Hong Kong / Dec 31, 1970 / This is a film of great importance. It's the first Mandarin martial arts film by Chor Yuen, marking the turning point in the career of the great director. Chor had enjoyed a successful career in the Cantonese cinema before his highly unlikely feat of making a glorious crossover to the other side of Hong Kong film's dialect divide. After Cold Blade, he would go on to make a string of similarly stylized swordplay films that are considered exemplary works of martial arts cinema. Cold Blade was considered lost when a print was discovered a few years back, generating great excitement despite the misfortune that a segment of the print was without sound. The Hong Kong Film Archive was fortunate to have located another print with a complete soundtrack, safeguarded in France by the collector Marie-Claire Quiquemelle. Though the lengths of the two prints do not match, the Archive's conservation team was able to restore the film to a condition much closer to that of the original. Extensive color grading was also done when this restored print was struck. (HKFA)
Cold Blade (1970)
Overall average
5.0/10
Plot
Chor Yuen was Gu Long before he started filming Gu Long. The director's first wuxia film, made at Shaws' rival Cathay, finds him relishing in a mode of expression that would later become the signature style of the 'martial-arts suspense thriller' mini-genre. Chor grafts the quasi-psychological stylishness of his Cantonese melodrama onto this actioner, laying on thick the atmosphere by dialling up the fog machine and unleashing the colours from his camera's palette. He also stages his fights in modern dance-like choreography, with moves that are more graceful than ferocious and paused poses that are longer on expressive narcissism than continuity of action. Cold Blade is the quiet beginning of an aesthetic.
Genres
Technical details
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Original title | 龍沐香 |
| Original language | 普通话 (ZH) |
| Spoken languages | 普通话 |
| Status | Released |
| Production companies | Cathay Studios |
| Official site | mcms.lcsd.gov.hk |
| Release date | 31 dicembre 1970 |
| Production | Choo Kok Leong |
| Writer | Chor Yuen |
| Editing | Wang Zhao-Xi |
| Cinematography | Lee Man Kit |
| Assistant directors | Chor Yuen |
| Music | Yan Sit-Ping |
| Sound | Yan Sit-Ping |
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| Costume design | Sung Siu-Kong |
| Makeup | Sung Siu-Kong |
| Hairstyling | Sung Siu-Kong |
Release dates
Theatrical release
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