Cub Tiger from Kwang Tung (c.1971) August 27, 2008
Posted by Cal in : Action, 1970s films , trackbackDirector: Ngai Hoi Fung Main Cast: Jackie Chan; Chan Hung Lit; Shu Pui Pui; Tin Fung Territory: Hong Kong
The widely held belief of Cub Tiger from Kwang Tung is that some of it was shot, the production ran out of money and the whole thing was abandoned and forgotten about until Jackie became a star, whereby some new (Jackie-less) scenes were filmed to create Master with Cracked Fingers (AKA Snake Fist Fighter). Jackie Chan himself, it seems, also holds this belief.
However, the truth is this film was undeniably completed (it has a beginning, a middle and an end), and watching it now is an eye-opener. This is a pre-New Fist of Fury starring role for Jackie (billed as Chan Yuen Lung – “Yuen Lung” being Sammo Hung’s old opera name) and I’m pretty sure it has no precedent. The film itself is almost immaterial when compared to its historical significance, and that’s just as well as it isn’t that good. Following the template made by The Big Boss, Lung (Chan) stands up to a bunch of local hoodlums but is forbidden to fight by his father. Cue lots of agonising “should I fight, or should I do what my father wants?” internal struggles from the young (and I mean young) star. The script tends towards sentiment and melodrama too much for my liking, and I sometimes felt I was being repeatedly hit on the head by moral dilemma after moral dilemma.
But Jackie’s litheness startled me after watching latter-day efforts like The Tuxedo – he flips, gambols and jumps about all over the place like the star he would become. I hadn’t seen this film before, but I had seen Master with Cracked Fingers. I only saw it once, but rather enjoyed it despite feeling that something wasn’t quite right about it (I don’t think I even twigged that it wasn’t Jackie in the newer material – I was very much a novice at that time). Maybe the extra material added another dimension (well, Yuen Siu-Tin was involved, so it’s possible) but Cub Tiger from Kwang Tung is a very forgettable entry in the genre if judged on its own merits.
But if you’re a Chan completist like me, you’ll probably find this movie pretty fascinating. Hong Kong movie information is hard to substantiate, but I think this was made around the time of Not Scared to Die and Police Woman (actually, this film has the same director as the latter) but Chan had relatively minor roles in those films. Even though the movie is less than stellar, the moves and a little of Chan’s impish humour is there. If you’re new to Jackie Chan, get his better films first (anything made between 1978 and 1991 would be a good bet), but if you’ve explored his Lo Wei films and want to know where it really all began, then this is a must.
No review of the film is complete without at least mentioning the state the film’s actually in. Even at its best, the picture quality is pretty rough, and the print has severe wear to it. The screen is cropped (I don’t know why) and this has resulted in the obliteration of some of the original subtitles. To get around this, the option of watching the film with “extra subtitles” is given on the Rarescope DVD – remastered, removable subs that appear every time the originals are at least partially obscured by the cropping. It’s a nice touch (I know a lot of companies wouldn’t have bothered) but it can be a little distracting for the eye to keep switching between two sets of subtitles – especially when you can still read the original text and the remastered subs say something quite different!
The DVD has one surprise up its sleeve – someone’s personal camcorder recording of Jackie’s appearance at a movie screening in Britain around the time of Mr Nice Guy. This footage made me remember why I like Jackie the man and why I’m slowly getting sick of my own countrymen and our loutish behaviour. Jackie is heckled throughout the appearance by catcalls of “let’s see some moves” (are these people really fans?) and is asked by Toby Russell (of “Eastern Heroes” fame - I’m pretty sure it’s him anyway) when he’s “going to make Drunken Master 3” (despite the Jackie-less but definitely official Drunken Master 3 coming out the same year as its predecessor). Jackie smiles and is extremely gracious throughout despite the lack of manners being shown to him and the awkward silences that ensue when it becomes clear he’s not going to start doing his Drunken Monkey routine. He’s a class act, and perhaps the only good thing to come out of his international success later in that decade was that he wouldn’t have to do crap like that anymore.
