The Deadly Breaking Sword [風流斷劍小小刀] (1979)
Starring Ti Lung, Alexander Fu Sheng, Shih Szu, Ku Feng, Michael Chan Wai-Man, Lily Li Li-Li, Shum Lo, Chan Shen, Ai Fei, Teresa Ha Ping, Kara Hui, Keung Hon, Eddy Ko Hung, Ng Hong-Sang, Yuen Wah, Chow Kin-Ping, Austin Wai Tin-Chi, Yuen Bun, Cheung Kwok-Wah, Wong Ching-Ho
Directed by Sun Chung
Expectations: High! It’s Sun Chung’s follow-up to The Avenging Eagle!
I have long wondered what exactly a “Deadly Breaking Sword” is. It’s a title I heard many years ago and never quite understood. A sword that breaks isn’t much of a sword, right? Turns out the titular sword does break, but… it breaks on purpose! This title is also what our main character, Tuan Changqing (Ti Lung), is known by in the martial world, since he breaks an inch of his sword into the bones of his kills. The Deadly Breaking Sword opens with one of these battles, and I have to admit, I wasn’t all that impressed with Tuan. He’s pretty arrogant, and he seems to pick the fight for no other reason than to assert his dominance. The fight itself had great interplay between sword and halberd, but we’re not off on the right foot if I’m already disliking the main character.
So Tuan breaks off an inch of his sword, but this particular opponent, Lian San (Michael Chan Wai-Man), manages to ride away on a horse! I guess Tuan isn’t so infallible after all; you could say that he “broke” too soon! At this point, we shift gears and meet the other lead character, Xiao Dao (Alexander Fu Sheng), who is pawning everything he owns for gambling money. He’s an obvious trickster who plays by his own rules. The film’s Chinese title is actually a bit longer than its English counterpart, translating to something like The Distinguished Breaking Sword, Tiny Dagger. Xiao Dao is the “Tiny Dagger” of this title, and his weapon of choice follows suit. It seems Xiao Dao owes quite a sum at this gambling hall, and in an attempt to clear it, he wagers his life in servitude to the place. Meanwhile, a mysterious, high-class courtesan arrives at the renowned brothel next door and immediately starts turning heads. What martial intrigue awaits these three, seemingly unrelated characters?
The Deadly Breaking Sword is a surprisingly slow-paced and simple wuxia. To describe any more of the plot or the characters would give away too much and you’d start piecing it all together. Usually wuxias are derided (in the West) for being too complex, but I honestly could have done with a few more plot twists in this one! I wouldn’t call it a poorly constructed plot or anything, it’s well-written by the unceasing typewriter of Ni Kuang, but I do feel like it leaves possible excitement on the table. Without spoiling certain aspects, there are moments towards the end that might work better cross-cut, instead of played sequentially. There are also characters left out of certain moments for reasons I don’t fully understand. I mean, what do I know, I’ve never made a Hong Kong action film, but it just didn’t feel like the film realized its full potential for action and intrigue given the building blocks it had at its disposal. This would be a disappointment for any movie, but for Sun Chung’s follow-up to The Avenging Eagle, featuring much of the same cast, it’s a hard one to take.
The action stylistically felt like a middle ground between the approaches of Chor Yuen and Chang Cheh, combining Chor’s frequent wide takes of the fighters with out-of-focus flowering branches in the foreground, and Chang’s slow-motion and handheld camerawork. Sun Chung probably exhibited these qualities in previous films, but it was especially apparent here. While combining elements of past action styles to forge a new path forward, his overall camerawork feels more inventive and modern than either Chor or Chang. This evolution of style makes his films stand out from the traditional Shaw house style. His ability to find new angles and ways to shoot on the tried-and-true sets shines especially bright in this film.
Anyway, the action was choreographed by Sun Chung’s usual team of Tang Chia & Huang Pei-Chih. Their work is inventive and fun throughout, especially when sword and halberd clash, or when Ti Lung and Fu Sheng are together. To be honest, though, it was hard not to think about how much more exciting the Venoms’ choreography was in comparison. This is part of the curse (and the point) of watching the Shaw films in chronological order, because seeing this directly after Shaolin Rescuers made the respectable, accomplished action of The Deadly Breaking Sword seem less than. It is definitely slower and less intricate than what the Venoms were doing at this time, but the focus simply isn’t on displaying personal prowess like the Venoms do. I know personal preference and tastes play a huge role, and that I shouldn’t compare, but this is simply how I felt watching the film. It was compounded because I knew that this film made roughly HK$1 million more at the box office than Shaolin Rescuers, most likely due to the star power of Ti Lung and Fu Sheng. It’s understandable that the best movies aren’t always the most popular, but it still made me sad that the effort of the Venoms was not as rewarded as it should have been.
The Deadly Breaking Sword isn’t a bad movie — I liked it a lot — but it’s one that didn’t live up to my expectations. The story felt like a weak link, which is surprising as I generally love Ni Kuang’s work, but when you’re a credited screenwriter on 22 films for 1979 alone, it’s OK to not be 100% on one or two of them. Honestly, I’ll probably like it more when I watch it again, knowing exactly what I’m getting myself into and not expecting something on the level of The Avenging Eagle. I probably sound a little harsh, but missed potential is more frustrating to me than a flat-out bad movie. I can almost taste the greatness! With that all being said, there’s a lot to like in The Deadly Breaking Sword, so don’t let me discourage you from watching it yourself!
Extra note on the title: As I mentioned above, the film’s Chinese title is something like The Distinguished Breaking Sword, Tiny Dagger. I chose “distinguished,” as the definition for 風流 feng liu (literally wind flow) is listed as 1: refined and tasteful, 2: unrestrained in spirit and behavior, 3: romantic, amorous, licentious, 4: distinguished and accomplished, etc. So “deadly” isn’t really represented, unless we assume that a distinguished, accomplished sword is therefore deadly. The English title is certainly catchy, but I think the full title is better suited to the movie because it includes Fu Sheng’s character. He even asks at one point during the film if Tuan will bequeath the title of 風流 feng liu onto him so that he can be the “Distinguished Tiny Dagger.” The subtitles translate this use of the term as “gallant” (on the Shout Factory disc), and as “gallant and dashing” on the older iTunes release. I only picked this up due to the listening skills I learned while subtitling The Reckless Cricket, and while that’s not a big deal to anyone else, it was super cool for me to see that even in Mandarin some of my listening skills were helpful!
Additionally, I noticed that one of the cinematographers was Lam Nai-Choi, director of The Seventh Curse, Story of Ricky, and many other favorites! As a cinematographer he worked primarily with Sun Chung, shooting over a dozen of his Shaw films before getting his shot at directing with 1981’s One Way Only (co-directed with Danny Lee, his directorial debut as well) and then the 1982 Shaw film Brothers from Walled City, his first solo directing credit. Neato!
Next up in this chronological journey through the Shaw Brothers Martial Arts catalog is a remake of a classic Indian film called Deewaar… Hua Shan’s The Brothers! See ya then (hopefully soon)!