Heroes of the East

Here's another good Shaw Brothers action flick -- Heroes of the East. It's also known as Shaolin Challenges Ninja. This is another fine remastering job by Celestial Pictures, and it is 100 minutes of non stop kung fu greatness, released in 1978. The movie is divided neatly in two -- the first half of the movie is about the marriage between a Chinese scholar (Gordon Liu, sporting a not too friendly rug on his head), and a Japanese woman, played by Yuka Mizumo. She happens to be a judo and karate student, and to the consternation of the family servants, the grunts and groans aren't the passions of the newlyweds, it's the wife tearing the place apart while practicing! You have the ususal China vs Japan rivalry happening as the husband and wife demonstrate their home grown skills on each other, but Liu always wins (probably a nod to the home town crowd in Hong Kong). Frustrated, the wife splits for home in Japan. Liu, with a servants help, schemes to get her back, by issuing a challenge to her, daring her to come back and fight, and if he loses in any of the skills, he'll concede defeat. And this is where the second half of the movie starts. The wife shows the letter to an old lover, who happens to be a ninja expert, and he shows it to his fellow buddies at a martial arts school -- naturally, they are all pissed, and take up the challenge. So, it is non stop action as one by one they test their skills against Liu's. This makes for one hell of an entertaining movie, as the action is fast and furious, never boring. My only complaint -- minor, I guess -- is that the plot set up -- the relationship between the husband and wife -- fades away as you wonder which guy is going to kick Liu's ass all over the stage set. There is some sort of reconciliation, I guess because the wife suddenly dresses in Chinese garb as opposed to her kimono. Whatever. You ain't seen nothing until you see tri pole vs nunchucks! Recommended.