Pusan 2003

Discover "The Man of Action"
by Junichi Tomonari

Have you heard about Chung Chang-Wha, the Korean film director? I think most people don't know him and his works. Neither did I. I heard his name and saw his films here in Pusan for the first time, and felt very much excited.

The first of his films which I saw is "Valley of Fungs" (70), a historical action drama. There is a mother and beautiful daughter whose father was dishonored and arrested by an atrocious lord. The only way the father can be released is to receive the king's direct pardon in the form of a document. His wife and daughter leave home to bring the document to the town, disguising themelves as street musicians. They are chased by the warriors and put into difficult situations many times, but there always appears a mysterious knight who saves them with quite skilled sword-play and kung-fu action. Yes, this film is a very well made historical action movie, reminiscent of Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon. This is one of the finest works which Chung Chang-Wha shot for the Shaw Brothers, the famous Hong Kong Film Production company.

Chung Chang-Wha shot films from 1953 to 1977. For about 25 years he made 53 films and 30 of them are modern or historical action movies mixed with romantic melodrama. He started his career in Korea, of course, and succeededas a commercial action director in the early 60s. Then he was employed by the Shaw Brothers. The first film for them was "Tempress of a Thousand Faces" (69), the first Hong Kong movie which was exported to Europe. "Valley of Fangs" was his third film for the Shaw Brothers. And his fifth and best known film "Five Fingers of Death"(72) was released in the U.S.A. and achieved a box office record. Later, when Raymond Chow founded Golden Harvest, the director moved there and started shooting modern action movies.

At the 8th Pusan International Film Festival, there was a special retrospective program of Chung Chang-Wha and 10 of his films were screened. Unfortunately, because of my duty on a Fipresci Jury, I only saw 4 of them. But all of them were very exciting and a great discovery for me.

Two swordsman movies are especially impressive. "Swordsman in the Twilight" (67) and "The Wandering Swordsman and the 108 Bars of Gold", were both shot while Chung was still in Korea, just before leaving for Hong Kong. Those titles remind us of some specific films, don't they? Yes, spaghetti westerns. Both really feel like spaghetti westerns.

"Swordsman in the twilight" is the story about vengeance. During the reign of King Suk-Jong, there were two brothers of a Lord who tyrannized the people in a brutal way. A lone swordsman appears in the village and uses his skilled sword to get rid of members of the bad brothers' gang. Is he just a hero or there is any particular reason behind his sharp sword? Yes, of course, there was a tragic reason behind his sword.

"The Wandering Swordsman and the 108 Bars of Gold" is the story about two families who fight each other to grab 108 hidden bars of gold. Both of them hired professional skilled killers and displayed brilliant fighting. One of them is really like a dirty hero. He killed a bunch of swordsmen in only one stroke, and left a coin on each of their dead bodies.

Chung Chang-Wha was most prolific between the middle of the 60s to the early 70s. His films during this period were exactly contemporary with the best era of spaghetti westerns. And also at the same time in Japan, my country, there were traditional Yakuza movies (Before Fukasaku became famous with his gangster movies) were very populer. All of them were called B-class commercial action movies and are forgotten. But I think it is very important to see them now, because with those so-called B movies we can remember and discover again what happened in the late 60s and the early 70s.

In 77 he shot "Broken Oath" with Golden Harvest and returned to Korea. He stopped directing films in his 50s and founded Wha Pung Productions in 1979 and worked as a producer until his retirement in 87. Now he lives in the U.S.A. At the PIFF I saw so many films and found a lot of interesting ones. There are many things to write about , but for me, discovering Chug Chang-Wa's works was the most extraordinary experience. I hope we can have more chances to see his films.

Junichi Tomonari
© FIPRESCI 2003

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