THE CRIMSON CHARM

This is another casual review where I give my immediate thoughts after watching a movie. Today I am discussing The Crimson Charm. 

The Crimson Charm is a 1971 film directed by Huang Feng, starring Ivy Ling Po, Chang Yi, Shih Szu, Fang Mian and James Nam Seok-Hoon. Huang Feng would go on to direct a number of Angela Mao movies for Golden Harvest, including Hapkido and Lady Whirlwind, which we have covered on the podcast. 

The movie opens when Chief Jiang Zi Chao of Zhongzhou Sword Sect and his daughter, Shang Qing, are traveling to his 60th birthday celebration, when they save a woman from the son of one of the Crimson Charm Gang's chiefs. In the fight, the son is killed, and they are soon issued a formal declaration from the father, Yellow Gowned Chief Chao, that he intends to extinguish their entire sect at the gathering. Blood Master Linghu Lei, the grandson of an unorthodox master, comes to Chief's aid and promises to join them for the celebration. 

True to their word, the Crimson Charm Gang shows up at the birthday celebration and it is a massacre. By the end, only four survive: Senior Han, Yu Fang Fang, Blood Master Linghu Lei, and Shan Qing (though she suffers a horrible internal injury). 

The story is essentially about three of these characters seeking revenge three years later against the Crimson Charm Gan. But it develops more complexity. Each of the heroes seeking revenge gets growth and we learn there is more to the slaughter of Zhengzhou Sword Sect, that the killing of the Yellow Gowned Chief's son was a pretext. 

The three heroes the movie follows are Blood Master Linghu Lei, Senior Han and Yu Fang Fang. Blood Master Linghu Lei, escapes the slaughter with an injured Shang Qing. Bringing Qing to a cave he tries to cure her internal injuries over the three years. They fall in love, but she succumbs and asks him to erect a grave tablet to her as his wife. After her death he is even more formidable than before, but half-crazed. Senior Han was kicked out of the sect before the slaughter and found a master named Holy Sword to help train him for revenge. He is the most straight forward of the three heroes here (and I had the impression the master ejected him from the sect before the slaughter over a minor issue of etiquette so he could avenge them). Yu Fang Fang feels almost like the real protagonist of the movie. Played by Ivy Ling Po, she lost her arm in the attack on Zhongzhou Sword Sect, but was later found by their grandmaster, a woman who took her to the mountain temple and trained her. She fights one-armed and has the Dragon Sword, a clever blade that can retract into the hilt and extend to a variety of lengths. This allows her for instance to slip away easily when her sword gets hooked by another blade. It felt fitting fort a one-armed swordswoman. 

I liked how they gave each hero a section of time to develop and grow. I was especially interested in the love story between Blood Master Linghu Lei and Shang Qing. Yu Fang Fang was a fun character to follow around as she investigated the Crimson Charm Gang. She gets a great scene in one of the inns. 

I enjoyed the direction, there were some interesting uses of angles and the close-ups were effective for me. The sound on the version I saw felt a little off during the fight sequences (it is possible this was an issue with my TV, but it was only during the battles). The movie looks good and there is a nice variety of locations so you get the sense of a full world. 

The fights are not perfect but they are fun, filled with inventive weaponry and swagger. There were a few moments where some of the movements felt off to me. These were pretty rare but when they happened I noticed. Still there were lots of good performances and the showdown at the end is terrific. The movie teases who the final chief of the Crimson Charm Gang is throughout the movie (it is the kind of film where you only see the back of the villain before the final scene). I won't spoil who it was, but I was glad who they cast when it was revealed. 

The Crimson Charm Gang are my favorite kind of wuxia thugs: eccentric and morbid. We get cool bad guys like White-Faced Yama King. The leader of the gang is terrifying when he shows up, and he has deadly weapons with abilities the viewer isn't sure of until he uses them (this heightens a lot of the tension in the final fight). 

The Crimson Charm was a movie I hadn't really heard of before but was a nice surprise. For a ranking I am giving it a 7.5. I may have given it a 7 but the doomed love of Master Linigu Lei and Shang Qing, and the look on Ivy Ling Po's face when she is dropping henchmen like flies with one hand, elevated it for me. I believe this is included in the Shaw Brothers Classics Volume 2 Boxed set. I saw it on prime. I would like to get it on disc to see what extras are available as I really wanted to learn more about this movie. 

