The true value of the Shaw Brothers selections at this years Philly Film Fest is to say the least...priceless. I had been making periodical Region 3 DVD purchases of some of these fine films and up until now, never even had the notion that I'd be able to check a few of them out on the big screen in their original glorious scope goodness. I was ecstatic to hear that a selection of remastered Shaw Bros films would be playing at the annual (and much anticipated) Philly Fest this year - needless to say we're seeing them all. With a history that spans over 70-years, the Shaw Bros are responsible for some of the best martial arts films ever made. One-armed Swordsman is often appreciated not only for its massive display of swordplay, but also for its moments of close hand-to-hand combats, and is quite often recognized as an extremely influential film in the genre. Of course witnessing The One-Armed Swordsman on the big screen was pure enjoyment for me.

The school of The Golden Sword takes in a young boy when his father is slain in battle. The young man Young Fang Kang (Jimmy Wang Yu) grows into a master swordsman always keeping his fathers broken sword by his side. When some of the students (including the teachers daughter played by Pan Yin-Tze) get together and express their jealousy for Kang, they devise a plan to trap him in the woods and teach him a lesson. Through an unfortunate scuffle, Kang has his right arm severed by the teacher's daughter (c'mon, you KNEW that was coming!) and is in turn forced to flee for his life, losing massive amounts of blood along the way.

Kang escapes only to be nursed back to health by a poor farm girl (Chiao Chiao) who lives alone. The two develop a kind of friendship, which leads Kang to nearly swear off sword fighting for good. That is until the two are bullied beyond belief in town by a few of the local gang members that had originally attacked the school of The Golden Sword. Through a half burnt book of sword instruction (luckily it's the right arm instructions that survive) Kang re trains himself in the art of swordplay with only his left arm in use as he slowly regains his strength and stamina.

In the mean time, the same gang who've been bullying the members of The Golden Sword school in the past have developed a new counter attack for combat in a weapon that locks in on their opponents sword allowing them to unsuspectingly stab their opponent in the belly with a much shorter knife. They decide to test out their new contraption on various members of The Golden Sword School, which in turn forces Kang to revisit his old enemies once again in an attempt to put an end to the carnage once and for all. Kang must put aside his personal feelings while trying to save some old friends, enemies as well as his much-respected teacher.

One-armed Swordsman is kind of a different animal than the casual martial arts fan may be used to. There's some deep-rooted characterization and the fight scenes don't fly quite as fast and as furious as one may expect. At just under 2 hours, the film is also a bit longer than one may be used to as well, but this certainly doesn't make the film any less effective or enjoyable. The extended characterization is handled quite well, and even though it may appear mildly comical in some respects to today's audiences, it's evident that 30+ years ago it must have been perceived as being quite heartfelt and sentimental.

Even though the audience found these moments to be somewhat comical there are some scenes that are particularly gut wrenching. The extended scene in which Kang loses his arm is particularly painful for the audience and is shot quite effectively on a snowy say in the middle of the forest Ð it's quite chilling. Also as effective is the scene in which Kang awakens to re discover for the first time that he has indeed lost is right arm in battle. There were some forgivable snickers from audience members during these two key scenes (which run quite close to one another). I'm pretty sure the audience wasn't being unsympathetic, they probably just didn't know what reaction to have. Not nearly as intolerable as the inexcusable clapping and foot stomping at the Graveyard of Honor screening the pervious evening.

Performances are all solid and effective and it's of note that it isn't too often that an audience really feels an emotional connection like this with characters in a standard martial arts flick. The characters are sympathetic or evil and while the story does seem to follow your almost text book written tale of deceit and revenge, there are still a few interesting curve balls thrown in the mix for good measure that really do help to keep audience members on their toes.

This is not to say that there isn't any action in this flick, because there is...and plenty of it. The fight scenes are choreographed quite well and the addition of the sword-locking device is an interesting twist. Admittedly, you'd think that our friends from The Golden Sword School would've developed a counter attack rather quickly once they discover the sword locker is being used, but this is easily a forgivable offense to help further the story along. There's a fantastic mix of swordplay and hand-to-hand combat throughout, with many of the fight scenes incorporating more expendables than you can shake a stick at! Let the fight begin!

At the end of the day One Armed Swordsman was a spectacular view and another fine entry in the Shaw Bros collection. The beautiful scope photography only stands to enhance the experience, as do the tremendous indoor sets used in conjunction with authentic outdoor location photography. It's a mesmerizing experience, seeing a film like this looking so good after so many years. Celestial has done an outstanding job in remastering these treasures and for this I am extremely grateful. Much like the experience of Come Drink With Me, The One-Armed Swordsman was an invaluable view and an extremely enjoyable experience. Luckily, we still have a few more Shaw Bros classics to take in before the end of the festival, and at this point I'm really looking forward to them.

Thumbs Up to the Shaw Bros, you guys are Da Kings!