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Wang Yu Revisited

One-Armed Swordsman

Chang Cheh

Hong Kong1967 111min 35mm Color

Synopsis

Jimmy Wong is indebted to One-Armed Swordsman to shot to fame and to make himself one of the biggest movie stars in South East Asia. After having watched the movie, little kids would wander around in their neighborhood with their one arm hidden in a shirt and with the other hand holding a toy knife. The film also engendered numerous copycats with unoriginal one-armed swordsman movies. With this film, Wong became a household name and carved in the minds of martial art movie fans. The very powerful scene that will haunt you for a long time: an exchange of looks between an appalled Wong looking down at his one arm cut off and dropped on white snow and a foolish leading female character who accidentally cut his arm. Diretor

Diretor

Chang Cheh

Born in 1923 in Hangzhou and moved to Chongqing during World War II. There he majored in political science and was an active member of the Cultural Movement Committee during the 1940s. CHANG Cheh began his film career as a screenwriter, and made his directorial debut with Wind and Storm over Alisan in Taiwan in 1949. After been courted by Run Run Shaw, he directed The One-Armed Swordsman (1967), which was the first film to gross more than 1 million Hong Kong dollars at the box office. From 1964 to 1981, he directed more than 70 films for the Shaw Brothers. He has influenced other directors such as John Woo and Liu Chiau Liang and made famous such Hong Kong stars as Keo Choi, Fu Sheng and Lung Ti. Until his death on June 22nd, 2002 he had made 101 films. His most revered works include Vengeance (‘70), The Blood Brothers (‘73) and Five Venoms (‘78).