Hong Kong martial arts cinema: how Jackie Chan led revival of genre after slump Bruce Lee’s death caused
- Roger Garcia, former Hollywood producer and doyen of film festivals, picks Jackie Chan film Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow among his five top martial arts films
- There’s a Sammo Hung film in the mix too, one by ‘the greatest martial arts director’ Lau Kar-leung, and a Wong Kar-wai film
The Deaf Mute Heroine (dir. Wu Ma, 1971)
“The period piece The Deaf Mute Heroine, directed by the great Hong Kong filmmaker Wu Ma, features Helen Ma in the title role as a retired bounty hunter. When her husband is killed by a past nemesis in a revenge attack, she sets out to avenge his death.
An intriguing mix of [French filmmaker Francois] Truffaut’s The Bride Wore Black and the [Japanese] Zatoichi blind swordsman series, the film features a female protagonist who is as tough and smart as any male. Unable to hear, she uses silver wrist bands as rear-view mirrors in combat to dispatch her attackers with skilful efficiency.
Helen Ma later appeared in King Hu’s The Fate of Lee Khan (1973).”
Executioners from Shaolin (dir. Lau Kar-leung, 1977)“Lau Kar-leung is the greatest of the martial arts film directors. Steeped in the fighting traditions of southern China, he began his career with his father in the classic Wong Fei-hung series of the 1940s and 1950s.