Mantis Mania! The Martial Arts Mantises

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Shaolin Mantis ( Chinese : 螳螂 ; Jyutping : tong4 long4 ; lit. 'praying mantis'), also released as The Deadly Mantis , is a 1978 Shaw Brothers film directed by Lau Kar-leung , starring David Chiang and Liu Chia Hui . Plot Wei Fung (David Chiang), a young scholar recruited by the Emperor to infiltrate a group of rebels in the Tien Clan in order to get evidence of the clan's connection to Ming loyalists, the rebel spy network and anti-Ching activities. If Wei fails in his mission, his own well-connected family will be punished. Wei Fung encounters Tien Chi-Chi (Huang Hsin-Hsiu aka Wong Hang Sau), the granddaughter of the leader of the rebel group. When he is hired as Chi-Chi's new instructor he realizes this is his best opportunity to infiltrate the rebel clan. Events become complicated when Chi-Chi begins to fall in love with Wei Fung at the same time that her grandfather's spies discover Wei Fung's true motives for seeking them out. When Chi-Chi learns that Wei Fung is about to be assassinated she pleads for his life. Grandfather Tien (Lau Kar Wing), unwilling to cause his granddaughter heartbreak, relents and decides that if Chi-Chi can persuade Wei Fung to marry her and never leave their family's villa, he will be allowed to live. If he refuses he will be killed on the spot. Back at the Emperor's court, the Emperor praises Wei Fung and his father for Wei Fung's success in eliminating an entire rebel nest and exposing their spy network. When the Emperor offers up a toast, Wei Fung's father poisons both his and his son's cup of wine. As soon as Wei Fung drinks from the cup, his father proudly proclaims his allegiance to the rebels. A shocked Wei Fung turns to his father who explains that Wei Fung has in fact helped a tyrant kill heroes working to overthrow his diabolical regime. Wei Fung's father dies as soldiers come to protect their emperor before Wei Fung can kill him. The film ends in freeze frame with Wei Fung fighting the emperor's elite royal bodyguards. Cast (in credit order) David Chiang as Wei Feng ( Chinese : 魏峰 ; Cantonese Yale : Wèi Fēng ) Lily Li as Chi-Chi's mother Lau Kar-wing as Chi-Chi's grandfather (credited as Liu Chia Yung) Cecilia Wong as Chi-Chi (credited as Huang Hsing-Hsiu) Gordon Liu as Shaolin Fighting Monk (credited as Liu Chia-Hui) Dance of the Drunk Mantis ( Chinese : 南北醉拳 ) is a 1979 Hong Kong kung fu comedy film directed by Yuen Siu-tien 's real life son Yuen Woo-ping and written by Ng See-yuen and Lung Hsiao. It stars Yuen Siu-tien, Hwang Jang-lee , Linda Lin, Yuen Shun-yi, Charlie Shek and Yuen Kwai . This was Yuen Siu-tien's final film appearance before his death on 8 January 1979. The film was released theatrically in Hong Kong on 27 June 1979. Plot One year after training a young Freddy Wong ( Jackie Chan ) in Drunken Master , Beggar So / Sam Seed returns to find that his wife has adopted a son named Foggy. Sam takes a disliking to the boy and tortures him mentally and physically. Devastated, the boy runs away and takes a job at an inn, where he meets Rubber Legs and his student. He overhears that they are looking for Beggar So and want to kill him, making Rubber Legs' Northern 'Drunk Mantis' Boxing supreme. However, Foggy returns home to warn Beggar So, who comes to the inn to meet Rubber Legs in a drinking feast. During the fight, Rubber Legs brings out his drunk mantis fist he combined with his Northern style against which Beggar So turns out to know no defense in particular, to bear, beating him easily. Beggar So gets mortally ill and sends Foggy to a sickness teacher for herbs to cure him, and the doctor teaches him a dreaded style called 'Sickness Boxing'. Now, armed with this sick form of fighting, Foggy is ready for Drunk Mantis. In the end, Foggy goes berserk and kills Rubber Legs. Unable to escape from his trance, he sees Rubber Legs when he looks at Beggar So and attacks him. The film closes with a freeze frame as Foggy leaps after his adopted father as the sickness doctor watches on. Cast Yuen Siu-tien – Beggar So / Sam Seed Hwang Jang-lee – Rubber Legs Linda Lin Ying – Beggar So's wife Yuen Shun-yi – Foggy Charlie Shek – Moneybags Yuen Kwai – Rubber Legs' student David Wu – Pickpocket Yen Shi-kwan – Sickness Master Brandy Yuen – Fake Sam Seed Sharon Noble – Various Women Mantis Fist and Tiger Claws of Shaolin by Chris The Brain · Published November 5, 2022 · Updated November 22, 2022 What the hell did I just watch? When I selected 1977’s Mantis Fist and Tiger Claws of Shaolin , I was expecting the standard Kung Fu fare of its time. The title of the movie was an amalgamation of pieces and parts of titles of other movies one would have watched on Kung Fu Theater, so I don’t think it was all that presumptuous of me to expect the movie itself to be the amalgamation of Kung Fu movie plots. And there were points in the movie where it felt like dozens of other Kung Fu movies I have seen, but there was also an air of mystery to it and when it was all said and done it