Bio: Ku Feng

To anyone who’s viewed their fair share of Shaw’s output, Ku Feng is easily one of the most familiar faces. He appeared in over 100 movies, and was Shaw’s best character actor, at least from the late ‘60s until the final fateful moment the studio shuttered its movie division. Word has it that it was his hand that switched off the lights for the last time.

What’s less well known is Ku Feng’s various hands-on roles behind the walls of the studio compound. In Fist of Fire, the early-‘70s British documentary about the Shaw Studios, we get a glimpse of Ku leading young new actors in punching and kicking drills. Always an above-par screenfighter himself, it seems he also made time for tutoring the new recruits. When Chen Kuan Tai came to Shaw, he couldn’t speak Mandarin, so he requested to be taught by Ku Feng.

Before he became an actor, Ku Feng was a musician by career. We don’t know much about his music career except that he sang as part of a fairground side show. It may also have been during his time as a carney that Ku apprenticed under master studio set carpenter, Pa Shih Han. We’ve come to believe he designed and built period sets in his nearly non-existent free time. Every time we see a stuntman smash through a railing on the short trip to the ground floor, we shed a tear for all of Ku Feng’s handiwork. Carpentry is hard work—we know.

Yet despite his tireless work, Ku Feng seems to have gotten all too little credit. It was the twilight of the Shaw era before he received a Golden Horse and he had to spend the entirety of Tiger Killer on his knees just to get that. We’re talking about the same man who played Gene Simmons in the Chor Yuan-helmed KISS docudrama, Bat without Wings, after all. The man had more acting chops in his little finger than over-hyped Shaw superstar David Chiang had in his whole body. (Although to be fair, David's body was only 1/3 larger than Ku Feng’s little finger.) In the final analysis, it seems the only thing Ku didn’t do at Shaw Studios was teach acting, a sadly ironic turn of events, considering he may well have been the heaviest hitter the studio had.

A few of Ku Feng’s stand-out roles include Wong Yu’s dad in the odd couple/buddy movie, Kid with a Tattoo, the five minutes of greatness as the blind girl’s father/pursued criminal in Killer Constable, the villainous father figure/cult leader of Avenging Eagle, and the overly-strict father/death squad commander in Secret Service of the Imperial Court. Okay, he played a lot of “fatherly” roles—but when something un-filial or overly-filial happens and he hits you with those tear-welling eyes and gives you The Look, it’s not hard to see why he so often played the father figure.

Ku Feng was a Shaw man to the end, and along with Ti Lung was probably one the truest of company men. And the man has theater in his blood to burn yet—he most recently made a movie in 2010 at age 80. If we’re lucky, he’ll keep stealing the show for another decade.

Ku Feng hints at his after-shoot activities in Avenging Eagle.

Glossary: Outs

The first of our Glossary entries, a series of short articles intended to make our scribblings more comprehendable to our gentle readers.

When a hero needs to stop for a drink along the road, he looks for the nearest Out. A likely forerunner of the tea house, it’s the opposite of an inn: there’s no place to sleep and no walls to keep out the breeze. But those are just amenities—it’s less humid than an inn and there’s less infrastructure to break when the fists and swords start flyin’!

The Kung Fu Mechanic holds court in an Out in Five Super Fighters.

Hardest-Working Nobodies: Innkeepers

Not everyone can be a Ti Lung, a Chen Kuan Tai or a Gordon Liu. And there’re only so many roles for physically-gifted brats like Fu Sheng and Wong Yu. But at the end of the day, a star can only standout against the contrast provided by the work-a-day schlubs who fill in the background of the movie. This is our appreciation for the Always-a-Bride’s-Maid-Never-a-Brides of Shaw Studios, a feature we call Hardest-Working Nobodies.

Innkeepers

Whether they’re keeping inns or outs, the innkeepers fill an important niche in the ecology of the Hong Kong action film of the ‘70s and ‘80s. The innkeeper—despite his apparent humble and vulnerable station—represents nominal, geographical (and ultimately impotent) authority in a world dominated by strong, usually itinerate, individuals.

In this capacity as a stand-in for a true, socially-based authority—the military, militia or police acting under auspices of the legitimate government or respected autocrat so rarely seen in the movies of the Shaw canon—the innkeeper is sometimes not a innkeeper. Sometimes he—and he is nearly always a male of apparently 60 years or older—can be a mayor (town keeper), clan elder (clan keeper), aged and/or ailing sifu (knowledge keeper), the father of the love interest (daughter keeper), or some similar position. On the very rare occasions a Keeper is a woman, she’s almost certainly a brothel keeper.

The Keeper, whatever he may keep, often provides the low-hanging fruit for the various rascals who wander the hills in search of basic comforts and easy pickings. As such a plot device, the innkeeper therefore provides the Hero an opportunity to righteously up-end the expectations of said rascals—usually only for the cost of room and board, plus damages to furniture and railings. (We’ve often wondered if the cost-benefit analysis wouldn’t turn out better by just humoring the Rascals.)