Comments»
Ahhhhh. So this is the one you were going to review
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It is hard to trust JC on quite a bit of what he states (he is not the only actor I’ve seen this with though). He tends to forget many facets of his career (sometimes it helps with their psyche). Finding “correct” information on JC is quite difficult. He is not always truthful (sometimes that is just the problems with memory) and many writers have written wrong information on him too — sometimes with malice.
It is always interesting to see JC flip and do more acrobatic work which you occasionally see afterwards until about 1978 where he does less and less and concentrates more on just fighting and stunts.
This movie is not the easiest to write a long review on though
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Self promotion: http://hkmdb.com/db/reviews/show_review.mhtml?id=13772
Are the screenshots from the newer material then? Because that really doesn’t look like Jackie Chan (also wondering if this was made before or after he had the eye operation done).
Chris: believe it or not, all of these screenshots are from the original film - and that IS Jackie Chan! From my shaky calculations, he would have been about 17 years old and approximately 6 years before his eye operation.
Shawn:Yes I know, it’s very problematical getting accurate information on JC - I STILL can’t find reliable info on release dates for almost all of his Lo Wei films - they all tend to be dated at 1978 for some reason, but that can’t be right. You’re right, it’s impossible to do a long review of this - it’s BIG BOSS-lite and that’s pretty much it. Glad I saw it though!
The Jackie Chan false info is mostly from his autobiography, which he didn’t actually write. It was written by Jeff Yang, with an uncredited asssist from Ric Meyers, both of whom know jack squat about martial arts cinema despite being “experts.” Jackie himself is under some delusion that he was a Bruce Lee clone
These are the releases dates for the Lo Wei films (HK unless otherwise noted). its possible their Taiwanese release pattern was different, and they do not seem to have been released in production order
(thanks to HKFA!)
New Fist Of Fury (July 1976)
Shaolin Wooden Men (October 1976)
Killer Meteors (1977 Korea)
To Kill With Intrigue (July 1977)
Snake & Crane Arts of Shaolin (March 1978)
Magnificent Bodyguards (April 1978)
Spiritual Kung Fu (November 1978)
Half A Loaf Of Kung Fu (1978 Korea/1980 HK)
The Fearless Hyena (February 1979)
Dragon Fist (April 1979)
Fearless Hyena II (April 1983)
I still haven’t seen Cub Tiger, which puzzles me cause I loved the Master With Cracked Fingers re-edit. I’ll put it on my birthday wish-list!
Actually there is a good reason why many are dated 1978. Lo Wei did not have the money to release several of the JC movies until after the success of Snake in Eagle’s Shadow/Drunken Master like Dragon Fist in 1979.
Half a Loaf of Kung Fu (1978) is a little weird though. I got the impression from JC bio that this was released in 1980 after the triad/Lo Wei/Young Master/Wang Yu incident which resulted in Lo getting the rights to finish Fearless Hyena 2 and put out some of the older JC Lo Wei produced material.
One important note is that since JC was now popular in HK at 1978, I’m sure they rereleased several of the older films that year that had short runs. This is just a guess though.
Thanks guys. James, that list does actually make some sense out of the chaos of the Lo Wei era. One question though and this has been bugging me since the very first time I saw it: DRAGON FIST was not actually made in 1979, was it? It would not make sense to have made that film after the success of SitES and DM, so I’m guessing that one was shot shortly before he was loaned to Seasonal? It’s coming up for review soon (although probably after I get back from holiday) and I’m going to credit it as 1978 unless you guys convince me otherwise.
There have been a few JC films I’ve only seen once (the aforementioned KILLER METEORS being one) but MASTER WITH CRACKED FINGERS was another and I really don’t know why - I distinctly remember enjoying it, and I’m sure the quality of the original material wasn’t as bad as it appears here. Still, the sense of wonder at seeing this in the original form is enough to cover some of the defects of the film.
Yes, I know the Lo Wei situation was a bit strange. I heard that the reason Half a Loaf (one of my favourite Lo Wei films) wasn’t released though was because of its mockery of Kung Fu conventions. Who knows? I, too, suspect the 1978 date that appears on so many of these films is a result of him hitting the big time!
