alexanderdavies-99382 "The Silent Flute" originated from an idea by Bruce Lee, who collaborated with James Coburn and Sterling Siliphant on a screenplay to bring the project to life. After "Warner Bros." showed slight interest, the three men embarked upon a location scouting in India during 1971. Unfortunately, no film resulted apart from a few photos of Bruce Lee in the Indian desert. The idea concerned a martial artist named Cord who is summoned to embark upon a journey of self-discovery and knowledge about martial arts in general. He needs to travel many miles and endure several challenges along the way from different opponents. During his travels, Cord hears a flute being played and is summoned by a blind martial artist who guides him during his travels. The flute in question is one that only certain people are destined to hear, hence the name of the film. James Coburn was to have played Cord the seeker and Bruce Lee was due to play numerous supporting characters - including that of the blind martial artist. I have every reason to believe that Lee's writing skills would have served him well if he had made his own version and also that being a philosopher would have been another advantage. By the time the film was released, the final version bore little resemblance to what Bruce Lee and company had envisioned. Coburn and Siliphant publicly stated that the 1978 film was nothing like what they had written. Judging the finished film on its own merits, "The Silent Flute" isn't as terrible as one might think and at least the film made some effort in being a bit different to other martial arts movies. The fight scenes aren't as good as they should have been but would have been worse if Karate champion Joe Lewis hadn't intervened. It makes sense to have David Carradine involved after his phenomenonal success with the "Kung Fu" series. He plays four different characters and they are the ones Bruce Lee would have played (who added a 5th one in the original screenplay). Unfortunately, once again Carradine gives a step by step guide on how NOT to be a martial artist! Joe Lewis said as much whilst he was on the set. As Cord, we have a completely obscure name in Jeff Cooper. He has long been forgotten and he certainly wasn't cast due to his having any acting ability! He also gives martial arts a bad name. Roddy McDowall, Eli Wallach and Christopher Lee make the most of their limited screen time. There is some imagination in the screenplay although none of the original script was used. Bits and pieces of Bruce Lee's vision is in evidence on occasion. The location was changed to that of Israel and I thought it a good idea. A flawed film but an interesting one.

Uriah43 This movie takes place in a mythical world in which certain warriors fight for the honor to face a man known as "Zetan" (played by Christopher Lee) in order to obtain a mysterious "Book of Enlightenment" that he keeps under his personal protection. That being said, having fought and been disqualified in a contest to be allowed to find and defeat Zetan, a warrior named "Cord" (Jeff Cooper) sets off on his own and subsequently encounters several trials which serve as lessons that mold him into a better fighter and a more enlightened person as well. Now, from what I understand, this movie was influenced by Bruce Lee with the intention of blending martial arts and Zen Buddhism together. And while it certainly offers some interesting insights and showcases some beautiful scenery, the film as a whole didn't necessarily impress me all that much. For starters, although it certainly had some good actors, none of them performed that spectacularly. On that note, I didn't much care for the acting of Jeff Cooper and I thought that the limited role given to Eli Wallach (as "the Man in Oil") was a big waste of talent. In addition to that, despite the good cast, I thought that the "lessons" conveyed lacked both depth and any real meaning which caused the film to suffer as a result. In short, I don't consider this to be a good movie by any means and I have rated it accordingly. Below average.

Daryl_G_Morrissey Tie two birds together. Even though they have four wings they cannot fly. - The Blind ManSYNOPSISSet in a land of the past, or a possible future, a Martial Arts tournament is held to find a champion. This champion, will become The Seeker and will undertake a journey to find Zetan and the Book of Enlightenment. Along the way The Seeker will encounter three trials, which he must solve, or defeat, before he can reach the book.THE CASTThe Silent Flute boasts an impressive cast, that include ;David Carradine, Jeff Cooper, Christopher Lee, Roddy McDowall, Eli Wallach, Anthony De Longis and Earl Maynard.VERDICTAs it is damn near impossible to locate an original script, for this movie, it is hard to tell what has been removed and added. Therefore, the film has to be seen as only having Bruce Lee's name on it, not his influence. Having said that, there is still a lot of philosophy and teachings from the scriptures, to stop this from being your typical martial arts movie. But, is The Silent Flute a martial arts movie? It certainly has some martial arts in it, but it is more of an adventure about the search for the Book of Enlightenment, than a typical beat-em- up movie. Maybe that is why it was misunderstood and panned so violently by the critics. Even some of Brice Lee's fans hated the movie, thereby missing the point of the entire story. There are no stand-out performances, in the movie, possibly down to the director being Richard Moore, in his one and only directorial role. Richard Moore was best known as a cinematographer, which can be seen quite clearly in The Silent Flute. There are many problems with this movie, but the good parts far outweigh the bad. Also, the backdrop of Israel, with its Roman ruins and landscapes, really help this movie, adding a mystical element to this fantasy story.

poe426 On paper, this one sounded like a winner: written by the stalwart Sterling Silliphant as a starring vehicle for Bruce Lee and James Coburn, THE SILENT FLUTE had must-see written all over it. But Fate had other plans, and we ended up (again) with David Carradine co-opting a Bruce Lee scenario. (The first time around, stepping in to star in the TV series KUNG FU when the tunnel-visioned Hollywood hierarchy judged Bruce Lee "unbankable.") Carradine, bless 'im, just wasn't up to the task. Reprising his Kwai Chang Caine persona, he drifts through CIRCLE OF IRON like a sleepwalker. Jeff Cooper (a Joe Lewis wannabe without either the charisma or the athletic ability) is at times downright laughable as the hero. I confess I was there when this one opened- but I was misled into believing that Bruce Lee's vision had been brought to the screen. Not so. There are traces of his philosophy throughout, but the whole leaves very much, indeed, to be desired.