the budding filmmaker’s unique perspective on the genre. It was shot in black and white just outside the studio lot without the aid of artificial lighting, back lot staging or the studio’s top talents. Regardless, Chang made the most of the opportunity and subsequently changed the course of martial arts cinema.
A young knight-errant named Tiger Boy comes to the aid of a woman accosted by bandits. After the pair escape to the forest, they fall in love even though another woman, a childhood sweetheart, still pines for Tiger Boy’s affection. Tiger Boy eventually learns that the bandit leader is related to the man who killed his father 15 years earlier. He sets out to smash the bandits while vowing to return to his true love.
TIGER BOY changed the course of martial arts filmmaking in Hong Kong by emphasizing masculine heroics, more realistic fighting and more dynamic camera work. Chang did not have the luxury of being able to call upon the services of the studio’s top talents, including choreographers, and as a result this is possibly the only film where he directed the action himself. As a result, Chang, who had been heavily influenced by Japanese chambara films, pushed for more realism and less of the “flying swordsman” elements that had dominated wuxia films since the 1920s. This also meant more bloodshed than had ever been seen before.
Rather than focus on the female roles as wuxia films typically had since the silent era, Chang cast unknown, athletic male actors in key roles, three of whom turned out to be core members of his first generation of screen talent. This included Jimmy Wang Yu, Lo Lieh and Cheng Lei. All three were soon reunited in THE MAGNIFICENT TRIO (1966). Wang Yu, a former swimmer, became a martial arts superstar after appearing in Chang’s first mega hit film THE ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN (1967). Lo Lieh became the first martial arts star to break into the U.S. market with KING BOXER (aka FIVE FINGER OF DEATH). Cheng Lei became a reliable supporting actor in Chang’s films for the next eight years.
Although produced in 1964, TIGER BOY remained shelved until 1966. It had a modest run in several territories, yet performed well enough for Shaw Brothers to give Chang the green light to make bigger martial arts productions that built on the vision he created in this one.
Despite efforts by Celestial Pictures to restore and re-release the Shaw Brothers library, TIGER BOY has become a lost film due to original elements not surviving the ravages of time intact. Likewise, there is no known copy of the film in circulation, making TIGER BOY one of the rarest and most sought after lost treasures of Hong Kong cinema.
Genre: Wuxia
Companies: Shaw Brothers
Release Date: February 16, 1966
Producer: Run Run Shaw
Director: Chang Cheh
Action Director: Chang Cheh
Cast: Jimmy Wang Yu, Margaret Tu Chuan, Chin Ping, Lo Lieh
