In 1967, Shaw Brothers released “One-Armed Swordsman”, a new style of swordplay wuxia film, starring Jimmy Wang Yu and directed by Chang Cheh. It became the first film in Hong Kong to rag in HK $1 million and Jimmy became a huge star overnight. Two years later, Jimmy picked up his broken sword and again under the direction of Chang Cheh, was back in “Return of the One-Armed Swordsman” (“One-Armed Swordsman King”in Chinese) with more bloodletting action.
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This time around, our hero Fang Kang (Jimmy Wang Yu) is a happily settled down farmer and has little interest in the affairs of jianghu (the Martial arts world). In the meantime, the evil Eight Sword Kings clan has emerged; they set up a tournament to challenge all rival schools to decide who the best in swordsmanship is. However, this turns out to be a cover-up so they can kill off all the rival schools members.
Before long, many lives are lost and the remaining members are getting so desperate they even kidnap Fang Kang's wife hoping he will help them. One member even cuts off his arm and as more are willing to sacrifice their arms, the one-armed swordsman is touched and teams up with them to fight the Eight Swords Kings clan.
As Fang Kang slices his way through countless enemies during his quest, the viewers are treated to almost nonstop action and a display of different weapons. However, the encounters are brief but bloodier with a huge body count. Hence we don't get much chance of seeing character development as the actors are dispatched very quickly. The action choreography is handled by Liu Chia Liang and Tong Gai who also appear as the Ape's Arms King and the Spinning Wheels King respectively.
Interestingly, there's a female henchman among the Eight Kings known as the Thousand Hands King, played by Essie Lin Chia. This villainess goes around pretending to be a damsel in distress; she seduces her victims and disposes them with her concealed flying darts and blade. One such victim is none other than a young Ti Lung, the future leading star of Shaw Brothers. David Chiang also has a minor role elsewhere; of course he would later cast as the lead player in the “”New One-Armed Swordsman”.
Furthermore, we have Ku Feng playing the Hercules King who uses a heavy blade; he was Fang Kang's father in the original film. Then there's a pair of interesting Black and White Swordsmen, Shaw regular, the charismatic Wu Ma pops up as the White Swordsman, sporting white eyebrows and wearing white outfit. He's a nice contrast to his clad-in-black partner, the Black Swordsman. To top it off, Furtive King Ling Xu, the boss villain is played here by Tien Feng, the kind master who adopted Fang Kang from the first “One-Armed Swordsman” film.
Chang Cheh directed at least six movies for Shaw Brothers in 1969 and “The Flying Daggers and The Invincible Fist” both with Lo Lieh as the leading man are his best. “Return of the One-Armed Swordsman” is action packed but unfortunately it lacks character development. However, the Eight Swords Kings are fun to watch, their weapons are unique and those Shaw regulars play their parts well. There's a touch of romance between Fang Kang and wife (Chiao Chiao) which brings out the softness and love between them that works well against the action scenes. A must watch for Jimmy Wang Yu's fans.
