source: Palace Carnage

Moviecut—Palace Carnage

If there's a weapon to be considered the strangest in the films of Shaw Brothers, the flying guillotine would be it. From 1975's Flying Guillotine to the 1976 sequel Master of the Flying Guillotine (which is also a sequel to One-Armed Boxer), 1977's Taiwan-made entry Fatal Flying Guillotine and this movie, 1978's Flying Guillotine 2: Palace Carnage and Vengeful Courage, also made the same year, the deadly hat with a bladed rim attached to a long chain that envelopes human heads and tears them clean off just can't be topped. Original director Ho Meng Hua was busy working on The Mighty Peking Man, so this film was originally going to be made by Cheng Kang. But so many problems attacked this film, which took nearly two years from filming to release. For example, actress Liu Wu Chi completely left the film industry and was replaced by Hsiao Yao. Then, Chen Kuan Tai broke away from Shaw Brothers, leaving the movie without its star. And then, Hsiao Yao also left acting. Was this movie cursed? Maybe. After all, Cheng Kang left the movie and Hua Shan (The Super Infra-Man) had to finish it. That's why this movie is episodic and the editing feels chaotic. I have no idea how all the film shot was even placed together to make something this coherent. It works in spite of the pain that it was created in. Maybe it was forged in fire to be something better than it should be. So what's happening here? The Emperor (Ku Feng) wants to kill Ma Tang (Ti Lung), but first he must improve the flying guillotine so that Ma Tang -- who figured out how to stop the deadly weapon before -- can be dealt with. At the same time, a female hero named Na Lan (Shih Szu) is trying to steal those plans. This is one of the most doom-filled Shaw Brothers movies I've seen -- there are literally crosses with decapitated heads hanging from them -- and the final scenes are filled with slow motion and a downbeat finale. That said, any movie with a chain swinging a death device is going to be awesome, no matter if it has way too many characters to keep track of.

The script is not as good as the first one, however the inclusion of a clan of warriors (all beautiful oriental women, gifted with talent in the use of the deadly flying guillotine) made everything more charming and engaging, even unexpected, when it comes to his year of production follows the pattern of the previous one, which was very good, good fight scenes (long), regular...

A different kind of Shaw Brothers movie although the on-screen elements are familiar. This one has more of an independent look in terms of direction, it's quickly edited, fast paced and has choreography that flies around the screen rather than being more mannered and careful as you expect from Shaw. It's a fast and furious sequel to the first, continuing the storyline and the development of the flying guillotine itself, but it's all change when it comes to the cast. Former lead Chen Kuan Tai is gone, replaced by the reliable Ti Lung, while Ku Feng now essays the role of the hated Emperor. An ensemble cast of familiars including such genre stalwarts as Lo Lieh and Shih Szu work hard to impart this one with the usual gravitas, and it has two or three times more plot than most kung fu films. An engaging watch, finishing up with a slow motion finale which takes drama to the next level.

There're four movies with Flying Guillotine as part of its title. This one closely follows the plot of the first Flying Guillotines (1975) where the main character Ma Teng was played by Chen Kuan Tai. Chen did a masterful job of portraying this character, and in this sequel, Lung Ti plays the part with equal authority. Beautiful Taiwanese actor Szu Shih plays the female lead in this movie. The plot picks up where the original Flying Guillotines left off. Ma Teng and his family has now established their life in the country, but they can never let their guards down because the emperor's assassins are after them. Emperor Yung Cheng is still the tyrant he was in the first movie, and demands that a modifications be made to the flying guillotine to counter Ma Teng's iron umbrella defense. Now a two stage flying guillotine is invented as a result. Na Lan (Szu Shih) is hired by the emperor to train a squad of women assassins to wield the flying guillotine, but she is righteous at heart, and sides with Ma Teng. A plot is hatched to assassinate the emperor, and together they go to the palace. In my opinion, this and the first Flying Guillotines are the two with first class quality which makes them classics amongst the kung-fu movies from Shaw Brothers. The other two, The Fatal Flying Guillotines, and Master of the Flying Guillotine is of lower quality production, and are not in the same league as these. Beautiful kung-fu action along with good story, good acting and great cinematography makes this one of the best movie to come out of Shaw Brothers. This is a really exciting movie and all the right talents have gathered to create one of the masterpieces of kung-fu movies.

"Hero Ma" (here played by Ti Lung), who developed a counter to the Emperor's infamous Flying Guillotine in FLYING GUILLOTINE (where he was played by Chen Kuan Tai), is hunted by the Emperor's men once again in FLYING GUILLOTINE 2. Ma's counter-weapon, you'll recall, was The Iron Umbrella, a skeletal frame of iron with which he could catch the Flying Guillotine. (If you can buy the Flying Guillotine itself as a viable weapon, then the Iron Umbrella makes a viable counter measure...) To counter the Iron Umbrella, the Emperor has his weapons master concoct a counter counter-weapon. This can best be described as a "double-header," a Flying Guillotine with a SECOND snare that drops down below the first (thereby, hopefully, getting past the Iron Umbrella). Na Lan (Shih) and her bevy of beautiful female assassins volunteer to learn to use the new and improved counter-weapon. Bao (Lo Lieh) protests, but must capitulate when Na Lan passes the acid test (at one point, her loyalty is put to the test and she poisons her own father). Dressed in striking purple costumes and capes, the women are ready for action. While FLYING GUILLOTINE 2 is well directed, the fight scenes are a bit lacking- and the editing amounts to little more than a hatchet job (literally), with too many frames missing from each fight scene to often tell exactly what's supposed to have happened. Most frustrating of all is Ti Lung: his part amounts to little more than a cameo. It's not a bad movie, but it's not a great one, either.

source: Palace Carnage

source: Can ku da ci sha

If there's a weapon to be considered the strangest in the films of Shaw Brothers, the flying guillotine would be it. From 1975's Flying Guillotine to the 1976 sequel Master of the Flying Guillotine (which is also a sequel to One-Armed Boxer), 1977's Taiwan-made entry Fatal Flying Guillotine and this movie, 1978's Flying Guillotine 2: Palace Carnage and Vengeful Courage, also made the same year, the deadly hat with a bladed rim attached to a long chain that envelopes human heads and tears them clean off just can't be topped. Original director Ho Meng Hua was busy working on The Mighty Peking Man, so this film was originally going to be made by Cheng Kang. But so many problems attacked this film, which took nearly two years from filming to release. For example, actress Liu Wu Chi completely left the film industry and was replaced by Hsiao Yao. Then, Chen Kuan Tai broke away from Shaw Brothers, leaving the movie without its star. And then, Hsiao Yao also left acting. Was this movie cursed? Maybe. After all, Cheng Kang left the movie and Hua Shan (The Super Infra-Man) had to finish it. That's why this movie is episodic and the editing feels chaotic. I have no idea how all the film shot was even placed together to make something this coherent. It works in spite of the pain that it was created in. Maybe it was forged in fire to be something better than it should be. So what's happening here? The Emperor (Ku Feng) wants to kill Ma Tang (Ti Lung), but first he must improve the flying guillotine so that Ma Tang -- who figured out how to stop the deadly weapon before -- can be dealt with. At the same time, a female hero named Na Lan (Shih Szu) is trying to steal those plans. This is one of the most doom-filled Shaw Brothers movies I've seen -- there are literally crosses with decapitated heads hanging from them -- and the final scenes are filled with slow motion and a downbeat finale. That said, any movie with a chain swinging a death device is going to be awesome, no matter if it has way too many characters to keep track of.