Blind Vengeance Takes Center Stage in "Master of the Flying Guillotine"

Vengeance! That's what blind kung fu teacher Fu Sing Wu Chi has in mind when he receives news that two of his pupils were killed by a one-armed revoluntionary. Fu Sing Wu Chi promptly blows up his remote cabin in the mountains and sets out--armed with his "flying guillotine"--to kill his adversary.

Liu Ti Lung (Jimmy Wang Yu), the "one-armed boxer," heads a martial arts school where he tries to keep a low profile ("Don't attract attention from government officials," he warns his students). In the same village, a bigwig is hosting a large-scale martial arts tournament. Liu Ti Lung refuses to enter the tournament, but decides that his students could learn from watching the participants.

A tournament participant readies for
her first blow.

After several exciting fighting matches (all to the death--unfortunately for the losers), Fu Sing Wu Chi shows up. He kills the tournament's host and, with the help of some of the fighters, seeks out Liu Ti Lung to gain his vengance.

No plot summary could do justice to Master of the Flying Guillotine, one of the funkiest and most popular films to emerge from the kung fu craze of the 1970s. Released in 1976, the film just missed out on the kung fu fad in America. Over the years, though, American fans have elevated it from cult status to the point where it has been championed by filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino.

Part of the film's appeal comes from the tournament scenes, which pit fighters from different martial arts disciplines against each other. Indeed, Master of the Flying Guillotine is known as the protoype "tournament film," although it wasn't the first of its kind. In fact, director-star Jimmy Wang Yu actually borrowed the concept from his earlier One-Armed Boxer (aka The Chinese Professionals), which--although it didn't feature a tournament per se--boasted a plethora of martial artists from different counties and with different fighting styles.

Fighters perched on poles...with
blades protruding from the ground.

That said, the tournament matches in Master of the Flying Guillotine are superior in every way. Not only are they more imaginative (e.g., two fighters perched on top of poles as they battle each other), but the direction and presentation are more stylish. I even like how a paper fan is ripped in half (with musical accompaniment) when a winner is announcement. And, there's some offbeat humor, too, such as when two fighters kill each other and an official directs the tournament staff to "take the two winners away."

Wang Yu narrowly avoids death
by flying guillotine.

Of course, Master of the Flying Guillotine is more than just a filmed tourament...and that leads us to Fu Sing Wu Chi and his flying guillotine--a unique, lethal, but not very practical weapon. It can be best described as a hat attached to a chain that drops a mesh over the head of its victims There are razor-sharp blades at the bottom of the mesh, so when the chain is pulled tight, the victim is beheaded. Since Fu Sing Wu Chi is blind, he uses his flying guillotine on any one-armed fighter he encounters. This is bad news for a bum at a restaurant who poses as Liu Ti Lung in order to get a free meal!

There are subplots aplenty in Master of the Flying Guillotine, but my favorite involves a female martial artist whose father (the tournament host) is murdered by Fu Sing Wu Chi. A Japanese teacher offers to take care of her and teach her karate. However, she rejects his offer, stating: "All I want to do now to take revenge on that blind man." The Japanese teacher's terse response: "Don't bother...you're not enough."

Wang Yu plots his next move during
the fight in the coffin shop.

The film's only glaring liability is Jimmy Wang Yu. Although his direction is stylish and his choice of settings creative (e.g., a fight in a coffin shop), his acting is uninspired. He simply lacks charisma and, although it's fun to watch his one-armed fighting for awhile, his repetitive movements eventually become boring. Still, there's no denying that--as a director and actor--he was a major influence on the kung fu films of the 1970s.

For anyone interested in martial arts films, Master of the Flying Guillotine is required viewing. For those curious to explore the genre beyond the films of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, this funky, stylish picture is a great place to start.

The Friday Night Late Movie: Jimmy Wang Yu Shows His Kung Fu in "The One-Armed Boxer"

Prior to 1973, Hong Kong martial arts films played only small venues in major U.S. cities with Asian communities. That changed with the release of Five Fingers of Death (aka King Boxer), a typical “chopsocky” flick released in the wake of the popular TV series Kung Fu. If the unexpected success of Five Fingers opened the door to the genre’s widespread appeal, then Bruce Lee’s The Big Boss (aka Fists of Fury) kicked the door down. Fueled by Lee’s skyrocketing popularity, a rash of Kung Fu films found their way to U.S. shores. One of the most memorable was The One-Armed Boxer, released here as The Chinese Professionals (perhaps a belated attempt to capitalize on the success of the Burt Lancaster Western The Professionals).

Writer-director Wang Yu stars as Yu, a martial arts student who beats up some bad guys after a confrontation at a restaurant. The chief baddie, Shao, is thoroughly embarrassed by the ineptitude of his underlings. So, he hires a bunch of mercenaries to take revenge on Yu’s school. The fighters-for-hire, each an expert at a different martial arts discipline, consist of: a fanged karate master, a pair of Thai boxers, a judo expert, a taekwondo fighter, a Yoga teacher, and two Tibetan lamas. The latter two are the most fun. The Yoga teacher walks on his hands and fights with his feet. The lamas can “control their circulation” and inflate their bodies so weapons bounce off them.

Anyway, after a bunch of well-choreographed fights, Yu faces the karate master, who beats him to a pulp—and, shockingly, chops off his right arm! Yu crawls to safety, though, as everyone else at the school is killed. Fortunately, a physican and his attractive daughter find Yu on the roadside and nurse him back to health. The wise old man also tells Yu about a painful procedure that will strengthen his arm so he can take revenge on the mercenaries.

“But first, we will have to kill every nerve in the arm, ”says the old man. “If even one nerve remains, it won’t work.” It does, of course, and you can pretty much guess the rest of the plot.

As a martial artist, Wang Yu lacked the fluid style that made Bruce Lee so much fun to watch. And, in this film anyway, he comes across as a little goofy (his blue-and-white outfit doesn’t help). But he directs with style, making excellent use of unusual settings like a brick factory and a mill. He certainly keeps the pace tight, too, devoting about 80% of the film’s running time to the fight scenes.

The One-Armed Boxer was produced by Golden Harvest, the same company that made Bruce Lee’s Asian movies. Wang Yu tried to establish himself as Lee’s successor, even changing his billing to Jimmy Wang Yu. Alas, the “Kung Fu Craze” was short-lived and Wang Yu lacked the charisma to sustain it.

My sister and I saw The One-Armed Boxer at a local theatre in 1974 and never forgot it. I finally found it on video in the mid-1990s (though the film quality was poor). At the same time, I bought the The One-Armed Boxer 2 (aka The Master of the Flying Guillotine), which also stars Wang Yu. It’s about an elaborate martial arts tournament and also features fighters with different styles. It’s more polished and entertaining than its predecessor and, thanks to Quentino Tarantino and others, has become a well-known cult film. Maybe someday, the original One-Armed Boxer will be rediscovered.