The Furious Buddha's Palm

The Furious Buddha's Palm

Dir: Ling Wan
Scr: Szeto On
Orig Story: Liu Canyang
Cast: Tso Tat-wah, Yu So-chow, Connie Chan Po-chu, Josephine Siao Fong-fong
1965 / B&W (Partially tinted) / D Beta / Cantonese / 110min

The "Buddha's Palm" film series was very successful at its times, partly because of the mystic of the divine martial arts imagination, and partly due to the characters and visual designs. The dramatic twist of Lung Kim-fei from a nobody to a martial arts hero is an inspiring plot that stayed with many as their childhood memories. Starting from the fifth episode, screen writer Szeto On had added a few outstanding characters, including the super villain Iron-faced Asura (Sek Kin) whose secret weapon is the Heavenly Crippled-leg move, the Dragon Lady (Josephine Siao Fong-fong) under his control and Monkey Boy (Connie Chan Po-chu), a cross between man and gorilla. When Asura goes on a killing spree with the Heavenly Crippled-leg move, Szeto On tactfully keeps Lung Kim-fei from intervening by having him make a promise not to kill again. After Luk Yu dies in combat, Lung's friends come forward to fight one by one, thus continuously shaking Lung's resolve and creating powerful dramatic conflicts.

The digital Beta we are showing this time is a reconstructed version in which images of a missing reel was inserted back into an incomplete tinted version. The end product is the restoration of about 5 minutes' hand-drawn coloring scenes that made the "Buddha's Palm" all the more powerful looking.


Date Time Venue
25/10/2015 (Sun) 7:30pm Cinema, Hong Kong Film Archive

The contents of the programme do not represent the views of the presenter. The presenter reserves the right to change the programme should unavoidable circumstances make it necessary.