The Himalayan

THE HIMALAYAN (1976) is a very odd Golden Harvest film that stars kung fu great Chen Sing (SHAOLIN MONK, THE MAGNIFICENT) as an ambitious man who brutally murders anyone in his way. Kung fu diva Angela Mao (HAPKIDO, LADY WHIRLWIND) appears in a supporting role as the daughter of a wealthy man and has only one extended fight scene in the whole movie and it comes at the very end. The film opens with an elaborate piece of narration describing a particular style of kung fu practiced in Nepal and Tibet and how Golden Harvest went to those countries to make the film (a neat trick considering China's control of Tibet would have prevented any outside film crew from entering the country). We get a whole opening sequence filled with folk dancing and music and horse-riding contests evidently filmed on location in a mountainous region (probably Nepal) with dozens of native extras in full ethnic dress. After this sequence it's back to China and the standard kung fu movie sets, costumes, and customs seen in so many other Golden Harvest movies. Nepal and Tibet are almost completely forgotten about after that point, except when Sammo Hung enters the scene late in some kind of ethnic costume, and a location shot of a temple in Nepal is inserted when the hero and heroine arrive at a Shaolin temple.

Chen Sing, as Kao Chu, is eager to force his adoptive brother into marriage with Angela and use it as a springboard to gain access to her family's estate. (The notion that anyone would have to be forced to marry the beautiful Angela already damages the film's credibility right from the very beginning.) Kao gets things off to a rough start when he kills his resistant brother and replaces him with a compliant lookalike (played by the same actor, Ling Hon) who's already married but is paid by Kao to proceed with the deception and marry Angela, even though Angela's already met the real brother. None of this makes any sense, especially when Kao has to put makeup on the impostor brother's forehead to replicate a birthmark that the real brother had. Gradually, Kao kills a bunch of other people who threaten his plans in different ways and even frames Angela for one of the murders. Kao's behavior is consistently disturbing through all of this, yet, remarkably, none of it sets off any alarm bells with Angela's gullible family.

Eventually, Angela flees with a loyal servant who's in love with her, played by kung fu star Tan Tao Liang (FLASH LEGS, LEG FIGHTERS), and the two wind up, in the film's final half-hour, at a Shaolin temple outpost where they implore the Abbot to teach them his special brand of kung fu so they can defeat Kao's Tiger Claw technique. The Abbot instead orders them to carry thousands of rocks up a treacherous hill and then, when they're done, to carry them all back down again. That and some breath control comprise the bulk of the training we see them get. Eventually they go back to confront Chen Sing and his men in a disappointingly short fight finale.

Angela gets to do a little more here, acting-wise, than she normally did, but only in the extraordinary amount of on-screen punishment she takes. At one point she puts up a valiant struggle against Kao but is ultimately disabled by his Tiger Claw technique. At another point she's strapped to a wooden board and set afloat in some rapids. And then she has to carry all those damned rocks. Even if they're made out of plastic or foam, it still looks hard going up and down that steep, rocky hill.

But fans of Angela are anxious to see her fight and she hardly does that in the film. She has a friendly match at the beginning with her intended groom, but that doesn't really count. Sure, there's a nice bout with Chen Sing at the end, but it comes in the last five minutes of a 108-minute film. Chen himself doesn't even get to fight that much. Mainly he just hits people who don't fight back or he kills them outright. He's extraordinarily vicious here. Chen was often a great villain in these films, but was best when he had a formidable hero to oppose him. Angela doesn't really do that until the very end and Tan Tao Liang, who has one or two good fights in the film himself, is pretty passive for the most part. Overall, this is one of the weakest Golden Harvest films I've seen of late.

The Himalayan dramatizes the struggle of a mountain community in the Himalayas. This village must decide the route to take their goods to market through perilous mountain crossings. This happens at the close of the season and at the beginning of winter storms. The village's very existence demands a successful trip. The personal story is about the leadership of the community, old hurts which cast doubt upon that, and the physical rigors of travel in the high and unforgiving elements. The scenic beauty and timeless setting (people living as they have for centuries, with only a few modern items) round out to make this an adventurous and deeply thoughtful film.

Unfortunately, finding copies of this film appears to be be very difficult as it did not achieve much success in the US.

This is one of the last Golden Harvest made Angela Mao movies. One thing that can be said about Golden Harvest is that they consistently made good quality movies, always trying new things with their movie productions. Not all of them worked, but they did succeed in modernizing Hong Kong cinema.

As for Angela Mao, after getting married, and having a child, she seems to lose interest in making movies. I can't really blame her as the year this movie was made, she had her first child.

Hong Kong movie were going through a radical transition around this time. It still takes few more years for its effects to show, but the old school kung fu action movie was getting passe. The focus were shifting to interesting characters and more comedic everyday themed movies. Sam Hui was one of the early pioneers of this field, and he became a big star of the late '70s, to early '80s Hong Kong cinema.

Old school kung fu actors couldn't make it through this transitional times except for few like Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and perhaps Lung Ti, and Chien Kuan Tai. All of them, kung fu skills were not their only talent. They had their own on screen presence.

So this movie is like a swan song for the old school Hong Kong kung fu movies, and about the same for actor Angela Mao. She probably correctly chose domestic life to be her next phase in life, and from around this point on , stops to be the leading female kung fu actor. Most of her movies made in Taiwan are of forgettable qualities.

Different types of directors, leading men, and women will be appearing in the following decade, and transforms Hong Kong cinema forever. This is kind of a transitional movie where interesting settings are explored, but the old school actors couldn't deliver.

Better look for other Hong Kong movies that are more interesting to watch.

The movie starts with helpful narrator spouting nonsense about a style of martial arts invented for the movie. Next are some nice views of areas in China inhabited by nomadic horsemen. I do not know if any of the costumes and customs are authentic but it all looks spectacular. Chan Sing and Ling Hon then discuss the plot.

Jackie Chan fans will first spot him standing there doing nothing at the wedding at about the 20:50 mark. He does nothing more in this movie. Patience, he will get his chance.

This movie is one of the first to feature the training sequence. That will be a standard scene in the years to come. This has the theme that all hard work can be martial arts training once you apply it correctly.

I rate all the fights in this movie above average. The final fight begins when Sammo Hung starts to beat up the old man. Angela returns at the perfect dramatic moment. Angela and Dorian then combine versus Chan Sing. The result makes this one of the best martial arts movies of 1976 in my book.