Snake and Crane Secret

Rating:
Summary: Dean Shek - What Happened To You? :)
Review: I found this film somewhat enjoyable. The story was okay, which was basically about two brothers, played by Meng Fei and Tan Tao-Liang, who were separated as children when their father was murdered by a fellow martial artist. Of course, in their adult age, they vow to take revenge.
The coreography itself isn't that bad. In the beginning, it's very slow. The women who are fighting in this film are especially unimpressive. But as the film goes on, the pacing of the coreography seems to pick up speed and is actually quite enjoyable. The moves themselves aren't particularly brilliant or exciting, but the speed does help.
What really shocked me about this film, though, was Dean Shek. If you've seen late 70's movies by with Sammo Hung, you'll almost always see Dean playing some skinny, goofy faced bad guy who either gets beaten up, or displays some really silly kung fu moves. Perhaps it was the scar over his one eye that made him really sinister in this film. No making silly faces for the camera in this one. And his fighting was pretty good. Too bad he only fights with one of the women at the end.
This Front Row version is out of print. I got my copy in a Brentwood 4pk, which I think was called 'Warrior's Art'. It's the one with 'Return of The Tiger' and 'Screaming Tiger'. I definitely wouldn't pay .. for the film alone, but getting it in the set was well worth the price.

Rating:
Summary: Dean Shek - What Happened To You? :)
Review: I found this film somewhat enjoyable. The story was okay, which was basically about two brothers, played by Meng Fei and Tan Tao-Liang, who were separated as children when their father was murdered by a fellow martial artist. Of course, in their adult age, they vow to take revenge.
The coreography itself isn't that bad. In the beginning, it's very slow. The women who are fighting in this film are especially unimpressive. But as the film goes on, the pacing of the coreography seems to pick up speed and is actually quite enjoyable. The moves themselves aren't particularly brilliant or exciting, but the speed does help.
What really shocked me about this film, though, was Dean Shek. If you've seen late 70's movies by with Sammo Hung, you'll almost always see Dean playing some skinny, goofy faced bad guy who either gets beaten up, or displays some really silly kung fu moves. Perhaps it was the scar over his one eye that made him really sinister in this film. No making silly faces for the camera in this one. And his fighting was pretty good. Too bad he only fights with one of the women at the end.
This Front Row version is out of print. I got my copy in a Brentwood 4pk, which I think was called 'Warrior's Art'. It's the one with 'Return of The Tiger' and 'Screaming Tiger'. I definitely wouldn't pay .. for the film alone, but getting it in the set was well worth the price.

Rating:
Summary: Avoid like Ebola
Review: Really, less than ONE star. This movie is horrible. I have hundreds of Chines movies, and this one is on it's way to becoming a coaster. The movie is really bad, and the DVD quality is so rotten, you can hardly see anything. I tried this film on two different DVD players, and it stank up both of them. I'm almost tempted to ask for my money back.

Rating:
Summary: Best Kept Snake-Crane Secret!
Review: Two of the most underrated and yet greatest stars of the Martial Arts films of the 70's - Dorian Tan Tao-Liang and Meng Fei, play brothers separated at a young age because of the murder of their father by the Ching government. Meng Fei (you may have been struck by his performance as Fong Sai Yuk in "The Invincible Kung Fu Trio") is very charming and reminiscent of the great Alexander Fu Sheng (RIP) in his role as the young, headstrong and willful brother. Dorian Tan plays the older, serious and determined brother, who unwittingly joins the bodyguard of the very man who slaughtered his father. Add a concerned uncle and an Anti-Ching Revolutionary group and you soon have a full scale war on your hands, as the brothers are reunited and must fight to avenge not only their father, but all of China's decimation at the hands of the Ching. Though the fight sequences are not nearly as poetic and graceful as the men who would soon come along to knock such fine actors as these into obscurity (ie: The Venoms), there is enough of it to really give you a rush. This is a truly enjoyable film.