Dressed to Fight DVD

DRESSED TO FIGHT (1980)
Venom Mob Films
Directed by Au Yeung Chun
Cast: Tien Ping, Doris Lung, Man Kong Lung, Lin Yun, Elsa Yeung, Su Chin Ping
Video: Full Frame (1.33:1)
Audio: Dolby Digital Mono 2.0
Subtitles: None
Packaging: Keepcase
Chapter Stops: 12
83 Minutes

DRESSED TO FIGHT is a low-budget effort from noted director Ulysses Au Yeung Chun, the man responsible for such enjoyable martial arts films as THE SECRET OF THE SHAOLIN POLES (1977), BROTHERHOOD OF HEROES (1980), and WANDERING DRAGON (1981). This 1980 Taiwanese production was originally released as LEGEND OF THE BROKEN SWORD, and is also known as RAIDERS OF THE DRAGON BLADE. The film features independent star Tien Ping as a man on the run trying to make sense of the strange circumstances going on around him. Some of Tien Ping’s better pictures include THE 18 BROMZEMEN (1976), BLACK EAGLE’S BLADE (1981), and LONE NINJA WARRIOR (1982). Rounding out the cast is a collection of female martial artists including the beautiful Doris Lung from MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE (1976), THE CAVALIER (1978), and THE MAGNIFICENT (1979), and Elsa Yeung from THREE SHAOLIN MUSKETEERS (1978), LIFE OF NINJA (1980), and the star of CHALLENGE OF THE LADY NINJA (1983). Long time HK veteran Ling Yun also has a key role in DRESSED TO KILL as an ally of Tien Ping’s character. If you’ve been a fan of old school HK cinema, you’ll know Ling Yun as the main character from several Shaw Brothers epics, namely KILLER CLANS (1976), CLANS OF INTRIGUE (1977), and LEGEND OF THE BAT (1980). Venom Mobs Films, (the bastard offspring of the once-mighty Crash Cinema) releases DRESSED TO FIGHT on DVD as part of their insert name here Collection.

Hu Te Wa (Tien Ping) is the wandering and wise swordsman who enjoys his freedom to live life as he chooses (which he does by hanging around taverns and flirting with dangerous women). Hu Te Wa gets involved with two women (played by Doris Lung and Elsa Yeung, respectively), who each have agendas of their own. As Hu Te Wa attempts to avoid these women, unseen assassins attempt to kill him in a super human manner which results in the death of those around him. Hu Te Wa takes to the road with the woman of his choice (Lung) and the duo fight to stay alive and unravel the massive conspiracy against them. They both become extremely paranoid as everyone they see is a potential assassin and being helpful to people just doesn’t pay. It turns out that a secret society of lethal martial artists who reside in the legendary White Cloud City have set their sights on eliminating Hu Te Wa and his new found love.

DRESSED TO FIGHT is an extremely low-budget Taiwanese production, and this fact does hamper the movie quite a bit. That’s not to say that this film has nothing going for it; DRESSED TO FIGHT does feature an abundance of well choreographed swordplay and combat sequences. The fighters are performed in real-time so everything is very natural and impressive—especially the friendly fight scene between allies Tien Ping and Ling Yun. Director Au Yeung Chun also crafts some memorable characters for the film. Tien Ping bases his performance on Jimmy Wang Yu’s popular tough guy characterization that he is so well-known for. The numerous assassins and opponents that Tien Ping faces boggles the mind, each one who provokes the gentleman swordsman suffers a horrible death. So while DRESSED TO FIGHT delivers in the areas of acting, characterizations, and fights, it fails in the structuring of the plot. This film is basically a huge conspiracy caper and the narrative serves no purpose other than to make the viewer scratch his head and ponder ‘what is going on here?’. It doesn’t help that the filmmakers insert some pseudo-supernatural angle into DRESSED TO FIGHT which ultimately goes nowhere. The end result gives you the impression that they made the storyline up as they went along. I will say this, because Ulysses Au Yeung Jun combines the ‘road’ picture with the ‘conspiracy’ genre, this makes the movie surreally unique.

DRESSED TO FIGHT was originally projected in cinemas in the widescreen ratio of 1.85.1. Venom Mob Films presents their usual shoddy full frame transfer. The good news is that despite the overall softness of the image and faded colors, the picture exhibits no major blemishes or print damage. The image could use some touch up that’s for sure, but in no way is the picture as bad or the authoring as poor as a Video Asia title. The quality is about as good as a Tai Seng Martial Arts Theater DVD. Despite the very low budget, DRESSED TO FIGHT features some decent production values, and the visual aspects of the film (the sets, costumes, locations) hold up well in the cropped picture. The fight choreography takes center stage in the cinematography and remains prominent in the transfer. The soundtrack is Dolby Digital Mono 2.0. DRESSED TO FIGHT is mainly dialog driven with the expected martial arts sound effects (such as kicks, chops, clanging staffs and swords, etc.) coming through with surprising clarity. The English dubbing is distortion free and effectively done. The music is also prominent in the mix with some exciting stock library themes heard in about a million other of these films.

In my opinion, DRESSED TO FIGHT has some things to offer to fans of the Taiwanese productions. Its not perfect by any means, but its certainly better than any of the stuff by directors Joseph Lai or Godfrey Ho. At the very least, DRESSED TO FIGHT offers entertaining fight scenes, and good performances from Tien Ping, Lin Yun, and Doris Lung. Its a very violent film at times, yet the young ladies seen here help bring beauty to the mayhem. The script has its share of problems, but what low-budget martial arts film is perfect? Crash Cinema’s full frame presentation is passable, and the disc is properly authored. The one main problem with the DVD is a complete lack of extras. Get with the program, VMF.

Movie:	3.0
Video:	2.5
Audio:	3.0
Extras:	0.0
Overall:	3.5