THE CRIMSON CHARM begins with the upcoming celebration of Master Chiang's 60th birthday being sabotaged by the members of the Crimson Charm gang: they murder everyone they encounter who's en route to the festivities. Among those attacked is Ling-Wu, who just happens to be one of those characters you DON'T f*** with in these movies. He lays waste the members of the Crimson Charm gang who accost him. At the Chiang residence, the elderly master gives Han the boot (so to speak) after passing him over for a promotion. The Crimson Charm gang attacks and Chiang's daughter Shang (Shih Szu) is mortally wounded. Feng Feng loses an arm, but she recovers. Ying and Shang spend her final days in a cave. Years pass, and Feng Feng and Ling-Wu return to their old stomping grounds to extract some vengeance. Not a bad little tale, but I would've preferred to see Shih Szu there at the end. Ku Feng has what amounts to a cameo as the gang leader at the end.

This classic "Martial Arts World" tale begins with the elderly teacher of a fighting school preventing the delinquent Crimson Charm gang from killing/raping a young girl. During this fight, the son of the leader of the Crimson Charm gang gets killed. The rest of the movie deals with the gang's vengeance, and then later the vengeance of the school in return. In fact there are 3 major arcs, the tale of the teacher's bravery and journey back home, the defense of the school, and then 3 years later the fate of the Crimson Charm gang.

To appreciate a film like this it's necessary to think of it almost like an opera of Wagnerian proportions. Swordmen and women who are part of the "Martial Arts World" have near-godly powers of fighting and survival. In fact one character has a death scene which lasts virtually 2 and half years! So of course the histrionics and drama are equally amplified. Western audiences were exposed to this kind of thing most recently with Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. In many ways this film has a lot of that. In fact Ivy Ling Po's character here is cut from the same cloth as Michelle Yeoh's portrayal in Crouching Tiger. She has some absolutely kick-ass fighting scenes. In later years the martial arts would become far more stylized (especially anything choreographed by Lau Kar Leung, ie - Liu Chia-Liang) but the martial arts in films of this era are more straightforward (comparable to Zorro or Errol Flynn's stuff I suppose). I am a HUGE fan of Lau's work but his films are more about the fight scenes. The Shaw films from this era (67-73) were more about the drama, and the fight scenes IMHO serviced the story more than the other way around. Both eras are great, but tonite I was in the mood for an epic story of love and revenge and this fit the bill. Even compared to other films of this type and era, this was a bit above-average, mainly because of Ivy Ling Po. She's not the main character in this one but her presence demands engagement in each scene she's in. To see a younger Ivy Ling Po in another memorable role, check out Lady General Hua Mulan (which the Disney animated film also covered).

On their way home a sword master and his daughter encounter the son of a general of the Crimson Charm gang harassing a young woman at an inn. The sword master kills the son which brings down the wrath of the Yellow General and the entire gang. They are protected at one point by Blood Palm master Ling, the son of Bloody Granny who was defeated by the grand master of the sword school. Ling and the daughter have a crush on each other but haven't seen each other for ten years. Back at the school the sword master decides to expel his top student Han (an adopted orphan) before the Crimson Charm gang attacks to protect him from the wrath of the Crimson leader, Lin. The gang attacks killing the sword master and every student of the school except Han who is protected by the mysterious Godly Sword, the sword master's daughter and the top female student, Feng Feng, although her arm is chopped off. In the chaos of the school's destruction, the three are separated. Han is trained by the Godly Sword, Ling takes the severely injured daughter to a cave to treat her and Feng Feng is rescued by the Grand Master of the sword school, an old nun. Got that? And that's the first 30 minutes.

Decidedly old school with lots of theatrical overacting, camera and editing trick martial arts and a convoluted story line. Consistency isn't one of the plus points here as characters demonstrate incredible martial arts in the middle of the film only never to use them again. The villains are a colorful bunch with weird weapons. One guy has an entire skull covering his fist with the spine hanging off, alas he dies immediately and never fights. The fight scenes are dubbed over by what seems to be two guys doing all the death screams and dozens of gang members die! Although she is mentioned a number of times, Bloody Granny is never seen. I want to see Bloody Granny fight!

Despite the drawbacks, this film moves at a great pace and manages to be entertaining the entire length of the film. While no classic it's a good time.