The Winged Tiger [插翅虎] (1970)
Starring Chen Hung Lieh, Tien Feng, Angela Yu Chien, Annette Sam Yuet-Ming, Fang Mian, Ngai Ping-Ngo, David Chiang, Law Hon, Tong Tin-Hei, Cheng Lui, Wong Tat-Wah, Cheng Miu, Yip Bo-Kam, Yeung Chak-Lam
Directed by Shen Chiang
Expectations: Moderate. I’m interested to see Chen Hung Lieh in a good guy role.
If you told me that five years after the genesis of the traditional martial arts genre with Temple of the Red Lotus that film’s screenwriter would finally get a chance at both writing and directing, I would have guessed it would be something of a train wreck. Looking at Shen Chiang’s previous scripts, they range from OK (The Thundering Sword) to a little better than OK (The Silver Fox). So imagine my surprise when I sat down with The Winged Tiger and found myself fully immersed in a world of martial intrigue and wuxia heroics. The Winged Tiger is a great film, and one that is sure to excite genre fans.
There are two martial arts manuals that together contain the power to create an unstoppable martial artist. The chiefs of the major clans have gotten together and decided that they must be stolen and destroyed, as one of them is in the hands of the King of Hades (Tien Feng), while the other resides with the Winged Tiger. As you might guess from his name, he dresses in bright orange and black clothes and can fly because his costume has underarm wings that recall visions of flying squirrels. Anyway, the clan chiefs ask the Flying Hero (Chen Hung Lieh in his first hero role) to get the manuals back at all costs (including tricking the King of Hades into thinking he’s the true Winged Tiger) to avert a major martial crisis.