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Glory Days of Hong Kong Cinema: Shaw Brothers Retrospective

The One-Armed Swordsman

Chang Cheh

Hong Kong China1967 111min 35mm Color

Synopsis

Young Fang Kang grows up in the Golden Sword school and treasures his father’s broken sword and the memory of his father’s sacrifice. The teacher’s daughter challenges him to a fight and when he refuses she becomes enraged and recklessly chops off his arm! He retreats, broken and bloody, and is found by a young poor girl living alone who nurses him back to health.

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).