Tales of a Eunuch (1983) User Reviews

Rambling Kung Fu Comedy set in the world of Eunuchs

[ChungMo · 5/10 · 19 January 2006]

There are few things about Chinese culture that is more alien to western culture then the concept of royal eunuchs. That said there's little in this film that would clear up the matter for anyone. Presented here, the eunuchs are just another of the gangs that populate Chinese films.

This obscure late Shaw production is a very mixed bag of bits and pieces. The story follows a "lovable" rascal as he gambles and gets into various bits of trouble with outlaws and rebels. He eventually gets into a situation where he has to impersonate the eunuch servant of an elderly eunuch who is an evil martial art master. This gets the rascal involved with the emperor who is studying martial arts. The whole movie revolves around a quest for all the copies of a special Buddhist text.

The movie is a mixture of comedy, bawdy sex jokes and kung-fu action. The film is very gory at times but it's way over the top and presented as humorous. The rascal's mom works in a brothel and is twice seen in a very strange position with a sick old fat man. I still can't figure out what exactly was going on between the two. The rascal lives in the brothel also. Despite the situation, there is no nudity except for a gambler who gets his clothes ripped off.

Wong Yu tries his best in role that seems it could have been written for Alexander Fu Sheng. The film is briskly edited and well choreographed but the rambling nature of the story makes it hard for Wong Yu to carry the burden of holding it all together. Liu Chia Hui appears as the emperor and is good for the time he is on the screen but it's not his film. One plus for the film, the martial arts are done without wires, a few trampolines maybe but no wire-fu.

A curiosity.

A kung fu comedy full of flaws somehow delivered for me

[ckormos1 · 6/10 · 19 March 2017]

It opens with people pour tea and plan to get a book to overthrow the Qing dynasty. Wong Yu is gambling and works at the brothel where his mother is a hooker, yet none of that seems weird. There is a mix up with the aphrodisiac. Next his friend is about to be executed when a swordsman appears to save him. Some gag! Wong Yu takes the hero to hide at the brothel. Soon they flee to the capital but are captured by Ku Feng's gang. Wong Yu overdoses Ku Feng on his own medicine causing him blindness and takes the place of his servant.

This impossible sequence of events continues for the rest of the movie. Wong Yu is always in the right place at the right time. He is able to meet the emperor, played by Gordon Liu, to learn fantastic kung fu, and to reveal a usurper to the throne. All of this adds to his good fortune.

This movie has many weaknesses that are obvious and I won't get into. Technically the only good part was the pacing. It seems there is no way any of this can work. For me, somehow it did work. I liked it from start to finish. I rate it overall as a strong average for the year and genre but would not recommend it for anyone other than the most hardcore fan.

A film with a bit of everything

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 5 June 2017]

TALES OF A EUNUCH is perhaps one of the most disconcerting Shaw Brothers films I've seen. It seems to have everything and nothing in it at the same time. On the face of it, it's a sprawling knockabout comedy featuring Wong Yue, but it also manages to cram in reams of political intrigue, warring factions, mistaken identity humour, undercover secrets, gore, martial arts, and low brow comedy. The plot is just as hard to follow as in an average Chor Yuen movie, but the lightness of touch means that this gets very silly very quickly and often you'll laugh out loud anyway. Supporting stars include a hard-fighting Gordon Liu and Ku Feng as an ailing master, but this is very much a vehicle for Wong Yue and his inimitable talents alone.