Review #365: 'Master of the Flying Guillotine' (1976)
A staple of the exploitation circuit, the martial arts movie played a fundamental role in the 1970's as a prime form of action cinema. It not only had its own stand-alone sub-genre, but was also essential to even the blaxploitation market. In the west the Kung-Fu movie was enlivened by Bruce Lee, and particularly Enter the Dragon (1973), and despite his early death, left a legacy that turned this obscure form of action cinema into a western phenomenon that is still highly evident today. Unlike Bruce Lee's usually modern-set movies, the tradition of period films found their way onto the exploitation market, and Master of the Flying Guillotine sits within this context. Set in the 18th century, this film follows on from Yu Wang's 1971 The One-Armed Boxer, and centres on a mission to avenge the killings that the one-armed boxer (Yu Wang) committed in the previous film by Fung Sheng Wu Chi (Kang Chin), the blind master of the titular weapon (an infamous tool that has the ability to severe a human head with very little effort).
There is very little in the way of narrative in the film, and focuses its attentions of the fight choreography, which is at times spectacular. A particular favourite is the Yoga expert, who has the ability to extend his arms in battle, leading to some hilarious sequences. It's a testament to Chinese cinema, that the film makers were able to use humour even within fight sequences (something that Hollywood action cinema rarely does (and really didn't do until the 1980's), something that Jackie Chan took to new levels in the late 1970's and 1980's. There are a few times where the fighting becomes a bit repetitive, but I guess that will happen, considering that about 95% of the screen time is spent of fight sequences.
Whilst there are many funny sequences, and the fighting looks amazing, there was something that just didn't feel right about it as I viewed, and couldn't immediately put my finger on it. Growing up in the 1980's, the Kung-Fu genre was an important part of growing. Not only were there great action sequences, but they're incredibly fun to watch, but seeing this in my adult life highlighted a function that was missing with this film: The English dub! I saw Guillotine in its original language (Mandarin), but was struck at how much funnier they are when over-dubbed into English. But besides this rather trivial complaint, Master of the Flying Guillotine is a hoot.
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