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Chu Yuan: The emperor and his brother (1981)

Posted By: mal11lam
Chu Yuan: The emperor and his brother (1981)

The emperor and his brother – Chu Yuan (1981)
Mandarin | Subtitle: English | 1:42:04 | 640 x 360 NTSC | MP4 | AAC – 64 kbps | 700 MB
Genre: Action

Cast: Ti Lung, Sun Chien, Jason Pai Piao, Lo Lieh, Ku Feng, Candy Wen Xue-Er
Another complicated extravaganza by Chu Yuan and I Kuang with a tortuous plot, rudimentary special effects, and uninspired fight sequences. This time, it's set in approximately 1753 (we're told it's been 18 years since the accession of Emperor Chien Lung), and involves a main story having to do with the Emperor's supposed Han origins, a subplot having to do with temporary hostilities between Hung Hua, China's premier crime society and a smaller organization from Tieh Tau Mansion, a sub-subplot having to do with alleged fornication by a member of Hung Hua with its female Chief No. 11, and a sub-sub-subplot having to do with the hasty marriage of two members of the two temporarily hostile societies. All of this for a stinky anti-Ching conspiracy!
You see, Emperor Chien Lung (Jason Pai Piao) is actually Han Chinese, not Manchu, because he was secretly switched at birth. He does not know that, but he has a brother who happens to be the new young chief of the powerful Hung Hua Society (HHS). This guy is Chen Chia-lo (Ti Lung) who has replaced to older chief who has died of some unspecified illness after trying to tell the Emperor his true heritage. Well, the Emperor is disturbed with this true heritage and perhaps correctly fears that the Manchus (amusingly referred as 'tartars' in the subtitles) will at least dethrone him and at most dehead him. So he tries to land hands on the other three HHS members who may also know the secret.
He fails and they find refuge in Tieh Tan Mansion (TTM) under Chou Ching-ying (Ku Feng). Unfortunately, the imperial forces led by Chang Chao-chung (Lo Lieh) soon descend on the mansion in search for their quarry. The devious Chang bribes Chou's son with a telescope and the boy reveals the hidden fugitives. Wen Tai-lai is captured but Lo Ping (JoJo Chan) and Yu Yu-long (Ku Kuan-chung) manage to escape. When Chou finds out who the fink was, he kills his own son to preserve the good name of the mansion. This turns out to be not only bloodthirsty but helpful because soon the SSH guys show up to exact revenge for the betrayal. They are placated by the sight of the dead boy and join forces with TTM to liberate Tai-lai and inform the emperor about his heritage (which he already knows).
There are three entirely useless love subplots, one for comedic relief and the others for dramatic tension. In the first, Mr. Chou's spunky daughter (Candy Wen Xue Er) is tricked into marrying one of HHS's chiefs. Happily, they like each other, so it's not a big deal. Otherwise, it would have been tragic. But the tragedy is reserved for the one-sided romance between Yu-long and Lo Ping. After their escape, Lo Ping wakes up in Yu-long's arms and mistakenly assumes that he has raped her while she was delirious. He has not but he does confess his undying love for her that involves silent suffering and self-mutilation. She is unimpressed and orders him to leave. He becomes a monk and later turns up to save our hapless heroes when they become trapped in a locked tower laden with explosives. He sees his love again after suffering third-degree burns and then leaves again, breaking the heart of another yummy maiden, this one being Li Yuan-tzu (Wong Man Yee), who cries a lot and fights well.
Of course, in the end the Emperor finds out what he has known all along but also discovers that he is Chen's brother (hence the title). He is stirred to overthrow the Ching and establish a truly Chinese empire. (He does not.) Anyway, the last 10 minutes are taken up with an entirely gratuitous fighting sequence between a bunch of HHS dudes and a bunch of imperial/other society dudes, including Chang. It is the last chance for Chen to show his "peacock hand" technique. The HHS guys win and sail into the cardboard sunset.
Whew! Trust me, it took two viewings to follow the damned plot with its proliferation of names and characters. My usual complaint holds: Chu Yuan simply does not know how to compress the convoluted Kuang stories into a coherent movie. The other atrocious surprise was the music. I don't know what Eddie Wang was smoking but his score would have been at home with Shakespeare's Henry V, not with a Chinese drama. I am telling you, I almost expected the actors to start with British accents.
What was good about the film? Not the fights although Ti Lung's peacock technique was way too cool. It looked a lot like what the agents do in the The Matrix, which is only a compliment to the latter. The special effects are simple and obvious, and yet the visual impact is undeniable. If only they had more of it (and better fights), the film would have been so much better. The acting was also so-so. In addition to Ku Feng and Ti Lung, who are always exceptional, Candy Wen Xue Er gave a spirited and funny performance. I think JoJo Chan is too cold to be a believable femme fatale, but it somehow seemed to work here.
The Celestial Pictures DVD features a 1:2.35 anamorphic widescreen video transfer that might be a tad dark, but is very pleasant to watch. As usual, there's only a Mandarin Dolby Digital 5.1 remix. The bright English subtitles are readable and the translation is good. Heck, I even learned one new word: yamen, which is the residence of an official in the Chinese Empire (and I thought it was a weird mistake for "prison"). The usual extras (still gallery, production notes, trailers, talent files) round up the release, and the interview with Ti Lung (subtitled) is a happy bonus. Man, has he aged!
I would not heartily recommend this film but for fans of Ti Lung and Chu Yuan, it's probably an average flick that is worth seeing. Non-fans? Beats me. Who are these people?

Chu Yuan: The emperor and his brother (1981)



PW: malamute