Master of the Flying Guillotine

Rating:
Summary: Classic 70's Kung Fu With The Infamous Flying Guillotine
Review: I have waited for years for this movie to appear on DVD. An American version was released for TV play in the late 1970s, but this version is the original Chinese version. Jimmy is as wooden as ever, but the true star of the movie is the flying guillotine. Cheesy special effects, a hero who defeats his enemy via trickery instead of skill, a villian you end up rooting for and the deadliest martial arts weapon of all time. How can you go wrong?

Rating:
Summary: More on the DVD edition
Review: I just received the movie today.

The disc contains the film in both Mandrin and dubbed english. There are subtitles for english and spanish.

The film quality is better than the print I saw in the theatre, but it could still use some work. In the print I saw, the opening credit sequence would "fuzz out". Those of you who saw this on the big screen know what I am talking about. This no longer happens. There are some sections where the print has a fair amount of dirt. It is not too distracting. The colors are better as well.

There are some extras on the disc. Three trailers for the film. (Chinese, original english and reissue english.), a comentary track by a couple of film critics, bios of the star and fight coodinator (which are fairly extensive), stills from the film, and production notes. It also has the usuals like chapter stops and animated menues.

The sound is good. Some of the trailers have some defects, but those were probably in the originals as well.

All in all, a great classic kung-fu movie. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Classic Kung-Fu Theatre
Review: I saw this in the theatre just a couple of weeks ago. This movie was not only a big influence on kung-fu movies, but also on the fighting genre of video games. After watching this movie you will notice certain similarities between it and the "Street Fighter" video games. (Including the yogi with the stretching arms.)

The movie is actually the second movie in the "one arm boxer" series. (There are flashbacks to the previous movie.) The blind monk (the master of the flying guillotine) gets word that his two disciples have been killed by the one arm boxer. He goes on a hunt for the one arm boxer. Being blind, he tends to kill a number of the wrong people along the way, but that does not matter to him in the slightest. (Being the nasty next to unkillable uber-villian he is.)

While the blind monk is out looking for the one arm boxer, there is a kung-fu tournement being held. This is a great excuse to have a bunch of martial artists with various styles. Did I mention that this was a fight to the death or severe maiming? There are some great over the top kung-fu battles up until the tournement is interupted by the blind monk. The one arm boxer is , of course, at the tournement.

Many of the styles are just plain impossible. But that is half the fun!

I won't spoil the rest of the film. It is very enjoyable. The print I saw had some odd defects from the negative used to print the film. There are also some scratches and other misc problems. They do not detract from the experience in the slightest. It was also subtitled and not dubbed. Hopefully the DVD will not suffer the same fate as most Chinese films released in the US. (Cut to ribbons and dubbed with bad translations.)

If you are a kung-fu fan, especially of the old Shaw Brothers films, then you will want this one.

It is a big bloody. People do die in this film. It is not one where people just get beaten-up real bad and then run away. People can and do get hurt in this one. The film is probably better because of that.

One of the best kung-fu movies of all time.

Rating:
Summary: Great film
Review: I watched this movie tonight with a friend and I thought it was funny and simply a great film. I think that the martial arts in this movie are pretty genuine except the guy with the stretchy arms and the magic and the jumping and so forth. Its entertainment value was 100%. I like all types of martial arts movies and I didn't know what to expect with this one but IM so glad that I taped it. THe thing that I thought was the most funny were the fighters from different areas of the world and the different styles.They all looked oriental for some reason lololoololol. It reminded me of all of those old Western Movies where white people played the Indians hahaha. I guve these guys a little better credit though! The russian Wrestler (who again was oddly oriental looking) was probably my favorite. I liked seeing the vast array of styles and weapons such as the guy fighting with the 3 sectional staff, and the Okinawan man with the Tonfa's with the knives hidden in them. The Musical score, which one review that I read somewhere as being the most awful in the world, I thought was actually great, since I also am a fan of the Moog Synthisizers and I think they were done with this synth and other instruments. I thoroughly enjoyed everything about this movie especially some of the zany effects. I think the end scenes were very clever and overall I would give it the maximum amount of stars possible. I wrote this review based on the Regular english dubbed version I taped off of SHotime or one of those movie channels.

