Chou lian huan (1972)

Directors:

Cheh Chang
Hsueh Li Pao

Writers:

Kuang Ni (screenplay) &
Cheh Chang (screenplay)

Release Date:

12 October 1972 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Action | Drama

Tagline:

No one could bend him...not even the KUNG-FU KILLERS!

Plot Keywords:

Martial Arts | Stabbed In The Back | Stabbed In The Stomach | Republican Era China | Gang Fight

Cast

Kuan Tai Chen	...	Chou Lien Huan
Li Ching
Mu Chu	...	Zeng Gen Bao (as Chu Mu)
Ching Tien
Chih-Ching Yang
Bolo Yeung	...	Jin Xi Fu (as Yang Si)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ching Po Chang
Tien Lung Chen
Tao Chiang
Hsieh-su Fung
Tsan-hsiung Ku
Min-Lang Li
Shang Yun Liang
Kang Liu
Chia Wen Pao
Lao Shen
Chung Wang	...	Lin Ken Sheng
Han Chen Wang
Kuang Yu Wang
Tsing Wang
Pai-chen Yang

Directed by
Cheh Chang
Hsueh Li Pao

Writing credits
Kuang Ni		(screenplay) &
Cheh Chang		(screenplay)

Original Music by
Yung-Yu Chen

Cinematography by
Ting Bong Yuen

Film Editing by
Ting Hung Kuo

Art Direction by
Johnson Tsao

Costume Design by
Chi Li

Makeup Department
Hsu-Ching Wu	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ching Po Chang	....	assistant director
Liang Chung	....	assistant director

Art Department
Chieh-Fu Ho	....	props
Li Wu	....	props

Sound Department
Yung-Hua Wang	....	sound

Other crew
Chuan Chen	....	fighting instructor
Chia-Liang Liu	....	fighting instructor

Production Companies

• Shaw Brothers

Distributors

• Bardene International (1973) (USA) (dubbed)

Also Known As:

"Man of Iron" - Hong Kong (English title) (original subtitled version), USA (imdb display title)
"Warrior of Steel" - Europe (English title)
"Der Mann mit der Tigerpranke" - West Germany
"El hombre de acero" - Argentina
"I kamikaze del karate" - Italy
"Le nouveau justicier de Shangai" - France (imdb display title)
"Le nouveau justicier de Shanghai" - France (DVD title)

Runtime:

USA:92 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:18 | USA:R | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Company:

Shaw Brothers

Movie Connections:

Follows Ma Yong Zhen (1972)

MAN OF IRON – good Shaw Bros. vehicle for kung fu star Chen Kuan Tai

MAN OF IRON (1972) was positioned as something of a follow-up to BOXER FROM SHANTUNG (1972), the rise-and-fall story of Ma Yung Chen (also reviewed on this site), and it reunites the directors and some of the cast in a similar but much slighter tale of a lesser gangster's rise and fall in Shanghai. While the opening narration specifically recalls the events and tragic conclusion of BOXER, this one is set 20 years later in the same section of Shanghai but otherwise has nothing to do with the events or characters of the previous film.

It's basically a tale of gang warfare in post-war Shanghai (although the sets and most of the costumes look much older) that begins when an "upstart," Chou Lian Huan, played by Chen Kuan Tai (also the star of BOXER), takes a liking to the socialite mistress (Ching Li) of the son of the city's reigning crime boss (Yang Chih-Ching). He even rides a motorcycle through the patio doors of her elegant house and into the parlor and fights off her bodyguards to get her attention. The old crime boss, disgusted with his own son's wastrel ways, actually takes a liking to Chou and lets him have the woman. This provides a wedge for another crime boss to start a war to take over the city's criminal network.

To make a not-so-long-story short, Chou finds himself battling dozens of henchmen wielding clubs and knives (apparently no one has any guns left over from the war) in a series of brutal kung fu fights that are more realistic than usual because of Chou's strategy of ruthless thrusts, punches, kicks and elbow blows designed to maim and disable his opponents as quickly and surely as possible. Fortunately, the film is filled with such fights and they keep one's interest throughout.

The on-screen chemistry between Chen Kuan Tai and his female co-star, Ching Li (a leading Shaw Bros. star who was also in BOXER), is quite strong and includes some tender and romantic scenes (after, of course, she gets over his initial rough treatment of her).