poe426 With so many of Chang Cheh's stalwarts on hand, it's impossible not to like TEN TIGERS OF KWANGTUNG. The always reliable Ti Lung (the backbone of so many martial arts epics over the years) plays Li, a pawn shop owner whose pawn shop has a hidden room for hiding anything and anyONE of value. It's not long before the masked revolutionary Cai, on the run from Qing minions, turns up needing "any port in a storm." Lung naturally puts him up. Enter Lo Meng as "Iron Finger" Chen, and things start to get still more interesting. It isn't long before The Lucky Gambling House becomes a battleground. (At one point, a villain dangling by his heels from the ceiling is literally decapitated by a drop kick...) Among the few extras on the DVD I have is a 2001 poem by Chang Cheh. The last two lines are interesting: "What does opulence amount to? Only a dream across the silver screen!"

Eunus This film is supposed to tell the story of real-life 19th century pugilists but, not surprisingly, it doesn't have the slightest concern for historical accuracy. The hairdressing is terrible, to start with. Most actors don't have their hair combed back, let alone shaved pates, and there we have lots of Bruce Lee clones wandering around and even an Elvis Presley in Lung Tien-hsiang. Another disappointment is Beggar So played by Phillip Kwok, which stands far too superficial compared to more down to earth depictions of the character. On the other hand, what gets me really going is the bad guys, Wong Lik portraying a very successful archvillain while Chan Shu-kei appears in the underrated role of a small "death on two legs". As for martial arts credits; although this film has a brilliant choreographers' portfolio, the empty hand scenes are very very average, Sun Chien being even well below it. However, the day is saved by the display of many exotic weapons (concealed, flexible, etc.) including the genuine "femme fatale" Mermaid's Tail, which you won't see much in those films. Nevertheless, I want to emphasise that the cast is magnificent, bringing a distinguished selection of Shaw Brothers martial art actors together and making this film a perfect...8!

nonicetime When I watch Kung Fu films I usually like to take off my thinking cap and drown myself in action and cheesy plots. Very rarely do I encounter a Kung Fu film where I find myself confused when the ending comes, and this is exactly where I found myself at the end of Ten Tigers of Kwangtung. This film has one of the greatest Shaw Brothers casts of all time. Ti Lung, Fu Sheng and the Venoms are the lead actors and are all in top form. In case you haven't see it is about a group of fighters teaming up to protect a Ching loyalist. The group of fighters will eventually come to be known as the Ten Tigers and safely guide this Ming rebel to the South to meet with his troops. There are a lot of plot twists and betrayls in between all of this. There are a lot of flashbacks in this film. It starts off in the present time with Ming loyalists trying to kill off the disciples of the Ten Tigers and flashes back to why they want to kill them. The flashbacks show in detail how the Tigers were formed and the film does it's best to develop each character. The knock on this film is that there are too many characters, flashbacks and plot twists. These are the reasons why this film is great IMO and maybe even the greatest. There aren't many Kung Fu films that you have to watch a few times to really understand and the fighting is top notch. If you haven't seen it be sure to watch it and if you have seen it watch again, more than once

hiroyukiwu Forget the previous comment by the inknowleagible reviewer, this film is a classic on many levels. Ti Lung,Alex Fusheng,Chiang Sheng,Lo Meng, Lu Feng, Sun Chien,Wang Li, Wei Pai,Dick Wei(!),Wang Lungwei,Chin Siuho (!),Tien Shenglung, Ku Feng. This is one hell of a stellar cast, 1979, hong Kong! You even got the five venom's in there for Christs sake!The story is a basic one, with Wang Li hiding a government wanted man, for trying to bring down the Ching, Wang Li believes that he alone cannont protect and deliver this man to mainland China and so enlists the help of many kung fu masters to execute his plan. there is a sub plot also, that which is of revenge, a nice new thing for kung fu films! The fight scenes are bar none, with kicks aplenty and somersaults in every scene, highly recommended!