By the time Raymond Chow left Shaw Brothers to form Golden Harvest in 1970 (along with fellow Shaw Brothers alumni Leonard Ho) he had already been head of production at Shaw Brothers for 10 years. But being frustrated with the limitations of the restrictions put in place place by Run Run Shaw on talent and budgets, along with the Malaysian film company Cathay wishing to pull out of Hong Kong, leaving a chain of cinema theatres across the urban landscape, Raymond Chow saw his chance and took the leap that would allow him to exploit Shaw Brothers biggest failing, that being to allow the artist to grow and develop bigger and better ideas.
Whilst hits weren’t immediately forthcoming, Golden Harvest struck gold in October of 1971 with the release of Bruce Lee’s The Big Boss. Raymond Had managed to lure Bruce Lee away from the clutches of Shaw Brothers by offering him a better deal and more creative freedom, something he was never going to get at Movietown (as Shaw Bros had offered him the same basic contract that everyone would get, regardless of potential or star power).
This success would only last for a few short years until the death of Kung Fu’s most famous son, following the success of his (and this Golden Harvest’s) biggest film to date, the Warner Brothers co-production of Enter The Dragon. It wasn’t for lack of trying though. Raymond Chow and Leonard Ho managed to lure back Jimmy Wang Yu from his Taiwanese exile to make films like Beach Of The War Gods (1973) and coaxed the legendary King Hu into releasing the stunning and often overlooked gem that is The Fate Of Lee Khan (also 1973), and smattered in between was a plethora of features starring one of the faces of 70s Kung Fu cinema, Angela Mao Ying.
Gone is the brooding melancholy of Meiko Kaji, instead replaced by the cocky swagger of a sassy Angela Mao Ying, all ready to take vengeance, but she is also not prepared to take any crap along the way. This gives the whole thing a levity that the subject wouldn’t usually allow.
By the time 1977 rolled around, Golden Harvest was a well oiled machine, and whilst it was still in the shadow of the Shaw Brothers behemoth, they were more than holding their own and bringing through an overabundance of talent that would dominate the Hong Kong film industry for the next 4 decades. One example of just how bright the future looked for Golden Harvest is the 1977 film Broken Oath.
Starring the aforementioned Angela Mao Ying, along with Chan Wai Man and Leung Siu-Lung, this uniquely Hong Kong take on the Lady Snowblood tale (which had been released some 4 years previously and starred the iconic Meiko Kaji) was directed by a legend that doesn’t always get the recognition he deserves, because despite being a fellow ex-Shaw Brothers employee, he had also made a film that had managed to do what so many had failed at previously, and that was become a hit in the US of A. That film was King Boxer (aka Five Fingers Of Death) and the director was Cheng Chang-Ho.
Whilst Broken Oath is very much of its time, it also has an energy that is rarely seen. It’s zips along like a sled on an ice covered mountain, often forgetting to slow down to let the viewer digest what they just seen, only to have scorpions thrown across the screen (no really) instead. Although the Lady Snowblood description is accurate, it does rob this film of its own identity. Gone is the brooding melancholy of Meiko Kaji, instead replaced by the cocky swagger of a sassy Angela Mao Ying, all ready to take vengeance, but she is also not prepared to take any crap along the way. This gives the whole thing a levity that the subject wouldn’t usually allow. Sure our lead may be born to seek revenge, but she is not beyond giving someone a slap if she thinks they deserve it.
Eureka again spoil us with a cornucopia of extra features. The always welcome commentaries from Frank Djeng, Mike Leeder and Arne Venema are present, along with an interview featuring actor Leung Siu-Lung and Patrick Macias’ thoughts on Lady Snowblood, this is the best presentation of Broken Oath to date.
Broken Oath is by far and away my favourite of all the Angela Mao Ying films (and yes, I’m including Enter The Dragon in that list), and this release finally gives this wonderful film the love it deserves. What a time to be alive.
Broken Oath is out now on Eureka Blu Ray
Ben’s Archive – Broken Oath
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