In terms of bringing this role to life with true craftsmanship, several long-time Shaw actors seem to have majored in innkeeping at film school. These men are some of the hardest-working actors, each with well over a hundred film appearances to his name, and over a thousand taken as a group! These are some seriously dedicated motherfuckers. Or, as we suspect is the darker, truer kernel: this was the Shaw Studios retirement plan. Once you hit your 50s and were too old to pull off any leading or major supporting roles, you either got switched over to support staff or you started keeping some goddamn inns!

Without further ado:

Shum Lo: 167 movies. His career spanned from Come Drink with Me to Disciples of the 36th Chamber. Celestial describes him as “the essential green leaf behind the blossoming flowers,” as back-handed a complement as they come. [http://www.hkcinemagic.com/en/people.asp?id=2665]

Shum Lo assesses the damages in Monkey Kung Fu.

Cheng Miu: 166 movies, ranging from Golden Swallow to Gang Master. Whether a beleaguered father, a jaded prison warden or a vulnerable keeper of roadside tea house, Cheng Miu played his roles with a certain resigned panache, resonating with a genuine dignity in the face of life’s hardship as exhibited by the common man. Also, he was the father of neck-impaired Shaw cutie, Ching Li. [http://www.hkcinemagic.com/en/people.asp?id=2815]

Cheng Miu dispenses the fatherly wisdom in Heroes of the East.

Yeung Chi Hing: 215 movies. If innkeepers have a Big Brother, YCH is it.  He also adeptly acted far-from-humble roles such as the “Da Sha Shir” in Bells of Death and Long-Armed Devil, nemesis to Jimmy Wang Yu’s One-Armed Swordsman.

[http://www.hkcinemagic.com/en/people.asp?id=2662]

Yeung Chi Hing yodas it up in Bells of Death.

Wong Ching Ho: 227 movies. The innkeeper par excellence, Wong Ching Ho can be found playing crucial support roles in many fine films, including Vengeance!, Magic Blade and Flag of Iron. [http://www.hkcinemagic.com/en/people.asp?id=2548]

Wong Ching Ho lays it on thick in Flag of Iron.

Fung King Man: 236 movies. Possibly not a representative innkeeper, but gets an honorable mention for his promotion to triad keeper in the mid-‘70s (The Tea House), a role he’d return to several times in his later career. [http://www.hkcinemagic.com/en/people.asp?id=1454]

Fung King Man offers a chair in The Tea House.

Bio: Austin Wai

Hot on the heels of our first review (Gang Master) comes our first biographical entry, not entirely coincidentally for Gang Master star, Austin Wai.

Austin Wai
aka Hui Tien Sze

He was a great screen-fighter and a competent actor with star-quality looks, yet Austin Wai is likely remembered primarily as the brother of the Fabulous Kara Hui. This is (sadly) due to Austin being a member—and probably the president—of the Born Too Late club. These were the guys that if born five years earlier would be household names amongst fans of action cinema. The Born Too Late factor and other would-be greats will be explored further in later articles, but in the meantime, check out Austin in Gang Master or Five Superfighters for a taste of what he might have been capable of with an earlier start.

Cut down before his prime, Austin Wai gets skewered by a glory-seeking Pai Piao in Supreme Swordsman.

Review: Gang Master (1982)

GANG MASTER, 1982
Directed by Tsui Siu Ming
Starring Chen Kuan-tai, Hui Tien-sze, Liang Hsiao-lung, Pai Piao, Tai Liang-chun

According to Celestial: “This is no street gang or gang of mobsters. It’s a Yuan Dynasty army, out to destroy the Hsien Lung ‘gang’ of anti-Yuan revolutionaries. Their leader is the redoubtable Chen Kuan-tai, the real-life South-East Asian Chinese Martial Arts Tournament champion and master of ‘Monkey-King Split and Deflecting Arm’ kung-fu, who must face paternal murder, brother against brother plots, and shocking discoveries that could change the course of history.” [IVL]

Our Spoiler-Free Synopsis: Austin Wai as the new leader of an anti-Yuan triad versus Chen Kuan Tai as a Yuan general. People die, accusations fly, plots are framed up, fisticuffs and hijinks ensue. Also, Yuen Tak dabbles in “yellow peril”-face and is suitably punished.

Austin Wai is close to the edge in Gang Master.

What Do We Have to Say? [Spoilers Abound]

MB: This is a unique Shaw movie in many respects—not only for the unusual detail elaborated on the anti-Yuan triads, but also as the only movie directed by Tsui for the studio, one of precious few leading roles for Austin Wai, and possibly the only visible role played by Beast (aka Bruce Leung aka Liang Hsiao-lung).

