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Audio Format: DD 2.0 Stereo Video Format: Widescreen 2.35:1 (Anamorphic) Languages: Mandarin Subtitles: English, Chinese (T), Malaysian, Indonesian Region Code: 3 Year Made: 1974 Running Time: 101
Director Ho Meng-hua attained cult status among Western kung-fu film fans with The Flying Guillotine. One of Shaw's biggest martial arts stars, Chen Kuan-tai, plays the leader of a group of killers, commissioned by the Ching Emperor to use a deadly, beheading weapon to assassination dissidents. Although based on a true story, the film's weapon was a complete fabrication because in real life, no one ever survived to tell what the actual weapon really looked like.
When the Emperor of China wants a new weapon all bets are off, though I am fairly certain a particular lineage of the French nobility would have shied away from the chosen device. The flying guillotine is remarkable, Sing Ching's weapon can be thrown a hundred yards, despite appearing to be made of brass and steel. (About ten pounds I would guess.) After it drops around the victim's neck one just pulls the chain and it flies back, carrying the head with it. A special detachment of guards are trained to perfection with the new weapon, once ready the Emperor sets them to assassinating every opponent or dissident at large. Watching a portly man run around without his head like a deceased chicken has a fair amount of entertainment value by the way. Mau Tang is blind to the amusing side of his work, he deserts the elite troop to ease his conscience. Being a hunted man for eternity was preferable to hanging around the palace though, just try putting a power hungry jerk on the left shoulder of a paranoid Emperor. Plenty of good people end up dead thanks to Su San Kun, he is constantly ratting them out as a traitor or some other bad influence. Our hero puts his time on the run to good use, starting a family, working his farm, and when the authorities close in he creates a weapon to battle the flying guillotine.
Extras:
Trailers, picture gallery, poster art, behind the scenes pictures, biographies/filmographies, and production notes.





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