Review: Golden Swallow

The title female warrior (Pei-pei Cheng) is being called out by an old acquaintance named Silver Roc (Jimmy Wang Yu), a seemingly invincible swordsman with a bad ‘tude, who is murdering (bad) people left and right in a twisted kind of message to his former flame (dude, why not just ‘poke’ her on Facebook, like everyone else?). Most of the time, though, Silver Roc seems to just mope about in brothels, the girls there, sweet as they are, cannot compare to Golden Swallow. Swallow, meanwhile, is none too pleased at her former flame’s antics (leaving ‘Swallow’ darts at the scene, which only implicate Golden Swallow in the killings), as many a swordsman comes her way, looking for revenge. And yet...Silver Roc’s ploy seems to work, as Golden Swallow comes after him. Lo Lieh (cast as a good guy, for a change) plays her faithful, chivalrous knight Golden Whip, who is disdainful of Silver Roc’s cavalier blood-spilling, and the hold he still seems to have over the woman whom he himself loves. Needless to say, Silver Roc and Golden Whip are gonna throw down at some point.

 

1968 Cheh Chang (the solid “Blood Brothers”, the slightly overrated “Five Deadly Venoms”) martial arts film, a sort-of sequel to “Come Drink With Me” is vastly superior to that film, despite one disappointing aspect related to its title. You see, the title character (played by Pei-pei Cheng, as was the case in “Come Drink With Me”) actually features less prominently in this film than in “Come Drink With Me”. Once you get your head around that little oddity (I felt Golden Swallow was the least interesting character in the earlier film anyway), you’ll find a surprisingly violent (for the late 60s, at least), yet interestingly character-driven Shaw Brothers outing.

 

Forget the overrated “The Seven Samurai” (“The Magnificent Seven” is better anyway, so Kurosawa fans can go suck it!), this is much more kick-arse and excitingly filmed than that supposed classic. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that it’s on the same level as the best in the genre like “Eight Diagram Pole Fighter” and “One-Armed Boxer vs. Flying Guillotine”, and is a slightly less opulent forerunner to the wuxia films like “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, and “House of Flying Daggers”. The cinematography by Bao Xueli is amazing, with some terrific external scenery of forestry and bare rock, quite different to most films of this sort during the period (Which tended to be set around towns, temples and taverns for the most part). But the interiors, when we see them, are just as gorgeous and the use of colour is fantastic. Best of all is some experimental use of hand-held cameras and wide lenses, that add a visual dynamism to the action sequences, which are pretty cool anyway (Tilted zooms, y’all!). I mean we have men on fire, overhead shots during action, cool sword fights, a kid committing hari-kari (!), and none of that ineffectual ‘blocking’ style of martial arts that tends to ruin these Shaw Brothers films. The action here is violent and impactful, and me likey very much. The climactic duels are excellent, with some nice cross-cutting and forest/mountain scenery as a lovely backdrop, it’s a must-see climax. One character, who shall go nameless here so as not to spoil things, has just about the longest death scene I’ve ever witnessed, and it’s really cool stuff. Excellent score by Wang Fu Ling is somewhat reminiscent of Nino Rota (“The Godfather”) and Ennio Morricone (“The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”) at different stages, and is really classy stuff. In fact, with the characters and the Morricone connection, it almost plays like an Asian Spaghetti western, which is kinda weird considering most of those films can be traced to Asian influences in the first place. Star Pei-pei Cheng (who looks rather pretty here, for those who only know her as Jade Fox in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”) may not be featured prominently enough in the film for some, but when she finally gets a chance to cut loose, she is a one-woman arse-kicking machine. No need for Jet Li or Toshiro Mifune when this tough, yet graceful and ladylike warrior is around. Whilst Jimmy Wang Yu makes for a supreme arse-kicker as Silver Roc (who, despite the title, seems to do about 98% of the killing in the film), the film’s love triangle isn’t developed all that brilliantly. It seems a little silly for Silver Roc and Lo Lieh’s Iron Whip to be feuding when the latter’s love for Golden Swallow isn’t well enough conveyed. Silver Roc’s relationship with Golden Swallow worked for me, despite being hardly romantic (hey, sometimes, love’s a disagreeable sonofabitch, OK? And guys aren’t always good at saying the ‘L’ word), but the other pairing just didn’t compare. Oh, and I have to tell you one thing that amused me to no end; The film’s called “Golden Swallow”, and the gang chief’s name is Poison Dragon Wang Xiong. Swallow and Wang, get it? Yeah, my apologies.

 

Definitely one of the better films of its type, and not to be missed. The screenplay is by the director and Yun Chih Tu (“Vengeance is a Golden Blade”, “Killer Darts”).

Rating: B