Over hundreds of films from the Shaw Brothers, this film is really something else, and it's a shame that this film didn't get a huge buzz, because to me this is one of the most unique film I've seen.
Saw the first film of this "adaptation" a while ago, but the first film was actually released earlier than the book, and it's called Swordsman Of Large (1971). The movie was fun and enjoyable, Lung Ku did an amazing job with its writhing, but it's actually pretty much a genre film, which not necessarily a bad thing, but the execution was average at best. The basic premise was a hero with a good heart, and a damsel, a villain and a heroine with skills, which was also exactly how this film from 1978 was going.
However, Chor Yuen, as a director with fantasy in mind, transforms this film into something weirdly unconventional considering the time period of genre machine. Tommy Tam has just stumbled upon a "toy house", a doll-like world where dozens of souls were trapped in it.
The setting itself was almost fabled, the house was like the studio, and we as an audience were watching the story made from this particular studio, characters and actors were frozen as puppets.
The movie may not be too mature in this kind of concept, but what I'm trying to imply is that in the history of Hong Kong cinema, there were actually films that have a concept that was ahead of its time. During this period, rarely had a film with this kind of Utopian plot, not even in Chor Yuen's magically crafted worlds in the past. What Yuen did in this film is experimental, but also pretty interesting to ponder.
Saw the first film of this "adaptation" a while ago, but the first film was actually released earlier than the book, and it's called Swordsman Of Large (1971). The movie was fun and enjoyable, Lung Ku did an amazing job with its writhing, but it's actually pretty much a genre film, which not necessarily a bad thing, but the execution was average at best. The basic premise was a hero with a good heart, and a damsel, a villain and a heroine with skills, which was also exactly how this film from 1978 was going.
However, Chor Yuen, as a director with fantasy in mind, transforms this film into something weirdly unconventional considering the time period of genre machine. Tommy Tam has just stumbled upon a "toy house", a doll-like world where dozens of souls were trapped in it.
The setting itself was almost fabled, the house was like the studio, and we as an audience were watching the story made from this particular studio, characters and actors were frozen as puppets.
The movie may not be too mature in this kind of concept, but what I'm trying to imply is that in the history of Hong Kong cinema, there were actually films that have a concept that was ahead of its time. During this period, rarely had a film with this kind of Utopian plot, not even in Chor Yuen's magically crafted worlds in the past. What Yuen did in this film is experimental, but also pretty interesting to ponder.