Wu ye lan hua (1983) User Reviews (9)

The English title can be misleading

[algojopinalty · 5/10 · 18 September 2009]

Just watched it again last night after so many years. Lucky I found the DVD ( a Chinese product I guess ) somewhere here in Jakarta last week.

The English titles, in some versions are somewhat misleading. A reviewer mentions this as The Demon Fighter, another calls it Lone Ninja Warrior. This movie was in theater in Indonesia ( which is populated with Chinese descents ) back in 1983! The title was translated as Once Life for Love! What a good effort.

I guess the most appropriate English title is Night Orchid as this represents the movie better in some ways. Night Orchid is a notorious nick name attributed for a mysterious character who kills women, leaving an orchid as a signature after the murder. The Night Orchid is played by the will be well-known Hong Kong actress Brigitte Lin Ching Hsia.

Another reviewer mentions this as Chu Yen Ping's movie, which might not be correct as the director here is Chang Peng Yi, who once directed a Shaw Brother movie entitled Clans Feud that stars Ti Lung, Lily Li, and Lo Meng. No wonder Eddy Ko, Don Wang Tao and Fung Hak On appears in the movie as Chang is likely have connection with some Hong Kong important figures.

The movie is indeed another adaptation of Gu Long Wuxia novels and Adem Cheng Siu Chiu or Cheng Hsao Chiu here plays Chu Liu Hsiang, a must be familiar character for Wuxia fans since Chu Liu Hsiang's adventures have been brought to screen alive by Shaw director Chu Yuan with such classics as Clans of Intrigue, Legends of the Bat, and Perils of the Sentimental Swordsman.

To be honest, I sought after this movie not hoping for quality but for merely bring my memory back!. Shaw Brothers new release in DVD has brought my childhood back so I would like to find another. Night orchid is a rare film and it was a surprised when I found it

Will not talk about story line here as Gu Long's novel are usually convoluted. When it is being compressed into 1 hour and 15 minutes length, you know the outcome. We have nice outdoor fighting at the beginning of the film in the bamboo forest and things look much better with the natural setting. Many weird characters and costumes, interesting yet non-sense fighting, plus few erotic scenes make it perfect for independent B-movie like experience. It is interesting though to see the young Brigitte Lin and Adam Cheng.

It is a movie for mere entertainment. Do not compare it with Chang's Clan Feuds or other serious treats from cinema master such as King Hu. Looks like Chang attempted to follow the success of Zu Warriors with the same lead actors as has been mentioned by another reviewer, but with seemingly less budget and creativity, the result is average.

Wrong reviews for a distinctly odd film

[phillip-58 · 5/10 · 27 August 2008]

Most of the reviews here seem to be for a different film, at least from the film 'Faster Blade, Poisonous Darts' released by Vengeance Video. The DVD Talk review is the film I saw and HK Cinemagic have it under the title 'Great Massacre'. The film I saw had Beardy (Leung Kar Yan) and Meng Fei as the co-stars and Philip Ko as the villain who finally appears at the end. A Korean ending included on the Vengeance video confused me as goodness knows who half the characters were. Thw heroine in the main film is not named and spends a lot of time crying, fainting or if the dubbing isn't totally wrong, dead, yet alive. Characters come and go and one fighting female simply disappears before the end though she is prominent throughout most of the film. So forget the plot. Money was obviously spent on the costumes and sets and there is some decent shots of the Taiwanese countryside. The fights are plentiful but except for the end fight, pretty fake and wire assisted. A strange film that is hard to make sense of. *** Supplementary note *** finally dug up that the Vengeance Video version is directed by Wang Yu with Philip So Yun Fung as Action Director. The lead actress is Yeung Gwan-Gwan who made only a few films. The two other actresses (who worked hard on costume and headress changes, and one really tried to fight) will perhaps be for ever obscure - as will some of the plot elements as far as I am concerned, like the lead actress being carried in her bath (discretely covered in foam) by a group of blind assassins ?

