Best Mo Hop Peen (Wu Xia movies)??

[TenTigers]

I am really into the Mo Hop Peen movies over th emodern era type. I have two versions of Heaven Sword, Dragon's Blade, and will eventually buy the Condor Heroes, so I can have the entire story. Heaven Sword is about ten disks long.
Does anyone have a decent list of Mo Hop Peen movies they would like to suggest?

[SimonM]

Swordsman II
Tai Chi Master / Twin Warriors

Those are my two faves.

[jethro]

Just going off the top of my head here, these are my favorites-

OLDSCHOOL-
The Magic Blade
Shaolin Intruders
Shaolin Prince
The Sword (Adam Cheng)
The Sword (Wang Yu)
Secret Service of the Imperial Court
Face Behind the mask
Avenging Eagle
Last Hurrah For Chivalry
Killer Clans
Human Lanterns
Elimination Pursuit
Love and Sword


NEWER-
Sword Stained with Royal Blood
Hero
House of Flying Daggers
Green Snake
Swordsman 2
Bride with White Hair
Chinese Ghost Story 1 and 3
Iron Monkey
Seven Swordsmen TV series



And here's some that I thought were good but not great. But they seem to be on most people's favorites list, so you may want to check them out-

Duel to the Death
Come Drink With Me
Moon Warriors
Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan
Return of the Deadly Blade





And Tai Chi Master isn't a wuxia. Like Once Upon a Time in China, it's wirefu. Iron Monkey is a movie where I think it starts to cross between a kung fu and a wuxia.

[SimonM]

OOOOH! And Bride With White Hair!

Oh... nm, it's on your list.

But I have to say that if you count Iron Monkey as Wuxia than you should count Tai Chi Master.

[jethro]

I think you can make the argument that it is, but I don't consider it one. There's a lot of movies I left off my list because I'm just not certain what they are. Take Kid With the Golden Arm and Chinese Super Ninjas for instance. They are wuxias (meaning they take place in a fantasy world), but the fighting is grounded like in a kung fu movie. Tai Chi Master is a kung fu movie that has action like a wuxia. And Iron Monkey's story seems to me like a wuxia, and you have people that look like they are actually flying. In Tai Chi Master Woo Ping has guys doing outrageous wire assisted moves, but there's no real flying.

[mickey]

Greetings,


No list would be considered legit without the Sentimental Swordsman and the Return of the Sentimental Swordsman (Ti Lung stars). Another must have would be the Bast ard Swordsman which really dropped the metaphysics into martial training; i.e., if you really want high level skill you need to get a little sum-sum. Up until then, it was easy to spot a kung fu man. They were the ones walking around with one giant forearm.


mickey

[jethro]

That Basterd Swordsman! I still have to see that. Sentimental Swordsman too.

[mickey]

Hi jethro,

Someone was kind enough to put scenes from BS on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hyO15uQerg


Here are trailers from the Sentimental Swordsman flicks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFV-wY404oU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL8BK01x4uI

There is a third Sentimental Swordsman flick but it is an altogether different movie. Ti Lung is playing a different character.


Enjoy,

mickey

[jethro]

Whoa! I only watched the first part of that BS clip with I think a white haired Wilson Tong, and it was really really awesome!! I am going to have to get on these immediately. I think that BCI is going to be releasing these, but not for awhile.

[Jimbo]

The Bas tard Swordsman and Return of the Bas tard Swordsman are among my all-time favorite wuxia films...very much fantasy-laden, but fun.

There are so many good to great wuxia films, and many of them I can't even remember their titles, esp. since in the old days there was one Asian theater in town that would show 4 different movies in a row each and every week, often all or mostly Shaw Bros., and another theater that showed 3 each week. The Sentimental Swordsman is a good one. The Magic Blade. Perhaps my favorite as far as the fighting in the movie is concerned is Last Hurrah for Chivalry... my fave John Woo film.

Holy Flame of the Martial World is one of the really far-out wuxia/fantasies. The Deadly Breaking Sword is a great one. Like Last Hurrah, I actually consider Shaolin Intruders a kung fu movie as much as a wuxia, even though it does feature swordplay and martial clans in it. Human Lanterns, Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan, A Touch of Zen, and Come Drink With Me are all good in their own unique ways. A Touch of Zen is longer and a bit slower-paced than most wuxia films.

Have Sword Will Travel and The Wandering Swordsman are well-done, HSWT being the better of the two.

The Bells of Death is good, yet almost has a Japanese samurai flavor to it and is a straight-up revenge flick.

Certainly one of the most influential of the wuxia films is The One-Armed Swordsman (1967) starring Jimmy Wang Yu.

[banditshaw]

Last hurrah for chivalry is awesome.
So is Duel to The Death.
I liked Holy flame of the Martial world. Kinda strange late Shaw Bros. Cool weird effects and all.

[banditshaw]

Has anyone seen Na Cha The Great?
Im a big Fu Sheng fan and haven't actually seen that one.

[jethro]

I havn't seen Na Cha the Great. People seem to love it or hate it.

[Jimbo]

I've seen Na Cha The Great only once, in '82. Not bad, but it's not my favorite Fu Sheng movie by a long shot. It seemed less of a wuxia film and more of a fantasy. My biggest impression was of him using a large ring or something as a weapon.

[jethro]

Yeah like The Monkey King and The Eight Immortals, it is probably not wuxia. From what I understand wuxias are from novels. But I think Na Cha is part of Chinese mythology.

[Jimbo]

Yeah, I think you're right.

Ironically, the world's most famous wuxia film, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, takes place in the Ching (Qing) Dynasty, quite a late period. I don't think I've ever seen any other wuxia films that take place in that time period; that's mainly the era of most Shaolin films. Most wuxia seem to take place in the Ming, Sung (Song) or perhaps even earlier (?) dynasties.

I think I could've listed a lot of Chang Cheh's venom films as wuxia, but there's so many that are more fantastic. Some I'd probably consider wuxia off the top of my head include:
Legend of the Fox
Sword Stained With Royal Blood
House of Traps

Besides The Magic Blade and Intimate Confessions, Chu Yuan mostly directed wuxia films at Shaws. I consider those almost the archetypal wuxia films, as they have elements of fantasy, wirework, "martial world"/clans, cross/double-cross/plot twists, and a surreal, dreamlike atmosphere.

[jethro]

Killer Clans is one of those Chor Yuen movies that go all out on the high level of detial in colors and clothing and intricate set designs. The movie is a lot of fun. One wuxia I've been wanting to see for awhile is Web of Death. EVeryone says its just great.