Martial arts movies don’t come more iconic than this kung fu masterpiece from director Lau Kar-leung. With an acute focus on the disciplines of combat, it’s the ultimate training film, as Gordon Liu’s lithe apprentice eschews the path of vengeance for one of grace and spiritual self-determination.

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.