One-Armed Swordsman

Directed by Chang Chen

Leading Hong Kong martial arts director Chang Cheh’s most famous film is a visual and kinetic feast. Set in a highly coloured studio world of bold and beautiful compositions and intensely reactive music, THE ONE ARMED SWORDSMAN shows how Fang Gang copes with the social stigma of his birth, and then the emasculation of having his sword arm cut off – by a woman. He tries to settle down to fish and farm but his pride is wounded. The film is a landmark as it marks the moment when Hong Kong cinema morphed from the feminine genres of melodrama and music, into something more masculine, and so paved the way for Bruce Lee. THE ONE ARMED SWORDSMAN is in the middle of that morph – remarkably pictorial and full of symbols of femininity, but laced with testosterone.

Duration:
111 minutes

Languages:
Mandarin

Country of origin:
Hong Kong

Year of production:
1967