Trail of the Broken Blade

Another early Cheh Chang flick. It's a pretty good precursor to the 70s highlights of Chang's career, a film that is already quite epic in nature, offers a fair bit of martial arts and a very typical revenge plot. It's not quite up there with his best work yet, but it's no surprise this is the path Chang would choose to pursue.

After avenging his father, Li goes into hiding. There he meets Fang, a capable martial artist who gets mixed up in a bitter fight with some goons. Li tries to stay out of Fang's affairs, but as he grows closer to Fang it becomes increasingly difficult to turn a blind eye, especially since Fang's adversaries don't care for a fair fight.

The cinematography (including the scenes shot on location) look better than Chang's later work (as is typical for the Shaw Bros productions), the fights on the other hand can still feel a little flaky. Still, Trail of the Broken Blade is an entertaining film and no doubt part of the blueprint that would lead the Shaw Bros to big success in the following decade, so well worth a watch.