While not THE movie that signified the evidence of Huangmei operas having commercial appeal, The Kingdom And The Beauty made a distinct impact and alongside 1963's The Love Eterne often is singled out as part of a duo of goto movies for appreciation and understanding of the musical genre at hand here. Using the Shaw Brothers stages to full, theatrical effect, Li Han-Hsiang depicts a part playful romance between unlikely couples that then switches to melodrama. Emperor Chu Te Cheng (Chao Lei) is tired of the confines of the kingdom and travels to a small town where he becomes enchanted with wine merchant Li Feng (Linda Lin Dai). Leaving her pregnant and subsequently ill, there's your 'will they?' element to the story. Being a musical, Li mixes unseen choirs crafting development of the story (it could be seen as essentially replacing voice over), latter duets mixed with dialogue between the actors and the point of that also is, Li makes us forget there is singing for certain stretches. He's got his and our eye on story, which is a fairly charming one thanks to compelling turns by the duo at hand. More so in the latter stages for Linda Lin Dai, being the sole occupant of the frame sometimes, as a lot of drama rests on her shoulders. While the story dictates that Chu Te Cheng essentially forgets and abandons Li Feng, it doesn't make that much sense he's all of a sudden thrilled with his wealthy surroundings he once turned away from out of boredom. One can sense Li Han-Hsiang is going for the theme of mismatched couples, divided by class and tradition but the latter stages proves to be shaky in this regard despite. On the other hand Li showcases the Shaw Brothers sets wonderfully as he plays with colors to dictate mood, puts tons of extras in the palace-scenes and being a musical (and quite theatrical acting-wise), the fake indoor sets aids his vision and sets appropriate mood. Friend and future director King Hu (A Touch Of Zen) co-stars.

One of three movies Japanese director Inoue Umetsugu did in his first year of working for Shaw Brothers and at least compared to Hong Kong Nocturne, the one that is stepping back from the musical-genre which would become a trademark for the visually gifted filmmaker (who also was allowed to bring over technical crew from Japan). Adapted from one of his previous films Man Who Causes A Storm (1957), King Drummer mixes the rise, fall and cruelty within the entertainment with the family melodrama. While often conceived well dramatically, its contrasting moods makes for a disjointed and patchy experience. It's all a bit stock as Lily Ho is the manager that seems to favour breeding talent rather than looking at them humanely, Chen Hung-Lieh is the baaaaad golden boy drummer replaced by the new kid on the block (an overacting Ling Yun), we got a mother who does not approve of music as a line of work and rather upsetting bloodshed towards the end. The frame and musical performances go nicely hand in hand, allowing for the Hong Kong and Japanese side to work in tandem and for many stretches King Drummer is basic but enjoyable. It's only when it decides to hammer home that music and fame will bring you down that it loses that momentum. However mild poignancy towards the end having to do with forgiveness and finding a new path amidst tragedy is commendable. It's on the nose but intelligent enough in that moment.

Since Chang Chen was a filmmaker that had as many as nine movies released yearly, you could tell which ones were the victims of being part of a movie factory. That’s not to say he didn’t maintain a decent personal standard. King Eagle does but it's also not the movie of 1971 that would turn heads. The main position of headman of the Tien Yi Tong clan is up for grabs since Hung Sing Tien (Chang Pei-Shan) murders a chief. In need of obtaining a decree meant for the other 8 chiefs and clear his path of any threats to his rise to power, he encounters defiant swordsman Jin Fei (Ti LUng) who wants nothing to do with the martial world. But a trail of blood makes matters personal for the legendary Jin Fei otherwise known as King Eagle.

With a fair few names to keep track of and a somewhat familiar Wuxia movie plot, Chang Cheh isn’t crafting originality within King Eagle and action wise isn’t getting a massive effort out of Tong Kai and Yuen Cheung-Yan (they were also working on an impressive amount of movies yearly). But a dependable Ti Lung shows you save your best swordplay for your lead so his leaps into action are appealing. Displaying the Shaw Brothers production standards via city sets but also isolated forest areas as well as a romantic, softer side as it turns out since Li Ching’s dual roles means one of the swordswomen is bad, one is good maintains our interest decently as it's being respectably played and staged. Creative choreography towards the end by the action team and the requisite blood soaked finale again confirms King Eagle is perfectly sufficient as a studio movie but you’re also on to the next film shortly thereafter. A better, groundbreaking film by the director even.

