Okay students, time for another lecture on ancient Chinese history! note
Call to Arms is a 1971 Shaw Brothers martial arts film and period piece.
Set in China's Period of Warring States, the seven nations of Chin, Chu, Zhao, Wei, Han, Yan, and Qi, after long periods of war and strife, are eventually unified under the strongest of the seven: the Chin Empire. But the Emperor of Chin enforces a rule of tyranny, having innocents forced into slavery and allowing his soldiers to kill and conquer on a regular basis.
As the Emperor plots an invasion on the Chu nation, the Warrior Prince of Chu, Prince Shun Ling, secretly leads a rebellion to overthrow the Emperor.
Not to be confused with the video game.
Call to Arms contains examples of:
- Agony of the Feet: The Mole who sells out the Prince ends up getting captured after having a sword shoved through his right foot. With plenty of red sauce, as usual.
- Big Badass Battle Sequence:
- After the Opening Scroll, the audience is treated to a massive war in the battlefield depicting the seven counties fighting each other for total domination, before the Empire of Chin took over and unifies the seven.
- The film's climax, with the La Résistance and Prince Shun Ling invading the throne room and battling Emperor Chin's army, also counts.
- Body Double: Emperor Chin is allegedly assasinated in the first ten minutes of the film. Unfortunately that was merely a double, and the real Emperor, hiding behind a rotating door, now has the perfect reason to start a war.
- Cool Old Guy: The Princes's mentor, Master Hau, a capable and skilled swordsman in his own rights who gets quite a bit of kills during fight scenes.
- Decoy Protagonist: Zhu Hai, the warrior, who gets the first action sequence of the film - assassinating the Emperor. But when the assassination goes south, the film quickly shifts focus to Prince Shun Ling, the real hero.
- Dressing as the Enemy: Prince Shun Ling infiltrates the dungeon while dressed up as one of the Emperor's soldiers, with a helmet that helpfully conceals his forehead just enough for him to bluff the guards.
- High-Pressure Blood: Shows up in most of the death scenes, since edged weapons like swords and halberds are constantly used.
- In a Single Bound: Prince Shun Ling in numerous fights, thanks to Wire Fu. Since this is a wuxia that's normal.
- The Lancer: The closest the film has to this is Zhu Hai, the warrior who attempts to kill the Emperor, only to screw up spectacularly. He does show up in big fight scenes to help Prince Shun Ling and the rebels kill enemy mooks, but doesn't really contribute further to the plot.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Zhu Hai screwing up the assasination in the start allows the Emperor a perfect reason to start an invasion.
- Stacked Characters Poster: One with the film's major players all in picture frames, complete with their respective names, as seen above. One review actually said the poster resembles the cover of a school textbook about Chinese history instead of a martial arts epic film.
- Stock Wushu Weapons: Most of the stock wushu weapons do show up in the film, including the jian, qiang, dao, and even an extensive fight scene featuring the chui, a somewhat rare weapon even for these kind of films.
- Sword Fight: Most of the fight scenes are clashing between swords. The final battle in the Emperor's throne room started with mostly swords as well, but later on combatants start grabbing equipment from the weapon racks adorning the throne's corners.
- Tyrant Takes the Helm: When Emperor Chin, of the Chin Empire which is the strongest of the seven counties in the Warring Periods, took over the rule of China and enforced a dictatorship upon ascending the throne.
- Warrior Prince: The film's hero, Prince Shun Ling, who wants to take down the tyrannical Emperor of Chin.
- War Was Beginning: The film's Opening Scroll is actually a brief history lesson about the seven counties of China's Warring States Period being unified, only to result into a power struggle which leads to the film's events.
- Working on the Chain Gang: Many prisoners, defectors and captured enemies of the Chin Emperor is subjected to this fate in a rock quarry.
- Wuxia
