Product Details

• Actors: Yu Wang, Tien Wu Chu, Kang Chin, Chung-erh Lung, Chia Yung Liu
• Directors: Yu Wang
• Writers: Yu Wang
• Producers: Cheuk Hon Wong
• Format: Anamorphic, Color, Widescreen, Letterboxed, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: Cantonese
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Pathfinder Home Ent.
• DVD Release Date: December 7, 2004
• Run Time: 93 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0002ZDW8A
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #63,529 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Master Of The Flying Guillotine (Two-Disc Anniversary Edition)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE ANNIV - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic Kung-Fu Theatre, August 20, 2002

By 

Alan Olsen (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Master of the Flying Guillotine (DVD)

I saw this in the theatre just a couple of weeks ago. This movie was not only a big influence on kung-fu movies, but also on the fighting genre of video games. After watching this movie you will notice certain similarities between it and the "Street Fighter" video games. (Including the yogi with the stretching arms.)

The movie is actually the second movie in the "one arm boxer" series. (There are flashbacks to the previous movie.) The blind monk (the master of the flying guillotine) gets word that his two disciples have been killed by the one arm boxer. He goes on a hunt for the one arm boxer. Being blind, he tends to kill a number of the wrong people along the way, but that does not matter to him in the slightest. (Being the nasty next to unkillable uber-villian he is.)

While the blind monk is out looking for the one arm boxer, there is a kung-fu tournement being held. This is a great excuse to have a bunch of martial artists with various styles. Did I mention that this was a fight to the death or severe maiming? There are some great over the top kung-fu battles up until the tournement is interupted by the blind monk. The one arm boxer is , of course, at the tournement.

Many of the styles are just plain impossible. But that is half the fun!

I won't spoil the rest of the film. It is very enjoyable. The print I saw had some odd defects from the negative used to print the film. There are also some scratches and other misc problems. They do not detract from the experience in the slightest. It was also subtitled and not dubbed. Hopefully the DVD will not suffer the same fate as most Chinese films released in the US. (Cut to ribbons and dubbed with bad translations.)

If you are a kung-fu fan, especially of the old Shaw Brothers films, then you will want this one.

It is a big bloody. People do die in this film. It is not one where people just get beaten-up real bad and then run away. People can and do get hurt in this one. The film is probably better because of that.

One of the best kung-fu movies of all time.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Consummate Cult Classic, December 26, 2006

By 

Shawn McKenna (Modesto, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Master Of The Flying Guillotine (Two-Disc Anniversary Edition) (DVD)

Few films enjoy the moniker of a "cult classic." Few films have a one-armed hero, a blind antagonist who wields a Flying Guillotine, steal German techno music for the soundtrack, a martial arts tournament in the middle of the film, and have been inspirational to Quentin Tarantino and video games. Master of the Flying Guillotine (aka One-armed Boxer vs. The Flying Guillotine) is one of several old-school martial art films to take on an iconic stature amongst Asian film fanatics, amongst them include Five Deadly Venoms, Fist of Fury and Drunken Master. This movie is one of my favorite Taiwanese films - produced by First Films.

It is 1730 during the reign of Emperor Yung Cheng of the Manchu Dynasty and is in the case of all films about this oppressive era the protagonists are supporters of the Ming Dynasty. The awesome antagonist is a blind (disguised) Buddhist named Fung Sheng Wu Chi played with demonic fury by Kam Kong (Half a Loaf of Kung Fu). He wears Buddhist garb, has his own lifted musical theme of "Super 16" by the German group Neu! (they also use "Super" by Neu! in the opening theme and "Mitternacht", "Morgensparziergang" and "Kometenmelodie 2" by Kraftwerk in the film), throws bombs that remind me of Tim from Monty Python and the Holy Grail and carries an ingenious weapon called the Flying Guillotine, it was used earlier in the movie The Flying Guillotine (1975). This weapon is a round circular disk with serrated edges on the outside and a retractable net with sharp knives that can be thrown by its user to go over the head of its opponent and with a jerk of the attached chain rip off the head. It is also be folded and fit in your pocket! With this weapon and his learned knowledge that his students Chow Lung and Chow Fu were killed by the One-Armed Boxer he goes off in search of his revenge.

The One-Armed Boxer (Jimmy Wang Yu reprising his most successful role as well as directing this film) is the sifu of a martial arts school where he shows his students how to fight, walk on empty baskets and to walk on ceilings (it is all in how you breathe). His students want to enter a martial arts tournament run by Wu Chang Sheng of the Eagle Claw school but he fears that government might find them out. He does agree to go watch the tournament though.

