Search - Rage of the Wind on DVD

Unusual Hong Kong martial arts film w/interracial marriage

Brian Camp | Bronx, NY | 04/30/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This is a poor-quality English-dubbed print, with appalling scratches throughout, given a soft, full-frame transfer. It's one of the worst quality legit DVD releases I've yet seen. It doesn't help that the cinematography in the original film is so badly done to begin with.

Having said all that, this is still a film with some significant interest for kung fu fans. For one thing, it's one of those rare films that stars Chen Sing, a perennial kung fu villain, as the hero. Not only that, but he plays a boxer returning to China after achieving fame in the ring in the U.S. and is accompanied by a white American wife (played by Irene Ryder). I remember Gordon Liu having a Japanese wife in SHAOLIN CHALLENGES NINJA (HEROES OF THE EAST, 1979) and Jet Li living with a Japanese girlfriend in FIST OF LEGEND (1994), but I don't think I've ever seen a kung fu hero having an American wife with him in China before. While the wife is not a fighter here, she is treated as an equal partner in the marriage and is quickly accepted by family members and neighbors in the boxer's home village in China. (It helps that, on arrival, she quickly switches over to Chinese fashions and hairstyle.) She is quite a forceful character in her own right and is by her husband's side for most of the action. Chen Sing, normally the kung fu villain with the most evil of grins, is quite tender and attentive towards her. It's all actually quite moving.

The setting is a Chinese fishing village in the 1930s, just as the Japanese have stepped up their occupation of China. The Japanese interlopers tax the fishermen to the breaking point and then start rounding them up and torturing them. Chen Sing is the only one capable of taking them on, but he resists violence and hopes to rely on peaceful means and negotiation with the Japanese boss, Yasuaki Kurata, who projects an outward image of reasonableness. This allows for a healthy period of suspenseful build-up to the point where Chen Sing has finally had enough and unleashes his fists for a solid final 20 minutes of martial arts mayhem as Chinese boxing takes on Japanese karate. It's well worth the wait. (Kurata, a Japanese performer in Hong Kong films for over 30 years, was also in the aforementioned SHAOLIN CHALLENGES NINJA and FIST OF LEGEND).

Chen Sing and Yasuaki Kurata are the only name players in the cast, but they both shine here. Fans of these gentlemen will find this film rewarding, even if the poor print/disc quality is an obstacle to such enjoyment. Also, the presence of an American heroine in a story of Chinese-vs.-Japanese conflict gives it a distinct multicultural element that we don't often see in these films.
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Old Fashioned Martial Arts

Al Triesti | Union, NJ United States | 07/19/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

""The Rage of Wind" is a must see for Yasuaki Kurata fans. His fighting, his facial expressions, his devilish smirk, and fighting in general by the cast is exciting. Do not expect kung fu because this film shows karate and Chinese boxing instead.But I love Kurata and the story is good. Chan Sing, the Chinese good guy swears he will not box again after he kills his friend in the ring in America. He is then forced into fighting the Japanese because he wants to help the fishermen in the small village.The movie is good enough to own for big Kurata fans. Other than that, the film is good but not a masterpiece."

RAGE OF WIND

Dr. Mohamed Kasker | South Africa | 02/25/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"An evergreen classic,one of my all time favourites starring Chen Sing and Yasuki Kurata.Good story,great fights.Only let down is that this dvd ain't widescreen and a fair transfer from the 35mm print.I guess for the time being this print will have to do justice.I remember seeing this movie in 1971 and the cinema was sold out,that was the year karate movies hit South Africa big time."