This lavish turn-of-the-century adventure was the movie that started earning Jackie Chan comparisons with Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd. Naval cadet Dragon Ma tires of endless defeats at the hands of pirates and co-opts underworld supremo Fei (Samo Hung) to help him nail the worst of the villains. Unfortunately Fei has his own secret agenda, and everything goes wrong… Full of brilliantly choreographed set-pieces, which anchor the humour in the detailed sets, costumes and props, it is indeed in the same league as some great silent comedies. Jackie’s riskiest stunt – a three-storey fall onto hard ground, broken only by two canvas awnings – is shown in two good takes in succession; the bad take, which came close to taking his life, appears under the end credits. Tony Rayns