The tournament is one of the many highlights of the film. While the tournament film was nothing new (Enter the Dragon was done several years earlier), the approach of many styles and deadly fighting would go on to influence video games such as Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter. There are nine fights that range in quality but most are memorable. The first is Long Spear Chang Chia Yu (actually uses a three-section staff) versus Long Stick Ho Po Wei. This is a short but decent fight that is more memorable because the underrated Lau Kar Wing (also one of the stunt coordinators) plays Chia Yu and that it is more calm than the fights about the happen. However there is much more: there is a Mongolian who looks more like a silent movie star (with his dastardly false mustache) than a Mongolian. There is a double fatality. There are crotch kicks, eye pokes, pole-fighting, a one-armed fighter who accidently shows his other arm, a cheating Thai fighter and an Indian fighter who can stretch his limbs (like Dhalsim in Street Fighter) to attack his opponents. One of my favorite fights is the fifth fight between Eagle Claws Wu Shao Tieh (Doris Lung) and a Monkey Boxer Ma Wa Kung who is small, agile and carries the fight between the two (being comic relief he will not win but he will not die either).

But this tournament is just a diversion. The main plot will continue after the abrupt conclusion of the tournament. There are still several fights to go and two are unforgettable. The first memorable fight involves the One-Armed Boxer vs. the Thai fighter. Though Wang Yu would have trouble with plot, dialogue and making sense in many of his films he has always had an interesting knack on weaponry and situations. Here he uses a small metal house to trap the barefoot Thai fighter while the OAB's students are piling wood and setting underneath the house ablaze making this a giant hotbox. This fight to the death is a bit difficult and is sometimes hard to watch but nonetheless a fantastic bout. Sometimes the hero must have some sadistic element in fighting his enemies. The last fight is an awesome inevitable confrontation between the protagonist and Fung Sheng. Here is where Fung Yu's ingenuity at situational martial arts comes to blossom. I will not tempt to spoil this be explaining it (just in case you have not watched it). I will say that it is the perfect ending to this momentous martial arts film.

There are a couple of good Master of the Flying Guillotine R1 DVDs out there by Pathfinder. Pathfinder has a 2002 (Ultimate Edition) and 2004 (2-disc Anniversary Edition) release. The latest release is preferable because of the anamorphic video transfer, additional interviews with Jimmy Wang Yu and an insert booklet with a several goods articles including the history of the Flying Guillotine, the movie itself and one on Wang Yu. It is important to mention to extreme collectors that the commentaries are different on both disks. The first one has Wade Major and Andy Klein, the second adds Alex Luu to the mix. I was not particularly impressed by the second commentary. While they acknowledged their mistakes in the first one (such as calling this a Hong Kong film) they still did not add as much factual information as they could (name the music that was lifted instead of saying a German band) and they digressed a few too many times. While this film could use a better transfer (this is still a decent transfer and both Pathfinder versions seem to have the same quality, I just wish Criterion would pick this up; wishful bizarre thinking I know) it is great to see in a good-enough widescreen version with Mandarin dialogue.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Classic, in a way..., October 29, 2003

By 

Low-Ranking Reviewer "tell it like it is" (US of A) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Master of the Flying Guillotine (DVD)

There are two types of classic movies:
1. the "so well made, performed, and executed"
2. the extremely influential or 'cult status' types.

Master of the Flying Guillotine falls under the latter. Influential to video games with its gimmicky fighters, it's flying guillotine, memorable characters(one-armed boxer, blind monk), and various fighting techniques. It has deservedly attained cult status because of these and more. The fight scenes, including a long tournament of numerous(although fairly brief) fights between different contenders is worth the watch alone. Most of the fight scenes are good, esp. for a movie this old. The only scenes that kinda disappoint are the ones that contain the one-armed boxer in them(Jimmy Wany Yu just isn't that impressive in his martial arts or charismatic in his performance, resulting in more than one veiwer rooting for his opponents instead i'm sure). There are some cheesy elements like the dubbing, Jimmy walking up walls(???), some less than convincing decapitations...then again, this movie has flying guillotine-induced decapitations, Jimmy walking up walls(!!!), and classic cheesy 70's dubbing! See, it's all how you look at things or perceive them.

Anyhow, the dvd has a good picture quality, a lot more extras(including audio commentary, deleted scenes, original languge option, etc) than usually afforded to old-school kung fu films, and again a great extended tournament fight that is reason enough to watch if not buy this dvd. I'm glad I have this in my collection anyway. Definitely recommended, just don't expect the first definition of classic.