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SNAKE
AND CRANE: ARTS OF SHAOLIN (1978)
A.K.A.
- Snake & Crane Arts Of Shaolin
Reviewed
by Andrew Saroch
It's
often the case in Hong Kong cinema and indeed throughout the
globe that some films notch up box-office receipts that are
hardly in keeping with their overall quality. This operates in
both ways: some ineptly made productions manage to become
major money earners whereas some entertaining films have been
considered financial failures. Jackie Chan's 'Snake And Crane:
Arts Of Shaolin' is firmly in the latter category.
A
meeting of China's top martial artists takes place in a secret
location in a bid to consolidate the various styles into one
definitive technique. By the end of their conference, the
masters have created the Snake and Crane combination that
could well be the finest style in the martial world. When the
moves are written down in a manual and the masters all
suddenly disappear, all of China's many clans become embroiled
in the intrigue. Enter a young fighter, Hsu Ying Fong (Chan),
who claims to be in possession of the manual and refuses to
tell anyone what had happened on that fateful day. All of the
various clans take an interest in Hsu and all try to either
bribe him or beat him in order to gain the manual. Hsu is a
supreme fighter though and he therefore continues his
mysterious objective without letting the valuable instruction
book out of his sight. After gaining a few uneasy allies and
countless other enemies, Hsu draws ever closer to his unusual
goal. On finally finding the man with the shoulder scare that
he has long hunted, Hsu is finally ready to reveal the truth
about what happened to the various masters and how he came to
have the highly-prized Snake and Crane book.
'Snake
And Crane: Arts Of Shaolin' starts with a stunning martial
arts display by Jackie Chan and ends with one of the most
complicated pieces of choreography ever seen on screen. In
between these two majestic book-ends, the film boasts plenty
of other reasons to keep watching. Chan Chi Hwa again fills
the storyline with a whole host of eccentric yet watchable
characters that mean there is rarely anything approaching a
dull moment. The cast are full of Lo Wei regulars with Nora
Miao in particular standing out as the very serious leader one
of the clans. The obvious star of the proceedings is of course
Jackie Chan and he once again does not disappoint. Those used
to his very modern fighting methods and incredible stuntwork
will still be impressed by his sublime traditional skills; in
the opening ten minutes, Chan dazzles the viewer with a tonfa/sword
display that is clear evidence of his superior talent. Then
the climatic fight pitting Chan against three deadly spear
fighters, then the film's main villain will undoubtedly rank
as a very strong reason for viewing. Although lacking the
polish of his later traditional kung-fu films, this remains a
constantly engrossing piece of entertainment. Definitely
required viewing for all fans of 70's kung-fu cinema.
Rating:
 
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