Vintage Kung Fu Movie Flyers

Flyers and handbills have been used to drum up business for movies in Asia since the 1920s. Theater owners would print them up from templates provided by the studio, adding information on local screening times and locations. Recently, David Wells posted a tribute to Hong Kong movie flyers of the 1950s on his blog Soft Film (read the entry here). Although they were cheaply produced, many of the flyers were quite nicely designed and now they are considered collectibles. As David points out, in many cases the original films have been lost, making the surviving flyers the only visual record of numerous movies. I’ve picked up a few vintage kung fu movies flyers on eBay, and I’d like to share some of the more distinctive ones here.

THE STRANGE HERO, ONE EYE DRAGON (1947). Directed by Fung Chi-kong. Starring Kwan Tak-hing, Chow Kit-wan, and Shek Kin.

The earliest flyers from the immediate post-war period almost exclusively showcase actors like Kwan Tak-hing, Tso Tat-wah, Yu So-chau, and Shek Kin. These flyers usually feature dynamic drawings of the characters. Only one color of printing ink is used.

(Detail) BURNING OF THE RED LOTUS MONASTERY (1950). Directed by Chen Huanwen. Starring Yu So-chau, Tso Tat-wah, and Shek Kin.

By the mid-1950s, low-budget kung fu movie distributors still produced single color flyers, but the the artwork had evolved into a collage of both illustration and photography – sometimes the art prominently features a sketch copied from an action scene, with the original publicity photo also printed on the back of the flyer.

Left: STORY OF THE VULTURE CONQUEROR (1958). Directed by Wu Pang. Starring Tso Tat-wah and Shek Kin. Based on ‘The Eagle-shooting Heroes’ by Louis Cha. Right: HOW WONG FEI-HUNG STORMED PHOENIX HILL (1958). Directed by Wu Pang. Starring Kwan Tak-hing, Tso Tat-wah, Yam Yin, Shek Kin, and Lau Cham.

By the late 1950s, kung fu movie advertising flyers, at least for bigger budget films, were printed in two colors. As in the example below, the theater owners would stamp the flyer with screening information in a third color. Another innovation was the use of banner-shaped flyers, as seen in the flyer for a Yu So-chau action drama below.

Left: THE STORY OF LU SINIANG (1958). Directed by Lo Chen. Starring Li Lihua. With choreography by Fen Juhua. Right: DIAMOND CHAIN aka APARTMENT MURDER (1960). Directed by Wu Pang. Starring Yu So-chau, Yam Yin, Shek Kin, and Lau Kar-leung.

By the 1960s, the box office success of kung fu and swordplay movies was reflected in elaborate multicolored banners for top films, especially those produced by the Shaw Brothers studio.

Left: COME DRINK WITH ME (1966). Directed by King Hu. Starring Cheng Pei-pei and Yueh Hua. Right: KING BOXER aka FIVE FINGERS OF DEATH (1972). Directed by Cheng Chang-ho. Starring Lo Lieh and Bolo Yeung.

The late 1960s and early 1970s was the high point for Hong Kong kung fu movie flyers. It was probably the booming economy, which put magazine and TV advertising into the reach of even the poorest film-goers, prompting the studios to cut back on the design and printing of freebies like these flyers. The designs gradually reverted to one color on 8×11 stock paper.

Left: WAY OF THE DRAGON (1972). Directed by Bruce Lee. Starring Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Nora Miao, and Huang In-shik. Right: THE PRODIGAL SON (1982). Directed by Sammo Hung. Starring Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Lam Ching-ying, and Frankie Chan.

The flyers were still available right through the 1980s. When I worked in a theater in Boston’s Chinatown back then, we offered simple xeroxed black-and-white versions.