Review: Secret Service of the Imperial Court
Secret Service of the Imperial Court stars One of my Faves and recognizable martial art actors Leung Kar-yan or as most call him Beardy. Also Has a Few Venoms in small parts Sun Chien and Lo Meng and lets not forget another Shaw great that is Lo Lieh. Yes the cast is good and yes we get blood spraying like fountains and yes we get good breasticles at good sizes but yes I do have a few negatives with the film.
Lets get that out-of-the-way first. The most annoying part of the film and kind of hurts it is the action, No not the actual action but the scenes them selves……They are sped up and they are sped up to an almost comical speed. The story is good but does get slow in some spots.
The medium is that some may not now that this is part comedy. It’s a Beardy film, its bound to have comedy. For instance his son’s name is Ding Dong, the sped up action could be apart of the comedy, The bad guy is over the top with his lipstick and painted fingernails and his insane strength that may get a stoner leaping out of his chair coughing historically during one scene. Lets say a guy go’s flying and is instantly killed with one blow. Yes he went flying and not the normal way some one is flying but comically in a fast action. I found it fun and funny.
The good was the action. Yes its sped up in spots but over all the action was pretty fun. Good sword action and gore. This last great sword action film at Shaw Studios had great visual backgrounds and wardrobe. The story was fun maybe not good but I feel it’s a little better than medium. I love Nudity so I put this in the good Section and of course the small appearances from a few of the Venoms.
Overall I found the film entertaining for my first watch. It was great seeing Beardy back up on my TV screen and of course he does a good job in the action department. Its enjoyable but it’s not great, I feel any Shaw Fan will feel the same as it’s not in the Bad category,. If you can find this, Buy it
I give Secret Service of the Imperial Court a 3.5 out of 5. Off to the next Shaw Brothers film.
Secret Service of the Imperial Court
AKA – Police Pool of Blood
Starring – Leung Kar-Yan, Lau Wing, Nancy Hu Guan-Chen and Ku Feng
Directed – Tony Liu Jun-Guk
Distributors – Shaw Brothers, IVL
Release Date – October, 19, 1984
Language – Cantonese
Dubbing – Mandarin no English Dubbs
Subtitles – English, plus more
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