The Sword Stained With Royal Blood is a 1956 novel by Hong Kong writer, Jin Yong, and a twice-told tale with numerous adaptations ever since the book became a bestseller in it's day.
Shaw Brothers made their version of the story, with the same title, directed by Chang Cheh. The plot is kicked off when a young martial artist, Yuan Cheng Chih (Philip Ko), while trying to win over his crush, Wen Ching Ching (Candy Wen) who is from a noble family of warriors, ends up being embroiled in a conspiracy involving a dangerous killing machine, the assassin known as Golden Snake Man who was assumed dead years ago.
A post-modern adaptation is released in 1993, one which is mostly an In Name Only adaptation with new characters, themes, and settings. It's not the first adaptation, but it is easily the most popularly remembered due to its over-the-top effects, extensive fight choreography, massive amounts of wire-fu, and featuring fan-favourite Yuen Biao and Danny Lee (Inspector Lee Ying of The Killer (1989) fame), the latter who plays a nigh-unstoppable killing machine and human thresher whose onscreen body-count totals up to at least a hundred.
Ming Dynasty police officer, Constable Yuen Ching Shi (Yuen Biao) stumbles across a conspiracy in the martial arts world during a seemingly-routine arrest and escort assignment of a young woman involved in a robbery, where a fateful encounter with the powerful swordsman and killing machine known as Ha Suet-Yee the Golden Snake (Danny Lee), responsible for a bloodbath days earlier where an entire clan of cultists ends up dead, had Yuen questioning the true powers and motives of Golden Snake. After all, Golden Snake is reputed to be as elusive as he is deadly - nobody knows how he looks like, because whomever crosses path with Golden Snake will end up dying within seconds of facing him. After various run-ins and encounters between the two men, Golden Snake begins to recognize the sincerity of Constable Yuen to unveil the truth behind the true evils of the martial arts world, and both men are fated for the battle of their lives. And despite recognition of respect, Golden Snake remains a dangerous and powerful killing machine whose faith lies not in his friends, but his sword.
See also Swordsman, The Magic Crane and Butterfly and Sword for similar kinds of movies.
The Sword Stained with Royal Blood (1981) contains examples of:
- Bifurcated Weapon: One of Yuan's battles is against an expert fighter who uses a two-headed spear, with a detachable center allowing the weapon to become a more flexible, versatile, dual mini-spears. Yuan defeats him all the same.
- Cool Sword: The Golden Snake Man wields a cool, golden, snake-shaped curved sword whose Absurdly Sharp Blade can cut through steel with ease.
- Calling Card: The Golden Snake Man's snake-shaped darts.
- The Dreaded: The Golden Snake Man's reputation as the deadliest killer in the wuxia world is no joking matter...
- Dual Wielding: Numerous characters use two weapons at the same time, inclusing dual spears, dual axes, dual swords, dual tonfas, and the like.
- Hitman with a Heart: The Golden Snake Man.
- In a Single Bound: Classic wuxia trope, thanks to the characters having piles and piles of chi in them.
- In the Back: The Golden Snake Man gets injured in this manner by Master Wen. After choosing to spare the latter's life, too!... he survives long enough, but realize his days are numbered when he start spitting Blood from the Mouth.
- Lima Syndrome: This trope is the reason why Madam Wen Yi would start developing feelings for the Golden Snake Man, after he kidnapped her and started taking pity of her background as a pawn of her father.
- Lodged-Blade Recycling: The final duel between Golden Snake and Master Wan in The Sword Stained With Royal Blood ends with Golden Snake getting impaled by Wan's sword through his gut. Choosing death over dishonor, Golden Snake then pulls his sword out (complete with a generous helping of High-Pressure Blood) in front of his beloved, Siu-yi, where he died in her arms.
- Master Swordsman: Yuan Cheng Chih ands the Golden Snake Man. Especially the latter.
- Smart People Play Chess: After an Age Cut showing Yuan Cheng Chih growing up, one of the first thing the film shows the audience is Yuan playing reversi with his old master... and winning. The Master then reveals that this is perhaps the hundredth or so victory from Yuan.
- The Speechless: Yuan Cheng Chih's loyal servant and caretaker is mute, and never says a word.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: The Golden Snake Man and Wen Yi, after they realize they have feelings for each other.
- Stock Wushu Weapons: Various weapons of this variety are seen being wielded by the seniors of Wen Mansion, including spears, halberds, and all sorts of blades.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: Ching Ching's first scene had her drinking in a bar while disguised as a man. And somehow she fools everyone, including protagonist Yuan Cheng Chih, into believing she's a dude.
- Sword Fight
- Wuxia
The 1993 version has examples of:
- Animal Assassin: A boa constrictor is set on Princess Cheung in her bedroom as she sleeps. When Constable Yuen comes to her rescue, the boa ends up attacking and binding him instead, resorting in Yuen biting the snake to death before it can do this to him first.
- A meta Actor Allusion, an earlier Yuen Biao film, Eastern Condors, also features Yuen killing a snake by biting.
- Animal Motifs: Golden Snake, whose motif is (just in case you can’t tell through his name) a golden snake. From his weapon, his aura, the presence of snakes whenever he’s around, and his gliding movements which resembles a cobra about to strike.
