Eight shaolin masters have gathered together to create the ultimate martial arts technique: the snake and crane style. However, one day, they mysteriously vanish, as does a book containing the secrets of the snake and crane fist. Some time later, the book unexpectedly turns up in the possession of an enigmatic wanderer, Hsu Yin-fung (Jackie Chan), who is well-trained in the style. Hsu is accosted or propositioned by a number of rival clans seeking possession of the book. In the case of Tang Ping-er (Nora Miao), she's hoping to find out what happened to her father, who was one of the masters. Master Huang (Tung Lin) plans to dominate the martial arts world with the book, while his daughter Hung Chu (Kim Jeong-nan) is fascinated with our enigmatic hero. Hsu is dismissive of their bribes and naturally a skilled enough fighter to fend off all challengers., especially armed with the snake and crane fist. However, when the true culprit is revealed, the rivals must stand with Hsu and bring the murderer to justice.
Everyone's gunning for Jackie Chan in Snake & Crane Arts of Shaolin, one of his better films from his pre-stardom days. Jackie Chan's road to super-stardom was a long one, and one of his stops on the way was working for the Lo Wei Motion Picture Company. Lo (1918-1996) started off as an actor in Shanghai before transitioning to directing film in 1953. His biggest claims to fame behind the camera are Bruce Lee's first two films, The Big Boss (1971) and Fist of Fury (1972), which were huge successes, elevating Lee to icon status and positioning Golden Harvest to challenge Shaw Bros.'s domination of the Hong Kong film industry. However, Lee and Lo were bitterly hostile toward each other, and the two parted ways under anything but amicable circumstances. Lo Wei and Bruce Lee, pretending to get along Lo, believing that he could make more blockbuster hits on his own, eventually founded his own studio in either 1974 or 1975 (depending on the source), with Willie Chan Chi-keung (1941-2017) brought on board as a producer. Willie had previously crossed paths with Jackie Chan on several past occasions, including observing Jackie performing a dangerous stunt on the set of Fist of Fury. Willie Chan was the one who persuaded Lo that Jackie Chan had potential as a star, and to cast him in New Fist of Fury (1976), an official sequel to the Bruce Lee original that brought back some of the supporting cast. Jackie, at the time, had quit the film industry after numerous false starts and a decline in the action genre overall, and was living with his parents in Australia. However, Willie's out of the blue phone call persuaded him to give the movie biz one more try. Unfortunately, Jackie's days being directed by Lo Wei were tumultuous at best, and while there were a few gems from this era, most were forgettable, and none of them were hits. Lo was determined to turn Jackie Chan into another Bruce Lee clone, a furious demon of rage and power - something Jackie was all too aware he could not pull off. Trying to be Bruce Lee simply went against his innate personality. As Jackie himself would later put it, Bruce Lee screamed in battle to show his power and ferocity. Jackie screamed to show how much hitting someone hurt your hand. Not only that, but Lo was overly reliant on stale formulas, which did little to draw audiences in, and only a couple of Jackie's films directed by Lo Wei himself hold up today. Chan had a little more creative freedom when working with director Chen Chi-hwa, a young director willing to take more chances than his boss, and the two worked well together, starting with Shaolin Wooden Men (1976). Their next film together was Snake & Crane Arts of Shaolin (1978), which finally gave Jackie Chan a chance to play a character suited to him, and arguably paved the way for his greater successes to come. It probably didn't hurt that Jackie also had Willie Chan in his corner, who talked Lo into coming up with a lighter role for Jackie to play. WARNING: Here be spoilers! Read further at your own risk! Eight shaolin masters have gathered together to create the ultimate martial arts technique: the snake and crane style. However, one day, they mysteriously vanish, as does a book containing the secrets of the snake and crane fist. Some time later, the book unexpectedly turns up in the possession of an enigmatic wanderer, Hsu Yin-fung (Jackie Chan), who is well-trained in the style. Hsu is accosted or propositioned by a number of rival clans seeking possession of the book. In the case of Tang Ping-er (Nora Miao), she's hoping to find out what happened to her father, who was one of the masters. Master Huang (Tung Lin) plans to dominate the martial arts world with the book, while his daughter Hung Chu (Kim Jeong-nan) is fascinated with our enigmatic hero. Hsu is dismissive of their bribes and naturally a skilled enough fighter to fend off all challengers., especially armed with the snake and crane fist. However, when the true culprit is revealed, the rivals must stand with Hsu and bring the murderer to justice. This is the third Jackie Chan movie I ever saw in its entirety (my first being Twin Dragons), not to mention one of my first old school kung fu movies period, and I've had a soft spot for it ever since. Having gotten a lot more exposure to the genre over the years, I've found new things to appreciate about this one that make it stand out from the dozens I've seen from the mid-to-late 1970s. For instance, Hsu Yin-fung doesn't seem to be motivated by revenge at any point, not even when one of his allies is killed - a refreshing change (although one I'll need to address later). Also, Hsu never goes through any sort of training sequence to improve his fighting skills as many other kung fu movie protagonists do. He's already nigh invincible from the start of the