Swift Sword

The noted actress Li Li-hua, star of more than sixty films since 1947, beautifully portrays the drugged, then disgraced wife of a peddler in the waning days of the Ching Dynasty. To make matters worse, she’s soon framed for her husband’s murder by her rapist - the son of the local magistrate! And even that isn’t the end of her woes. It’s best to have a box of tissues nearby as two expert directors ratchet up the emotional suspense in this consummate tearjerker.

THE MONKEY GOES WEST is the first entry in the studio’s epic, four-part screen adaptation of “Journey to the West,” a 16th-century novel recounting the efforts of a Buddhist monk and his magical companions to travel to India and bring back Buddhist sutras.

THE KING WITH MY FACE (1967) offers a well-produced Shaw Bros. variation on Alexandre Dumas' famous tale, "The Man in the Iron Mask."

Director Ho Meng-hua is one of Shaw Studio's most versatile directors. He's helmed romances, mysteries, award-winning dramas, contemporary action films, historical costume dramas, fantasies, and, finally, popular swordplay movies. The title character in this one is a chivalrous thief who raises the jealous ire of the rival Red Shirt Gang. There's plenty of action in this adventure, which sweeps from the plains to the mountains ... to the sound of slashing swords.

A fearsome swordswoman known as The Jade Raksha appears in the martial arts world and begins killing people whose surname is Yan. A swordsman figures out who she is, and asks her why - the answer being that a Yan killed her family 18 years ago... but she's not sure exactly which Yan it was. He suggests that killing the innocent is wrong, but she only has vengeance on her mind and is not to be convinced.

A young Kung Fu student seeks a reclusive teacher so that she may learn to defeat the evil Black Demon. She doesn't realize that the servant woman she befriends is actually the kung fu master she seeks. After Black Demons henchmen attack, the master reveals herself and eventually takes on the student to train her so that they may both defeat the villain. A love triangle complicates things when another student asks for training as well.

The Emperor's armies have developed a new weapon: a thrown blade that can remove someone's head from long distance. As the paranoid Emperor begins decapitating anyone he fears might be a threat, his guard Mau Tang becomes disillusioned with the excesses of his master. He leaves his post and takes up the quiet life of farming and raising a family. Eventually, though, his past catches up with him, and he must find a way to fight the flying guillotine if he is to save his head.

Despite its stand-alone title, this mixture of martial arts and exploitation is a semi-sequel to Shaw Brothers's Flying Guillotine series. This time, the focus is Rong Qui-yan, a kung fu student turned dutiful wife whose life falls apart when her husband is murdered by a squad of government operatives led by the duplicitous Jin Gang-Feng. Qui-yan is forced to go into hiding as she plots her revenge and finds allies in fellow fugitive Ma Seng and ex-lover Wang-jun.

While international favorite David Chiang was best known for his roles as a grinning, streetwise, fighter in many Chang Cheh-directed classics, he rarely played a noble warrior monk. But here he portrays the great Chih Shim, the monk who saved the Southern Shaolin Temple. Making this production all the more notable is Lo Lieh, Shaws' first international star, who returns to a role he also made famous - that of Shaolin renegade Pai Mei. This, and even more, makes for a true martial arts epic of the first order.

A young swordswoman named Fang Ying-qi (Cheng Pei-Pei) sets out to join a gathering of the martial world’s leading warriors under the banner of Lord Xia (Fang Mien) and the Flying Dragon Clan. Their mission is to organize the defense of their country against invading Jin forces. Fang also intends to avenge the murder of her parents 20 years past by bandit leader Han Shi-xiong (Huang Chung-hsin). Han has since taken on a new, false identity as a reputable member of the Flying Dragon Clan while secretly working with the Jin to bring down the resistance. Han uses cunning and a network of criminal fighters in an attempt to assassinate Fang, and when that fails, to frame her as a traitor. Once his true identity and intentions are revealed, a determined Fang must rely on her deadly sword skills and assistance from a clever beggar clan leader (Yueh Hua) to stop Han and restore her reputation.

The Monk, Monkey and Pigsy find themselves in the title realm, where women can only give birth to women...unless loved by a man

Lo Lieh stars as Sima Jun, a killer working for a corrupt lord whose orders are followed without question or hesitation. When the lord suffers from a life-threatening boil on his back, he is told by the Imperial doctor that an herb called "Longevity Rattan" offers the only cure and is grown in a remote village by an herbalist named Tan. Lo is sent on a mission to get the herb and bring it back before it's too late.

An officer of the law and his father are framed for a robbery they did not commit. With only his father's sword at the scene and the man nowhere to be found the officer flees in order to discover who really stole the jewels so that he may clear the family name.

Huang Fei-Hung, the now famous Chinese boxer, teaches his martial arts at Pao Chih Lin Institute, in Canton. Gordon, a European businessman, who deals in import export is looking for a good security guard for his Jade collection.. So ensues a martial arts tournament to decide who get's the job.

As an expert of the 'Cross fists' technique, a reclusive kung fu master Li Pai perfects a lethal maneuver called the 'Shaolin Handlock' while an old wolf-in-sheep's-clothing friend Fang Yun-piao pays the unwitting Li a visit. Armed with the deadly Handlock maneuver, Cheng-ying & Kun Shih joins forces to exact revenge on the evil Ling Hao after the truth is unraveled.

Monkey King, Pig and Friar Sand must rescue his master Buddhist monk from seven witches / spiders who believe themselves to be immortal if they eat the monk's flesh. The third part of the Shaw Brothers film series about Monkey King after the novel "Journey to the West."