For years before the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, martial arts movies frequently featured stories set in ancient China, with lots of sword fighting and fantasy elements. While Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon brought renewed attention to this style, it had been popular before, especially in the mid to late 1960s, just before the surge in popularity of “kung fu” films in the early 1970s.
This period saw a surge in films similar to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, with essential classics ranging from A Touch of Zen to The One-Armed Swordsman. Importantly, the original story that inspired Ang Lee’s popular film also received its own excellent movie adaptation – and even a follow-up – during this time.
Rape Of The Sword Is A 1967 Wuxia Film Based On Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Released 33 years before Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the film Rape of the Sword is considered by many fans and martial arts experts to be an early adaptation of the classic 1940s Chinese wuxia novel of the same name. This idea is also supported by the film’s action choreographer, Yuen Woo-ping.
Directed by Yueh Feng, Rape of the Sword centers around a princess and her servant. What the princess doesn’t know is that her servant is a secretly a master swordswoman seeking revenge for her husband’s death.
She’s determined to find a legendary and incredibly strong sword, but her rival, Prince Wu Yi (played by Chan Hung Lieh), is after it too. They team up and eventually enlist the help of a noble outlaw leader who was trained by the same master as one of their allies.
Even though the characters and some details differ, the connection between these two stories is clear. Similar to the original Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Rape of the Sword centers around two powerful women who are searching for a famous sword and unexpectedly find themselves working with a criminal.
Rape Of The Sword Has A Sequel Called A Taste Of Cold Steel
Shaw Brothers, the Hong Kong film studio behind Rape of the Sword, followed it up with A Taste of Cold Steel three years later. But while it’s a sequel, this new film doesn’t seem to be based on the same source material and tells a completely different story.
Instead of continuing the story of the heroes from Rape of the Sword, A Taste of Cold Steel focuses on the previous film’s villain, Prince Wu Yi, once again played by Chan Hung Lieh.
Now, he’s after a powerful sword called the Purple Light Sword, and his attempt to steal it puts him at odds with a new group of heroes: three sisters and a skilled swordsman.
What I really appreciated about this film is that it didn’t just rehash the plot of Rape of the Sword. Instead, it cleverly introduces conflict by having Prince Wu Yi unintentionally make some new enemies. He hires a band of bandits to swipe the sword, but things get complicated when they decide they want to keep it! This leads to a fantastic, three-way showdown – it’s the heroes against the bandits, against Prince Wu Yi, and honestly, it’s a blast to watch everything fall apart.
Read More
- Movie Games responds to DDS creator’s claims with $1.2M fine, saying they aren’t valid
- The MCU’s Mandarin Twist, Explained
- These are the 25 best PlayStation 5 games
- SHIB PREDICTION. SHIB cryptocurrency
- Scream 7 Will Officially Bring Back 5 Major Actors from the First Movie
- All Golden Ball Locations in Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties
- Server and login issues in Escape from Tarkov (EfT). Error 213, 418 or “there is no game with name eft” are common. Developers are working on the fix
- Rob Reiner’s Son Officially Charged With First Degree Murder
- MNT PREDICTION. MNT cryptocurrency
- ‘Stranger Things’ Creators Break Down Why Finale Had No Demogorgons
2026-03-04 00:40