DEADFUL MELODY (1994)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical*

I think the above screenshot might be Carina Lau, but she has annoyingly little representation online for this movie. That's a shame because, although Yuen Baio and Brigitte Lin are the leads in the ungrammatically-named DEADFUL MELODY, Lau is the only performer worth watching.

MELODY is a variation on a favorite trope of kung-fu films: that of having a bunch of clans pursuing some secret technique, usually recoded on a scroll or something similar. MELODY is the only time known to me when the clans are after a super-weapon: a magical lyre which, when played correctly, can cause its victims to explode. Moreover, they only explode after a lapse of time, like the fabled "dim mak" touch. Having such a weapon doesn't sound so much like the sort of thing kung-fu clans specialize in, but that's the story.

We first see the film's diva Brigitte Lin, later given the name "Snow," as a child. Her family is attacked by a gang of clans, all wanting the lyre. Young Snow's father and mother are definitely killed, though her brother's death is more apparent than real. Young Snow tries to keep the lyre from the thieves but falls with it off a cliff, thus frustrating the evil clan members. 

Naturally, Snow and the lyre both survive. Somehow in adulthood she becomes phenomenally rich and a kung-fu expert, though apparently, she confides in no one. Snow wants to draw out the kung-fu killers and forms a plan to do so. She engages a security company to protect the lyre when she sends it overland to another recipient. As it happens, the only available guard for the caravan is Lui Lun (Yuen), and though he does possess some martial skills, he's not capable of fending off the clan-masters. However, Snow shadows the caravan and picks off the masters when they attack.

Unfortunately, the wire-fu used in MELODY is mediocre at best, and so the film lacks the dazzling qualities of other wuxia films of the period. Lin just essays her usual severe persona, while Yuen does his usual easygoing character, except when his father is killed because of Snow's manipulations. However, Lun's vengeance is forestalled when Snow finds out, and reveals, that Lun is the brother she thought she lost, who was raised by the man Lun thought his real father. All of these Dickensian revelations are bland and no more involving than the two main characters.

As stated, MELODY's one bright spot is Carina Lau's character Tam. Tam is the saucy student of one of the masters-- the only master who's more genial than the really villainous guys, though I would think he's still guilty of the murders of Snow's parents. Tam tries to steal the lyre from Lun but her ambition outpaces her abilities and he defeats her easily. In the course of their interaction, Tam falls for Lun, though it's never clear if Lun feel anything for her. MELODY might have been a little better had Lun and Tam hooked up at the end, if only because it would have taken the emphasis off the dud brother-sister revelations. Recent news asserts that there may be a remake of the film, but for myself I'd like to see almost any old chopsocky get an update rather than this nothingburger.