About the JC autobiography: I never did put much faith in it right from the start. It’s entertaining enough, but when he makes a pun in English (if memory serves, it was about a “pane” of glass that was a “pain”) I said to myself: “hmm, Jackie didn’t write this, did he?”
“The Jackie Chan false info is mostly from his autobiography…”
Not quite. While this autobiography has quite a bit of problems, anyone who studies JC in detail will find there are problems all over the place from JC himself (Jackie Chan (Best of Inside Kung-Fu) interviews which came out before his autobio; you can notice he can be a bit wrong on the films that he done only a few years back) to The Essential Jackie Chan Source Book by Jeff Rovin (which also came out before his autobio) to Jackie Chan: Inside the Dragon by Clyde Gentry, to Bey Logan’s book (which is quite Sammo centric).
JC compounds this even with recent interviews, one notices his memory changes over time (being human that of course happens) and it is most evident when he discusses all the stunts he has done.
The biggest problem are Martial Art fanboys who think they know everything and quote nefarious sources to make JC look worse etc… (this is a problem of all actors who have rabid anti-fans).
Of course, this includes some of the same problems when studying HK film in general (especially if you add Taiwanese MA films).
From my Half a Loaf review: http://hkmdb.com/db/reviews/show_review.mhtml?id=10036
“Frustrated by the weak box office returns of New Fist of Fury and Shaolin Wooden Men, Lo Wei gave Jackie Chan creative control over the slapstick comedy Half a Loaf of Kung Fu. With Chan’s friend Chen Chi-hwa as director (Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin), Jackie wanted to make a film that was the antithesis of the current martial art dramas that were being shown. Jackie called this movie a “ninety-minute-long practical joke,” but Lo failed to find the humor and decided to vault this film and created his own comedy for Jackie the insipid Spiritual Kung Fu. Half a Loaf of Kung Fu would remain unwatched until 1980.”
Thing is, kung fu comedy was already coming into vogue, with the Karl Maka/Dean Shek films, and the lightening of tone seen with Sammo Hung and Lau Kar-leung. Either Lo Wei was REALLY behind the times, or there was another reason for the hold-up. Note Lo didn’t even release it in the immediate aftermath of Jackie-mania
I suspect Lo just thought it sucked, and to be fair it’s pretty messy. It did get its Korean release in 1978 (Korean co-production). Personally, I prefer Spiritual Kung Fu
Thinking about it, it could be Lo suffered a loss of face because Jackie and Chen Chi-wa apparently took the original script and went and did something different, which may have been seen as a real insult - though you’d think it be hard to insult Lo Wei, triad dealer, and director of tacky movies
“Note Lo didn’t even release it in the immediate aftermath of Jackie-mania”
Good point (not counting the Korean release time as you already stated) though I don’t think it is that hard to insult Lo Wei
. This is just speculation, but I think Lo really wanted to save face and not release Half a Loaf of Kung Fu — but with money problems, a meal ticket with JC going going gone, it was in his best interest to release it. Even directors who sleep on set and pay attention to ponies have feelings too. I’m being a bit facetious, but some people really do believe in their ability (like Ed Wood).
I still perfer Half a Loaf though…
Whaddaya mean?! Ed Wood was a fine director and what’s more, a fine dialogue writer: “future events such as these will affect you in the future”. I rest my case.
I have to agree with Shawn on the Half a Loaf/Spiritual Kung Fu debate. I watched them both relatively recently and thought Spiritual Kung Fu was quite poor. In fact, it irritated the hell out of me. Half a Loaf, meanwhile, still raises a smile.
Interesting point, James, about kung fu comedies coming into vogue anyway. I always thought Sammo Hung didn’t get enough credit for kick-starting many sub-genres of the HK action film, this one included, but you’re right about the Maka/Shek films too. Although I have to admit their style of comedy doesn’t always go down that well with me, and I will take Sammo and Jackie over ANYONE else on this.
I’m trying to think whether Fu Sheng had done much action comedy prior to the boom. I know he’d done bits here and there, but I certainly don’t remember any out-and-out comedies until after Jackie hit the big time.
I hope I get plenty of debate when I finally start churning out the articles on the Lo Wei films (starting tomorrow)!