Flyng fighters, magic powder and a Jade horse no one cares is missing

[dafrosts · 6/10 · 18 August 2018]

This is a weird movie. I mean weird. I like weird. And the weirdness does not disappoint. There is no getting attached to a character in this film, other than Adam Cheng Siu-Chow as Chu Liu Hsiang/So Chu. Most are in the film for about ten minutes. Long enough to recognize them then watch them die in typical WUSHU manners.

Chu Liu, despite being labeled The Master of Daggers, carries a sword. There's a jade horse sought by many - most of whom die in an ambush attempting to possess it. Chu Liu informs a dying Nangoon (Alan Chui Chung-San), that the jade is a fake. No one ever seeks the real one.

Night Orchid is bumping off the women in Chu Liu's life. While Warrior Learn (Fung Hak On) is suspected of being Orchid - because, well it's Fung Hak On, Orchid is someone close to Chu Liu. When Orchid's identity is revealed, it doesn't seem to phase Liu one iota.

The weirdness culminates in a battle with Prince Wahl (Don Wong Tao), who wants to possess Chu Liu's love interest Susu (Brigitte Lin Ching-Hsia). There are several fights across the Prince's domain.All are interesting to watch.

This is a tongue in cheek movie. If you love satire, weirdness, "Wait, what did I miss?" and a dose of "Oh, come on", I recommend this movie.

A surreal costume fantasy from Taiwan starring Brigitte Lin

[BrianDanaCamp · 15 December 2001]

THE DEMON FIGHTER (1984) appears to be a Taiwanese attempt to cash in on the success of ZU WARRIORS FROM THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN (1983). It features that movie's stars, Adam Cheng and Brigitte Lin, and assorted low-tech versions of its wire effects, although with none of the earlier movie's imagination and excitement.

There are a lot of pretty images, several lovely women in exotic costumes, and some nice sets, but it's hard to tell what relationship any scene has to any other. For a long time, there's very little dialogue and many of the scenes play out as if there was supposed to be narration explaining it all but the soundtrack is, instead, strangely silent. Eventually, some kind of plot emerges as Adam Cheng rescues Brigitte Lin and takes her along with him and his drunkard partner on some sort of undefined mission. They then have to contend with ninja-type acrobatic assassins and a mysterious black-clad figure called the Orchid who kills assorted women, including a very sensual Indian woman who resides in a lavishly appointed cave.

Lots of non-Chinese Asian cultures are represented, although one has to guess at what they are, since there's such a hodgepodge of costumes and motifs. There's even an Egyptian temple at one point. Kung fu star Wong Tao (HOT, COOL AND VICIOUS) turns up as an Egyptian. Popular kung fu villains Eddy Ko, Lung Fei and Fung Hak On are on hand also, but have little to do. The fight scenes are few, short and gimmicky, with an over-reliance on wires and effects. The film is so inept that it becomes fascinating and could probably benefit from 'Mystery Science Theater 3000'-type commentary. A low-cost, poor-quality, cut version of this film has been released under the title FASTER BLADES, POISONOUS DARTS.

ADDENDUM (Nov. 22, 2007): There seems to be some confusion on this page. There are reviews here for two completely different films, DEMON FIGHTER and LONE NINJA WARRIOR. My review is of THE DEMON FIGHTER and the cast listed here by IMDb is indeed the cast of THE DEMON FIGHTER. I've also seen LONE NINJA WARRIOR, which does not feature the same cast, although the two films may indeed have the same director. I'm hoping IMDb will correct the mistake and give LONE NINJA WARRIOR its own page.

Wuxia cheapie

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 13 October 2016]

I'm guessing that MASTER OF THE FLYING DAGGERS was made as a response to Tsui Hark's ZU: WARRIORS FROM THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN, a film whose success kick-started a mini-wave of similarly fantasy-themed wuxia epics during the era. Even the Shaw Brothers studio tried their hand at some of these outlandish stories, but MASTER OF THE FLYING DAGGERS is an undistinguished and entirely cheap Taiwanese version of that kind of tale.