- Attack! Attack... Retreat! Retreat!: In the penultimate night battle, the Second Wan Brother and his legion of cultists gets the drop on Golden Snake, successfully taking him down with a surprising hit and weakening Golden Snake with a Drama-Preserving Handicap. But a few meters away from their opponent, Golden Snake suddenly gets up, revealing that he is still capable of fighting, at which point the Second Wan Brother and all cultists quickly turn and flees. To formulate another strategy and repeat their attack.
- Battering Ram: The opening raid on the scholar’s hideout involves a battering ram suspended on ropes being swung and crashing into the small hut the scholars are using as their domains.
- Big Badass Battle Sequence: Two instances, where loads and loads of extras slaughters the living out of each other in two separate battle scenes. Naturally, the combatants on each side are in their own uniquely colored uniforms for the audiences to tell them apart.
- The Action Prologue have Fifth Master Wan’s soldiers (all clad in red and In the Hood) assaulting Master Wu’s hideout and battling Wu's guards (all in white uniforms), with plenty of casualties on both sides. Eventually Master Wan’s army emerged victorious, but suddenly Golden Snake arrives and wipes out the remaining forces, all 60-odd soldiers and Master Wan himself, in one fell swoop.
- The forest battle scene where Golden Snake and the poison sect members dukes it out, before being interrupted by rival clan members either clad in red or brown, with plenty of extras clashing alongside named characters on both sides.
- Bloody Murder: In the final battle, Constable Yuen finally manage to inflict a successful stab on First Master Wan, but realize his sword couldn’t fully penetrate his opponent’s body because First Master Wan is Made of Iron. Constable Yuen, then having Blood from the Mouth from an earlier injury, decides to spit a mouthful of his own blood on his sword and lunge at his opponent again, and this time successfully impales First Master Wan fatally.
- Boxed Crook: Princess Cheung ends up becoming this when she becomes a vampire; the container holding her is to prevent her from hurting anyone or herself.
- But Now I Must Go: Constable Yuen leaves every one of the Fire-Forged Friends he made during his assignment after defeating the Big Bad.
- Chained to a Bed: The Princess, upon waking up in a seedy inn, realize she’s chained to her bed, with a gigantic boa constrictor being set upon her.
- Cool Sword: Golden Snake’s weapon, the Golden Snake Sword. Despite its appearance, it can slice through flesh like warm butter and can cleave through multiple opponents in a single swipe, as well as launching chi explosions through its blade when exposed to moon beams. In the hands of Golden Snake, the sword amassed a kill-count of at least 90 unfortunate mooks.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: If Golden Snake fights any number of unnamed, generic-looking characters, chances are that a couple of minutes later, everybody fighting against him will be reduced to piles and piles of dead bodies.
- Deadly Disc: The Second Wan Brother brought along a few Shield-Bearing Mook soldiers along, whose razor-sharp shields can be flung as projectiles. Against Golden Snake though? They fare as well as the previous 50-odd faceless mooks Golden Snake kills without batting an eye…
- Disc-One Final Boss: Every single Wan Brother except the first, which is the true Big Bad.
- The Dreaded: Golden Snake. The mere mention of his name strikes fear in evil cultists.
- Empathic Weapon: The Second Wan Brother can summon swords to fight for him, where the swords can remotely float through the air in a slashing motion towards his opponents. Used against Constable Yuen, but in his haste to control his flying swords the Second Brother failed to notice the First Brother sneaking upon him, ready to strike him In the Back…
- Eye Scream: In the opening action scene, after witnessing first-hand the powers of the Golden Snake Sword and being the Sole Survivor of Golden Snake’s rampage, Master Wu immediately gouges out his own eyes while declaring he didn’t see a single thing, and have no clue about the Golden Sword’s true powers.
- Implacable Man: Golden Snake again.
- Impromptu Tracheotomy: Wan Siu-Yi’s fate, with her own hairpin.
- Leave No Survivors: Golden Snake’s rampage usually leaves no witnesses alive in the aftermath, because as he said, "not a living soul should bear witness to the true powers of the Golden Snake Sword".
- One-Man Army: Golden Sword against any number of faceless mooks. The battles usually last for ten seconds with Golden Sword on the winning side.
- Red Baron: Ha Suet-Yee, the Golden Snake.
- Seppuku: What eventually took Golden Snake down, after Golden Snake receives a mortal injury, he decides that its Better to Die than Be Killed, and rip out the sword embedded through his stomach killing himself in the process.
- Sword Fight: Plenty, since this being a Wuxia film.
- Thou Shall Not Kill: Despite being a capable swordsman and fighter, Constable Yuen, being an officer of the law, had to abide to the no-killing rule. As such his only kill is that of First Master Wan, the Big Bad.
- Together in Death: Golden Snake and Wan Siu-Yi.
- Wire Fu: EVERY. SINGLE. FIGHT. SCENE.
- Particular of note, the final showdown between Constable Yuen and First Master Wan in an underground cavern where both combatants leaps from pillar to pillar while fighting each other. (Filmed in Guilin’s Reed Flute Cave
, the camera takes aerial shots of the cave’s stone pillars while on a separate stage, Yuen Biao and Elvis Tsui engage in wire-fu battle. The shots are later superimposed together to make it look like the actors are really fighting in the caverns. Check it out here.) - The Walk on Water fight scene on the surface of the lake, pre-dating Hero (2002) by 9 years.
- Particular of note, the final showdown between Constable Yuen and First Master Wan in an underground cavern where both combatants leaps from pillar to pillar while fighting each other. (Filmed in Guilin’s Reed Flute Cave