Rating:
Summary: Master of the flying guillotine
Review: One of the impeccable movies by Jimmy Wang Yu. It shows great kungfu skills, some of which are actual fights from the actor himself - a black belt karate expert.

Amazon should import more of such movies which are now limited for viewing as a Malaysian company has bought the orginals from the owners.

Also films by David Chiang/Ti Lung/Yueh Hua- Jimmy's successors, have further brought kungfu to a new era - more realistic punches and gore - Vengeance, The Heroic ones, New One-Armed Swordsman, Deadly Duo, Water Margin, etc.

Cheers to Amazon for improving its film range. Good luck.

Rating:
Summary: Unbelievably Idiotic and Ridiculous
Review: The movie is simply a load of fight scenes for the karate junkie with a bit of fantasy and heroism as we see our "hero" the one-armed fighter protect himself and his dojo of students against a band of dastardly villains including the ring leader: the blind fart with a guillotine for a hat. This has got to be one of the biggest blunders in the martial arts film industry's history. Whoever thought of a rivalry between a one-armed fighter and a blind man w/ a guillotine hat must've been a true genius. It's hard to imagine that this film got any praise at all in China, let alone from the reviewers on Amazon.com. The fight scenes are obviously fake with so many missed punches you'd think the whole cast was cross eyed. There are a few cheap, hokey effects which include but aren't limited to: the decapatation of people by the blind man thanks to his trusty guillotine, the extension of some arab's arms that dramatically choke his victims, and a fight scene in a burning house which amazingly lasts so long you'd think the whole place would've already been charred with the remains of the fighters' bones. Needless to say, just about every aspect of this film is utterly hilarious. Nothing can or should be taken seriously at any point during this catastrophe. The one-armed fighter himself looks like a drunk and you can easily see that his arm is tucked under his shirt. In fact I suppose if he were to be an inspiration to others as many of my fellow reviews are claiming in their reviews of this trash I suppose I'd have to agree that he would be with many disabled martial arts fanatics. "Yes my friends, you too can make an ass of yourself on the big screen and exploit yourself to a lifetime of ridicule and embarrassment". Bottom line, this movie is not for a true martial arts fan as it hardly compares to the magnitude of any film by Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan. If you do purchase this however, purchase it for the non-stop laughs which come in a massive abundance.

Rating:
Summary: The Peak of Kung Fu Cinema: An Old Blind Man and an Amputee
Review: There are 2 kinds of martial arts film: epics like "Seven Samurai," and adventures like "Yojimbo," to name two from Japanese cinema. Master of the Flying Guillotine fits under the adventure catalogue, as do most of the 70's Hong Kong breed.
To open the film we see a very old, and even eviler, blind man tossing around a kind of hat with spikes sticking out of it, the title weapon which he's throwing onto, then yanking off, the heads of chickens for practice, when he gets a message via pigeon that his 2 disciples have been killed by the "One-Armed Boxer." The Master of the Flying Guillotine sets out to murder all the one armed people he can find.
After killing some innocent one armed men, his finds that the real one armed boxer is atending, but not dueling in, a martial arts tournament (This being one of those tournaments to the death you've been hearing so much about). All hell breaks loose when the old guy crashes the party, and in the process kills a couple more people, but not the boxer. But this is all just set up for a no-holds-barred showdown inside a coffin factory.
But that's not all; along with the above mentioned fighters, there's a cast of folks with strange kung-fu abilities. A good example would have to be a Hindu swami, the kind who can stretch his arms out 10 ft. long and slap people. There's also a guy who uses a style of fighting called "Monkey Boxing;" if only HBO sports could have monkey and one armed boxing...
But my personal favorite would have to be the Japanese wonder "Win-Without-a-Knife-Yakuma," who actually wins with two knives that are concealed in a pair of sword breakers. Go figure.
With this eccentric cast, some of the worst theme music of all time, some cheesey 70's dubbing and special effects (our heroic boxer walks up some walls, and his fellow actors often leap over buildings), and the fact that the cast obviously had some fun filming this thing, Master of the Flying Guillotine has turned out to be one of the greatest, or at least most fun to watch, martial arts film to come out of Hong Kong.

