The One-Armed Swordsman, 1967 martial arts film by Chang Cheh, and how it changed Hong Kong cinema
The One-Armed Swordsman established a new style for Mandarin-language sword-fighting movies, which had been popular since the 1950s, and made a star of Jimmy Wang Yu.
Jimmy Wang Yu, Angela Pan, Lisa Chiao Chiao; Director: Chang Cheh
The One-Armed Swordsman, the first important film by martial arts director Chang Cheh (aka Zhang Che), had a huge influence on Hong Kong cinema. Along with King Hu's very different Come Drink With Me (1966), it established a new style for the Mandarin-language sword-fighting movies that had been popular since the 1950s.
It also made a star of Jimmy Wang Yu, who plays the embittered swordfighter.
Before Chang's movie, sword-fighting films featured theatrical action choreography that drew heavily on Peking opera. Chang introduced direct and brutal elements into the fighting scenes that bordered on the sadistic.
This resulted in a more modern feel which not only set the template for the director's own prolific body of work - he rarely strayed from it over the course of about 100 movies - but also just about any Hong Kong martial arts film that came after it.
The One-Armed Swordsman is often described as a revenge drama, but this is only partly true as the psychology of its hero is far more complex.
The hammy arch-villain aside, it's more of a fully fledged drama: the titular swordsman wishes for a quiet life, but is forced to fight because he has to.