The Mar's Villa
(aka; Wu Tang Magic Kick)
(55th Chamber/Prism Leisure PAL Region 2  DVD)
(1978)
review by Blackgloves

From the archives of forgotten kung fu classics comes yet another b-movie treasure, exhumed from obscurity by 55th Chamber: an imprint of UK label, Prism Leisure. "The Mar's Villa" features ''70s martial arts star, John Liu as the powerful and prosperous master practitioner of a deadly "Magic Kick" martial arts technique, Mar Tien Liang (the rubbishy English dub track makes it sound like his name is Martin Lang!). Director, Ting Chung, helms a standard revenge melodrama, considerably pepped up by some beautiful Taiwanese locations: otherworldly temples and giant golden Buddha monuments provide some impressive backdrops to a simple tale that takes on epic proportions thanks to the mythic qualities these landmarks and lush landscapes help to engender. What we are all really wanting to see from any kung fu classic though, are some jaw-dropping displays of stylised, violent, kick-ass action; and this film eventually delivers -- although it takes its sweet time; concentrating instead -- in the early part of the flick -- on the convoluted mystery concerning a series of misfortunes that befall Liang after he defeats and accidentally kills the malicious Fang Kan (played by Hong Kong Martial Arts flick veteran, Kao Fei, aka: Phillip Ko). For reasons never even alluded to, the snow-haired Fang Kan and his clan had been determined to ruin Mar Tien Liang's business concerns; indulging in bothersome escapades such as beating up Liang's workers (fishermen & loggers etc.) and stealing their produce. After the two men meet for a final face-off ("The world's not big enough for both of us!" cackles Fang as the two square up), Liang's troubles seem to be finally over -- although afterwards, the mild-mannered and dignified master is slightly distressed after having unintentionally killed his evil-eyed foe in the process of teaching him a lesson!

However, Mar Tien Liang's real troubles are only just beginning. A mysterious stranger called Fan (Tung Wei) turns up in the courtyard of his mansion, demanding to challenge the placid master's "Magic Kick". Fan takes on and defeats most of Liang's loyal fighting servants, and Liang is also just about to step up to the mark when the promise to give up fighting he had previously made to his beautiful wife (played by Tong Bo Wan) after the death of Fang Kan, resounds in his head ("I married you because I wanted a quiet life" she says, displaying a quite monumental lack of judgement). Worse news is to follow: a highly organised gang of thieves clear out the local bank, taking all of Liang's great wealth with them. Naturally, Liang suspects Fan of being behind the robbery; and so, with the object of clearing his name, the challenger offers to stay at Liang's mansion during the ensuing investigation, where his movements can be easily monitored. When Liang's brother-in-law is attacked and kidnapped by the same gang -- who demand that Liang turn up at a specified location if he wants to prevent his relative's murder -- Fan appears to have been cleared; Liang and his best buddy, Sang Lung (Chan Chia Ka) turn up at the location pinpointed by the kidnappers, to find Liang's brother-in-law suspended over some sharpened stakes! A big dustup with the kidnappers fails to ensure the rescue of the unhappy relative though, and the now impoverished Mar Tien Liang is left even more distraught when he is unable to prevent the unfortunate man from meeting his gruesome end.

Back at Liang's mansion, Fan makes advances on his host's wife, but his seedy overtures are resoundingly rejected by the faithful beau. Meanwhile, Mar Tien Liang and his comrade track the kidnapping killers, but end up being outnumbered in the ensuing fight -- with Liang being taken prisoner while only his friend manages to escape. It is now revealed that Fan is, in fact, Fang Kan's son, and has teamed up with the dead reprobate's identical twin brother (thus enabling Philip Ko to re-enter the narrative playing his own brother) who has been behind the string of plots aimed at ruining Mar's life while Fan was always accounted for at the mansion. In fact, the vengeful brother aims to kill Mar's entire family; but a fly in the ointment emerges when Fan's pursuit of Mar's wife becomes an obsession and, against his uncle's better judgement, he resolves to keep her alive in the hope of eventually winning her heart.

This proves to be an impossibly tough proposition though, and Fan is soon forced to confess that Mar Tien Liang is still alive, although, now, quite mad -- having been kept in a cage in the hot, pitiless desert for months on end, while being mentally tortured by his guards who relentlessly scrape a metal poll across the bars! Fan promises that Liang will be allowed to go free if his wife consents to his (Fan's) conjugal wishes; but the once rich and respected master's freedom offers him little respite from his mental breakdown: he is cast out onto the squalid streets of the poorest district, to live an anonymous life as a mad, witless beggar man.

The rest of the film is about Mar Tien Liang's slow recovery of his sanity (attained through his Martial Arts discipline) and then the revenge he takes on his tormentors. After a chance meeting with his old companion in the bustling street -- who nurses him back to health and then helps him pursue the Fang clan -- Mar learns about his wife's apparent betrayal and appears to be about to lose his sanity all over again until his friend informs him that everything his wife did, she only assented to in order to keep her husband alive. The final fifteen minutes or so of the film offers the big payoff to all these shenanigans: Mar takes on first Fan and then Fang Kan's brother in two brutal fist-offs! The big confrontation with Kan's brother pits two good guys against one bad guy; the unequal pairing seems a bit odd to western audiences but is a common enough occurrence in kung fu cinema. The two 'good' guys are resoundingly beaten by their much older opponent for much of the fight; but the sight of his beautiful wife emerging over the horizon in slow motion, is enough to give Mar that extra bit of impetus -- and he manages to apply a crafty "Magic Kick" to the head of his foe at the last moment!

As is usual for 55th Chamber releases, the disc is pretty bad: a video sourced print with a bad English dub track full of audio dropouts gives the whole thing a very 'grey market' vibe, and there are no real extras to speak of.
Only buy if you are a classic Kung-Fu junkie and will put up with anything, because DVD presentations hardly come much poorer than this.