ACF 006: Clans of Intrigue

(Picture courtesy Celestial Pictures/Shaw Brothers & FSLC)

On Wednesday, July 18th, I left my day job near Ground Zero, caught an uptown 7th Avenue Express train, switched at 42nd to the uptown local #1 train and took it to 66th Street. My reason: a rendezvous with the Clans of Intrigue, a film in the Heroic Grace, Part II film series at Lincoln Center.

Now, when it comes to the performing arts, New York's Lincoln Center is the classiest thing going, at least in the U.S. So I find it incredible, and wonderful, to have films such as Clans of Intrigue being screened there by the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Make no mistake about it, we're talking B-movie madness with these Hong Kong martial art actioners from twenty-five or more years ago, not the classier domestic and foreign offerings that are the Film Society of Lincoln Center's more typical fare.

While several of the films in the series were being shown in newly restored prints, Clans of Intrigue was screened in an unrestored original print. The feeling, at least visually, was much like what it must have been to see such a film years ago at a 42nd Street area grindhouse or a run-down Chinatown theater. Here, though, the seats were comfortable and there weren't any un-identifiable or un-nameable sticky substances on the floor. Also, one didn't have to worry or wonder about what some of the other members of the audience might be up to; everyone was there to enjoy the film.

Clans of Intrigue (1977) is one of three films in the series that were directed by Chu Yuan for the Shaw Brothers Studios, the others being The Magic Blade (1976) and The Jade Tiger (1977). Yuan also directed Killer Clans, which screened in the first Heroic Grace series. (For your info, I reviewed that series in Asian Cult Cinema magazine #42, Winter, 2004. Back issues can be ordered from A.C.C.; click on the link in the sidebar.) Clans is one of 21 films Yuan adapted from novels by Taiwanese writer Gu Long.

The story centers on Chu liu xiang, whose name is also the Chinese title of the film. Played by actor Ti Long, Chu is a swordsman who lives on a beautiful boat with three lovely young lady attendants. A red-clad figure has murdered three clan leaders, and anonymous letters have named Chu as the assassin. Furthermore, water stolen from a grotto palace of female warriors was used in the murders, and another letter has named Chu as the thief. Basically, there's a whole lot of people after Chu's ass, and he only has thirty days to clear his name.

His efforts to discover the real murderer take him, and the audience, all over the place: monasteries, graveyards, and finally the grotto palace of the female fighters, led by the gorgeous Yin Chi (Betty Ting Pei). Here, the movie turns a bit risqué, what with a delicate lesbian kiss (immediately after which the camera unfortunately cuts to another scene) and a few shots of female tushies and titties.

At one point well into the movie, a character asks Chu's three ladies something, and they reply in unison, "We don't know." I felt like yelling out, "We don't know either!" because the plot is pretty convoluted to say the least. Unsure how it would go over with the audience in attendance, I refrained. But keep in mind that narrative cohesion is not a high priority of Heroic Grace films. Here, the fight scenes and the hilarity of many of the plot twists, supplemented by the atypical presence of so many females, clothed or not, more than make up for the rather rambling plot structure.

As the credits rolled and I got up to leave, I did say out loud to no one in particular, "They don't make 'em like that any more." This brought an appreciative chuckle from several people near me. I'm not really sure exactly how they took my comment, but I meant it in an endearing way. Clans of Intrigue is a wuxia (martial chivalry) film in the guise of a detective "whodoneit." Or perhaps it's the other way around. No matter. It's 99 minutes of great fun. See it if you can.

[Note - There are often English variations of Chinese names. Sometimes the family name comes first, as it does in Chinese; sometimes the name is anglicized so the family name is last. Sometimes the older Wade-Giles romanization system is employed, sometimes the Pinyin system of the Communist (hisssss!) People's Republic of China. So don't be surprised if you come across spellings that differ from the ones I've used here.]