SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Supelice Dreadfully Boring

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Scarecrow-88 While sick with the flu, lying in bed, I had the enormous privilege to experience the Shaw Brothers production, "The One-Armed Swordsman", the legendary Hong Kong success from heralded director Cheh Chang. It concerns a young disciple, Fang Kang(Yu Wang) whose skills as a martial artist are enhanced by his master swordsman, Qi(Chung-Hsin Huang). Qi trained him from childhood after Kang's father is killed defending his master against a foe's host of disciples. Qi's arch nemesis is Long-Armed Devil(Chih-Ching Yang), and the two have been at war for some time. Long-Armed Devil has developed a sword with a lock that can trap the long, heavy golden swords which are used by Qi's disciples. Pie-ri(Yin Tze Pan)is Qi's only daughter and she is responsible for cutting off Kang's right arm, rendering him a cripple. She was jealous of her father's affection for Kang, and bothered by his supposed arrogance. Lucky for Kang he falls into the boat of a country girl, Xioman(Chiao Chiao), and she gets her grandfather and cousin to assist in saving his life. Kang and Xioman attempt to make a life for themselves, but the one-armed swordsman's past life never seems to relinquish him from aiding his master. Qi's daughter is temporarily kidnapped by Long-Armed Devil's brother, Smiling Tiger(Ti Tang), so he has to rescue her. And, when Long-Armed Devil's disciples ambush Qi's men in separate situations, using the sword with the lock, Kang will have to help his master yet again. Thanks to a special martial arts book Xioman had, from her dead father, a warrior himself who died for his master, Kang was able to train himself using just his one hand..kudos to Yu for being able to successfully pull of swordfighting against adversaries using only the left hand, and to the director for lensing the choreography, without revealing his right arm. The director opts to shoot the fight sequences mostly hand-held, which provides for lively battles between opposition. The marvelous studio sets are well utilized and the story is well developed, giving good treatment to the relationship of Kang and Xioman. The film's story also has an indictment of martial arts and how being equipped with fighting skills, not to mention the concern of honorably defending your teacher, can produce a lifetime of suffering and death. Through Xioman and Kang, both orphaned because of their fathers' honor code to fight for their teachers, the film shows how there must be an alternative to this kind of lifestyle. "The One-Armed Swordsman" gave me all I could ask for in regards to swordplay, blood, and hacked limbs..a triumph. Really neat is how Kang is able to use his father's broken sword to outduel his enemies who have superior weaponry. The movie has colorful villains, whose lecherous qualities serve the plot well in regards to building the heroism of Qi's men, including Kang. Despite their futile efforts to proudly fight for their teacher, we see how Qi's disciples march straight into peril for Long-Armed Devil's men were simply better equipped for the final climactic showdown.

Boba_Fett1138 This is a pretty original and refreshing genre movie and not just for its time. Of course the concept alone of having a one-armed swordsman as the main character in a Hong Kong martial arts movie is already original and refreshing on its own. But also the whole handling and development of the storyline is great and refreshing. It's not just some mindless chopping in this movie.I must admit that in this case I liked the 1995 remake "Dao" even a better as movie. It had a better storyline, better emotions, better villains, better fight sequences and a better overall style. Nevertheless this movie is still a better one than "Dao" is. Qualitivly the story is a better told one and of course simply just because this movie was first and therefor automatically is also more original.It's already an outdated and somewhat silly looking movie. It's a movie with some fake looking sets and beards and some horrible added sound effects. Also the blades and blood are obvious fakes. The movie on its own is pretty violent and graphic but because of its fake look its nothing too shocking or impressive. It also is not like its laughable it just makes the movie look outdated.The fights also aren't ever really long one's but they are really well choreographed and makes it very enjoyable to view for the fans of the genre. Toward the end the action of course starts to kick in even more. It's also true that the movie gets even better by then.This just is no Hollywood movie, so the editing and camera-work might seem a bit off to some but this is of course all part of the Asian style of film-making. Not that I'm a particular great fan of it all though. In some things Hollywood movies are just better, mostly when it comes down to the technical things behind film-making.A great and original movie within its genre!9/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

gwailo247 Plotwise this is relatively standard fare. Student suffers a personal defeat , goes into recovery and training mode, then redeems himself.My beef with this movie was the Qi/Chi sword style. The evil villain devises a special technique, complete with a custom sword to defeat the Qi sword style. And the Qi family is completely unable to defeat this new technique. They push forth like lemmings, each one dying in the same fashion as his predecessor. When their self preservation instinct raises a notion to perhaps team up and take advantage of their 20 - 3 numbers to defeat their enemies, the main villain chides them to keep fighting one on one. As self preservation once again takes a step back, they continue fighting and dying one at a time, until the timely arrival of our handicapable hero who uses his new style to quickly dispatch the villains.If our hero kept his arm, he no doubt would have died too, as the Qi sword style is apparently completely incapable of improvisation. This really killed the enjoyment of the movie for me, as by the time the 10th Qi student died IN EXACTLY THE SAME FASHION, I would have figured that someone would have tried something new. At no point did Bruce Lee's critique of the rigidity of Chinese martial arts ring more true.If this particular problem does not bother you as much as it did me, then this can be a quite enjoyable late 60s Shaw Brothers experience. But if seeing fight after fight resolve itself in exactly the same fashion begins to grate on you, then perhaps look elsewhere.

Azzy I grabbed this one out of the library, wondering if it would live up to my expectations. it didn't quite, but was still an entertaining movie. the plot is the basic my school can kick your school's ass kind of story. however this was ten years before all those sammo hung or jackie chan movies with that plot. this has a preaty good claim to be the original in this field. the plot is just an excuse for some extremely violent swordplay. it didnt have a quarter of the bodycount i expected (definitely under thirty killed) but was as bloody as rumored. jimmy wang yu slices some impressive body parts. the villians' gimmick is very stupid (a sword that catches their opponents sword). the fighting isn't up to par of modern kung fu, but is way bloodier than anything of the day, and much now.