film. Lastly, while this isn't the action-comedy Chan would specialize in later on, Hsu has a very dry, sarcastic sense of humor, which he found a welcome change from the stoic performances Lo kept forcing him into, and you can see how he was able to set the stage for his first big hits. (By the way, if the music used during the opening titles sounds familiar, it's Pierre Arvay's "Ice Floe 9," which was also used in the opening titles of 1975's Monty Python & The Holy Grail. I have no idea if this was on purpose or if they just picked something in the public domain at random.) What's especially noteworthy to me as a longtime Jackie Chan fan is that Hsu Yin-fung is one of the the most badass characters I've ever seen Chan play. In many of his films, his characters often don't like to fight, and only do so because they have to - and they take a lot of punishment in the process. Some of them might enjoy fighting, but they usually don't have the skills to do so successfully until the final reel. But in Snake & Crane Arts of Shaolin, right from the get-go, he's mopping up the floor with everyone who takes him on, seemingly without breaking a sweat. If Hsu is ever on the ropes in this film, it's either because he's been taken completely by surprise and back-stabbed (literally), or his opponent - particularly frequent sparring partner Kam Kong - is just that damn good. Despite this, his on-screen foes still have enough skills to make the numerous fight scenes exciting, and Chan's talent as a fight choreographer allows for some impressive choreography. Even though Snake & Crane Arts of Shaolin pales in comparison to Chan's stunt-laden spectacles such as the Police Story and Armour of God films, it's not hard to see how Jackie Chan eventually became one of the biggest stars in Asia, not to mention action movie history. However, there were some missed opportunities here that could have made a good martial arts film truly great. As refreshing as it is that Hsu Yin-fung isn't driven by the over-used need for revenge, the film never tell us what does drive him. Yeah, we find out how learns the snake and crane style and how he got started on his mission, but what drove him to accept it in the first place? A sense of justice? A love of adventure? Nothing better to do with his time? Likewise, why did the villain want to learn the snake and crane style? What did he intend to do with it once he'd learned it? Why was dominance of the martial world so important to him besides for the evulz? And how did his wanting the book make him any different from anyone else who wanted it, other than him willing to kill a lot more people to get it? This is never explained, and the lack of characterization in other martial arts movies doesn't let this one off the hook (nor does it let those other movies). Also, the middle bogs down a bit, focusing on the excessive number of comedic sidekicks instead. Their fight scenes, lacking Jackie, are slower and more of a slot to sit through, despite some creative choreography. At least when Jackie's getting to show what he can do, the multitude of fight scenes that taken up most of the running time (in place of plot and character development) are a hell of a lot of fun to watch. Finding a good release of Snake & Crane Arts of Shaolin was a challenge for a long time. Every version I found on DVD was either dubbed, cut, or not region compatible. (And in too many cases, more than one of the above.) The main reason I haven't reviewed this one sooner was that I was holding out for a good release to own and recommend. Fortunately, a few months back, I happened upon a Korean release from Cleo Entertainment that fit the bill. I don't know how easy it is to find, but if you want to see an uncut version of the film with a Chinese language track and English subtitles that NTSC compatible, this is the one you want to get. Even the subtitle quality is pretty good, although for some odd reason, names in the subtitles are rendered in the Western convention with the given name first and the family name last ("Yin-fung Hsu," for example.) However, that's a minor nitpick, certainly not one that made it worth passing up this DVD. I'm not that much of a purist. Like Chan's previous films he'd made up to that point, Snake & Crane Arts of Shaolin didn't do that well at the box office, and helped contribute to Chan's reputation as box office poison. His next few movies didn't help matters, and eventually, Lo couldn't even get Jackie's movies distributed in theaters. However, Snake & Crane reportedly earned Jackie some serious cred in the industry, and it may have been the impetus for Seasonal's Ng See-yuen to borrow Jackie for a few months. This led to Chan's collaborations with Yuen Woo-ping, and the smash hits Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (1978), which I reviewed a few years ago, and Drunken Master (1978). After this, Jackie returned to Lo Wei's studio and made his directorial debut, Fearless Hyena (1979) - his first hit film under Lo, and the last complete film he'd make for him before moving on to Golden Harvest. (Lo apparently had triad connections and tried to force Jackie to come back, but things were settled eventually without too much hassle.) Getting back to Snake & Crane Arts of Shaolin, it's held in high regard by most kung fu movie fans, myself included. Not only do I enjoy it as a kung fu movie in its own right, but there's a strong nostalgia factor at play, reminding me of all the times I watched this one in college. Even though it lacks the flash and substance of his later movies, martial arts film afficionnados should definitely see Snake & Crane Arts of Shaolin. It may not have made Jackie Chan a star, but you can see the potential there, waiting to be tapped into by better filmmakers.
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