The more commercially successful titles could get by on lean, bare bones plotting that was there to string together as many fight scenes as logically possible. Having established itself as a dominant movie style in both mainland China and Hong Kong through the thirties onwards, the martial arts film slowly started to incorporate a number of clichés and idioms that helped to define the genre but also threatened to leave it in a creative rut of sorts. Along the way, he uncovers the mystery of his teacher’s demise and falls into an unrelenting circle of violence. Facing aggression from a nearby Japanese school and little support from either the local authorities or his fellow students, Chen takes it on himself to confront the school’s enemies.

Martial artist Chen Zhen (played by Bruce Lee) returns to his Shanghai training school to discover his master has recently passed away under suspicious circumstances. For the first part of this series I am writing about the 1972 Bruce Lee classic, Fist of Fury. However, all of them are based on Kung Fu first and foremost different styles are on display, but Chinese martial arts are the centrepiece of each production.

Some of them are well known and have created certain expectations about the genre, while others are lesser known titles that have provided a different take on how to portray martial artists and their practices. In this series I will be looking at a number of iconic Kung Fu films that, for one reason or another, had a significant effect on the way we watch martial arts on the cinema screen. The majority of these have originated from either mainland China or Hong Kong, with the former generally focusing on historically orientated titles and the latter producing more modern, explosive fare. Since the late nineteen twenties there has been an abundance of martial art related movies, ranging from outlandish fantasy (known in China as Wuxia), through gritty hard hitting drama to high concept action pieces. It is hard to overstate how important film has been to the global success of the traditional Chinese martial arts, and these posts will remind us of some of the critical steps along the way.**** This post will be the first in an ongoing series reviewing some of the essential Kung Fu films which have helped to define the genera.

Rob’s first guest post was a study of the martial arts in video games which he contributed to the 2013 Web Symposium on Chinese Martial Studies. ***I am very happy to welcome Rob Argent back to Kung Fu Tea. By Rob Argent A Poster for Fists of Fury.

Fist of fury