White Crane Chronicles

Andrew Heskins — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 10:00:05 +0000

Ah, David, what’s all this White Crane business? Don’t you know you’ll always be Grasshopper to us…?

Yep, David Carradine (Kill Bill, Death Race 2000) is back milking his cult appeal as star of mid-seventies TV series Kung Fu once again, this time as elder master White Crane. But perhaps the biggest surprise here is that this made-for-TV Chinese co-production isn’t that bad…

It’s 1920s China and the country is in a state of political unrest. When a temple of peaceful Wudang monks, led by martial arts Grandmaster Myling (Cheng Pei-Pei, Come Drink With Me, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon), is attacked an army of mercenaries under the command of a local warlord Khan Xin (Kay Tong Lim), Crane is one of the few survivors, along with trainee monk Lang Han (Osric Chau).

Even outside of the temple, Khan rules his territory with a vice like grip, forcing villagers to grow and distribute opium for him. Crane vows revenge on Khan and travels to Shanghai to get close to him. There he befriends a club owner Bingo Quo (Jimmy Taenaka) and his American club singer girlfriend Jane Marshall (fellow Kill Bill star Daryl Hannah), in Shanghai to find her missing brother. Crane soon finds Khan will stop at nothing to wipe out insurgents in his territory, but can he stop him?

Well, let’s face it – there are no surprises here! And then there’s an entirely unnecessary second part as Crane and his new friends embark on a quest to free their, um, girlfriends from an old foe. I eman, how lame is that? No one’s going to mistake this for inspirational, revolutionary television – the original American title for this was Kung Fu Killer – yet the truth is it’s not actually badly done…

Despite a fairly clichéd script, and Crane’s rather convoluted revenge plot on Khan, there’s enough give the cast something to get there teeth in to. Though all too happy to relive or at least suggest some of Kung Fu’s more memorable moments (tattooing by holes in a caldron, for instance), there are playful hints that Crane’s character could indeed have been Kung Fu’s Kwai Chang Caine during the many years he spent ‘wandering’.

(After all it is just one letter different? At least this time he doesn’t have the rather insulting Chinese make-up anymore…)

The participation of top Chinese stars and crew help set this above what you’d normally expect from a TV production. The involvement of Cai Li, martial arts supervisor on Hero, Curse Of The Golden Flower and House Of Flying Daggers, means the choreographer is actually pretty solid and well paced, often referencing the (now old school) close hand combat style of Yuen Woo-ping. It even acknowledges Carradine’s age by allowing him to move slower, but of course still remain powerful, just as an old master should. The series even manage to get away with Philip Spink’s rather plodding direction.

Most of the cast do a fine job, Osric Chau, Anya, Yu Beng Lim, even Carradine himself. Hannah appears a little miscast for a role seemingly intended for someone younger, which is a real shame as she fits the 1920s look perfectly. A marginal rewrite to more of a feisty Katherine Hepburn type of character would have benefited both the film and her performance greatly. We also see far, far, FAR too little of Cheng Pei-pei for my liking.

With its fleeting references to tragic events in Cranes childhood, there’s no doubting that the makers of this mini-series anticipated it spawning a series, or at least several more features. We may never find out the details of Crane’s past, but if we do there are far worse ways to spend your time.

White Crane Chronicles is released on DVD by Brightspark Productions on 29 December.

TV: Asian Invasion

Andrew Heskins — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 10:24:33 +0000

Less like an invasion, more like a foray…

Jonathan Ross’ Asian Invasion was a neat introduction for the uninitiated, but did it go far enough for the rest of us?

Back in the late eighties an affable TV host with a complete inability to pronounce the letter ‘R’ presented a season of Hong Kong movies on Channel 4. It was back in the days when Channel 4 really was still edgy and intelligent – before it got taken over by ‘top 100′ lists and Big Brother – and was also the only place you could find anything remotely offbeat in those days.

