Director: Wong Fung (a.k.a. Huang Feng)
Screenplay: Wong Fung (a.k.a. Huang Feng)
Starring: Angela Mao Ying, Kao Yuen, Pai Ying, Raymond Lui Shing-Gung, Han Ying-Chieh, Chiang Nan, Fung Ngai, Chang I-Fei
Country: Hong Kong
Running Time: 91 min
Year: 1971
The Angry River was the first film Golden Harvest put into production, even if it wasn’t the first they released. That honour went to The Invincible Eight. The Angry River was Angela Mao’s first film, too. It was quite a risk having a newcomer in the lead role of the company’s debut, which might explain why Golden Harvest ended up releasing The Invincible Eight first. That had an ensemble cast which included some well-established actors.
Regardless, The Angry River was still Golden Harvest’s first stab at making their own film, after the company was founded in 1970. It wasn’t a big success, but it took 349,350 HKD, which wasn’t bad for an early production from a fledgling company. Golden Harvest was about to make a whole lot more money for a film they’d release near the end of 1971, starring a certain Bruce Lee, but who was to know.
The Angry River opens with a series of assassinations by the King of Hell (Pai Ying), who uses his ‘sevenfold spike’ to take down his targets. This throwing dart is laced with a potent poison.
Lan Tien-Lung, who is the master of Liang I Fort and keeper of the peace in the Jianghu, has gathered the local swordsmen to do something about this problem. However, he too gets struck by a sevenfold spike.
Lan Feng (Mao), Lan Tien-Lung’s daughter, refuses to let him die and sets out on a dangerous quest to find the only cure for the spike’s poison. This is a rare herb, Ganoderma atrum (actually a type of mushroom), which can only be found in Sorrowful Ghost Valley, across the Angry River and through the Heartless Pass. The powerful chief of Sorrowful Ghost Valley has never been seen, either, but Lan Feng will do anything to protect her father.
She manages to reach the valley and obtain the special herb. However, due to other factions wanting to cure their leaders or use the herb to increase their own martial skills (it has this quality for those who haven’t been poisoned), Lan Feng is constantly hounded by enemies after the Ganoderma atrum. One particularly dastardly enemy is Ma Ga Tueng (Raymond Lui Shing-Gung), who causes her a great deal of trouble. However, she gets support from a righteous swordsman named Leng Yu-Han (Kao Yuen).
What’s refreshing about The Angry River is that Mao properly leads the film, rather than being backed up by a male co-star. There are some key male characters who fight by her side, chiefly Kao Yuen, but none have nearly as much screen time as she does.
Interestingly, Mao loses her martial arts skills partway through the film. This might disappoint fans of the actress, but it gives her a chance to stretch her acting chops. Plus, don’t despair, without wanting to spoil things too much, she does get her fighting mojo back, eventually (you’d have to be pretty dim not to see that coming).
Like with The Invincible Eight, The Angry River seems to be channelling the Shaw Brothers’ wuxia titles with its story and overall style. However, without the vast Movie Town studios or lavish sets and costumes of their competitors, Golden Harvest opted to shoot much of the film on location in Taiwan. This works in their favour, however, with more realistic and often quite beautiful settings. There are some stunning views of mountains, forests, cliffs and deserts, as well as the titular river (which really does get quite angry!).
There are some crazy, fantastical elements early in the film. Most notably, there’s some sort of reptilian monster that comes out of nowhere at one point. This looks pretty naff, but enjoyably so. I did spot a disco ball in the same scene, but I’m not sure that was supposed to be in shot!
Sammo Hung choreographed the fights alongside Han Ying-Chieh, and both of them appear in front of the camera as evil ‘soul collectors’. There aren’t a huge number of fights in the film, but they are quite well done for the era, starting off a little clunky but building to an exciting final act. Mao’s skills seem to improve in this section, too, which fits the plot.
Overall, The Angry River does a good job of mimicking the higher budget Shaw Brothers wuxia titles of the time whilst throwing in a few of its own touches. It’s a little rough around the edges in places, but it remains a fun showcase for its young star.
Film: 
The Angry River is out on 12th May on region-free Blu-Ray in the US, released by 88 Films. It looks great, with sharp details, light grain and pleasing colours. I’ve used screengrabs throughout this review to give you an idea of how it looks, though these have been compressed.
You get two audio options, with mono tracks for both the Mandarin and English dub versions. I opted for Mandarin and thought it sounded a tad rough in places, but this is likely how it originally sounded.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
– O-ring slip case with new artwork by Aurelio Lorenzo
– 2K restoration from the original negative
– Remastered original Mandarin monaural soundtrack
– Newly translated English subtitles
– Optional English Mono Soundtrack
– Audio Commentary with Asian Cinema Expert Frank Djeng
– Image Gallery
– Reversible sleeve with original Hong Kong poster artwork
– Original Trailer
Frank Djeng and Michael Worth provide a commentary. It’s a strong track. The pair look at the background of the film, as well as examining Golden Harvest’s approach to their debut feature.
So, it’s a decent release for a piece of martial arts movie history that’s still a pleasure to watch several decades on.
Disc/package: