Duel in the Tiger Den (1972) User Reviews

Too much fighting?

[BA_Harrison · 5/10 · 14 June 2014]

Two strangers—a man (played by Bruce Li) and a woman—appear on the White Wolf Hills, where a powerful crime boss and his lackeys have their headquarters. Naturally, the gang are suspicious and try to turn the interlopers away, but they are no match for the pair, who prove to be extremely talented fighters. Concerned that the uninvited visitors are after the stolen King's seal currently in his possession, the crime boss hires skilled martial artists to help take care of business. Meanwhile, a seemingly friendly restaurant owner (Poon Chuen-Ling) tries to help the strangers, but in reality he is a treacherous thief out to make himself rich.

Is it possible for a martial arts flick to have too much action? I never really thought so until I saw Dragon Warrior (as the UK DVD release of Duel In The Tiger's Den is known), which consists of one fight sequence after another, with very little else of note to get in the way of the frantic kicking and punching. While this might sound like a chop socky fan's idea of heaven, it actually grows surprisingly dull after a while. If there had been a bit more variation in the pacing and a touch more focus on a stronger narrative (the plot becomes very muddled at times), Dragon Warrior could have been an extremely enjoyable old school martial arts flick; instead, it is merely a mildly entertaining but instantly forgettable time waster.

Quantity instead of quality but it works for me

[ckormos1 · 6/10 · 12 May 2015]

I believe Hsu Tian-De is the lead in this movie and Bruce Li appears as the Japanese gangster who purchased the emperor's seal. This is Hsu Tian-De's only lead in only eight movies. He has screen charisma and good teeth. He can fight but hardly act. Fortunately there is far more fighting here. The lead girl is Wan Chan and this is her only movie. The fights are standard off the rack one size fits all. When the fights are bad it is because the girl has no power and looks like she is swatting flies. In the case of the guy, some moves are way off focus and the camera comes in too close to cut off the hits. Otherwise there are some good 12-16 moves in a single sequence cuts with plenty of power. Best of all there are some submission holds and jiu jitusu style ground fighting. Overall average stuff but worth a watch for the action.

Early kung fu effort from Taiwan has lots of action, but it's all routine

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 4 February 2017]

DUEL IN THE TIGER DEN (aka DUEL IN TIGER'S DEN) is an early kung fu effort made even before the Bruceploitation craze kicked in. It also features Bruce Li in a role prior to his Bruceploitation efforts which is unusual in itself. He appears here under his original name of Chung Tao Ho and it's worth noting that this was just his second feature as an actor.

Unfortunately this film just isn't very interesting despite a wealth of action content. The fight choreography is well below par and merely consists of two actors pairing off and kicking and punching each other repetitively until the viewer dozes off. Li and a female companion have a run in with a crime boss and his gang of endless fighters. There's something about a priceless royal seal and a fight for its possession mixed up in the story too.

The highlight of the movie is a fight on a slow-moving train but even this is poorly staged. The train is moving so slowly that one guy falls off and is able to literally walk back on again at one point so you can see how inept this is overall. It's no surprise as Taiwanese film-makers often worked on a mere fraction of the budget available to their Hong Kong competitors.