A Taiwanese kung fu film directed by Yu Min Sheong.
A pair of circus performers guard the gold that they are carrying to help a poor village.
The plot was stupid simple and the characters were about as deep as a puddle. The fight scenes, however, were quite creative. There was a little bit of wire-work and even a tightrope act and some stilt-walking within a battle. One of the fights in the middle of the film was a little bit confusing because all of the combatants were dressed exactly the same. Because there are so many kung fuvies out there, I have to be rather regimented in my rating standards of them. I'm rating this o.k.
An American crime film directed by Timothy Galfas and Richard Kaye.
An African American street fighter goes to work for a crime boss who ends up being in league with a corrupt cop. The fighter is unhappy with this arrangement and violence ensues.
This is another one of those "Blaxploitation" films where the tough guy with dark skin seeks revenge on those who have wronged him. The soundtrack was AMAZING! There's some really groovy funk and disco going on through the whole film. The fight scenes weren't anything special and I've experienced a very similar plot before. Comparing this to Killer Of Snake Fox Of Shaolin is worthwhile because it demonstrates what I mean by "visibility". Most of this film was made in low light settings and even when the setting is outside during the day, the contrast looks weird. It is, in fact, not very visible. I'm rating it o.k. because of played out plot, shitty video but really really good music.
An American drama directed by H. C. Potter, starring James Cagney.
A rich man sits in a bar and has his friend run strange errands for him. Various other customers enter the bar and reveal part of their life story.
This is why I watch obscure films. A diamond in the rough, this movie has a little bit of everything from song and dance numbers to fighting and insanity. It earns high respect from me by being mostly shot on a single set and showing character development, despite the large number of characters. There are actually surprises in this and my favorite involves the "marble game" (A.K.A. pinball machine). This is one that you have to see to appreciate and it shouldn't be too hard to find (being public domain and all). The real question here is: who would abandon such a wonderful movie? Shitkipedia says it was a "miserable failure in the box office" and that a remake was made in 1958. The original goes beyond the call of duty and ascends to the realm of high art. I rate it best.
A German horror film directed by Fritz Bottger.
A talent agent recruits a group of dancing girls and leaves for Singapore on a plane. The plane crashes on a remote island. They find a dead man imprisoned within a giant spider web there and the agent eventually gets bitten by the giant spider, turning him into a monster.
The simplistic plot, monotonous musical score and low production value do not bode well for this film. On the plus side, the camea-work is none too shabby and the girls look great. What really impressed me were the sounds and vocalizations coming from the girls. Even during times of stress and great peril, these vixens moan and pant like they're involved in the erotic arts. Assuming that there was some voice-over work done, I wonder at the methods used to coax these sensual noises into the microphone. I'm rating this poor because it was a crappy movie with a few good scenes of good looking girls.
A kung fu written and directed by Wah Man.
The demi-god daughter of a fox clan martial arts master is fought over by a suitor from the snake clan and a mortal traveler.
There was wire, magic and slow-motion fight scenes with echo on the sound effects. If you know my tastes in kung fuvies, all these things are good. The film was shot pretty well with good camera angles and high visibility (if you know what I mean?). There were also some majestic shots of mountainsides with traditional Chinese music. The snake clan characters actually used the snake animal style of Shaolin kung fu, which I thought was pretty cool. All this comes together to make a very pretty fuvie, although the plot left much to be desired. This plot that I refer to was murky with long names and developed only in the few seconds between each fight scene. There was no training scene (one of my favorite elements of classic kung fu flicks) and no barroom brawl. Oh well, you can't expect miracles from a low-budget '70s fuvie. I rate it adequate.
A kung-fu directed by William Chang.
A father and his son are flying a kite on a beach when another man appears to fight the father. Defeated, the father takes his own life and the son follows the other man on conditions of training and revenge.
This is a stereotypical fuvie: light on plot and heavy on choreographed fight scenes. Taking place in a traditional Chinese setting as well, it sets the basic standard for kung-fuvies. There were minimal (if any) training scenes and the fights looked Mighty Morphin Power Rangers style fake. The camera-work was nothing special and they didn't use enough wire or flying. When I say "sets the standard", I really mean it. This is a very middle of the road, mediocre kung-fu film that gets a very standard, O.K. rating.
A science fiction directed by Nicholas Webster.
Martian children are acting strangely after viewing Earth television so the Martian leaders go to Earth in order to bring back Santa Claus.
I don't know whether it's funny or scary, but it's definitely stupid. The most disturbing scene involved Santa and the Earth children pretending to laugh in an unconvincing manner. This definitely hearkens back to the laughing scene in Final Fantasy X above Luca. Another disturbing scene *spoiler* involved Santa and all the children (of Earth and Mars) "attacking" one of the martian leaders with their toys. The insincerity is what predominates the film in a matter similar to that of an old and low-budget kung-fu flick. Like an old fuvie, this film features a comic relief character who gets more deeply involved in the plot than he means to. The antagonist definitely reminds me of Richard Pryor with his thick handlebar mustache. I'm rating this poor.