Rating:
Summary: Classic, in a way...
Review: There are two types of classic movies:
1. the "so well made, performed, and executed"
2. the extremely influential or 'cult status' types.

Master of the Flying Guillotine falls under the latter. Influential to video games with its gimmicky fighters, it's flying guillotine, memorable characters(one-armed boxer, blind monk), and various fighting techniques. It has deservedly attained cult status because of these and more. The fight scenes, including a long tournament of numerous(although fairly brief) fights between different contenders is worth the watch alone. Most of the fight scenes are good, esp. for a movie this old. The only scenes that kinda disappoint are the ones that contain the one-armed boxer in them(Jimmy Wany Yu just isn't that impressive in his martial arts or charismatic in his performance, resulting in more than one veiwer rooting for his opponents instead i'm sure). There are some cheesy elements like the dubbing, Jimmy walking up walls(???), some less than convincing decapitations...then again, this movie has flying guillotine-induced decapitations, Jimmy walking up walls(!!!), and classic cheesy 70's dubbing! See, it's all how you look at things or perceive them.

Anyhow, the dvd has a good picture quality, a lot more extras(including audio commentary, deleted scenes, original languge option, etc) than usually afforded to old-school kung fu films, and again a great extended tournament fight that is reason enough to watch if not buy this dvd. I'm glad I have this in my collection anyway. Definitely recommended, just don't expect the first definition of classic.

Rating:
Summary: Classic, in a way...
Review: There are two types of classic movies:
1. the "so well made, performed, and executed"
2. the extremely influential or 'cult status' types.

Master of the Flying Guillotine falls under the latter. Influential to video games with its gimmicky fighters, it's flying guillotine, memorable characters(one-armed boxer, blind monk), and various fighting techniques. It has deservedly attained cult status because of these and more. The fight scenes, including a long tournament of numerous(although fairly brief) fights between different contenders is worth the watch alone. Most of the fight scenes are good, esp. for a movie this old. The only scenes that kinda disappoint are the ones that contain the one-armed boxer in them(Jimmy Wany Yu just isn't that impressive in his martial arts or charismatic in his performance, resulting in more than one veiwer rooting for his opponents instead i'm sure). There are some cheesy elements like the dubbing, Jimmy walking up walls(???), some less than convincing decapitations...then again, this movie has flying guillotine-induced decapitations, Jimmy walking up walls(!!!), and classic cheesy 70's dubbing! See, it's all how you look at things or perceive them.

Anyhow, the dvd has a good picture quality, a lot more extras(including audio commentary, deleted scenes, original languge option, etc) than usually afforded to old-school kung fu films, and again a great extended tournament fight that is reason enough to watch if not buy this dvd. I'm glad I have this in my collection anyway. Definitely recommended, just don't expect the first definition of classic.

Rating:
Summary: Classic Kung Fu, Classic Weapon
Review: theres been some great reviews of this flick but i wouldnt trust them all. this film starts out great but goes down hill quik. the one arm boxer isn't believable at all. there's one scene with another one armed fighter where he falls on his back and you can see his missing arm tucked behind his back. its so bad. the fight scenes are very slow and the fighters come like a foot away from actually hitting each other. those two things made the film crap for me. i just couldnt buy it. i did love the villian, and thats about it. RENT before you Buy ! !