★ 8 / 10
BLACK TAVERN – Above-average Shaw Bros. swordplay action with an excellent Ku Feng
BrianDanaCamp
In BLACK TAVERN (1972), Ku Feng plays the pivotal role of Zheng Shoushan, the "Whip Master" and leader of a robbery band that takes over a remote inn, killing…
In BLACK TAVERN (1972), Ku Feng plays the pivotal role of Zheng Shoushan, the "Whip Master" and leader of a robbery band that takes over a remote inn, killing the brigands who already run it, to lay in wait for a traveling official who is newly retired and supposedly laden with treasure. In the course of it, he has to fend off numerous other miscreants drawn to the inn for the same purpose and must contend first with a mysterious lone swordsman (Kang Hua) who becomes an ally and then with a mysterious swordswoman (Shih Szu) whose agenda is initially unclear. Ku plays a truly charismatic bad guy here, to the point where we root for him and his gang for much of the film, especially as they kill off assorted other villains. He's pretty ferocious and uses his whip in some creative ways, including a sudden decapitation. Eventually, the official (Yang Chih-Ching) and his party arrive and some surprise defenders emerge and all hell breaks loose. In addition to all the fight scenes, it's fun watching the Whip Master and his crew take on the roles of obsequious inn employees to lull the visiting official and his party, all while switching into lethal force mode when such colorful bandit gangs as "the Three-Headed Cobra" and "the Five Ghosts of Xiang Xi" show up with ill intent. The excitement never lets up.Also worth noting is the second lead, Kang Hua (aka Li Tung), a tall, dark, intense-looking actor who plays the lone swordsman who appears early and gains the Whip Master's confidence, setting the stage for some later action. He proves quite a capable screen fighter and is given ample opportunity to show what a top-notch swordplay star he could have been had he won more parts like this. (I hadn't heard of him before seeing this, even though I've seen some of the films he's listed in.) Shih Szu is superb in her portion of the film and has an extended duel with Ku Feng in the final 15 minutes. It's quite a grueling battle and she gives as good as she gets and demonstrates why she was considered a successor to Cheng Pei Pei, Shaw's leading female action star in the late 1960s, who had left Shaw Bros. for Golden Harvest around this time. The dialogue even refers to "Lady Hermit," a character Cheng played in the 1971 film THE LADY HERMIT, also reviewed on this site, which co-starred Shih Szu as her student. Shih is evidently playing that character here.Yet it's Ku Feng who dominates BLACK TAVERN for most of its running time. There are numerous closeups of him where a narrowing of the eyes, an arching of an eyebrow, or a slight smirk convey enough key information to make dialogue completely unnecessary. Granted, the film is essentially an action-oriented variation on King Hu's DRAGON INN (1967) and not a classic Chang Cheh "heroic bloodshed" battlefest, but if you like this kind of film enough to seek out reviews like this one, you won't be disappointed. I must also add that the fight scenes were directed by Simon Hsu, one of Shaw's most inventive action choreographers, and he makes ample use of every space provided by the inn where the bulk of the film takes place and every prop contained therein. He specialized in scenes where multiple combatants engage each other on different planes and in different spaces, sometimes all in the same shot in real time, so there are few shortcuts or cheat shots. And there are lots of fight scenes here, so the cast members and stunt crew were kept pretty busy.
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★ 7 / 10
One of the best martial arts movies of 1972
ckormos1
It starts at the Black Tavern. Dean Shek as the beggar does a Chinese rap song that foreshadows things to come.I have written before that I do not like whips…
It starts at the Black Tavern. Dean Shek as the beggar does a Chinese rap song that foreshadows things to come.I have written before that I do not like whips in martial arts movies. I have practiced martial arts for over thirty years and no style of martial arts uses a whip. The whip is used in movies because it is relatively harmless to both actors. Now there are ways a whip can really be used but more often than not the fight choreography shows moves that simply look good but in reality do not follow the laws of physics.
Despite my complaints, I found myself willing to suspend my disbelief of the whip as a weapon in this movie. I give all the credit to Ku Feng as the Whip Master. The move where he traps the girl against the pillar with the whip was perfect. He probably nailed it on the first take too!
The [plot of this movie is unusual for the genre. It is like a mystery at first as character after character enter the story to make the audience wonder who is the good guy or if there even is a good guy. All are not as they seem at first. Ku Feng is rescued by Tung Li at first but he is not at all defenseless.In the fight choreography one film edit technique was done excellently. For example, one actor stops a kick from the other actor by grabbing the leg. There is a quick cut in the action and next the kicker is sent flying off. This has to look smooth on film or it just looks fake and unbelievable. To get it right a lot has to be done precisely. The kicker is replaced by a stunt man, the wires are attached as needed, and the film starts again to get the effect. There are dozens of details such as the camera angle, lighting, body positioning, depth of focus, and actor movements that all have to fit exactly. It all had to be done on the set as CGI was years away. Everyone involved in getting this on film did an excellent job, fight after fight. The irony is that after all the trouble it takes to get this right the result should look like it was no trouble at all. They got it right, over and over again.I rate this as one of the ten best martial arts movies of 1972.
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Thanks FREEMAN please post more shawbros classic kungfu movies