The Blade Spares None (1971)

A formiddable swordswoman known as The Blade That Spares None, due to her ruthlessness, takes part in a tournament organised by Prince Kuei. After dispatching multiple opponents she is hired, along with three other participants, to join the private army he is assembling with the aim of toppling the incompetent emperor.

Chen Jo-Yu and Tang Ching-Yun are two swordsmen who are investigating a group of mysterious bandits who have been striking in recent years, whose trail has also led them to Prince Kuei's doorstep.

This was one of the first Golden Harvest films, coming out just a few months after The Invincible Eight and also starring their fresh new faces Nora Miao and James Tien, with slightly less fresh-faced Patrick Tse as their co-lead. It was directed by Teddy Yip, who would go on to direct the wuxia classic The Black Tavern for Shaw Brothers the following year.

The film is closer in style to a Shaw Brothers production than the Taiwan-shot Invincible Eight, mostly filmed indoors on a range of studio sets that can be quite impressive, with quite a lot of outdoor scenes as well.

The story by I Kuang has a number of somewhat unique elements that make the otherwise generic wuxia tale interesting to follow and not entirely predictable. Character dynamics are a strong focus, with what almost seems like a love triangle forming between Miao, Tse and Tien.

Nora Miao has the most interesting character, an angry young firebrand who kills mercilessly, but whose ferocity is tempered when she meets the more mature Tse. I remember an interview where Miao says she basically applied to Golden Harvest as a laugh, so being cast as the lead actress in their first two films must have been quite an intimidating experience - particularly when it's an action-heavy wuxia where her twin swords make comparisons with Cheng Pei-Pei inevitable.

She definitely seems to be channeling Golden Swallow's intensity and fierce stare here, and to her credit she mostly pulls it off.

Unfortunately it must be admitted that she is not much of a fighter, and I kind of wished she'd been doubled more as she struggles to convince as an indomitable swordswoman when performing her own moves (which she mostly does). The film's action is not that great, partly because of this but also because it was 1971 and Han Ying-Chieh was driving, so the choreography isn't particularly sophisticated. There are some imaginative moves in places though, and it builds to a final act that delivers almost absurd levels of carnage.

Whilst The Blade Spares None doesn't come close to the delights of The Black Tavern it is a clear step up from The Invincible Eight, and showed that Golden Harvest could go toe to toe with Shaw Brothers when it came to wuxia productions.