There’s a thematic similarity with Dragon Missile. Like Lo Lieh’s character in Ho Meng Hua’s earlier movie, Austin Wai’s character here is essentially a dedicated and capable captain who is beset at every turn by incompetent bunglers and jealous saboteurs. He walks into a set-up in nearly every scene, and despite surviving by his own formidable fighting skills, ends up getting a flying sword for his trouble as he sacrifices himself to save the evil Mongol general. “He’s my father after all,” indeed.

There’s a lot to love about this movie—including some of the sharpest choreography you’re likely to see in the transitional times of the early ‘80s. The full-on “wire fu” was just a few years away, but the fight direction in this movie—although not realistic—still has the impact of the Golden Era approach, splitting the difference between Lau and the Venoms, yet adds some tasteful and restrained wire-work to good effect.

CKT’s relatively sparse screen time is balanced out successfully by Austin Wai’s charismatic and physically accomplished presence. The biggest treat for me, though, is Bruce Leung’s appearance. His character is oddly compelling, and his screen fighting is pretty amazing to see. He definitely steals the show in the last mile of this gem.

Tsui Siu Ming apparently did some choreography of his own in a few other joints, but leaves the heavy lifting to Yuen Cheung Yan this time around. The result is great (we can’t say enough good things about this damn movie), and it’s a shame this is the director’s sole Shaw movie.

Beast takes off his belt and gets down to whoopin' some ass.

WRR: Gang Master may have been a movie we picked up simply based on the fact Chen Kuan Tai was in it. But this movie turned out to offer so much more and captured our hearts. Lots of interesting Triad rituals are performed and there is some interesting fight choreography too. The fight against Yuen Tak and his carpentry style is one of the coolest fights in any Shaw movie.

It features Austin Wai fighting against his own gang buddies and elves, err … Mongols. Twists and turns are abound as poor Austin gets cock blocked and railroaded left and right. Eventually everything gets straightened out and we see whose allegiance lay where.

Chen Kuan Tai gets ready to wrap some Christmas presents.

Supporting Roles: Ku Feng is great (as always) as the tortured father-figure with an impossible decision to make. He probably choreographed the triad rituals, too. Lam Fai Wong in a typically wacky Lam role: a clueless low-level member of the gang who fails to correctly recognize the grand leader, which provides an opportunity for his surprisingly skilled comical physicality.

Did Anyone Do or Say the Thing? Nobody said the thing, and it’s actually kind of misleading because the whole conflict in the movie is precisely because the gang doesn’t have a master (or leader or chief or whatever). That said, there are a ton of cool and rarely-seen triad rituals including teacup Jenga, call and response verse with accompanying bad ass posturing to show affiliation, dragon rods complete with hidden membership rosters and prescribed gang punishments (Pai Piao always seems to find a way to get hung up and tortured).

Did the Chinese Invent Anything? Throwing gang signs. Pouring one out for your dead homies. Well, your dead ancestors, at least.

Innkeeper Count: 4 or 5. We may have lost count.

Pai Piao and gang signs, guh-guh-guh-gang signs.

Behind the Scenes: Dirty Ho Preview from 1978 Hong Kong Movie News

We've been keeping an eye on Shaolin Chamber 36's archive of the Southern Screen, Hong Kong Movie News and Cinemart magazines recently released in digital form by the Linn Haynes Memorial Collection. There's a ton of great pictures in these magazines, primarily production shots, movie stills, and best of all (for their rarity), the candid shots. It's beyond surreal to see screen greats like Chen Kuan Tai sitting on the hood of his '77 Mercedes wearing bell-bottoms, aviator sunglasses and rockin' some tragically hip hair.

There's a wealth of articles, too. For readers of Chinese, at least. We're stuck with the few English tidbits that grace these antique periodicals, bad translations and all. Still, where else can you find this kind of background information? So we thought it'd be fun to repost some of that content as we go.

‘The Guy with a Contused Head’ (Tentative)

This is a Chinese Kung Fu comedy performed by two main characters. In this movie, the audiences may enjoy boxing and kicking scenes and our national gymnastics. The first character is Wang Chian Chyn (Liu Chia Hui) whose Kung Fu is excellent. He cams from a noble family but because forced by circumstances to live outside the palace under a new name.

The other main character is a robber. He is called Ho Chun (Huang Yu) and was wounded in the head by Wang. He did not know Wang has an esoteric ability and always stimulate him in order to have a fight. Wang Chian Chyn knows rat Ho Chun is a robber but he wants to tame him and teach him his esoteric ability. Ho Chun is not an obedient guy and thus Wang wounded his head.

Ho Chun escaped with his wounded head and tired to get cure everywhere but the injure got worse. Ho therefore begged Wang to cure his head and Wang made Ho call him teacher ten times a day until his head is cured. Ho has no alternative but to accept it.

The above plot is accompanied by boxing and kicking scenes with humurous touches which make the audiences burst into laughter.

Dirty Ho: Cam for the national gymnastics, stay for the humurous touches.