Gordon Liu (right) in a still from Heroes of the East, a classic example of a Hong Kong kung fu film featuring ninjas as villains.
Why the ninjas in kung fu films were almost always villains – think Shaw Brothers’ Five Elements Ninjas and Heroes of the East
- In Japan ninja films were social dramas, but Hong Kong filmmakers saw ninjas as ‘foreign devils’ and the perfect invaders for a hero to resist, an expert says
- That is so in Shaw Brothers’ Heroes of the East and Five Elements Ninjas, but in Japanese co-production Ninja in the Dragon’s Den the ninja character is noble
Gordon Liu (right) in a still from Heroes of the East, a classic example of a Hong Kong kung fu film featuring ninjas as villains.
