Synopsis: A young swordsman is tricked into stealing the Fire Dragon Magic Ball from Carefree Mansion's Master Hua while a masked killer seeks the magic ball for his own profit and kidnaps the daughter of Master Hua to reach his goal. (86 Mins)

​

Views: Opening with an attempted rape, we are instantly launched into the action as our hero (Hua Li Qun) rescues the girl from the attacking fiend. This great fight gives its audience a taste of what-to-expect as the men fly through the air on bladed-umbrella's, accompanied by some slick moves and great camera work. The next fight isn't too long in coming about and sees Hua go up against Cai Xing, a spear fighter who basically has a flame-thrower on the tip of his weapon. After a great battle, Xing submits and joins Hua for the rest of his journey. As they reach a nearby town, the duo bump into the rapist once again who opts to join the team and follow the great fighter in his search for the Fire Dragon Magic Ball. Once in his possession, Hua reveals that he wants to sell the treasured item much to the shock of his companions. His intention is to help feed the poor people in the south, who have been suffering from a severe drought. Not happy with his decision, the two followers soon poison the hero and attack him - but even weakened, Hua manages to stand his ground. Still, and only by luck, the criminals manage to steal the Magic Ball from him and leave Hua for dead. The hero is soon saved by the real owners of the Fire Dragon Magic Ball, and offers to retrieve the stolen treasure to help repay their kindness. But it's at this point that Hua finds out that his ball was a fake - something the two criminals find out at the same time. Under orders from a mysterious masked fighter, the double-crossing duo set out once again to find the real one while they search for Hua's body. From here, the story holds focus on Hua as he protects the real Fire Dragon Magic Ball and the family from the invading thieves – as well as falling in love with his saviour, played by Violet Pan...

​

While it may come across as a run-of-the-mill early-70's Taiwanese wuxia flick, The 8 Dragon Sword is actually a very fun and action-packed adventure which is overly ambitious with its innovative wire-fu and choreography. Starring veteran kung-fu actor and Shaw Brothers star Chen Hung Lieh as the main villain, the film may seem slightly dated today due to its typical 1960's theatrics and plot, but it still boasts a wide range of crazy weapons, interesting characters, and exciting fight scenes that hit the mark and keep things moving. The film was written by Taiwanese movie journeyman, Chin Sheng En, an actor/writer/producer who also directed films such as Duel With Samurai, One-Armed Swordswoman, Iron Ox The Tigers Killer, Immortal Warriors, and The Powerful Men with Robert Mak and Mark Long (which would also be his final movie). Popular actor Chiang Pin stars as the hero Hua Li Qun and does a great job as the leading man. Chiang had already starred in over 30 titles by this stage - many of which were with director Chin Sheng En - including titles such as Paid With Blood, Darkest Sword, Blood & Guts, and Hellfighters. He would go on to star in almost 80 titles during his career like Angry Hero, 18 Shaolin Disciples, Shaolin Kung Fu Mystagogue, Eagles Claws & The Butterfly Palm, and Legend Of A Tycoon in 1981 that saw him star alongside Sibelle Hu in his final film role. The lovely Violet Pan co-stars as Hua's saviour and love interest in a role that came about half-way through her career. Violet had already starred in the fun 13 Worms, Come Drink With Me, Magnificent Trio, One-Armed Swordsman, and Hellfighters with her co-star Chiang Pan. And much like Chiang, she would continue to work through to the early/mid 80s with roles in The Master & The Kid, The Bone Crushing Kid, Burning Of The Red Lotus Monastery, and a final role in John Woo's Run Tiger Run. But almost 2 decades later, Pan would reappear on the big screen for a brief role in Jackie Chan's hugely underrated Hollywood flick, Around The World In 80 Days.

​

Fight directors Yu Tien Lung and Pan Chang Ming handle the often wild, but very innovative choreography that proves to be some of the better action from its era. Starting his career as an actor and choreographer in the late 1960s, Yu Tien Lung worked on many titles such as Infernal Street, Five Kung Fu Daredevils, and Ways Of Kung Fu, as well as directing a handful like Eagle's Claws & The Butterfly Palm, Heroes In Jail, and Ghost with Wu Ma and Blacky Ko later in his career. Pan Chang Ming, an actor and choreographer that came about a few years later, worked on (and starred in) titles such as Jimmy Wang Yu's One-Armed Boxer, Super Dragon, Snuff Bottle Connection, and Devil Girl 18 with Yukari Oshima. Here, his work on The 8 Dragon Sword would be his first project as a fight choreographer, and along with Yu (who already had a handful of jobs behind him by this stage) proved to be very capable in putting together some exciting action scenes between them. This was the 4th film of director Gam Sing Yan, and while I've never seen any of his other titles (at time of writing), I'll definitely be searching for them in the near future. Nicely shot, with plenty of great fight-action and great locations, The 8 Dragon Sword is a lot of fun and delivers a lengthy end-battle that's very well executed. At times, the film feels as if it was directed by King Hu with Tony Ching Siu Tung behind the often-wild choreography, and its great to see that it can sill entertain just as much, over 50 years later. I wouldn't mind seeing a nicely cleaned up version of this on Blu-ray!

​

Overall: Old-school but inventive, The 8 Dragon Sword stands-out from other wuxia films of this period!