King Of The Martial World
The Romantic Swordsman
A master story-teller, his films dealt mostly with Swordplay and his main star was Ti Lung. Actress Ching Li was the main female actress to star in his films, appearing in over (20) of his films. His films offered viewers more of a suspenseful story, shot in some of the most elegant backgrounds around, rivaling those of director Li Han-Hsiang. He often made films from the adaptations of famed writer Ku Lung's works. Stories of chivalry, bravery, ill-fated love, and honor all centered around complex characters interwoven together by some sense of fate. Most of these works (though tragic) are masterfully displayed and has no problem holding the view's attention, as there is always more than enough action (swordplay), to keep even hardcore kung-fu fans happy.
When Tang Chia left Chang Cheh's fold in the mid 70's, he immediately started working with Chu, crafting his films and the action into incredible sequences of heroic combat. The atmosphere of Chu Yuan's films differ dramatically from those of Chang Cheh. Chu goes for the cerebral (brain), making viewers think as they work their way thru the vast plot twist and turns. Chang, on the other hand, goes for the jugular. Though there are plots to his films, he main sequence of events center around fighting. The amount of bloodshed differs too, as Chang's films were known to be quite bloody (Super Ninjas); Chu's films seem to give us a reason for the bloodshed.
Where Chang hardly ever used females in his films, Chu had numerous females who played pivotal roles in just about all of his films. His films dealt more with emotional tragedy, than he did personal lost. In Emperor and His Brother, when the father had to kill his only (young) son, it seemed more heartfelt when everyone around the child was virtually begging for his young life, as he thought his father had forgiven him for unknowingly betraying them. Like Chang, his characters cared more about Honor, than love; as love was viewed as a weakness, that only distracted their focus, of the job at hand.
A master story-teller, his films dealt mostly with Swordplay and his main star was Ti Lung. Actress Ching Li was the main female actress to star in his films, appearing in over (20) of his films. His films offered viewers more of a suspenseful story, shot in some of the most elegant backgrounds around, rivaling those of director Li Han-Hsiang. He often made films from the adaptations of famed writer Ku Lung's works. Stories of chivalry, bravery, ill-fated love, and honor all centered around complex characters interwoven together by some sense of fate. Most of these works (though tragic) are masterfully displayed and has no problem holding the view's attention, as there is always more than enough action (swordplay), to keep even hardcore kung-fu fans happy.
When Tang Chia left Chang Cheh's fold in the mid 70's, he immediately started working with Chu, crafting his films and the action into incredible sequences of heroic combat. The atmosphere of Chu Yuan's films differ dramatically from those of Chang Cheh. Chu goes for the cerebral (brain), making viewers think as they work their way thru the vast plot twist and turns. Chang, on the other hand, goes for the jugular. Though there are plots to his films, he main sequence of events center around fighting. The amount of bloodshed differs too, as Chang's films were known to be quite bloody (Super Ninjas); Chu's films seem to give us a reason for the bloodshed.
Where Chang hardly ever used females in his films, Chu had numerous females who played pivotal roles in just about all of his films. His films dealt more with emotional tragedy, than he did personal lost. In Emperor and His Brother, when the father had to kill his only (young) son, it seemed more heartfelt when everyone around the child was virtually begging for his young life, as he thought his father had forgiven him for unknowingly betraying them. Like Chang, his characters cared more about Honor, than love; as love was viewed as a weakness, that only distracted their focus, of the job at hand.
He is definitely one of my favorite directors, as I'm a big Swordplay fan. It would have been very interesting to see Cheng Pei-Pei in some of his films, because she was the ultimate swordswoman and could have easily had a bright future under him. Though he has done work in other genres such as House Of 72 Tenants (a comedy that even out grossed Bruce Lee's Enter The Dragon), his true calling seems to have been Swordplay epics. He has amassed a great body of work (Return Of The Sentimental Swordsman was supposedly his 100th film) and with the release of a number of his films on DVD, young and old will get to experience his classic story-telling style, again and again.
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