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.

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.