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Starring
:
Wang
Yu
Chin
Ping
Kiu
Chong
Paul
Wei
Chiao
Chiao
Tien
Fong
Fan
Mei Sheng
Chan
Hung Lieh
Action
:
Liu
Chia Liang
Tong
Gaai
Director
:
Chang
Cheh
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TRAIL
OF THE BROKEN BLADE (1967)
Reviewed
by Andrew Saroch
After
Li Yueh's (Wang Yu) father is wrongly executed due to the
corruption of one particular official, the righteous swordsman
takes the law into his own hands and kills the man
responsible. By doing this, Li becomes public enemy number one
and must therefore flees his home town and changes his
identity. A little while later, Li's fiancé Liu Xian is saved
from an attack by the dreaded Flying Fish gang when noble
sword fighter Fung Jun-Zhao intervenes and saves her from a
fate worse than death. Liu's father asks the hero to stay and
teach his daughter the next level of sword fighting; though
grateful to Fung, Liu makes it clear that she only loves Li
Yueh and he has sadly disappeared. Although Fung finds himself
attracted to his beautiful new friend, he puts his feelings to
one side and vows to find her lost love to reunite them.
During his travels, Fung stops in a small town where he
befriends a local stable boy who, unbeknownst to him, is
actually Li Yueh, and the two soon become close friends. Li
nevertheless refuses to reveal his true identity, even though
his secret admirer, Hsiao (Chiao Chiao), implores him to do
so. The revelation occurs when the vengeance-seeking Flying
Fish gang send their men to track down Fung and kill him, an
attack that sees Li Yueh step in to rescue his friend and is
therefore forced to disclose the truth. The Flying Fish gang
are not finished, however, and Li Yueh decides that the only
way to solve his friend's situation is to destroy them
himself.
Wang
Yu was never the greatest thespian under the Shaw Brothers'
banner; though certainly a skilled performer, he lacked the
range of Ti Lung or Ku Feng. Nonetheless he pulls of many of
his roles with aplomb and his performance as the
self-sacrificing hero Li Yueh is an excellent showcase of
this. Wang Yu deals with the few complexities of his character
very well and fills out this pivotal role of the film. 'Trail
Of The Broken Blade' is a swordplay film that, for the most
part, impresses with its solid spine of Chang Cheh's themes of
loyalty and friendship, though occasionally the archaic
aspects do detract.
As
was briefly mentioned, the production benefits from its
director's strong code and the performances of most of the
cast. The aforementioned Wang Yu is a good leading man while
Kiu Chong is excellent as the devoted friend Fung Jun-Zhao and
Chiao-Chiao takes her smaller role as Li's secret admirer and
lifts it out of the background. The real surprise of the film
is Paul Wei's contribution to the cast; he always had the
ability to act, but I always tend to associate his name with
the slimey, weedy characters of the Bruce Lee films. Wei is a
commanding presence as the inn-keeper 'No Fear' - a man whose
name speaks for itself - and, although it is a supporting
role, he steals many of the scenes he's in.
While
Chang Cheh's stamp is obvious within the framework of this
work, it falters at times. The pace of the first twenty
minutes is too uneven to be involving, though the pace really
picks up when Liu Yueh enters the film once again. This
difficult opening period of the film is quickly forgotten when
the main narrative starts to take effect, but it still shows
evidence of where improvements could have been made. Some of
the swordplay action also suffers from a very dated look with
a few instances of poorly used wirework not helping matters.
Although the choreography is over thirty five years old -
something that should be taken into account - the similarly
aged 'The Magnificent Trio' comes across far more
convincingly. All of these weaknesses are present, but they
don't stop the film from having the tragic power we've come to
expect from Chang Cheh's hand.
In
conclusion, 'Trail Of The Broken Blade' has more positives
than negatives. It could be accused of being archaic in
construction, using very familiar character-types (to the
modern viewer) and plot-twists. However, Chang Cheh makes the
overall drama strong enough to dispel any thoughts about these
moments of difficulty. A four-star movie that, due to its
heavy-handed closing shots, loses half a star; the same idea
was used with much more sophistication at the end of 'Anonymous
Heroes'.
Rating:
  
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