Dance of Death (1980)

"Is he fighting or dancing?"

Dance of Death had a thin storyline even for a kung fu movie. What it did have, was one of Angela Mao’s strongest performances. The comedy could be grating at times, but at least this movie gave its star more to do than glare and hand out butt-whoopings. Angela showed she had a flare for comedy and could handle the choreography by Jackie Chan.

Fei Fei rescues a man attacked by three “birds” from the 100 Birds School. Turns out he was running from the birds and their master after they killed nearly everyone in his kung fu school. Fei Fei accompanies Ku Cheng Yuan to a safe haven at another school. It doesn’t take long for the birds and a master of the “Upside-down horse” technique to catch up with them. Fei Fei escapes as the school is being obliterated. He (Angela was playing a man) runs across two old masters sparring to see who was best. He talks them into training him so that when he fights the bad guys they will be able to see which technique was better.

I kept waiting to see if Angela’s character was simply cross-dressing and there would be a big reveal at the end, but it never happened. She played a beggar man from beginning to end. Most of her characters through the years were given little emotional range. Angela seemed to be having fun being allowed to do more in this film. It also had to have been extremely demanding as the movie had very little story to it and from beginning to end there were either fight scenes or training scenes. The initial fights were “comedic” and not very good. They looked like kung fu dancing as you could count the cadence of their steps and kicks. Jackie Chan’s fingerprints were all over the fights and used many of his earlier film techniques. His push-pull, rolls, poses, and rhythm under rode all of the fights. The final battles were much faster and far more entertaining than Dean Shek’s seagull and chicken styles. The names were purposely ridiculous as were the “bird” fights. The two masters invented more feminine styles to combat the “Upside-down horse” such as “Mulan pulling her bow”, “Dancing girl”, and “Concubine coming out of her bath.” Whether the Five Forms or Dancing Girl Form, Angela moved agilely through each.

The story and most of the movie were completely forgettable, all save for Angela’s scenes. This movie stretched her acting and martial arts skills. She was delightful to watch as Fei Fei learned to fly.

9 March 2025
Warning: The movie was faded and had white faded subtitles which could be hard to read at times

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