The story sees Adam Cheng as the loyal hero and Brigitte Lin as the subject of his affections. The storyline sees them battling some weird ninja assassins who are dressed in these natty glitter costumes which are pretty but hardly imposing. Sadly, the plot makes zero sense whatsoever, and seems merely to consist of a jumble of scenes muddled together.

A lot of the scenes are set in some kind of exotic cave where exotic women lounge around in some semi-erotic moments. Bizarrely, there's an Egyptian temple in the film too, with low rent martial arts star Don Wong playing the world's most unlikely Egyptian. Most of MASTER OF THE FLYING DAGGERS consists of cheesy effects scenes and a whole slew of wire work, and none of it is very convincing, so my recommendation is to skip this particular title.

Chiu Yin Peng's masterpiece

[winner55 · 9/10 · 17 July 2006]

Chiu Yin Peng - the real director of this film - is one of the most eccentric directors in world cinema; usually off the wall independents like him disappear after 3 or 4 films, but Chiu made friends along the way (especially famed choreographer and director Ching Sui Tung, who seems to have gotten his start working with Chiu). Consequently, he has managed to build a real career out of insulting audience sensibilities while frequently giving them exactly what they want.

I admit that, in general, I don't care for Chiu Yin Peng's sense of humor (see the early "Fantasy Mission Force" and the later "Shaolin Popeye" for goofs that really bite the big one). But when faced with the obvious, I must pay respect where it's due. This film is one beginning-to-end hoot of a send-up of Chinese sword-fight films, enacted by a cast completely in on the joke and committed to pulling it off with real aplomb.

In the late '70s, early '80s, Chiu (who had previously worked with very small budgets) began to get real resources behind him, and developed a series of films, of which this film is one, that used the same characters; the gimmick was that the films were not sequential, and the characters actually changed positions from film to film - a character would die in one, reappear in the next; in one film Character X would play the villain, and Y would be the hero; in the next Character X would be the hero, Y the villain. The sustaining elements to these films are thematic and incidental. The plots always have to do with characters who are doomed to violent lives, and who spend most of the film trying to figure out why (the films are essentially Buddhist morality plays). The films use specialist sword-fighting techniques, and generally involve black magic and vampirism. There are also moments of broad low-brow humor, which are actually used to mask the real sophistication of these films, which is that they are intentional parodies of the genre to which they pretend to belong. They do all share one really bad weakness, which is that their plots are so convoluted as to be virtually incomprehensible.

The film released as Lone Ninja Warrior (among other titles) is by far the best of lot, the easiest to follow and the most purely entertaining. That may be due to Tien Peng, the film's star and rumored to have at least co-directed it. But in any event, any potential audience for this film has to accept one all important point - this is a campy satire of sword-fight films from China, that includes some excellent (wire-works) sword play for the sake of credibility.

This means that the exaggerated, grotesque characters, the compressed dialog delivered as a series of seeming (but actually non-sequitor) truisms, the absurd situations the characters wonder through, are all quite intentional. Chiu certainly knows that he has a Gothic hunch-back with buck-teeth stalking around; and it's beyond reason to suspect that when the hero scares the big guy wearing a diaper (and yes, that is exactly what he's wearing)and the big guy wets himself in fear, and the hero says "Big sissy - you're no good" - are we really supposed to believe that this is just all accident or stupidity? One may not like campy satire like this, but let's not fool ourselves that isn't campy satire.

At one point in the English-dub version of the film, a character muses "to all the girls I am Clark Kent." - that's right, Superman's alter-ego. I checked out a Chinese video release of the film, and guess what he's really saying - "to all the girls, I am Clark Kent" - yep, Superman's alter-ego - in Ming dynasty China? Since Clark Kent is well-known fictional character, since the name "Clark Kent" cannot be mistaken for anything Chinese, I'm afraid that I'm going to have to believe that Chiu - who wrote the script - probably knew he was using an anachronism for satiric effect.

