The Shaw Brothers became the dominant studio in Hong Kong in the late 1960s through much of the 1970s. They didn’t invent the kung fu genre, but they pretty much perfected it. But as the 1970s carried on, they met with some fierce competition, mainly from Golden Harvest Studios. By the end of the decade, Golden Harvest was actually beating Shaw Brothers in terms of box-office draws. In large part, this was due to them scoring soon-to-be international star Bruce Lee, offering him a bigger salary than Shaw Brothers was willing to dish out.
Buy The Angry RiverThe Angry River was the very first film produced by Golden Harvest, though it was not the first released. That honor went to The Invincible Eight, which premiered a few months before The Angry River. It was also the debut film of Angela Mao, who would go on to become a great star in Hong Kong. It did not make much of a splash at the time, but it didn’t bomb either. It made enough to keep them going. By the following year, they’d put out The Big Boss with Bruce Lee and be launched into mega success.
The King of Hell (Pai Ying) and his minions have been assassinating various leaders in the Jianghu area of China with poisoned “sevenfold spikes.” When Master Lan Tien-Lung is struck by one of those spikes and greatly injured, his daughter Lan Feng (Mao) sets off on a dangerous quest to find the antidote. It is a rare herb called Ganoderma atrum, and it can only be found in the Sorrowful Ghost Valley. To get there, you must cross the Angry River and pass through the Heartless Pass (the film is just loaded with amazing names for places.)
Lan Feng is a martial arts expert and has no problem crossing the Angry River (surprisingly beautiful and calm-looking—though if you actually touch the water, you’ll explode). At the Heartless Pass, she meets two other travelers looking for the magic herb and must fight an old Master before finally meeting the mysterious chief. After begging for her father’s life, she’s sent into a dark, crazy cave where she finds what audio commentator Frank Djeng calls the Korean Godzilla. The puppet must not have worked very well because before she even fights it, the chief comes back in, strips her of her martial-arts powers, and gives her the herb.
Unfortunately, word gets out that she’s got the magic herb, and all sorts of evildoers come after it. Fortunately, she meets a young hero named Leng Yu-Han (Kao Yuen) who helps her out for the rest of the film. Unfortunately, that means Mao’s excellent kung fu chops are sidelined for more than half the movie. Worry not, she gets them back before the final battle.
Sammo Hung choreographed the fight scenes and gets a small part as one of the bad guys (Jackie Chan can also be seen in a blink and you’ll miss him bit part). There aren’t a ton of action sequences, presumably due to the limited budgets, but they are well done. There is some great wirework, some big melees, and the big bad guy at the end sports an incredible weapon that’s basically a big stick with a giant metal claw on the end.
Golden Harvest would go on to make plenty of better films, but this is a great beginning.
88 Films presents The Angry River with a new 2K restoration from the original negative. It looks terrific with some wonderfully brilliant color work. Extras include a wonderfully informative audio commentary from Djeng and Michael Wort, an image gallery and the original trailer.
