Two versions of a story, Tsui Hark's classic, for the rise of Lin Zhengying, buried the ambush

On the Chinese movie screen, Tsui Hark has always had an extraordinary obsession with fantasy special effects. This obsession was evident at the very beginning of Tsui's career.

In 1979, Tsui directed his first movie, The Butterfly Transformation. Although the movie is about a "Gu Long-style case", the characters and costumes in the movie are inspired by Hollywood's special effects sci-fi blockbuster Star Wars.

In 1981, Tsui joined New Art City under the recommendation of John Woo, and embarked on a career in commercial comedy. Although he became a comedy director, Tsui did not give up his obsession with special effects and love of martial arts.

In 1982, Tsui asked the three bosses of New Yicheng to make Shushan: The New Swordsman of Shushan, and he also wanted to invite a Hollywood special effects team to help. However, at the time, New Yicheng was just starting out and was not willing to take the risk for such a big-budget, big-production movie.

After the idea was rejected, Tsui Hark was not discouraged and approached Golden Harvest. With the full support of Golden Harvest, Shushan: The New Swordsman of Shushan was officially launched into the Hong Kong film market in 1983. The movie was a great success, but it was also a great success for Lin Zhengying, who had a great career in the movie industry.

Next we will talk about, this was born in 1983, "Shushan: New Shushan Swordsman". At the same time, we'll talk about how Tsui Hark's movie influenced Lam's career.

Many viewers may wonder how Tsui Hark managed to convince Golden Harvest to invest in this movie, Shushan: The New Swordsman of Shushan. After all, the filming of Shushan: The New Swordsman of Shushan cost more than 30 million Hong Kong dollars to make.

It should be noted that Golden Harvest made 10 movies in 1981, and grossed HK$47.11 million in the Hong Kong market. In 1982, Golden Harvest made 7 movies and took a total of HK$51.32 million in the Hong Kong market.

It's hard to take the company's half year's worth of production in the Hong Kong market and invest in a project with unpredictable results.

However, Shaw's 1982 innovation made Golden Harvest determined to invest in Tsui Hark.

In the early 80s, Hong Kong films entered a period of rapid growth. At this time, Hollywood movies, too, were leading a sci-fi boom due to breakthroughs in computer technology, and were quickly knocking down the market share of kung fu movies in North America.

As the market for kung fu films shrank rapidly in the early 1980s, more and more Hong Kong filmmakers realized the importance of market change. 1982 saw Shaw's take the lead in setting up its own special effects team, experimenting with new special effects techniques, and organizing the filming of the sci-fi comedy Interstellar. Blunt Tire".

Seeing their old rivals taking the lead, Golden Harvest also decided to create a production to experiment with movie special effects technology. And at this time, Tsui Hark's invitation to collaborate became a rare opportunity.

In order to compete with Shaw in the new blue ocean of special effects movies, Golden Harvest invited the special effects team of Star Wars to join the filming of this "Shushan: The New Swordsman of Shushan", as per Tsui Hark's wishes.

In order to increase the quality of the movie's fight scenes, Golden Harvest also specially arranged for the Hong family class, for this "Shushan: The New Swordsman of Shushan" to serve as the action design work.

In order to add gimmicks to the movie, the two bosses of Golden Harvest, Zou and He, also invited Master of Painting and Calligraphy, Zhang Daqian, to inscribe the title of the movie.

At the beginning of the movie, the "Shushan: New Swordsman of Shushan" 7 big words, are from Zhang Daqian's handwriting.

It is worth mentioning that Zhang Daqian has a good relationship with the two bosses of Golden Harvest, Zou and He, and the word "Golden Harvest" on the logo of Golden Harvest Movie is also handwritten by Zhang Daqian.

"Shushan: The New Swordsman of Shushan" was released in Hong Kong on February 5, 1983, after the filming was completed. And Shaw's own sci-fi film, Interstellar Blunt Fetus, also landed in Hong Kong cinemas on February 12, 1983.

Golden Harvest brought in a Hollywood special effects team, and Shaw's used the most advanced local special effects as a publicity stunt to start a "special effects war" with Golden Harvest in the Chinese New Year.

In the end, Interstellar Blunt Tire took in more than HK$6 million at the box office, while Shushan: The New Swordsman of Shushan only earned more than HK$1.5 million.

In Shushan: The New Swordsman of Shushan, Tsui Hark wanted to present the story of the movie as a group of characters.

At the beginning of the movie, Di Mingqi, a soldier of Western Shu, is put to death for angering two generals. In the course of his escape, he encounters the "Eastern Marsh Soldier" played by Sammo Hung, "Ding Yin" played by Sammi Cheng, "Xiao Yue" played by Liu Songren, and "Yao Chi Immortal Fortress" played by Brigitte Lin. "The movie is a great example of this.

After receiving Ding Yin's transmission of kung fu and Long Mei's guidance, Di Mingqi traveled to Heavenly Sword Peak, retrieved the Purple and Green Swords, and helped the crowd seal the Blood Demon.