Westerners seem unable to recognize the Chinese capacity for Modernist sophistication. Is the martial arts tradition so foreign to us that we can't recognize that it has neither less nor more claim on our credibility than the excellent marksmanship cowboys exhibit in Hollywood films about the "old West" - this despite the fact that the pistols actual cowboys used in the 19th century were notoriously inaccurate and prone to misfire? It's true that throughout the 1970s, Chinese directors were effectively stymied by the demands from their producers for "same-old same-old" formula 'fu films; but that doesn't mean that these formulae were imprinted on their genes.

In fact the sharpness of this particular satire is evidence enough that by the end of the '70s, Chinese filmmakers were preparing to overthrow their producers and take command of the medium. Within a few short years of the making of the present film, Sammo Hung produced Enter the Fat Dragon, Chan produced Police Story, Tsui Hark produced Zu: Warriors of Magic Mountain, followed swiftly by break-through films by John Woo, Ringo Lam, Corey Yuen, Ching Sui Tung - a whole generation which has since been dubbed "Hong King's New Wave".

This film is not quite part of that - but if it weren't for this film, and others like it, the "New Wave" might never have happened.

No Ninjas, and no one is alone!! Plenty of warriors though!!

[mantisfist6 · 17 November 2005]

This is truly an inspirational film for those who want to know what makes a good kung fu film. Nonsensical plot, bad dubbing, hilarious villains, sound effects which are so overused in every other kung fu film you should be able to mimic them perfectly by now.

As the other review captures the plot well I will simply add my own personal views on this film.

As someone who collects kung fu films, i disagree with the notion the film is from 1981. It must have been made far earlier than that. The actors used, the stilted choreography and even those doing the dubbing are from the early 70's. It's funny how you can age a film by knowing who was doing the dubbing at various points in the history of kung fu films!! As a sad note, when i was younger my friends an I took 'kung fu names' to use when we were out together. Mine was Snowywhite, and to this day friends will see me and shout 'evening Snowy' across a crowded bar. Still puts a smile on my face, even after nearly 16 years!

I LOVED THIS

[BandSAboutMovies · 8/10 · 22 April 2023]

Chu Liuxiang icomes from a series of novels by Taiwanese writer Gu Long and hiname literally means lingering fragrance. He steals from the rich, gives to the poor and serves justice as a bandit. A master of vertical surface running and leaping - Qinggong - and the metal hand fan, he has never taken the life of another, instead he relies on his intelligence to help others.

He's been played by Ti Lung (Shaw Brothers' Clans of Intrigue and Legend of the Bat), ichael Miu (The New Adventures of Chor Lau-heung TV series), Richie Ren (The New Adventures of Chor Lau-heung TV series), Ken Chu (a 2005 TV series) and Ken Chang (a 2012 TV series), Aaron Kwok (Legend of the Liquid Sword), Meng Fei (Everlasting Chivalry, The Sun Moon Legend, Middle Kingdom's Mark of Blood), Liu Dekai (Chu Liu Xiang Chuan Qi, Chu Liu Hsiang and Hu Tieh Hua) and Tien Peng (Legend of the Broken Sword). If you ever played the NES game Master Chu and the Drunkard Hu, well, you were playing as Chu Liuxiang.

In this film - based on the book Wuye Lanhua (Midnight Orchid) in which the titular menance is told that Chu Liuxiang is dead, so he invents a trap to lure the martial arts master out of hiding - Chu Liuxiang is played by Adam Cheng. He also played the role in The Denouncement of Chu Liu Hsiang and TV serieses in 1979, 1985 and 1995.

Also known as Orchids of Midnight, Thirteen Moon Sword, Demon Fighter and Faster Blade Poisonous Darts, this was directed by Peng-Yi Chang and written by Lung Ku.

