[KFCC] Holy Flame of the Martial World Review

Story: Martial artists from many clans wish to locate the legendary weapon known as the ‘Holy Flame’. A young couple, who have two babies, are killed trying to protect secret scrolls which reveal where the Holy Flame is hidden. A martial arts master known as Yama Elder takes one of the babies, and raises him as his student, and vows that in 18 years time, the child shall take revenge for being orphaned.

18 years later, and Yama Elder tells Wan Tien Sau that he must avenge his parent’s death by fetching the Holy Flame, and mastering its secrets. Things are complicated by the revelation that there is another Holy Flame, and the entire martial world wants to get their hands on both powerful weapons. Also, weren’t there TWO orphaned babies?

Review: ‘Holy Flame of the Martial World’ has been lost to most fans of the genre for years. Despite it’s good reputation, the only way to see it has been on laserdisc, or on a tenth generation cropped VHS copy that will cost a fortune from some dubious website or elitist collector. This reviewer, for one, has been living in the hope that there would some day be a way to watch it properly, but until a year or so ago, it was widely accepted that most of the Shaw Brothers library had been lost to an un-archived chapter of cinematic history.

Well, as we all know, Celestial have recently come along and changed all that, and it isn’t disappointing to find that ‘Holy Flame of the Martial World’ is a corker of a film, which thanks to the wonders of technology, now looks pretty spiffing in it’s full widescreen, restored version.

Starting off in typical Wuxia fashion, there is way too much happening to fully absorb events. About two minutes in, half a dozen characters step forward and introduce themselves and the clans they represent, and twenty minutes later, it’s hard determine allies from enemies, good guys from bad guys, or even to decide which plot information you can brush aside in order to follow the basics. While some Wuxia films manage to cope, it’s not uncommon for others to lose some of the audience when things get too crowded. Despite the energetic pace, this film nearly collapses under it’s own weight, but then begins to find it’s focus, and the important characters and events begin to stand out among the peripheral action.

It feels like the cast had fun working on this movie, and it’s infectious. The cast are a likeable bunch, and the familiar revenge plot is not too dark, but rather buoyant and cheeky in tone, with occasional dashes of slapstick. The special effect action sequences are cheap and cheerful, and always inventive. Look out for the Blood sucking clan and their reanimated corpses (one of whom speaks a little English), the huge puzzle which Tien Sau has to solve by fighting with it, and the various animated lightning bolts and fireballs. Best of all is Yama Elder’s ‘Ghostly Laughter’ technique, which despite making it’s practitioner look a bit stupid, is a devastating attack. Finish off the whole thing with the usual Shaw Bros costumes and elaborate sound-stage sets, and this is a great little film worthy of anyone’s attention. Flawed, but ultimately ace.