RETURN OF THE KUNG FU DRAGON (1976)

 

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

I've invented a new term for the type of chopsockies that mix in plenty of wild magical phenomena with all the hand-to-hand battles-- "the chopwackies." In 2023 I designated KUNG FU WONDER CHILD as a contender for one of the craziest, but this Polly Shang Kuan vehicle may rival it.

The core of RETURN is not the return of a single "dragon," but of four kung-fu champions out for vengeance on behalf of their slain parents. Golden City, the capital of a paradisical island, has its rightful rule usurped by an evil tyrant, General Tsen-kun, and his evil but unnamed wizard. Their forces slay the rulers and their most faithful kung-fu bodyguards, but a female heir and two children of two bodyguards are sent away. The girl-child of the third bodyguard is raised by Tsen-kun as if she were his own seed. Given the name Ma Chen Chen, the young woman (Shang Kuan) becomes a child of privilege, for all that she's a kung-fu prodigy.

Far off on some mountain, the real princess (Sze-Ma Yu-Chiao) has been training in the martial arts until reaching the age of nineteen, at which point she leaves and sets out to gather together the offspring of her parents' former officers. Frankly, though Ma and the princess get more scenes than the two male descendants, the princess doesn't really have much to do once Ma finds out about her true heritage. The director and writer seemingly have no interest in the drama of Ma's situation-- there are no scenes in which the heroine upbraids her false father, though she does kick him once at the conclusion-- and Ma is instantly on board with the revenge project, helping the exiled royal find the other two fighters.

I think the logic of the story, such as it is, is that because both the general and the wizard have all sorts of metamorphic powers, only these four warriors can match the villains in this regard. There's not really a plot as such; just one wild flight of fancy after another. At one point the wizard creates a gigantic projection of his own hand, but when Ma burns the giant hand, the phantasm dissolves and the sorcerer cries out in pain. Later Nameless Wizard creates a kaiju-sized beast to tear through the city, but one of the male warriors "giganticizes" himself and battles the creature briefly. There are some wild scenes wherein huge wheels and horses' hooves fly through the air, and most of the time it's impossible to tell who's doing what. The only scene that stands out for me, even though I just finished watching the streaming version an hour ago, shows the general trying to manifest some sort of magical force-screen to protect himself from a big metal wheel.

One asset distinguishes this chopwacky from KUNG FU WONDER CHILD or even Shang Kuan's ZODIAC FIGHTERS a couple years later: this time the lead actress has a strong heroic persona that makes RETURN dopey fun to watch. It would be fair to say that even though Ma Chen Chen has no depth, she does have a certain swashbuckling style that makes her fight-scenes enjoyable. For that reason, I consider that Shang Kuan is the only real star of this show, while her allies are supporting characters.

Curiously, the streaming version I watched had its English dubbing drop off in the last ten minutes. But RETURN, for all its weird sights, doesn't boast any memorably goofy dialogue to match the magical phenomena.