Photo of Chang Cheh

Chang Cheh

“I am wishing for a new fusion of art forms, not going back to the old way -- it's this type of thinking. If we want to go back to the old way, there really isn't much purpose for doing so. This is different from rejecting the artistic value of Peking Opera. The artistic value of Peking opera is in the essence of itself. Taking just a little of Peking opera and putting it in a new form is different from both schools that it originates from.”

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    Five Deadly Venoms

    FIVE DEADLY VENOMS

    CHANG CHEH Hong Kong, 1978

    The Venom Mob—five masked ruffians with singular fighting styles— would appear in dozens of films at Shaw Brothers, but Five Deadly Venoms is where they first made their mark. A Tarantino favorite endlessly sampled by the Wu Tang Clan, Chang Cheh’s kung fu murder mystery is a ferocious cult classic.

    The One-Armed Swordsman

    THE ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN

    CHANG CHEH Hong Kong, 1967

    A profoundly influential wuxia classic, this opus of dismemberment and revenge made a star of its leading man Jimmy Wang Yu. Stunningly shot on studio soundstages, The One-armed Swordsman sees director Chang Cheh elevate the Shaw Brothers house style to operatic levels of artifice and abstraction.

    Five Elements Ninjas

    FIVE ELEMENTS NINJAS

    CHANG CHEH Hong Kong, 1982

    As the golden age of kung fu movies drew to a close, the great filmmakers at Shaw Brothers began questioning the very tenets of the martial world. Punctuated with fierce stabs of color, this brutal late-period epic from director Chang Cheh calcifies the path of vengeance into nihilistic abstraction.

    The Boxer from Shantung

    THE BOXER FROM SHANTUNG

    CHANG CHEH, HSUEH LI PAO Hong Kong, 1972

    What good are codes of honor in an unchivalrous world? It’s the key question for director Chang Cheh in this period crime epic. With action staging by choreographer supreme Lau Kar-leung, The Boxer from Shantung builds to a pyrrhic last stand that ranks among the bloodiest battles in the Shaw canon.

    Crippled Avengers

    CRIPPLED AVENGERS

    CHANG CHEH Hong Kong, 1978

    Disabled heroes are a time-honored wuxia tradition, attesting to the power of kung fu dedication in overcoming physical adversity. Reuniting most of the Venom Mob, Chang Cheh stages some of his greatest dust-ups, while the gang weaponise their respective infirmities for a barnstorming battle royale.

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