Il magnifico campione

THis is certainly one of the best of the films by Chang Cheh just before he wondered off into Deadly Venom fantasy land - this is a film made for adults, despite it's genre status, dealing with themes painful to the Chinese, and not very pleasant to the rest of us. Chang Cheh's behind-camera crew of the period is at the top of their form, and the film just looks good and feels right. But the focus of the film is Alexander Fu Sheng, and he is a real delight. I've seen him before, but never so charismatically riveting to look at, nor in so believable a performance. Furthermore, his fight scenes are top notch, and, clearly traditional, somewhat ahead of their time (although not in the credits of the version I have, almost certainly the work of Liu Chia Leung). But Fu Sheng is so adept in them - and so glowing with youthful confidence - I seriously think he could have whipped Bruce Lee; certainly this film could have positioned him to be the fabled "next Bruce Lee" that Hong Kong directors searched for, had he lived longer. But at least we have this one undeniable classic from Fu Sheng supported by a team expert in the genre .