Mag Trio Review & Reflections Great swashbuckling adventure about the exploits of three heroes converging to the common cause of protecting the poor and righting wrongs by exposing corruption among a local fife lead by a villainous magistracy. The plot involves a self-righteous royal general's son Wang Yu joining a small group of disenfranchised villagers in revolt who kidnap the magistrate's daughter and deliver a petition to the Court to expose corruption to highlight their cause and kick off the show.
Supporting a stalwart Jimmy Wang Yu (in his second Chang Cheh film as the usual unwavering white knight) is a young Lo Lieh already rogue-ish as a morally ambiguous black knight mercenary for the magistracy and character actor Cheng Lei as the morally conflicted but noble beige knight; each with their own counterpart damsels in distress: the virginal Chin Ping as the official's daughter with a conscience, bedroom eyed Fanny Fan (for Lo Lieh) in a one-note role, ever voluptuous in silk undies throughout and the tragic Margaret Tu Chuan's widow overdone to sad sack proportions. The chemistry of the female casting complemented our heroes well.
Here we perhaps see the earliest use of the abstract studio backdrop staged prologue title sequences used to establish a plot setting that are signature with many of Chang Cheh and Liu Chia Liang's films throughout their Shaw careers (from Chen Kuan Tai/Hung Hsi Kuan iconic Hung fist Kata over the "Kung" character calligraphy to the protracted battle sequence of the doomed Yang family men in 8 Diagram Pole Fighters).
The Magnificent Trio is an entertaining relic of a martial arts tale that wrecks with classic chivalry and honor to the highest order. Like others during this time, the film dates itself with Liu Chia Liang and Tang Chia's astute but technically underdeveloped fight choreography, pretend-acted death throes and blood syrup still too glossy to be realistically convincing; however this is as close as Chang Cheh would ever got to the spirit of an Errol Flynn adventure, depicting and reflecting upon a simplier and rather naïve time unfettered by the later air of mixing romance and chivalry with brutalism and cynicism that would engulf his later more well known works (and beyond with protégé John Woo). Chang's approach during this period was definitely more akin to Hawks than Leone in tone (Peckingpah has yet to arrive). They definitely don't make them like this anymore. After Tiger Boy, Magnificent Trio, Butterfly Chalice and Trail of The Broken Blade, was the aura of a time and place that junior director Chang Cheh would never again revisit.
(originally written for Shaw Forum [shawstudio.com] 04-08-02)
Jimmy Wang Yu takes on corrupt officials in old China At the time of THE MAGNIFICENT TRIO (1966), Hong Kong star Jimmy Wang Yu was still specializing in swordplay rather than the kung fu he would become famous for worldwide in a few years (THE CHINESE BOXER, THE ONE-ARMED BOXER). This lavish Shaw Bros. costume adventure closely recalls the style and subject matter of the Japanese samurai films then popular in Hong Kong, although it is laced with the kind of overwrought melodrama found in Hong Kong cinema at the time.
The plot pits ex-soldier Wang Yu and two swordsmen allies against a host of government officials when Wang Yu takes the side of a group of villagers who petition a minister for removal of a corrupt magistrate. The villagers have kidnapped the magistrate's daughter in an attempt to force a resolution of the issue. Wang Yu intervenes and returns the daughter, offering to take the punishment that would have been meted out to the villagers. The daughter falls for Wang Yu and helps free him when he is unjustly imprisoned. Joined by his two buddies, Wang Yu must then fight the magistrate's men to get the petition to the visiting minister.
This is the kind of film where the heroes dispatch opponents with quick slicing sword motions while taking repeated sword thrusts and arrow wounds themselves without ever slowing down. Even so, it's an exciting and action-packed film with a good story and well-crafted studio-bound production design. There is a large cast of capable Hong Kong players, including Lo Lieh, later a stalwart of kung fu films, as one of Wang Yu's allies. If you like Wang Yu's other 1960s films-TWIN SWORDS, ASSASSIN, ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN, TRAIL OF THE BROKEN BLADE, and RETURN OF THE ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN-you'll enjoy this one also.
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