The host had gained himself a reputation as a champion of cult, exploitation and ‘mondo’ films thanks to a series he headed called the Incredibly Strange Film Show. During which he spoke to horror directors like George A. Romero and Sam Raimi, and covered real odd balls like John Walters and Ed Wood. (Who could have guessed years later he would be the next Barry Norman?) He also spoke to Tsui Hark and Jackie Chan – devoting an entire hour-long episode to the latter.

I still remember some of the films quite clearly, Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain, Mr. Vampire, Rouge. All ‘Golden age’ Hong Kong stuff. Growing up in the seventies, I fondly remembered the Monkey and Water Margin series that were dubbed and shown on BBC 2 (at about 6pm if I remember rightly!) In those early days of video, it was tricky to get hold of anything remotely Asian. Rarer still for it to be subtitled with its original soundtrack, rather than just terribly dubbed. (To think, this was my first introduction to those ‘proper’ Bruce Lee movies like the Big Boss!)

Suddenly here was a whole new world I hadn’t experienced before. A renewable source of films with everything I liked most! And at the time, it seemed to be something of a commitment by Channel 4 to show those films in a late but not stupid timeslot. (In those days – blimey, whose granddad am I? – TV didn’t run all through the night, so you didn’t get films on at three or four in the morning!) Slowly, video caught on, like the self-explanatory ‘Made in Hong Kong’ label. Later it was LaserDiscs and DVDs – now you can’t move in your local HMV for the amount of films available. No more crawling around Chinatown for new stock!

Why do I mention all this? Perhaps to remind myself of how important a role Jonathan Ross played in the development of my ‘interest’, or more honestly obsession, with Asian cinema. No, not just me but the public and media at large. I really do wonder whether this might have happened at all if not for Ross’ (fairly) high profile support. Maybe… possibly… eventually…

Now Ross is the host of the UK’s most popular film show, and one of its most highly rated chat shows. It should be a far greater pull for him to host a programme about Asian films now, even if it was hidden away on Digital ‘art channel’ BBC4.

Over three episodes Ross looked at Japanese, Hong Kong and Korean cinema in turn, speaking to directors and looking at recent classics. Of course, being something of a self-made expert on the subject it hardly enlightened me to anything new (apart from The Calamari Wrestler).

It can’t help but feel rather like a lost opportunity – even allowing for the hour-long and rigid one country per episode format. Some of the omissions seemed rather conspicuous by their absence. For instance, during the Korean episode, Kim Ji-woon, director of A Tale of Two Sisters, Foul King and A Bittersweet Life was not mentioned once. Nor was any note made of Hideo Nakata during the Japan episode, let alone his Ringu films or Dark Water, one of the best horrors ever made. In fact, considering the current climate, it was strange that horror hardly seemed to get a look in beyond Takashi Miike’s Audition and several zombie inspired flicks. (Well, I did mention Ross’ like of Romero…)

Ross is always best when chatting one on one with the directors, even if that’s through translators. His line of enquiry might be trivial, occasionally veering rather close to ‘culturally insensitive’, yet always affable. Highlights would be attempting Bruce Lee impressions with Stephen Chow, or in a restaurant with Versus, and Azumi director Ryuhei Kitamura. The use of vox pops, detached from any interviewer, really did little for the episodes. The Korean directors came off like an earnest bunch indeed, and Derek Yee really seemed to take himself to seriously. Moreover, for the Hong Kong episode only Yee and Chow were interviewed properly, surely other directors could have been approached?

The rigid format also left gapping holes in Asian cinema. For instance, the absence of the Pang Brothers – who didn’t fit any box as they are from Thailand (though many of their pictures have been produced in Hong Kong).

I hope that the series might guide some other mad fool towards the light of Asian Cinema. It was definitely insightful, but it doesn’t half make you think… I mean, how about a more regular series which covered more ground and spoke more directors?

Ah well, if only…

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White Crane Chronicles

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TV: Asian Invasion

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