Hong Wending san po bai lian jiao (1980)

Director:

Lieh Lo

Writer:

Tien Huang (screenplay)

Release Date:

1 January 1980 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Action | Drama

Plot Keywords:

Training Montage | Shaolin | Woman's Style Kung Fu | Exploding Heart Technique | Qing Dynasty

Cast

Chia Hui Liu	...	Hong Wen-Ting
Lieh Lo	...	Priest White Lotus
Lung Wei Wang	...	Governor Kau Tin-Chung
Kara Hui	...	Mei-Hsiao (as Ying Hung Wai)
Hou Hsiao	...	Personal Swordsman of White Lotus
Ching-Ching Yeung	...	Ching-Ching (as Ching Ching Yeung)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Miao Ching
Chi Cheng Ho
Pa-Ching Huang
Fa Yuan Li
Hui Huang Lin
Ke Ming Lin
Yun-hsiang Peng
Hsien Sheng
Shan Tai
Wilson Tong		(as Tang Wei-shing)
Chieh Kuang Wu
Hsi-guan Yang
Hua Yang

Also Known As:

Clan of the White Lotus (Hong Kong: English title)
Fists of the White Lotus (USA)
Hung Man-ding saam por bak lin gaau (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)

Runtime:

USA:95 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin | Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:13+ (Quebec)

Company:

Shaw Brothers

Trivia:

Tiger style kung fu, practiced and showcased throughout the film is also called the "White Eyebrow system," based on the characteristics of the tiger, and was perfected by Taoist Priest Bak Mei. In some scenes in the movie, the Priest White Lotus seemingly cannot be touched or harmed. Legend tells that Priest Bak Mei trained so thoroughly that blows to his body and strikes by weapons actually caused little or no injury.

Quotes:

Pai Mei: Hong Wen- Ting. You must be out of your mind to try to fight me. With your childish Tiger- Crane skill. You've got no chance, but to join your friend Ah-Piao in Hell for more lessons.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)

Good solid kung fu film

Lo Lieh directs himself in this serio-comic kung fu outing.The best part of the film is the way Lo Lieh and Liu Chia Hui interact and get into their larger than life roles. There's lots of mass killing and tragedy at the beginning but by the time the film ends the whole thing has become very comic. The way the evil White Lotus is defeated is one of the strangest scenes in kung fu cinema.

The pacing of the film is slower than comparable films from Liu Chia Liang, who provided the fight choreography here. While the first fight scenes are just average, the final fight scenes have his visual touch on them and it seems he may have directed them.

The whole film is very colorful in the restored Celestial Pictures DVD and I recommend finding that over the U.S. TV print that is around.