The Secret Rivals

Sheng from the south and Shao from the north are rivals, but they have an enemy in common: the Silver Fox. That man killed Shao’s family and robbed Sheng’s palace. Each of them is beaten when he tries alone. In the end they put the quarrel between them aside and decide to move together. The film takes up directly the distinction between the southern fist and the northern kick that ran through Hong Kong martial arts cinema in the seventies, and it gives the fights without ornament. The account moves by showing that neither of them is enough alone; the real matter is not superiority but the point at which they will act together. John Liu and Hwang Jang-Lee appear in Ng See-Yuen’s ninety minute film, completed in 1976.