THE YOUNG AVENGER (1972)

This is another casual review where I give my first impressions of a film right after watching it. 

The Young Avenger is a 1972 wuxia film directed by Griffin Yueh Feng, starring Shih Szu (Bao Zhu), Yueh Hua (Chen Shi Lun) and Fan Mei-Sheng (Liu Tuo). Griffin Yueh Feng had a long career going back to the 1930s and directed movies like The Dragon Creek (1967) and The Bells of Death (1968).

The film is about a young woman whose father is killed by a hunchback named Liu Tuo, revenge for the death of his own brother. Liu Tuo narrowly escapes and vows to return in ten years to complete his revenge. Against the wishes of her aunt, her dying father sends young Bao Zhu to study with her fourth uncle, a Mad Monk living at a distant temple. Her father was part of a quartet of heroes who included the monk and the Third Bother Iron Fan. After Bao Zhu is sent to the temple to train, her aunt's son, Chen Shi Lun begins studying under Third Brother. This backstory sets the stage for the events of the film following Bao Zhu's return to their village ten years later. She re-unites with Shi Lun and they band together with the villagers to contend with the Hunchback and his men. 

There is something old-fashioned about The Young Avenger, despite being released in 1972. This is probably due to Griffin Yueh Feng being such a veteran director. I had a similar feeling when I saw The Dragon Creek. Here the movie, though clearly a wuxia film, reminded me of the old westerns. While I wouldn't say it is a great film, it is a good saturday martial arts movie. It almost has a hang-out feel because it is largely about the build up to the arrival of Liu Tuo. 

While there are plenty of fights, there aren't an overwhelming number of them. There is a nice opening sequence, that is actually rather mysterious when you get to the rest of the film. I won't spoil it, but I will say it only raises questions. Once the opening is through it flashes back to Bao Zhu's childhood and we get the duel between Liu Tuo and her father, Li Kui. The fight is decent, but its primary function is to illustrate what a terrible person Liu Tuo is. There is another fight when Bao Zhu is on her way back into town, this one considerably better than the first in my opinion, in which she takes on a number of bandits. It is peppered with a few more minor fights but culminates with a large-scale skirmish between the villagers and Liu Tuo's men, and a final showdown with Liu Tuo himself. 

Liu Tuo deserves some mention here. He is played by Fan Mei-Sheng, who normally plays  minor roles in just about every Shaw Brothers film you have seen. He is instantly recognizable. But this part is large and important to the plot. I think he is well cast for this type of bad guy. Liu Tuo is extremely unlikable and untrustworthy, and constantly engaged in needless deception. He isn't a fun villain, but he is a villain you enjoy watching get what's coming to him. 

Shih Szu is good in this role. There is a bit of range to it, including elements of family drama. I have a review of The Black Tavern coming out elsewhere. She was in that as well and it came out the same year. I do think her physical performance in that movie was a bit stronger than in this one, but she is still very goodie The Young Avenger (The Black Tavern is a very high bar). I should say she also has a very cool sword. It has no guard and fits seamlessly into its sheath, so looks like a plain shaft of bamboo. It is a weapon design that has been in countless movies over the decades. I am not sure if I have seen it before this one, but this is definitely one of the earlier appearances for me. I was wondering about the cinema history of this weapon as I watched the movie. 

Black and white still

Yueh Hua is also quite good. I like him as the student of Iron Fan. He is scholarly and uses a metal fan like his master, which serves as a nice contrast to the swords in the film. And his physical performance is solid. 

Something I liked about The Young Avenger was it created a sense of a larger martial world. This is usually a plus for me when a movie can hint at this. We see this in the beginning as we learn about Bao Zhu's father and his sworn brothers. 

Ultimately though this is about a town fending off martial bullies. And I think it is pretty effective here. I liked how it got into the tactics the town used to martial resources and defend itself. This is the one area where I think the movie would have a lot of value for gamers. You get a real sense of what a small town's defenses would look like. 

By no means is this my favorite film, and I wouldn't tell people to rush out and watch it, but I think it deserves 3 out of 5 stars. 

The Young Avenger is available in Blu-ray on the Shout! Factory Shaw Brothers Classics Volume Six boxed set. The blu-ray is very nice quality and it has a commentary track from James Mudge of easternKicks. Full disclosure, I have written reviews for easternKicks, but I quite like his commentary tracks. I waited until after I wrote this review to listen to the commentary for The Young Avenger (just so I could commit all my thoughts without alteration or adjustment based on information in the track). It is very informative and engages with the film a lot. I recommend Volume Six in general as it has a number of great movies, including Finger of Doom, The Black Tavern and Duel for Gold.