Rule number one of the movie business is when something works you beat it to death. In 1967 the original one armed swordsman worked. In 1977, ten years and about six movies later, Jimmy finally finished his one armed swordsman movies. I am not counting all the other one armed movies. Had Jimmy stopped with "Master of the Flying Guillotine" he would have beaten the role to its peak. Instead, he tucked his arm in and made some more money off the role.
The title of this movie tells the whole story.
There are many versions of this movie. I watched the "KungFuFlix" version. It is wide screen with good resolution and English dubbed by the A team of voice overs. The run time is only 1:23:36 which is a tad short but not the shortest. Whatever I might be missing I don't care.
What's fair for rating this movie? Compared to all martial arts movies? Compared to other martial arts movies of the golden age from 1967 to 1984? Compared to other Jimmy Wang Yu movies? I think this movie would not have existed without Jimmy so I rank it against all his movies. It is certainly not his finest. I rate it just below average.
I can't think of anything to write about this movie that isn't obvious. Jimmy is reprising a role that is worn out but fans would buy tickets to see him do it one more time. The fight choreography is minimum effort. Everything is minimum effort except the costumes because they simply come off the rack.
When Jimmy, the one armed swordsman, is asked "Where's your sword?" he replies that he does not need one. Could this mean that his skills have advanced so much he needs no weapon? Perhaps it was Jimmy's intention to surpass all the previous movies with his empty handed techniques in this movie? Regardless of intention it certainly didn't turn out that way.
Viewers paying attention will notice Jimmy uses his right hand in this movie. In the 1967 movie Jimmy lost his right hand and used a short sword in his left hand. One might also notice how the "missing" arm is hidden. For convenience and better balance the left arm is hidden in front over the stomach. It is also more obvious there. The arm tied behind the back hides it better from the camera but also adversely affects balance while fighting. In the earlier movies Jimmy always hid the arm behind his back. In the later movies he gets lazy and does it the easy way in front more often.
There are many versions of this movie. I watched the "KungFuFlix" version. It is wide screen with good resolution and English dubbed by the A team of voice overs. The run time is only 1:23:36 which is a tad short but not the shortest. Whatever I might be missing I don't care.
What's fair for rating this movie? Compared to all martial arts movies? Compared to other martial arts movies of the golden age from 1967 to 1984? Compared to other Jimmy Wang Yu movies? I think this movie would not have existed without Jimmy so I rank it against all his movies. It is certainly not his finest. I rate it just below average.
I can't think of anything to write about this movie that isn't obvious. Jimmy is reprising a role that is worn out but fans would buy tickets to see him do it one more time. The fight choreography is minimum effort. Everything is minimum effort except the costumes because they simply come off the rack.
When Jimmy, the one armed swordsman, is asked "Where's your sword?" he replies that he does not need one. Could this mean that his skills have advanced so much he needs no weapon? Perhaps it was Jimmy's intention to surpass all the previous movies with his empty handed techniques in this movie? Regardless of intention it certainly didn't turn out that way.
Viewers paying attention will notice Jimmy uses his right hand in this movie. In the 1967 movie Jimmy lost his right hand and used a short sword in his left hand. One might also notice how the "missing" arm is hidden. For convenience and better balance the left arm is hidden in front over the stomach. It is also more obvious there. The arm tied behind the back hides it better from the camera but also adversely affects balance while fighting. In the earlier movies Jimmy always hid the arm behind his back. In the later movies he gets lazy and does it the easy way in front more often.