The Story of Wong Fei-hung, Part 1: Wong Fei-hung’s Whip That Smacks the Candle

Wong Fei-hung started out as an ordinary martial arts instructor, before over one hundred films bearing his name raised him to legendary status. This is the first of these. In order to distinguish itself from the fantasy wuxia films popular at the time, the film makes great efforts to prove Wong’s authenticity: there is detailed narration of his training; performance of the ‘Hung Kuen Fist’ school of martial arts is firmly incorporated into the plot; the multiple fight scenes showing the master leaping from high places are made to look thrillingly real. These are the kind of features which marked this film out as a trailblazer for the martial arts films to come. In all his films, Wong retains his grassroots, spontaneous characteristics and burning desire to fight injustice at all costs, while his apprentices can be seen falling into brawls in brothels – this cinema prototype of Wong Fei-hung is far from the meek and forbearing Confucian knight errant, grand master status of the character’s later reincarnations.

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