Deadly Mantis, a.k.a. Shaolin Mantis, a.k.a. Shaolin Deadly Mantis
Craig
Why this has ever been released with the word “Shaolin” in the title is something of a mystery to me. Aside from a three minute cameo by Lui Chia Hui, there are no monks, Shaolin or otherwise. And one wonders what a Shaolin monk might be doing in the court of an early Ching Dynasty emperor.
Release
Macizum Media
English dubbed, pan and scan
Starring
David Chiang, Lui Chia Hui, David Chiang’s smug grin, Lily Li, Liu Chia Yung, Huang Hsin Hsiu, Li Hai Sheng
In Brief
The Ching Emperor (voiced by Mr. Magoo) believes that the Tien clan is planning to rebel. He selects Wei Fung, a scholar with good fighting skills, to infiltrate the clan, and learn the names of all those involved with the plot. As an incentive to complete this task in a timely manner, Emperor Magoo announces that after three months, the scholar’s father will be stripped of his title. After six months, his whole family will be jailed. After a year, they will be killed.
Wei Fung (Chiang) reaches the Tien mansion to find Tien Chi Chi throwing out her teacher. Wei manages to take over as the new teacher. Chi Chi proves a difficult pupil, more interested in kung fu than in learning, and obviously smitten with Wei Sifu. Wei pretends to be inept at martial arts in order to draw Chi Chi into revealing her family’s techniques.
I can read…
The rest of the family is more suspicious. They investigate, and learn of Wei’s connection with the oppressive Ching regime. Chi Chi pleads for his life. The Tien patriarch agrees to spare Wei on the condition that he marry Chi Chi, and never leave the village. This final condition, of course, doesn’t work for Wei. As the months go by, Wei becomes anxious to get back to save his family. He asks the Tien patriarch for permission to go on a trip. Tien grants the request, planning to kill Wei when he tries to leave.
Wei Fung and Chi Chi attempt to break out. They must battle several members of the Tien family who guard the way. It becomes obvious that Wei’s martial ineptitude has been a farce.
Still, old man Tien has some powerful kung fu. Chi Chi and her mother both sacrifice their lives getting Wei a chance to run out the door, and he still doesn’t have the information the Emperor wants. Wei hides out in a cave, where he begins his training for revenge sequence.
It amuses me to torment small animals.
Deadly Mantis is one of the best screenplays of its era. Wei Fung is retained to teach Chi Chi the Confucian classics, humaneness, the hierarchical relationships, the importance of obedience to one’s elders, and ultimately to the Emperor. The Emperor does not trust Wei, so he threatens Wei’s family. When Wei marries Chi Chi, he takes on responsibility to be filial toward the Tien clan as well, though they are plotting rebellion against the Emperor. When Wei decides that he must escape to save his own parents, Chi Chi’s duty toward her husband conflicts with her duty toward her grandfather. In order to secure his post, Wei chastises Chi Chi’s former teacher for failing in his duty to give his pupil moral guidance. When Wei and Chi Chi finally break out, Chi Chi is killed by an arrow; Wei has failed in his duty to protect his wife. All this is accentuated by a subtle costume change: when Wei fights against Chi Chi’s grandfather, he is not wearing his scholar’s gown.
Nice Shots
N/A. The panning and scanning makes the composition agonizing for most of the film, despite some lavish sets, and well choreographed fights.
There is a set of shots that I will list as “visually interesting”: The opening credits play over the actors demonstrating mantis techniques against a plain, white backdrop. They are lit to cast shadows on the background. During the training sequence, while Wei is developing the mantis style, he has a fire burning, casting shadows against the walls. During his final fight against Tien, servants arrive with lanterns, again showing the mantis techniques in silhouette against the walls. Interesting. Would have been nice to see the whole frame.
Next up: Shadow puppets!
Best Stunt(s)
In the third post, Wei gets backed up against a wall, and dodges side to side while Chi Chi’s mother jabs at him with a spear.
In the fourth post, Wei Fung, Chi Chi, and Chi Chi’s mother fight Chi Chi’s uncle. Near the end of the fight, all four combatants are striking out with weapons. Beautiful stuff, I’m telling you.
Disappointments
The story and the action deserve better treatment than this release gives them. If this is the “Platinum Collector’s Edition,” I can only be thankful that I didn’t get the regular release.
I’ve watched Deadly Mantis with other people, and most of them are thoroughly confused by the ending. This movie needs to come with a disclaimer for all audiences outside China. Listen, folks, the Ching dynasty always represents evil in a Shaw Brothers film. Keep that in mind, and the ending will make perfect sense. It’s the rest of the film that should confuse you.
Final Analysis
Wonderful story, played out by an all-star cast. Four stars.
If You Like This
To see more of Lau Gar Liang’s weapon choreography, see Legendary Weapons of China.
If you’d like to see Lau Gar Fei in more than a walk-on role, see the monk role that made him famous: 36th Chamber of Shaolin.
Executioners from Shaolin is another great story that stretches the final confrontation across multiple fights, with a new style invented in between.
Curse of the Golden Flower features strong Confucian themes and divided loyalties.
July 3rd, 2007 at 2:57 pm
I must admit that it startles me that a man of your means and dedication still finds himself dealing with pan-and-scan dubs. (Of course, in a few months, when I get to Godzilla vs. Megalon, I’ll be in the same boat.) Do you know if ‘Shaolin’ was even in the original title? I’d be curious to know where that comes from.
And wonderful review, as always.
July 3rd, 2007 at 8:59 pm
Deadly Mantis was an early addition to my collection, and something of a lucky break. I didn’t even know the all star cast and crew when I picked it up. If I recall, it was on the shelf of a local video store going for about $12, and I figured I could only go just so far wrong at that price.
The original title was “Tang Lang”, conspicuously free of references to Shaolin Temple. I suspect that Shaolin was tacked on during the Ocean Shores video release. My copy has a relatively professional looking title that says “Deadly Mantis”, and the title “Shaolin Mantis” added by some pre-Amiga video titling system, coincidentally in the same quality as the Ocean Shores mark. O.S. was probably trying to capitalize on the fame of Lau Kar Fei in his Shaolin monk roles. The title Shaolin Deadly Mantis is probably an effort to reconcile the two titles, or possibly scam people who have seen the film already.
Happy to say, these days there are companies like HKL and IVL putting out high quality releases of the best films from the era. Even Bonzai discs sometimes feature full frames with the original soundtrack. I still pick up titles from the discount bin from time to time, but these days I have a much better idea going in whether I should hold out for a better disc.
July 5th, 2007 at 9:53 am
Face it: tacking on “Shaolin” just makes every movie title sound cooler. “Shaolin Deadly Mantis”, “Shaolin Star Wars”, “Shaolin Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer”, “Shaolin Baby Geniuses”, etc.