The New One-Armed Swordsman

Lei Li is young and gifted with a sword. Tricked and defeated in a duel, he keeps his word and cuts off his own arm, giving up fighting. He works as a waiter in an inn. Then his only friend is killed and he has to go back. Chang Cheh directs. David Chiang plays Lei Li and Ti Lung plays his friend Feng. It is a Shaw Brothers production. What to know about the series: this is the third one armed swordsman film and is not a continuation of the first two. Jimmy Wang Yu played the part in those. When Wang Yu left the studio, Chang Cheh rebuilt the idea from scratch with a new character and a new actor. Chang Cheh's cinema in this period is defined by brotherhood and blood. The real centre is the friendship between Lei Li and Feng; the female character is almost entirely at the edge, and that is not an accident but the director's deliberate world. The finale is remembered as one of the bloodiest reckonings in the genre and is typical of Chang Cheh's habit of finishing his heroes by using their bodies up. Who it is for: viewers who like Shaw Brothers action and the wuxia of the early seventies. Who it is not for: anyone looking for a female character or for measured violence. The film offers neither.