Shaw Brothers' adaptations of Taiwanese writer Gu Long's novel, Hsiao the Eleventh Prince, released respectively in 1971 and 1978.
The first adaptation, Swordsman At Large, is released in 1971; it receives a Self-Remake years later in 1978 withSwordsman and Enchantress starring Ti Lung and Anthony Lau Wing.
In both movies, the wandering, legendary warrior known as "Hsiao the Wolf" finds himself framed for the theft of a powerful weapon called the Deer Carver blade, and have assassins hunting after him at every turn. Besides battling hordes and hordes of challengers, Hsiao must also contend with his rival, the warrior Lian Cheng-bi, who also seeks the Deer Carver blade, and both rivals, in both films, ends up working together to defeat a greater threat.
Although Swordsman at Large comes 7 years earlier, it's unfortunately released in the middle of a densely-packed year for the Shaws, having made larger-profile wuxia movies in 1971 including The Deadly Duo, The Lady Hermit, The New One-Armed Swordsman, Six Assassins, The Swift Knight, Lady with a Sword, The Crimson Charm and several other films, and is often considered one of the Shaws' lower-tier offerings. The remake from later on, Swordsman and Enchantress, in comparison, is a much more faithful adaptation and better-known than it's predecessor — the fact that it has mega-star Ti Lung during the peak of his popularity also helps.
Tropesman And Enchantress (1978)
Hsiao the Wolf vs Lian Cheng-bi
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: Hsiao's spear and Lian's sword; as demonstrated in their one-on-one duel halfway through, the spear can cut a stone wall into half with a scratch, while the sword hacks through an entire row of bamboo trees like cardboard.
- Actually, I Am Him: When the martial clans, still oblivious to Hsiao the Wolf's true identity, questions if he's capable of the recent clan killings, Hsiao immediately announces himself by saying Hsiao wouldn't commit all those massacres even if he could. Because he is Hsiao.
- Arch-Enemy: Hsiao the Wolf and Lian Cheng-bi, the two warriors aiming to be the best of the martial world, although their rivalry quickly turns to Teeth-Clenched Teamwork for the second half of the film.
- Battle Couple: The Zombie Fighters are a pair of assassins and ruthless killers, one of each gender, which are a married couple. They are introduced killing rival fighters side-by-side, and later gets to battle Hsiao the Wolf and Lian Cheng-bi simultaneously in a two-vs-two battle before getting killed.
- Big Badass Battle Sequence: The entire finale in the Villa of Solitude, where entire factions of martial arts clans are fighting each other to the death. More than a hundred extras are used for this lengthy action scene, which goes on for several minutes.
- Cain and Abel: Madam Lian, wife of Lian Cheng-bi, turns out to be Master Tian's elder daughter, working in tandem with her younger sister, the Little Lord, to support their evil father. But Madam Lian is on her husband's side and intends to change her father for the better, is righteous at heart and kind in nature, while Little Lord is a ruthless manipulator through and through who supports Master Tian's villainy.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Hsiao the Wolf is clad in dark robes and cloaks for the entirety of the film, and wields a spear made of black ebony, but he's the righteous hero
- Finger Poke of Doom: The male half of the Zombie Fighter proves himself to be a dangerous opponent when he effortlessly uses two fingers to rip out a challenger's throat.
- Furo Scene: Lian's wife, Madam Lian (played by the gorgeous Lily Li), is introduced bathing in an indoor pool. Just as a horde of rival swordsmen suddenly shows up and surrounds her.
- Heroic Sacrifice: The finale sees Lian Cheng-bi's wife, Lady Lian, actually the elder daughter of the traitorous Lord Tian, being mortally wounded by her father after refusing to turn on her husband. But moments before she succumbs, Lady Lian managed to undo the pressure point on her husband Lian Cheng-bi and also Hsiao the Wolf, allowing the two heroes to recover from their paralysis and fight back.
- Leitmotif: The hero, Hsiao the Wolf, have his own musical score which plays during the opening credits and whenever he shows up onscreen. It sounds strangely closer to Western Baroque music though, despite this being a wuxia film.
- Light Is Not Good: Subverted with Lian Cheng-bi, who is clad in white robes for the entirety of his screentime
- Master Swordsman: Lian Cheng-bi the Deuteragonist knows how to take names with his sword. Later on, it turns out the protagonist, Hsiao the Wolf, can use a sword as expertly as he used his spear — when his spear breaks into half, he then reveals that the spear contains a sword in it's midsection, which Hsiao equips himself with for the finale.
- Mix-and-Match Weapon: Hsiao's spear is also a sword, detachable in the midsection for him to swap weapons when needed.
- Offing the Offspring: At the end of the film, after realizing his elder daughter wouldn't turn on him, having grown to love her husband Lian Cheng-bi, an enraged Lord Tian then brutally kills Lady Lian over her betrayal.
- Pre-Sacrifice Final Goodbye: Said by Madam Lian, succumbing to being wounded by her villainous father, to Lian Cheng-bi as she expires.
- Pressure Point: Lord Tian managed to momentarily stun Hsiao and Lian, the two heroes, in their final battle by pressing selected nerve points on them, and is ready to finish them off until Lian's wife, revealed to be Lord Tian's elder daughter, intervenes.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: Little Lord, the younger daughter of Lord Tian, who spends most of her screentime disguised as a men, despite clearly being played by a lady. The fact that she's never referred to a name that denotes a gender also helps, considering there are several other Shaw films before this where male characters are portrayed by women.
- Wire Fu: The technique employed in both movies for named characters to perform high-flying stunts and flip all over the place effortlessly.
- Wuxia
Tropesman At Large (1971)
Making the Bat'leth cool decades before Star Trek does.
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: The Deer Knife, which can hack rocks into half.
- Action Girl: Feng Szu Niang, a capable fighter who kicks plenty of ass.
- Beat Still, My Heart: How the Happy King kills Flying Eagle after betraying her, by ripping her heart out.
- Death by Cameo: Shaw A-lister, Chang Yi and Cheng Hung-Lieh, both have minor appearances... respectively as the Head of Escort for the Security Bureau and a bandit fighter. They both died in under a minute.
- Decoy Protagonist: Early in the start, the imposter calling himself "Hsiao the Wolf" (which the audience isn't aware as of yet) challenged a bunch of rival warriors, and establishing himself as a threat, he then effortlessly kills nearly a dozen men with his twin daggers. But merely moments later, he gets challenged by Feng Szu Niang... and she kills him after a short duel. The real Hsiao, as played by Wang Wai, then shows up in the next scene.
- Dual Wield: Hsiao the Wolf, in this incarnation uses twin daggers to take names. As does the imposter claiming himself to be Hsiao early in the film.
- In a Single Bound: Like every good wuxia film.
- Nothing Up My Sleeve: Lian Cheng-bi's sleeves contains hidden daggers, which can drop to his palms when he's disarmed of his sword.
- Power Fist: The villainess known as Flying Eagle wears clawed gauntlets for her fights.
- Oddly Shaped Sword: One of the prominent fighters use a curved blade that is based on the Chinese fighting crescent
. Seen here◊. - Serrated Blade of Pain: The leader of the four mercenaries use a sinister-looking jagged edged sword, which works well enough on redshirts. Doesn't do him any favours when he's up against the heroine Feng Szu Niang though.
- Tom the Dark Lord: This film's Big Bad is the fearsome bandit called the "Happy King"... no, this is NOT a mistranslation in English, the original Mandarin / Cantonese version of his name is this, too.
- Wire Fu: The technique employed in both movies for named characters to perform high-flying stunts and flip all over the place effortlessly.
- Wuxia
