Master of the Flying Guillotine (1975)

[Scott]

MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE (1975) - Considered one of the classics of the Kung Fu genre this film has all types of martial arts fighters converging for a fighting tournament. The main part of the story centers around a one armed boxer and a blind master monk with an unusual weapon in the form of a flying circular guillotine attached to a long chain that takes the heads off of its victims. Solid Kung Fu film with a lot of action. The beginning with the master monk practicing was interesting and also how the blind monk could use such a strange device. Sundance Channel showed this one wide screen the other night.





Post Edited (11-07-04 17:29)

[The Burgomaster]

There is a new DVD release of this coming out soon.  The ads say that it has "digitally corrected color," which makes me believe that the version that is currently available on DVD might have color problems.  I have always wanted to see this movie, so I'll probably buy myself a copy.

[Dropo]

I like the guy who can stretch out his arms

[Scott]

Yea the guy from India has the ability to stretch his arm out an extra 3 feet. They also had a clever Japanese fighter and I think that other rude one was suppose to be a Thai boxer. It was a good film made two years after ENTER THE DRAGON.

[Brother Ragnarok]

I've got the current DVD pictured in Scott's post, and I didn't notice any color problems.  It looks fine to me.
The movie isn't quite as exciting as I'd hoped, there are looooong stretches where nooooooooothing happens.  Also a surprising lack of blood during the decapitations, but it's still a cool addition to any collection.

[Jim H]

The DVD has flicker, but nothing serious.  

The film is one of the most entertaining films of all-time.  I do agree there are a few non-fighting bits that go on too long (like Win Without a Knife talking to the girl, the One-Armed Boxer's introduction, etc).  

Fantastic movie though.  Gotta love Fung Sheng's (the Master of the title) theme, which is called Super 16.  You can hear it for a few seconds in Kill Bill vol. 1.

[Mr. Hockstatter]

That was one weird movie.  I really liked that tournament towards the beginning where everybody seemed to have a different fighting stule.  Pretty bloody.

[Max Gardner]

I remember seeing this a couple of times back in the day on Channel 48, which used to show old Kung Fu movies every Saturday. I think the monkey man and the guy with the turban and stretchy arms were my favorite characters.

[Master Blaster]

I totally forgot about this movie. I remember seeing it on cable when I was a kid and thinking "wow, the special olympics of Kung-Fu" Isnt the bad guy blind and the hero one armed or something?

[Yaddo 42]

Who knew MacGyver's ancestors were Chinese? Spring loaded hatchets!

I always wondered why "Wins Without a Knife" would advertised his trick by such bad misdirection. "What officer? No, there are no drugs in the car! Trust me! My name is I Don't Do Drugs Smith!"

Kind of like when I watched wrestling as a kid, I found myself rooting for the bad guys since they were cooler. The commentary guys get a laugh out of Yoga being consdiered a martial art. And also point out that due to Chinese/Indian political tensions it was common to put a stereotypical Indian character in films of the period and make him a bad guy. But that makeup ain't fooling anyone. Great fight with him and Wang Yu in the school.

And the music during the run through the tunnel, I'd love to find it.

Fantastic vintage trailers on the disc from Scott's image. The Chinese one seems to lift music from Emerson Lake and Palmer's "Karn Evil 9". I wish they made trailers from current films in the same over the top style as the old Amercian trailer. Who was the man that did the voice over for this and so many other trailer from my childhood?

[Blood_4_Blood]

due to the numerous re-naming of old Asian films, could someone please educate me if this is the same film as the "Fatal Flying Guillotine." Thanks.

-Chopper

[Brother Ragnarok]

There are actually three Flying Guillotine movies, I believe.  If memory serves, Fatal Flying Guillotine is the first one, different from Master of ".

[Scott]

Andrew has the Shaw Brothers FLYING GUILLONTINE in his review section on this site, but MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE is different. Which is suppose to be the better one? I've only saw one of the three.



Post Edited (11-12-04 16:55)

[Jim H]

I get the impression from most people Master is the best of the three.  You can also see the Flying Guillotine in several other Chinese films..  The most recent film I know of is the Iron Monkey 2 (which is not really a sequel to Iron Monkey, only in the sense that it has the same character in it).