Lau Siu-Ming opens the film with some nifty gambling skills, a trait that soon sets up one of the cooler character to come out of this genre in combination with the heroic bloodshed one. Namely Lam Wai (Long Arm Of The Law), who plays a number crunching invincible one who puts his particular skill to use in various creative, acrobatic ways. Too bad King Of Gambler can't shine a better light on this character emphasis and the film ends up playing out more like a stock genre picture, with the typical exaggerated gangster types all too visible (including the usually growling Alex Man). There is some slight positives to take away from the film though, especially the last 30 minutes or so that is an almost constant assault of gunplay. The biggest joy here comes from the extensive weaponry used and hordes upon hordes of robot-like henchmen up for slaughter (somewhat reminiscent of the various Agent Smith's of The Matrix movies). Lam Wai continues to shine in these scenes and the momentum sees director Johnnie Kong's (Madam City Hunter) minor quirky skills come to life. But with this comes the price of the quite extensive action being devoid of style and even good technical execution largely so what could've been an eventual classic merely ends up as being noticeable. Also with Kathy Chow, Jimmy Lung (in the villain role as always), Tommy Wong and a confused looking Roy Chiao.

A meatier and more dramatic side to Joseph Kuo's filmmaking side can be found via Fusian's unearthing of his 1969 swordplay drama. Compared to latter fan favourites such as 7 Grandmasters and Mystery Of Chess Boxing, King Of Kings is a welcome, different beast indeed. Sure it's basic story telling and partially crude filmmaking but in this case, even crude emotional impact is actual emotional impact. Witnessing their father being killed by the swordsman Thunder Sword after just having been appointed the escort for the emperor, young Siao Tung and Siao Chun are subsequently separated. We meet with the adult Siao Tung now known as Ku Chung (played by Peter Yang) and he's on a relentless, bloody quest to kill Thunder Sword in the name of revenge. He meets up with a blacksmith (Ma Kei) that sees the uncontrollable anger in the young man and wants to teach Ku Chung to stop spilling blood. The interesting dual nature to the young swordsman starts here. The portrayal of being driven by blood coupled with a twisting plot that you can spot a few miles off for sure is adequate and no staple presented (such as split items that are paired up for the finale of the film so that characters truly know who they are facing) is a letdown for the film. In fact, Kuo easily rises above them to deliver the surprising impact to Kings Of Kings where even the theatrical ending in terms of performances rings true to intended, valid intentions. With fight action on display making sense in the context of the story and also being quite fluid for 1969, Joseph Kuo's early gem is no longer destined for obscurity. Nor is his skill at providing substance.

Ye Kuan (Simon Yam) is on the top of the most wanted list, thanks to his robbery- and AK-47 exploits. Together with his gang, they roam the streets of Hong Kong, leaving much blood and mayhem behind. The cops chase, lead by Bowie Lam and director Billy Chung churns out a a trashy dud. He does use the opportunities to be nasty as the robbers do pretty much annihilate everything they see but the whole affair manages to creep over to the shoddy, embarrassing side Hong Kong cinema can often walk and when Chung also adds some truly bizarre editing techniques (having to do with repeating scenes but in different color grading), he doesn't crawl over to the fun side cheap cinema like this can. In fact, it's barely cinema and the expected story beats of doubt within the gang, a possible undercover among them and the role of a woman (Anita Lee) within all this doesn't... just doesn't. The sole "what the..."-moment that does register is the sight of Yam going "undercover" on the streets as the wanted man he is but in a buddhist monk robe. Also with Roy Cheung and Chin Kar-Lok.

Fu (Richard Ng) is a regarded clothes salesman in Stanley Market but when a rival (Sylvia Chang) tries to outshine his business, the new competition generates hatred. Hatred turns to friendship and friendship into love...

Jamie Luk (The Case Of The Cold Fish) injects a pleasant enough tone into this romance, getting simple but sincere chemistry from his leads. While Richard Ng is carrying his comedy persona at times (a highlight comes when he's relegated to being a referee in the soccer game between the markets but keeps playing it into his team's favour), he's allowed more to lean back on a character afraid of commitment. A childish sweetness Ng conveys quite well. The script later invents situations that does very much feel manufactured for the sake of closure though and King Of Stanley Market loses a bit of its pleasant touch eventually. Lowell Lo, Charlie Chin, Elaine Kam, Lydia Shum, Wu Fung, Sandra Ng and Derek Yee also appear.

Another example of how well Hong Kong based company Seasonal played the market by producing approachable vehicles in English with a Hong Kong touch to the action, The King Of The Kickboxers is neither art nor does it reach the highs No Retreat No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers did but it's still a fun entry. Loren Avedon is a cocky cop sent to Thailand to bust s snuff film ring whose main villain Khan (Billy Blanks) killed his brother 10 years earlier. Avedon puts on a wisecrack-act that mostly embarrasses as he simply can't embody it but the continual energy is admirable and his latter scenes with Keith Cooke (whose kicking is amazing) as master and student are amusing as they also are very Hong Kong genre staple in nature. In fact acting is across the board comes locked and loaded without subtlety but if Seasonal's action director Tony Leung had not delivered it would've been up for way harsher criticism. Injecting the Hong Kong style quite well through the Western players and Chinese doubles, the flow is far from the stiffness often inherited in Western productions NOT going with a Hong Kong choreographer and it generates the best excitement in the cage match at the end with Avalon and Blanks (who makes an impact as Khan in what is quite a silly role).