Return of the One-Armed Swordsman (1969) + The Band Wagon (1953) redux

Return of the One-Armed Swordsman (Du bei dao wang)
Directed by Cheh Chang
Written by Cheh Chang
Hong Kong/1969
IMDb link
First viewing/Amazon Prime

 

[box] Never give a sword to a man who can’t dance. — Confucius[/box]

Just a fun wuxia movie to distract nicely from Lockdown.

This is a sequel to The One-Armed Swordsman (1967).  At the end of that film, our hero (Jimmy Wang Yu) retired to become a peaceful farmer with his beloved wife.  At the beginning of this one, honor and loyalty compel him to defend his school against a rival gang led by the Eight Demon Swordsmen.  Dozens die in numerous one against many battles spilling gallons of red paint along the way.  Impalements and wire-work are also featured.

I think of these more as fantasies than as violent action films and generally enjoy them

Version I watched was dubbed.

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I needed a large dose of happiness and found it, in spades, in Vincente Minnelli’s The Band Wagon (1953).  My review can be found here.  The different numbers are like children, I couldn’t possibly choose a favorite.  This time around, Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse’s “Dancing in the Dark” seemed extra-exquisite to me.

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