Yin yang dao (1969) Poster

(1969)

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6/10
Above average early Shaw Brothers martial arts feature
ckormos19 January 2019
It starts with two swordsmen fight and the one in white lives. Cut to the governor's palanquin is attacked by masked men on a rainy night. Ling Yun (as the lead character whose nickname is Twin Blades of Doom) arrives to save the carriers lives then seems upset that he killed people. He tells mom and pop there's trouble again and they must leave. By the time he can pack, his parents have been killed by the masked gang. He finds out it is the Ghost Gang (the big killers are named by colors). Ling Yun is a Shaw Brothers dramatic actor playing an action role as was typical of this time. His moves include many "karate chops" and overall he displays good speed and power. I find no action director credits for this film. The fights are all above average compared to other 1969 films. My criticisms are slight. The story did drag after the street performers entered the story and could have used more fights. Also, I never liked the lens technique that Shaw Brothers often used to shoot daytime for darkness. This technique darkened the foreground characters while the sky in the background remained bright and blue. This was particularly annoying during fight sequences because it just made the action hard to see. I rate this movie just a notch above average for the year and genre of martial arts movies from the golden age 1967 to 1984.
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10/10
Superior storytelling...
poe4268 May 2013
Warning: Spoilers
Despondent over the inadvertent death of Hero Lu during a "friendly" duel, Hero Chang (Ling Yun) goes cold turkey for three years- until he runs into masked members of The Ghost Clan during a robbery attempt. In short order, he's back at it- to the eternal dismay of the masked thugs. For his affront, the gang murders his parents. He finds the bodies and once again takes up THE TWIN BLADES OF DOOM. He comes across a "wounded man" near death on a deserted mountain road and attempts to help by carrying the man to a doctor. Camouflaged Ghost Gang members attack him and, still carrying the man (who is awake and well enough to wound HIM with a poison dart), Ling fights them all off. He makes it to the home of the lovely Yi-Erh and her family and stays with them as he recuperates. (It turns out that Hero Lu was her uncle, which complicates their budding romance.) Meanwhile, the villainous Ma frames Chang (Ma wants the Twelve Jade Beauties, which are worth a fortune, and Chang is in his way). THE TWIN BLADES OF DOOM is yet another of the early kung fu movies that's far superior to much of what was to follow. The storyline is fairly simple and straightforward, and the filmmaking is nigh flawless. It's always a joy to come across one of these early and often long forgotten classics.
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