Piao xiang jian yu (1977)

1977 Taiwan with Tien Peng, Pai Ying, Wang Ping, Tang Pao-Yun and Woo Gam. The movie starts with tremendous body count all attributed to "the Bishop". Tien Peng's wife goes missing and Pai Ying's girl is held hostage and he is forced to join the bishop. It seems they are the same girl. The bishop's men are after Tien Peng because of a "fragrant sword". Yes, this could be the most absurd weapon ever. It is described as a sword that affects the opponent's sense of smell in some overwhelming way. After an attack, Tien Peng is wounded and he escapes over a waterfall. He holes up in a cave with two old masters. They teach him special sword techniques. After leaving he meets a girl who is also against the bishop but he won't ally with her. He enters a tea house and Woo Gam uses magic smoke to take him prisoner. There is a fight and Woo Gam dumps him and he is back with the first girl. He encounters Pai Ying and is captured in a net. The other girl takes over from there and rescues him. Pai Ying again pursues him. They fight and all the truth and plot twists are revealed. Some excellent martial arts movies came out of Taiwan in the late 1960's and then it seemed the movies of the late 1970's tried to recapture that greatness but all failed. That was followed by hundreds of the worst martial arts movies ever made – any movie with "ninja" in the title would be an example. Yet here there was success. This movie really does have a great story line, a plot twist no one would ever guess, and I'll give one thing away – there is no fragrant sword. That was all nonsense because "A man cannot rely on tricks, he must depend upon himself." My highest recommendation and a rating of eight out of ten.