Films of Fury: The Kung Fu Movie Book Read Online Free PDF Page A

a success. First, these were pictures about a beloved personage in happier times, so they became a nostalgic preserver of particular pastimes, such as “vying for firecrackers” — another sport-contest in which a bunch of red sticks were fired into the air so different kung fu school teams could battle for possession when they fell. Whichever team held the most sticks at the end of the tournament won.
    But vying for firecrackers paled in comparison to the pride felt by the school that won the lion dancing contests. A hallmark of Chinese life, these tournaments pitted teams of athletes who performed with ornate, colorful Chinese Lion costumes. It is the skill of the dancers beneath the costume that imbues the rippling dragon-like body and heavy, puppet-like lion head of the outfit with character. Maneuvering this lion in competition with other lion dancers can call for the greatest skill a martial artist possesses. In this area Kwan was a master, making the many Huang movies that involved lion dancing a visual delight.
    But the nucleus of the Huang Fei-hong films was kung fu ... and not just the external, martial variety. Unlike his contemporary film series competitor, Fong Sai-yuk (aka Fan Shiyu), a hot-tempered Shaolin renegade, Huang Fei-hong was first and foremost a healer, who spread wisdom and traditional Chinese medicine from his famed school/clinic known as Po Chi Lum . Although he would be disappointed in his students whenever they were undisciplined, he rarely angered and would always teach that the highest form of kung fu was not to fight.
    Of course, his many envious, greedy villains would always force the issue … to the delight of audiences who preferred the real thing to the artificial, theatrical feats portrayed in years past. For the record: there were apparently five basic Kwangtung schools of kung fu teaching at the time — the Hung, Liu, Cai, Li, and Mo Schools. They taught the ten major fist forms, based on the movements of the crane, elephant, horse, monkey, leopard, lion, snake, tiger, and tiger cub. In addition, there was training utilizing the eighteen legendary weapons of China, which included staffs, spears, and swords. From there the possibilities seemingly become endless.
    The Huang Fei-hong movies of the era made use of many of these possibilities, in addition to showcasing the subtler, but just as important, concept of “wu de ” — which means “martial virtue.” As usual, Chinese action films concentrated on savage tales of vengeance, characterized by a plot that had rival martial arts schools in conflict with one another due to pride or greed. This tried-and-true plot is still being overused today, but the Huang Fei-hong movies introduced an honorable martial artist who sought to use kung fu for health and self-defense only. He was a chivalrous, considerate saint of a man who was always patient, humble, and eternally on the underdog’s side.
    Wu Yixiao , a Cantonese opera writer, scripted the first four films, but Wang Feng is generally credited as being the main influence on the series, since he wrote, as well as directed, many of the most popular. But this was truly a partnership between the actors and the crew. Although choreographers Leung Wing-hang and Yuen Siu-tin were credited with the lion’s share of the series’ action scenes, Kwan was said to have choreographed most of his own battles with his main opponent, Shih Kien (best known as the evil Han in 1973’s Enter the Dragon ). Together, they created believable bouts that remain the series’ high points. Almost every major modern kung fu director was influenced by, or actually worked on, these motion pictures.
    The best of them, like Huang Fei Hong Vied for the Firecrackers at Huadi (1955) and How Huang Fei Hong Vanquished the Twelve Lions (1956), not only displayed fine martial arts but Huang’s wisdom, courage, restraint, morality, and intelligence as well. Although there were some other martial arts films during the