New Tales of the Flying Fox

Director: Lau Shi Yu
Screenplay: Wong Jing
Planning Director: Wong Tin Lum
Executive Producer: Mona Fong

Cast:
Wu Fei - Felix Wong Yat Wah
Yuen Ji Yi - Kara Hui Ying Hung
Ching Ling So - Dai Pei Ling
Miu Yan Fung - Alex Man Chi Leung
Wu Yat Dou - Bryan Leung Kar Yan
Mrs. Wu - Yuen Qiu
Tin Gwai Lung - Koo Koon Chung
Nam Lan - Chan Si Kai

Cramming a two volume Jin Yong novel into a 90-minute film and having the story flow is no easy feat. While this adaptation by the Shaw Brothers Studio at the end of its prime may not entirely be devoted to the original novel, it is nonetheless entertaining in its own right and still captures the essence of classic Wuxia cinema.

The movie is based on "The Other Tales of Flying Fox" and starts with the duel between two great warriors Miu Yan Fung (Alex Man) and Wu Yat Dou (cameo by Bryan Leung), who have great respect for each other. Wu Yat Dou's pregnant wife (Yuen Qiu) goes into labor during their duel and gives birth to a son, Wu Fei. Meanwhile, Miu Yan Fung's neglected wife (Chan Si Kai) has an affair with his sworn brother Tin Gwai Lung (Koo Koon Chung) and Tin uses this opportunity to poison Miu's sword. It turns out that Tin is in cahoots with the government to destroy the two warriors. As a result, Wu was killed accidentally by Miu during the continuation of their duel. Mrs. Wu commits suicide and leaves little Wu Fei in the care of a servant named Ping Sei. Ping takes little Wu Fei into hiding and raises him like his own. Wu Fei (Felix Wong) grows up into a mischievous youth, learning the Wu Family Sabre from a manual his parents left him and thinking that Miu is behind his father's death. In his journey to seek revenge against Miu, he meets two girls Yuen Ji Yi (Kara Hui) and Ching Ling So (Dai Pei Ling) and falls into a typical love triangle.

As I mentioned before, cramming in the two part novel into a 90 minute time frame means a lot of detail have to be removed in order to make the movie flow. And also being an adaption written by Wong Jing, changes are bound to occur. I was surprised however, that the changes are not as drastic and are certainly better than other Jin Yong movie adaptations at keeping the basic structure of the plot. I guess Wong Jing was rather serious about his works early in his career. Different from the novel is that Yuen Ji Yi is not a nun, but a playful girl who is deeply in love with Wu Fei and later on becomes a nun because of him. When I read the novel, I always thought that it was the other way around. But certainly, Kara Hui's Yuen Ji Yi is far more likable than the one in the novel. One of the most amusing (and perhaps the only) scenes of the film is her first encounter with Wu Fei, which also helps set up the personality of these two characters. Perhaps Wong Jing disliked the "Ching Ling So" character or he got the two girls mixed up, but Dai Pei Ling's rendition of this originally pitiful character is totally different from the novel. The "Ching Ling So" of this movie is arrogant, cold, and rather dislikable; you just cannot take her side. The script did not do justice for this character.

Felix Wong's rendition of Wu Fei is rather refreshing, at least I felt he handled the role better than his counterparts in the TV series. The Felix at the time seemed quite adept at playing the young and inexperienced character who is not yet at Dai Hup (hero) level but has the potential to be. His portrayal of Wu Fei kind of reminds me of the role he played in the TVB serial "The Young Wanderer". It's funny but it appears that directors and producers love to have Felix follow in Bryan Leung's footsteps. Both have played the same characters in different Jin Yong adaptations. In this movie, Bryan Leung makes a cameo appearance as the father Wu Yat Dou, a role which Felix will take in the rather horrible 1999 remake.

Perhaps the highlight of the movie was its first 20 minutes. Bryan Leung and Alex Man show what being a "Dai Hup" is all about. Director Lau Shi Yu clearly made the correct choice in casting these two actors as the older generation. Bryan Leung gives a very convincing performace despite his limited screen time and there is only one word to describe Alex Man - Cool. Heck, why didn't TVB cast them as the first generation in their 1980s version of the novel? It was also nice to see Alex Man not overact his role to the extent he is capable of as demonstrated in his TVB dramas. Not only was the acting superb on both parts, but the hand to hand combat sequences between the two were pretty exciting. The only peeve I had about their performaces was the fact they didn't get to use their own voices. Though filmed in Cantonese, the dialogue was dubbed over by voice actors. It would have been an even more convincing act if the actors dubbed their own voices. It was quite a surprise to see Yuen Qiu in one of her "pre-Landlady" (Kung Fu Hustle) roles as Wu Yat Dou's amiable wife, which is a far cry from the crude yet amusing role that catapulted her to fame. It's quite a different side of Yuen Qiu and she clearly has some potential to be a dramatic actress as well from her short performance in this film. Koo Koon Chung also gives an on par performance as usual as the villain, and yes he is quite loathsome as Tin Kwai Lung.

The movie was re-released on DVD as part of the Shaw Classics collection. While it is not an instant classic like "Come Drink With Me" or "36 Chambers of Shaolin," it is definitely worth getting and adding to a collection. It is also a definite recommendation for Jin Yong fans who are interested in movie adaptations of his novels.