Eagle Shadow Fist (Ding tian li di)
Starring: Jackie Chan, Chen Yeun Long, Hao Li, Yu Chin Wang, Wang Qing, Mu Chu
Director: Hdeng Tsu (aka Mu Chu)
New Ship Film Enterprise, Ziv international, Hong Kong, 1973.
This is an early Jackie Chan movie, the review is based on English dubbed version from Jackie Chan Early Collection 6-movie box set published by Pan Vision Finland. (The films are of VHS quality, but it is not easy get better versions with original Cantonese soundtracks).
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| Brother Tang (Wong Ching) |
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| Si To (Jackie Chan) |
In 1937 Japan attacks China. Japanese stop the performance of Chinese theatre. Brother Tang (Wong Ching) and Si To (Jackie Chan) resist and fight the Japanese. The Japanese torture Chinese and steal their money, but are beaten up by the heroes. Tang and Si To help an ill laundry delivery man (Hao Li) and his grand-daughter (Qiu Yuen, known from Shaw Brothers films and Kung Fu Hustle).
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| The girl (Qiu Yuen) |
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| Old rickshaw driver |
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| Si and Tang promise to help the rickshaw driver |
Japanese general (Mu Chu) plans to tax Tong-Jo town to support the Japanese army. He sends two Karate fighters Su Tsien (Alex Lung Ji-Fei) and Tsen Bang and a sleazy Chinese collaborator Jon to suppress the resistance.
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| Mu Chu as Japanese general |
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| Yup, these guys know Karate |
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| Tang fights some soldiers |
Tang starts to work as rickshaw driver. Tang humiliates a prostitute working for Japanese. That gives the Japanese an opportunity to show who's the boss. Tang and Si beat off the first wave of collaborators but then the Japanese Karate-fighters come and kill grand-dad and some other townsfolk. Si is captured and water boarded. Tang comes to rescue. The heroes try to help people to escape but they are betrayed and Si is killed. It's a time for vengeance and the epic ten minute final fight!
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| Tang beating up collaborators |
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| Si's last stand |
The action scenes are brutal for a kung fu film with the heroes beating the enemies into bloody pulp and the Japanese killing civilians and kids. Jackie is mostly a side-kick in this movie. Still he already shows some of his acrobatic skills and also a little bit of his comedic abilities. The plot of the movie serves mostly to tie the fight scenes together. Quick zooms and close-ups are used plenty. Basically the movie has a strong propaganda intent (27 years after WWII). The fight scenes are okay but can't be compared to Jackie's later movies. Fans of Jackie will be disappointed because the leading actor here is Wong Ching.
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| Tang after losing all his friends |
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| Japanese officer sporting a Chaplin moustache |
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| Epic final fight |
(updated 28 September 2014 for some incorrect actor names)
Rating:
Bad
Do you know where the name 'Eagle shadow fist' comes from? Sounds like something picked up randomly from a dictionary :D Tiger Sun Kick!
ReplyDeleteThe movie is also known as "Fist of Anger", "Not Scared to Die" or "Return to China"!
ReplyDeleteI think that the usual syntax for English kung fu names is to include an animal to give the overall fighting style (Eagle, Dragon, Crane, Monkey, Tiger, Snake...) and the special technique "Shadow Fist, Iron Fist, Exploding Fist, Fingers of Death, Drunken style..." To add extra mysticism it can be combined with adding "Shaolin" or "Tai-Chi", or natural phenomenoma (Wind, Flood, Sun, Fire, Moonlight..).
So Tiger Sun Kick is grammatically correct name!