Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow (1978)
Review by Doc Ezra
Film:
DVD:

Written by Ng See Yuen, Hsiao Lung, and Tsai Chi Kuang
Directed by Yuen Woo Ping
Starring: Jackie Chan, Yuen Hsaio Tieng, Huang Cheng Li, and Tino Wang

Features:

• Digitally remastered audio and video
  
• Cantonese and English audio
  
• English, French, Spanish, Portugese, and Korean subtitles
  
• Trailers
  

Rating: PG

Anamorphic: Yep.

My advice: Pick it up or face the wrath of the snake fist.

The Eagle Claw Society has systematically exterminated all competing schools of kung fu in the land, save the elusive Snake Fist. The Grand Master of the Snake Fist school has managed to elude countless assassins, but now has no pupils left to defend him, and has gone underground. Thus it is that he discovers (Jackie), a slightly simple and overworked whipping boy, working at a kung fu school in a tiny little town.

Taking pity on the poor boy, Master Pai Cheng-Cheh begins teaching him some basic fighting techniques, but swears him to secrecy regarding where he learned such tricks. He also discourages Chien Fu from letting on that he knows anything about the Snake Fist style. Before too long, though, the assassins of the Eagle Claw Society reach the village, and tensions escalate as Pai Cheng-Cheh has to evade them, and Chien Fu must continually fight the members of the school where he works to keep his secrets.

Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow is a classic in the kung fu movie world. One of Jackie Chan’s breakout roles (along with Drunken Master), it pairs him again with (Hark-On Fung), who seems to have made a career playing the vagrant old master with the quirky fighting style. The movie, like Drunken Master, is a comedy, though with early kung fu comedies the humor is not nearly as constant or over-the-top as in a more modern Jackie Chan flick like Rush Hour.

Director Yuen Woo Ping is a legend, famous for his early kung fu movies and his more recent endeavors as a fight choreographer (most notably for The Matrix). His films are, almost without exception, required viewing for fans of the genre, and this one is no different. Some truly excellent choreography and camera work make the action sequences doubly exciting, and significantly more intricate than some of the other films of the era.

Picture and sound are both good here (though the English dub sounds a bit better than the Cantonese original audio track). Only minor pops and crackles are evident, and that’s hardly surprising given the age of the film and its origin, since Hong Kong films weren’t often tucked away for preservation purposes. Even with the occasional white speck, it looks better than 95 percent of its contemporaries from the region, so it really doesn’t get much better.

Of extras there are none, barring some trailers for other kung fu movies from this studio. This is a bit disappointing, given the film’s status in the genre and its importance in the development of Jackie Chan’s career. A commentary would have been phenomenal, as Yuen Woo Ping or Jackie talking about this flick has the potential to be very interesting indeed.

Despite the disappointing lack of extras, fans of kung fu movies are going to need this one in their collection, as are people who just love to sit and marvel at Jackie Chan’s ridiculous physical ability (he was in his physical prime here, too).