THE MANCHU BOXER – Eureka Review: An Early Kung Fu Classic With Some Early Sammo Greatness
The Manchu Boxer is featured on Eureka Entertainment’s Triple Threat: Three Films With Sammo Hung,which arrives on Blu-Ray from December 9.
The first film I’d seen directed by Wu Ma was Circus Kids on a double feature DVD back in the heyday. By then, I’d only known of his work as an actor having seen him in Wheels On Meals and more prominently as a supporting character to Corey Yuen’s role in Righting Wrongs to name a few, which makes Eureka’s latest refurbished release of his 1974 kung fu classic, The Manchu Boxer, something promising.
The story is pretty simple and straightforward without too many moving parts. It follows Gu (Lau Wing), a martial artist ousted by his father after killing a man in a duel. In his travels following another unfortunate confrontation, he arrives to a village and the home of Miss Shen to whom he vows a promised debt to be paid in honor of her father’s passing.
Once there and able to find work, it isn’t long before Gu is tested by the brash locals. Having taken the pacifist route and refusing to fight anyone, he finds himself defended by Wei Qi (Kao Chiang), another wanderer who arrives into the village where a grand martial arts torunament is expected to be held. Little do they know that the powerful Chin (Kim Ki-joo) has hired two hired Japanese fighters to fix the tournament to his own benefit.
What follows is brutal and explosive fallout leading to fatal consequences, forcing Gu to question his apprehension to fight as Chin stakes his claim. When tragedy strikes, all that’s left is vengeance, pitting Gu and Chin in a fight to the deadly finish.
Wing is one of the more recognizable faces among this lot for me next to the director, having appeared as a tournament fighter on Han’s island in Enter The Dragon. I can’t say much for his charisma, but he carries the lead role well enough to present a formidable protagonist, paired with a line-up of characters equal in measure.
Perhaps the bigger characteristic of The Manchu Boxer is the fact that Sammo Hung directed the action. Hung, already a longstanding proponent of opera training as one of the Seven Little Fortunes and worked on a raft of films as martial arts choreographer since the late 1960s, turns in a plentiful villain as one of Chin’s hitmen, in addition to Wilson Tong’s character, another Japanese villain.
Hung’s action sequences are serviceable presentations as early rumblings of his career, nonetheless. The final fight pits Gu against Chin, as well as another actress who plays Chin’s daughter, who herself tries to stir trouble with Gu and other characters midway into the film. The finale delivers a lot faster and harder, with action scenes that setup really nicely between choreography and location.
The Manchu Boxer is featured on the first disc with English and Mandarin tracks, in addition to commentary from film experts Frank Djeng and filmmaker Michael Worth. Their dialogue is host to some great trivia about the film and its production location; you wouldn’t have guessed that this film was made in South Korea if you’re not really knowing of the industrial framework around movies. I was also a little bit surprised that Djeng didn’t know who the actress playing Chin’s daughter was either. I tried looking myself and it’s a total mystery as far as I can tell.
The film is also accompanied on disc one of the boxset with a classic trailer. Pre-order Triple Threat: Three Films With Sammo Hung on Blu-Ray at MVDShop today.
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