The movie starts with two screwball kung fu masters sparring. They have bee equal in ability for years and fighting over who is best. Angela Mao comes forward with a proposition. They both teach her their styles and she will fight using one or the other to determine once and for all the best. That is all that is needed for plot. The rest will be martial arts comedy. This was the recipe for success in the coming transition of the genre.
Angela is frequently mistaken for a man in this movie. If you are unfamiliar with this genre this might seem absurd. It's like this, if the character is wearing male clothes then everyone sees only a man. Westerners will also be unable to tell the difference between male and female clothes. The reveal comes when the woman lets down her hair. Everyone is then amazed that she was a woman all along. This also might seem absurd because the men also have hair just as long. So now you know the rules. They make no sense but now you know!
A movie like this lives or dies by the fights. The acting will be overacting, mugging for the camera, and double takes, and nothing more. The character development is nonexistent. The plot already set up in the first scene.
My review and rating is based on the fights. There has to be a lot of fights. This movie might have more fights than any movie ever. Dr. Craig D. Reid in his book "The Ultimate Guide to Martial Arts Movies of the 1970s" calculated that 53.26% of the run time of this movie was fight action. A frequent problem with movies that have a lot of fighting is that the action can quickly start to all look alike. I did not see that as a problem in this movie. The quality of the fighting requires power, speed, and focus. A punch should look like it would really hurt. The moves must also be fast and smooth. There should be no hesitation, jerkiness, or uneven pacing with punches and blocks. Finally, the hits have to make contact or at least come close enough not to be obvious. All of this can be accomplished with practice but the time for practice was a luxury back then. Film was also expensive so if it wasn't good on the first take as long as it was good enough they moved on.
There are also details in fight choreography such as using the fight to advance the plot or reveal the character of the fighter. In 1976 these ideas were rarely used.
Rather than over complicate everything, here's all you need in a review for this movie. "Dance of Death" is a fun to watch martial arts comedy and as a fun to watch martial arts comedy I rate it as one of the best martial arts movies of 1976.
Angela is frequently mistaken for a man in this movie. If you are unfamiliar with this genre this might seem absurd. It's like this, if the character is wearing male clothes then everyone sees only a man. Westerners will also be unable to tell the difference between male and female clothes. The reveal comes when the woman lets down her hair. Everyone is then amazed that she was a woman all along. This also might seem absurd because the men also have hair just as long. So now you know the rules. They make no sense but now you know!
A movie like this lives or dies by the fights. The acting will be overacting, mugging for the camera, and double takes, and nothing more. The character development is nonexistent. The plot already set up in the first scene.
My review and rating is based on the fights. There has to be a lot of fights. This movie might have more fights than any movie ever. Dr. Craig D. Reid in his book "The Ultimate Guide to Martial Arts Movies of the 1970s" calculated that 53.26% of the run time of this movie was fight action. A frequent problem with movies that have a lot of fighting is that the action can quickly start to all look alike. I did not see that as a problem in this movie. The quality of the fighting requires power, speed, and focus. A punch should look like it would really hurt. The moves must also be fast and smooth. There should be no hesitation, jerkiness, or uneven pacing with punches and blocks. Finally, the hits have to make contact or at least come close enough not to be obvious. All of this can be accomplished with practice but the time for practice was a luxury back then. Film was also expensive so if it wasn't good on the first take as long as it was good enough they moved on.
There are also details in fight choreography such as using the fight to advance the plot or reveal the character of the fighter. In 1976 these ideas were rarely used.
Rather than over complicate everything, here's all you need in a review for this movie. "Dance of Death" is a fun to watch martial arts comedy and as a fun to watch martial arts comedy I rate it as one of the best martial arts movies of 1976.