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Master
of the Flying Guillotine
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Review
by
Brian Lindsey
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6
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6 |
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10
= Highest Rating |
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It's
Chings versus Mings in this wildly exuberant,
over-the-top 'Old School' kung fu fracas. I'm
really not a big aficionado of martial arts films
but Master of the Flying
Guillotine provided quite a few laughs
and kept me entertained throughout. Even those
with the most casual of interests in the genre
should be readily entertained. You won't soon
forget some of these truly bizarre characters
— since director/star 'Jimmy' Yu Wang is more
skilled behind the camera than in front of it,
it's the wacky, surreal villains who easily grab
the limelight.
In 1730 China, Fung Sheng Wu Chi (Kang Kam)
is a blind assassin working for the ruling Manchus
of the Ming Dynasty. He is the Master of the 'Flying
Guillotine', an unorthodox (not to mention highly
impractical) weapon capable of neatly decapitating
its victims. A sort of collapsible red velvet
hatbox with razor sharp blades inside and retrievable
by means of a long chain, Fung can cast it onto
his targets' heads with uncanny accuracy. A jerk
of the chain and swick! — off comes their
noggin. When Fung receives word that two of his
disciples have been killed by the notorious One-Armed
Boxer — a known sympathizer of the usurped Ching
Dynasty — he vows to avenge their deaths. No doubt
he assumes this will be a fairly straightforward
exercise, as his simple plan consists of immediately
killing any one-armed man he encounters.
The legendary One-Armed Boxer he seeks is
actually Master Yu (director Wu Yang), the fair
but stern leader of a martial arts school. With
the Manchus in charge of things he's content to
pass his skills on to his students while keeping
his Ching sympathies under the radar. When the
famous Eagle Claw Clan announces a martial arts
tournament Yu's acolytes encourage him to enter.
Yu maintains that becoming a contestant would
be too high profile, opening him up to unwanted
exposure to Ming agents, but decides to attend
the tourney with his protégés so that they might
observe different fighting styles in action. Meanwhile
the evil Fung, who's been snooping around town
looking for Yu, reasons that such a prestigious
tournament just might draw out his quarry. Thus
a big chunk of the film's middle act consists
of bouts between the various contestants, guys
with names like Fast Sword, Braided Hair, Flying
Rope, Tornado Knives, etc. Among them are a number
of unique foreigners: cocky Thai boxer Nai Men
(Fu Chiang Chi), who likes to spit loogies and
do a little dance before kicking butt; 'Wins-Without-a-Knife'
Yakuma (Lung Wang), a Japanese stick fighter who's
not above cheating; and the Yoga Master (Kar Wing
Liu), a swami from India who can telescope his
arms like Reed Richards of The Fantastic Four.
One of the bouts features a one-armed fighter;
Fung chooses this moment to crash the contest.
He takes off the guy's head with the Flying Guillotine,
enraging the leader of the Eagle Claw Clan for
disrupting the tournament. Fung kills the Eagle
Claw chief and disappears. Watching from the stands,
Master Yu realizes that Fung is after him and
that his students are all now in danger. The wily
Fung then ups the odds against Yu when he enlists
Nai Men, Yakuma and the Yoga Master in his vendetta.
Can the One-Armed Boxer possibly defeat all four
of these highly skilled fighters?
As mentioned, Yu Wang isn't a particularly
memorable chop socky star. He doesn't have the
charisma of a Bruce Lee or a Jackie Chan, nor
does he display any unique moves or fighting style.
He also relies on a stunt double for long shots.
What Yu can do is direct a martial arts
film — Master of the Flying
Guillotine is definitely above average
in this regard. He often takes full advantage
of the widescreen canvas; his sense of space and
orientation in the fight scenes is acute. The
viewer is never confused as to who's doing what
to whom and where. (The movie must've looked an
incoherent mess in fullframe Pan & Scan, though.)
You won't see any astonishing Jet Li-style moves
by the performers here, but Yu's direction assures
the film comes off better than other flicks which
have more agile fighters but aren't as competently
helmed. Still, Citizen Kane
it's not... nor would kung fu fans want it to
be. All the elements that make such movies enjoyable
to cheese lovers are evident in spades, from the
ridiculous weapons and superpowers (Master Yu
can walk up walls; Fung can leap 60 feet into
the air and turn his head 360 degrees a la The
Exorcist) to the amusingly bad dubbing
and outrageously exaggerated sound effects. The
Yoga Master, with his expandable six-foot arms,
is an absolute riot. The fact that he's a Chinese
guy playing an Indian, dubbed in English by a
voice actor affecting a thick Hindu accent and
accompanied by Sitar music, is just extra gravy
on the biscuit.
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Pathfinder DVD of Master of
the Flying Guillotine represents the most
complete version of the film ever seen in North
America. As such it was assembled from a number
of different sources of varying quality. In general
the print is somewhat dull and washed out, while
the incorporated 'lost' footage bears significantly
more damage and even some annoying flicker in a
few scenes. (It's presented in very widescreen
format; I have no idea what the actual aspect ratio
is.) Either the original Mandarin or dubbed English
language tracks are selectable, with optional English
or Spanish subtitles for the former.
Both tracks sound acceptable, though my personal
preference is for the dubbed track —
the movie's simply more goofy fun that way. Extras
include a still gallery, talent bios, and three
different trailers: one for the original Hong Kong
release, one for the 1977 U.S. theatrical release
(when this Asian oddity went up against Star
Wars and The
Spy Who Loved Me, doing surprisingly well),
and a newly-created promo for the limited American
revival house run the film enjoyed earlier this
year. There's also a full-length audio commentary
by kung fu film scholars Wade Major and Andy Klein,
which is the highlight of the disc. Their good-natured
discussion covers not only the film itself but the
'70s Hong Kong martial arts milieu in general and
the career of director/star Jimmy Yu Wang (including
his rumored Triad associations). 11/26/02 |
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