There is nothing wrong with this story line. However, because there are so many characters, the movie is limited in length, and many of the details of the story are not clearly explained, resulting in a motivated movie.

For example, why did Long Mei appear from the stone. How did Ding Yin escape from the Immortal Castle when the Castle Master froze it. At the end of the movie, why Di Mingqi can use the gourd, control the East Shu soldiers to speak. These bridge details have failed to explain clearly, and the audience watched confused.

Problems with the plot also became a major reason for the film's box office setback.

After suffering a major setback in the local Hong Kong market, Golden Harvest decided to take "Shushan: The New Swordsman of Shushan" to the international market in the hope of relying on the overseas audience base to recoup some of the cost losses.

In order to cater to the aesthetics of the overseas audience, Golden Harvest has made up for the plot and cut down the story of "Shushan: The New Swordsman of Shushan" to create a new international version.

The Hong Kong version of "Shushan: The New Swordsman of Shushan" tells the original fairy tale, while the international version of "Shushan: The New Swordsman of Shushan" tells a through-the-world story.

In the international version of the story, Di Mingqi, originally a modern man, meets a beautiful woman on his way to a museum. Upon arriving at the museum, DiMinci realizes that the beautiful woman he met is identical to a figure on a mural in the museum.

Curious, Dimitri asks the curator about the mural, and the curator gives him a brochure about the mural. On the photo of the mural in this brochure, Dimitri accidentally found a very similar to himself character.

The strange mural makes Dimitri puzzled, and he goes to seek help from a witch, only to meet with an accident and a car crash on his way back. Waking up from a coma, DiMingQi found himself in a strange place.

At this point, an old man told DiMingQi that he was the chosen one. The Blood Devil is a scourge on earth, and the only way for the brave man to return to the original world is to help the warriors of Shushan to destroy the Blood Devil.

Di Mingqi asks how he can defeat the Blood Demon, and the old man gives him clothes and a gourd, saying that he should always go west and follow his own destiny, and when he encounters danger, he just needs to take out the gourd, and then all his problems will be solved.

Di Mingqi changed his clothes and traveled to the west, and every time he encountered danger, he only needed to show his gourd, and then he would meet someone to help him. In this way, he met the Sword Immortal Ding Yin, the Old Man with Long Eyebrows, the Venerable Xiao Yue, the Fortress Master of Yao Chi Xian Fortress, and the Old Man with the Heavenly Sword.

With the help of these people, Di Mingqi got the Purple and Green Double Swords, defeated the Blood Demon, and returned to the original world.

This international version of Shushan: The New Swordsman of Shushan, in addition to a filler crossover title, also cuts the story of the Hong Kong version of the movie. For example, the emotional scenes of Ding Yin and the Fortress Master of the Immortal Fortress were deleted, as well as the appearance of Sammo Hung as that Dongshu soldier. After the deletion, the flow of the story has been improved a lot.

Despite the improved flow of the story in the international version, the movie's release overseas, is still not very promising.

This "Shushan: The New Swordsman of Shushan" film has been a miserable box office setback for Golden Harvest, though. However, the Hollywood special-effects team was approached, but the development of the Hong family class, and the rise of Lin Zhengying's career, laid the groundwork for the future.

The film failed to beat Shaw's "Star Blunt" at the box office, and instead caused Golden Harvest to suffer a major setback at the box office and a heavy cost loss.

Despite the box office setback, the technical exchange with Hollywood's special effects team has allowed Golden Harvest to make great progress in movie special effects.

The Hong family has also accumulated a lot of experience in the design of special effects fight scenes.

After Shushan: The New Swordsman of Shushan, the Hongs planned their own spiritual movie, Mr. Zombie. In order to increase the fun of the movie, the Hong family designed a lot of special effects fighting scenes in the movie. And the appearance of these special effects scenes has captured the eyeballs of many viewers.

Mr. Zombie was released to critical acclaim, setting off a zombie movie boom. And because of this "zombie movie craze", Lin Zhengying climbed to the peak of his acting career.

In the mid-to-late 80s, on the Hong Kong big screen, "zombie movies" can trigger a frenzy of popularity, and the novelty of the story theme, novelty of the special effects of the fight, there is a close link.

"Zombie" as a very typecast commercial movie theme, the film itself is not too deep allegory and connotation , purely by the comedy sequences, special effects fighting to attract the audience.

The audience who loves zombie movies is attracted by the fantastic special effects of the "ghost hunting and zombie collecting" scenes.

Without these action scenes, Mr. Zombie, even if the production is excellent, it is difficult to lead the trend.

Without these special effects, it would have been difficult to bring the fantasy of the "Taoist priest" to life, even if Lin's acting skills were better.

With a wealth of experience in designing special effects fights, the Hong family class in the mid-to-late 80s, carrying the "zombie movie of the era flag" to go forward. And the one that laid such a solid foundation for the Hungs was the 1983 film Shushan: The New Swordsman of Shushan.

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