Another £1 purchase, The Mask Of Vengeance is one of the better films from the distributors 'Hollywood East' collection. Shaw Brothers director Pao Hsueh Li (Boxer From Shantung; The Iron Bodyguard) went a bit more independent in the late 70's bringing some of his Shaw Brothers stars along for the ride, and creating some pretty decent lower budget productions. The Mask Of Vengeance is one of those!
Big set pieces, crazy characters, and top notch kung fu fights make this a good 90 minutes of classic kung fu fun. While not as polished as most Shaw Brothers productions, you can still get what the film was aiming for, even via the DVD release's video-quality print.
With a great cast and host of recognisable faces from the classic era, the film also pays homage to its highly successful predecessor The One Armed Swordsman, of which the director no doubt had a hand in, being with the Shaw Brothers studio during that time. There is a great moment of surprise, when the villains top fighters de-mask, revealing a bunch of faces that just adds a little more excitement to it all. This in turn leads to a fantastic end battle, that spreads out over the last 20 minutes of the film, with plenty of swordplay and kung fu that doesn't disappoint!
Overall: Sweeping camerawork, great fight scenes and lavish sets help make this better-than-average swordplay flick worth the watch...
Big set pieces, crazy characters, and top notch kung fu fights make this a good 90 minutes of classic kung fu fun. While not as polished as most Shaw Brothers productions, you can still get what the film was aiming for, even via the DVD release's video-quality print.
With a great cast and host of recognisable faces from the classic era, the film also pays homage to its highly successful predecessor The One Armed Swordsman, of which the director no doubt had a hand in, being with the Shaw Brothers studio during that time. There is a great moment of surprise, when the villains top fighters de-mask, revealing a bunch of faces that just adds a little more excitement to it all. This in turn leads to a fantastic end battle, that spreads out over the last 20 minutes of the film, with plenty of swordplay and kung fu that doesn't disappoint!
Overall: Sweeping camerawork, great fight scenes and lavish sets help make this better-than-average swordplay flick worth the watch...