Assassin (1976)

This movie caught my attention because of the A list martial artist movie cast particularly Hsu Feng, star of 1971 "A Touch of Zen". It opens with the helpful narrator explanation the historical setting. Fans of this genre are familiar with the Mongol invaders plot used again here.

My copy is a digital file that plays on a HDTV as 4:3 resolution like the old VHS format and it is dubbed English by the voice overs A team. The run time is 1:36:21. The video quality is as good as it gets for this old format.

The Mongols are bored waiting for the next battle. They slaughter some prisoners for amusement. Hsu Feng is the arraigned bride for Pai Ying, the Mongol leader. She fails in her assassination attempt. The first big fight is her against Pai Ying's men. Later, Hsu Feng and Chia Ling fight. The fight was good but it should have been one of the best fights ever considering the two talents.

Taiwan martial arts movies at this time tended to be a bit heavy on the drama. The first half of this movie takes too much time to set up the simple dramatic situations. The second half has much more action and there is the big final fight that has become a standard at this point. I only rate the movie as average for the year and genre. The star power seemed to promise more and better fights but did not deliver above average.