Rating: 7.5 

KILLER DARTS (CASUAL REVIEW)

Killer Darts is a 1968 Ho Meng-Hua film, starring Chin Ping (Jin Yu-Sien), Yueh Hua (Liu Yu-Long), Fang Mian (Liu Wen-Lung), Chang Pei-Shan (Hu Chi-Feng), Pang Pang (Ah Fu), and Shen Yi (Lin Heung-Kam), and Ma Ying (Chou Chao). 

The movie opens with Chou Chao, a wicked bandit chief, burning down the home of Master Liu Wen-Lung and murdering his wife. All is lost except for the master's son, Liu Yu-Long and his chubby servant Ah Fu. With his disciple, Hu Chi Feng, he manages to poison Chou Chao with a dart, forcing the bandit to chop off his own arm to survive (but not before vowing revenge). As they set out to start a new life, Hu Chi Feng proves to be a bad seed and terrorizes a local homestead, killing the father and using one of his master's darts to kill the mother. Master Liu Wen-Lung tries to force his disciple to commit suicide for being so wicked but he refuses and escapes. The daughter Jin Yu-Sien, holds her mother as she dies, who makes her vow revenge, and Yu-Sien the darts that poisoned her. The master takes pity of daughter of the homestead couple and raises her as his own. This sets the stage for the story that unfolds. 

The movie is a thrilling tale of revenge gone awry with Jin Yu-Sien coming of age as Master Liu Wen-Lung's pupil and falling in love with his son, Liu Yu-Long). All would be perfect except for a love triangle involving the daughter of a local wealthy patron named Lin Heung-Kam, and a growing misunderstanding over the darts that killed Yu-Sien's mother. 

The real star of this movie is Chin Ping, and she is very good in the role of Yu-Sien. I thought her action scenes were especially effective. This is still more in the swash-buckle era of wuxia and her swordplay was excellent, very punctual. It is a shame we didn't get more Chin Ping movies as she has a lot of charisma on screen. 

While the action isn't wild, it is still exciting and well executed. As said, this is more of a swashbuckling style, but there is also a variety of weaponry. The darts I thought were particularly exciting (though not as prominent as one might expect from the title). And Chou Chao fought with an interesting arm attachment after losing his hand. At one point Liu Yu-Long demonstrates some nifty qigong with a surprising special effect to stop a flying bowl mid-air. But for me the arrow-through the head scenes stole the show.  

The storytelling is very good in Killer Darts. Ho Meng-Hua is usually very reliable here and in this movie it feels like all the pieces fit into place perfectly by the end. There is an emotional arc that is rewarding, especially Yu-Sien's journey of discovery and revenge. It is more of a touching film than a cathartic one.

And Killer Darts is a movie that is really driven by the story. The action is important, but I found myself not worrying about when the next sword fight was going to be because I was so immersed in the storytelling.

It also builds a convincing martial world. Mostly it is developed around Master Liu Wen-Lung and his battle against the bandits. But at a certain point in the film we see just how extensive this bandit network is and there is a scene where a host of colorful martial experts are on full display.

I quite liked the sets too. The bandit fortress is a nice lair with plenty of traps (and another example of a wuxia dungeon). I especially liked the burning house at the start of the film.

Killer darts is quite solid. I would probably have rated it a 7 if it had just a bit more emotional punch to it. But 6.5 here indicates an enjoyable evening of wuxia entertainment.

Rating: 6.5 

THE QIWU SWORD (RBRB)

This is an attempt to game the film The Sword for Righteous Blood Ruthless Blade, me and Jeremy's wuxia TTRPG published by Osprey. In the movie there is a weapon called the Qiwu Sword, and it is heavily suggested it is cursed but effective. I highly recommend the film and you can see my review of it HERE. 

THE QIWU SWORD

This blade looks like a well-crafted jian with an ornately decorated wood handle and sheathe, a guard and pommel of matching black. The blade itself also seems dark in certain light. It is reputed to bring back fortune to the wielder. Some even say if it is discarded, the bad luck still returns to the owner.

The Qiwu Sword does Muscle+1d10 Damage, bestows a +1d10 to attacks but does 3 Extra wounds on a Total Success. It is also capable of cutting through weapons that parry it. If anyone parries, there is a 5 in 10 chance the weapon they block the attack with is cut in half, and that the attack continues on and does damage as normal. This also applies to any counter that redirects, or evades a melee in attack in someway (except there is a 3 in 10 chance the attack still goes through, and in these other cases, the blade doesn't slice through anything to do so). 

Anyone wielding the Qiwu Sword is subject to two major effects. The first is that if they are made to roll on the death and maiming table, they must roll twice and take the worst of the two results. The second is they face more challengers and grudge encounters than other people. When they roll on the Encounter Table, us this table instead of the standard one provided on page 136: 

ENCOUNTER TABLE
2d10        Result

2-10          Grudge Encounter

11-15         Challenger 

16             Ally or Friend 

17-19        Complication

20             Twist

THE SWORD (CASUAL REVIEW)

Here is my second casual review. In these installments I just do quick immediate reactions to films after viewing them. I hope to do more in the coming weeks and months.

The Sword is a 1980 wuxia film directed by Patrick Tam, that stars Adam Cheng and Norman Chu. It also stars Jade Hsu, Tien Feng, Eddie Ko, Bonnie Ngai Chau-Wah and Jojo Chan. It was recommended by John in our wuxia media group.  

I loved The Sword. Right from the opening, where Tien Feng, playing Hua Qian Shu*, goes to a blacksmith who has made him the Hanxing Sword, I was hooked. There he shows the black smith a blade called the Qiwu sword, believing they could make a good pair, but the black smith warns him the sword was forged in hatred and brings ill-fate to the person who wields it. Some time later, after Hua Qian Shu has retired because so many people want to kill him, the movie follows Li My Ran, played by Adam Cheng, who wants to fight the retired swordsman so he can take his own place at the top of the martial world. Along the way he is gifted the Qiwu sword, by a woman Hua Qian Shu gave it to for safe keeping. Li Mu Ran is also in love with Xiao Yu, played by Jojo Chan, but she is married to Lian Huan. The pursuit of these two goals, leads to a tragic path of blood and doomed romance. 

What struck me was the focus of The Sword. It is almost a wuxia chamber piece. The movie follows a small number of characters. And while it does have many locations, these are not particularly important and they aren't the focus. It is the drama among the characters that matters. 

The music, the visual tone, the action, everything fits perfectly for me. This is exactly the type of wuxia film I look for. The action is all well edited, and sharp. It is mostly swordplay, with plenty of spins and people flying through the air. But it never feels ridiculous. It always seem to have its feet planted firmly on solid ground. That isn't to say it is not extravagant with the bloodshed. There are a handful of key over the top moments. But this is restrained. It isn't cranked to 11 the entire time. 

It does an excellent job at maintaining mood. In the end it is a cathartic film. And I think the theme song really helps tie everything together. As a wuxia film it leaves me feeling very satisfied. Perhaps not feeling happy in the end, but like I've had a complete movie experience. It has everything, from tragic misunderstandings to a love triangle and a deliciously evil villain. But there is still something about it that is quite straight forward and simple. Nothing feels extraneous. 

The performances are good but the two that stand out are Adam Cheng as Li Mu Ran and Norman Chu as Lian Huan. Lian Huan is a properly evil villain. He is sophisticated and plays the gentleman, but other than that there is almost nothing redeeming about him. People are disposable to him and all he really seems to care about is having the Hanxing and Qiwu swords so he can be the number one swordsman. Li Mu Ran is a quiet hero who learns the hard way, and perhaps a bit too late, that fame and glory are just illusions. Adam Cheng gives a very good performance in my opinion. Both physically and emotionally. He is the stoic wuxia hero who occasionally brims with an overflow of emotion that just barely breaches the surface, but it is there. And there is something kind about his character. He is stoic but not Jimmy Wang Yu stoic. Eddy Ko was also very good as Lian Huan's black garbed henchmen (he spends much of his time trying to assassinate Li Mu Ran, or otherwise cause him turmoil). 

The women too have pathos in this movie. Though I would say this is a film that is definitely more about the men. Yuen Chen played by Bonnie Ngai Chau-Wah, I found the most interesting. She seems to be the lover of Hua Qian Shu, and is the one keeping the Qiwu sword for him. She has one of the more moving scenes in the movie. 

Visually this is also a very compelling movie. There were lots of moments where the framing of a scene caught my eye. And again the editing in the fight scenes seemed well done to me. 

I highly recommend The Sword. At least on a first viewing it was great. I want to see it again soon and hopefully it holds up on multiple views. I wish I had been able to get it on disc, as I would love to have access to extras and learn more about it. However I had to watch it on prime. The quality there was good.

Rating: 9

*In the version I saw the name of his character was a bit different in the subtitles but using the Hong Kong Movie database name list for consistency.