Chu has been in hiding since the death of his friend Su Rong-rong, which comes up as some criminals are seeking the jade horse she gave him. This is not important. What is is that Prince Lang Lai (Don Wong) and Princess Lang Ge-si (Lu Yi-chan) are the villains who want to either find, destroy or seduce our hero, who is protecting Su-su (Brigitte Lin) along with his drunken friend Hu Tie-hua (Lu Yi-lung).

This entire movie is astounding even before you get to the bad guy's base, which looks like Legends of the Hidden Temple and yet is filled with cat people, ninjas that can emerge from women's bodies Xtro style and one ninja who can literally make himself flat and go under doors and into cracks.

This movie took my brain out of my skull and caressed it. How many films do you know that are willing to do that, much less put your cereberum back into your head and clean it up for you? This is can't miss magic.

`Let's Change Our Clothes...And Our Identities!'

[junkySTL · 12 April 2002]

LONE NINJA WARRIOR is the story of the `famous swordsman' Snowy White (Yeah, now THAT'S threatening name!) who travels with his companion Eagle. Apparently Eagle and Snowy White fought a while back and Snowy White cut off Eagle's left arm. Eagle then vowed to be the one to kill Snowy White but must fend off those trying to kill him so that he can have final crack at putting Snowy six feet under (so why doesn't he just KILL HIM instead of defending him to kill him later?!). At any rate, Snowy also protects a book called the `Book of Heart and Mind' which a clan called the Weirdo Clan (I'm not kidding) is trying to capture. The story begins when a mysterious woman sends Snowy and Eagle letters, the letter to Snowy in the guise of Eagle and vice versa, and tries to get them to fight, so that Eagle may kill Snowy and thus the woman, who works for the Weirdo Clan, can lay claim to the book. However, in the midst of all of this, Snowy and Eagle run into a man named Wild Wolf, who says that Snowy defeated his father in a duel a long time ago and he vows vengeance on him, and that he wishes to kill him in a duel to make up for the disgrace he put on his father. But when Snowy tells Wild Wolf of their intentions to kill the Weirdo Clan Snowy, Eagle and Wild Wolf call a truce until they have all the Weirdoes. The group goes to kill the Weirdoes, they succeed and subsequently Wild Wolf dies and confesses that the reason he didn't kill Snowy White all these years was because `I feared friendship.' And Then there's something about Snowy White's `Lunar 13 Swords' method, that is supposedly some awesome fighting move Snowy uses, but is never really explained. Anyhow, in the end Snowy and Eagle fight and it ends with Snowy sticking his sword in a tree, jumping on his horse and telling him that Eagle is his new replacement as a master sword fighter.

Okay, so essentially this movie makes NO SENSE! BUt there are tons of wire-enhanced jumps and fight sequences. Tons of cool blood gushes and squirts from people when they're stabbed. The sound effects are as cheesy as kung-fu movies come (some of them sound like sounds from an Atari game). There are also midget ninja, a woman with long finger-nails (that look like painted versions of that snack food Bugles) who stab men, then drink their blood, as well as this gangly looking man with obviously fake protruding front teeth (I guess he is supposed to some sort of ancient Oriental vampire!), and, finally, men and women who shoots colorful fireworks and smoke bombs to disappear from and evade fights (these are the people from which the majority of the cheesy sound effects come from).

I picked up this oddity in Gallway, Ireland in a chain video retailer that looked to be the European equivalent of Sam Goody. The box art (from the release by Moon Stone) is totally misleading. It has a ninja on the front of the box in the typical black ninja pajamas, (with a head band that says, `NIN' on one side of his head and `JA' on the other...

In case we didn't know if he was a ninja or not!) in front of it city! The back of the box also has a completely nonsensical description of the movie (calling the protagonist Long White Snow). All in all it's pretty sweet ninja movie, and, although it's horribly obscure, seek it out if you can find it