Master Of The Flying Guillotine Ultimate Edition : YOU NEED THIS DVD
Directed by Jimmy WangYu
Produced by Wong Cheuk-hon
Screenplay by Jimmy Wang Yu
Starring Jimmy Wang Yu, Kam Kang, Doris Lung, Lau Kar-wing, Philip Kwok
Running time 81 minutes (original) 93 minutes (restored version)
Country Hong Kong
Language Mandarin, English Dub
I recently picked up a copy of Master of The Flying Guillotine : Ultimate Edition on DVD, mainly because my beloved Sinister Cinema VHS copy was starting to wear out, and I just couldn’t bear to be without a copy of it.
Master of th Flying Guillotine  is a 1976 masterpiece of 70′s  era kung fu movies, and I was one of the lucky few to have grown up with a copy of it in their household. My father always described it as “The kung fu movie by which all other kung fu movies are judged” and rightfully so.  Written by, directed by, and starring Jimmy Wang Yu  the movie follows the Blind Master of the flying guillotine (Kam Kang) as he seeks vengeance on the one armed boxer (Jimmy Wang Yu)  for the murder of his two disciples.  Rampaging across China during the Manchu Dynasty the master disguises himself as a Shaolin monk and kills every one armed man he comes across in his search for the one armed boxer.Along the way we meet several other characters including a head band wearing muay thai boxer and a arm stretching yoga master (who obviously was the starting point for the street fighter character Dhalism) through a giant kung fu contest held, coincidently, in the town that the one armed boxer resides.   After a bunch of killer kung fu 1 on 1 battles the master shows up and kills a one armed contestant and proceeds to bomb the hell out of the place.  The master then obtains the help of the foreign contestants to hunt down the one armed boxer, and after he kills those helping the master the final showdown begins. Blind dude vs one armed dude, who else but Jimmy Wang Yu would have thought of such a thing?  The final battle is about 12 minutes of crazyness, and it fittingly enough takes place in a coffin shop. I won’t spoil the ending for you, so if you haven’t seen it the victor will surprise you.
Master of the Flying Guillotine is actually a sequel to Jimmy Wang Yu’s 1972 epic “The One Armed Boxer”. I personally haven seen it yet but it is next on my list of movies to score.
Master of the flying Guillotine : Ultimate Edition will run you about 13-15 bucks on amazon right now, which is a hell of a score. The ultimate edition has 12 minutes of never before seen footage in the movie which builds the story a little bit more and theres a whole extra fight in the competition. Theres a really cool commentary track by a couple of film critics too which gives you insights into the story of the actors. The Dvd Also includes a photo gallery with posters, stills and a box office chart. There is also a Two disc edition which I have read has an extra commentary track , and additional features, but they didn’t have it where i was shopping so… I didn’t get it. Anyways, This DVD is a must have for your home collection, it’s the Citizen Kane of the kung fu genre.
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