Chang Cheh

In this Chinese name, the family name is Chang.

Chang Cheh
Born	張易揚 (Chang Yi-yang) (1923-02-10)10 February 1923 Shanghai, China
Died	22 June 2002(2002-06-22) (aged 79) Hong Kong
Years active	1947–1993
Awards	Asia Pacific Film Festival 1970 Best Director (Vengeance!)
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	張徹
Simplified Chinese	张彻
Transcriptions

Chang Cheh (pinyin: Zhāng Chè; 10 February 1923 – 22 June 2002) was a Chinese filmmaker, screenwriter, lyricist and producer active in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Chang Cheh directed more than 90 films in Greater China, the majority of them with the Shaw Brothers Studio in Hong Kong. Most of his films are action films, especially wuxia and kung fu films filled with violence.

In the early 1970s he frequently cast actors David Chiang and Ti Lung in his films. In the late 1970s he mainly worked with a group of actors known as the Venom Mob. Chang Cheh is also known for his long-time collaboration with writer Ni Kuang.

Career

Referred to as "The Godfather of Hong Kong cinema", Chang directed nearly 100 films in his illustrious career at Shaw Brothers, which ran the gamut from swordplay films (One-Armed Swordsman, The Assassin, Golden Swallow) to kung fu films (Five Shaolin Masters, Five Venoms, Kid with the Golden Arm) to more modern period dramas (Chinatown Kid, Boxer From Shantung, The Generation Gap) to lavish costume epics (The Water Margin, The Heroic Ones, Boxer Rebellion).

After graduating from National Central University (Nanjing University) in Chongqing, where he studied politics, Chang moved to Hong Kong, where he became a film critic. Chang got his start in the film industry as a screenwriter; his first script was Girl's Mask, a movie from Shanghai which was released in 1947. He wrote several more scripts before making his directorial debut in 1949 with Happenings in Ali Shan. His first big hit came with 1967's One-Armed Swordsman, the first film in Hong Kong history to gross HK$1 million. The film catapulted actor Jimmy Wang Yu to stardom and cemented Chang's status as one of Hong Kong's top directors. In the same year, he released The Assassin, another early Chang classic, and in 1968 he followed up with Golden Swallow, a sequel to King Hu's classic wuxia picture Come Drink With Me.

Chang often co-wrote scripts with fellow screenwriter Ni Kuang, and occasionally co-directed films with directors such as Baau Hok-li, Wu Ma and Gwai Chi-hung. He even occasionally wrote and co-wrote music for his films. In addition to his film related work, he also wrote novels, poetry and non-film related articles under numerous pseudonyms.

Chang was heavily influenced by directors Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Gosha, Sergio Leone, and Sam Peckinpah, Cheh brought elements from these movies into his own work, revolutionizing Hong Kong filmmaking. His swordplay films of the 1960s (including One Armed Swordsman), filled with bloody scenes of the hero cutting his way through a roomful of opponents, were considered at the time by Westerners to be violent trash but are now looked back on as masterpieces of the genre.

In the early 1970s Chang began making kung fu films (including Five Shaolin Masters and Five Venoms) sometimes filming four or five movies in a single year. His earlier kung fu movies were often done in collaboration with choreographer (and future director) Lau Kar Leung, who Chang had worked with, along with choreographer Tong Gaai, on earlier films. After falling out with Lau on the set of Disciples of Shaolin, Chang started featuring a troupe of actors made up of Sun Chien, Chiang Sheng, Philip Kwok, Lo Meng, Lu Feng, Wei Pai (and Yu Tai Ping), who would come to be known as "The Venoms", as actors and choreographers in his films. His films from this period, including Five Deadly Venoms, Kid with the Golden Arm, and Crippled Avengers, feature a heavy influence from the wuxia movie genre, and are considered his most popular films in the west – not counting 1982's Five Element Ninjas, aka Chinese Superninjas.

Chang was a pioneer of what is known by some as "heroic bloodshed"; films that emphasize brotherhood, loyalty and honor, and several of his films, including Vengeance, Boxer From Shantung and Chinatown Kid, can be seen as clear influences on the later work of directors such as John Woo and Ringo Lam. His influence on future filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino (who listed Chang as a dedicatee in the end credits of Kill Bill: Volume 2), Robert Rodriguez and Zhang Yimou is unquestionable. John Woo, who lists Cheh as his chief filmmaking inspiration, worked as assistant director on many of the master's films, including Boxer From Shantung, The Water Margin and The Blood Brothers.

Filmography

Films

Year	English title	Original title	Director	Writer	Notes
1947	Girl's Mask	假面女郎	Fang Peilin	Yes
1949	Happennings in Ali Shan	阿里山風雲	Yes	Yes	co-directed with Cheung Ying
1951	Never Separated	永不分離	Chu Hsin Fu	Yes
1957	Wild Fire	野火	Yes	Yes	co-directed with Helen Li Mei
1960	Tragic Melody	桃花淚	Lo Wei	Yes
	The Tender Trap of Espionage	脂粉間諜網	Lo Wei	Yes
	Black Butterfly	黑蝴蝶	Lo Wei	Yes
1961	Song Without Words	無語問蒼天	Lo Wei	Yes
	The Girl with the Golden Arm	賊美人	Tang Huang	Yes
	You Were Meant for Me	遊戲人間	Wong Tin-lam	Yes
1962	It's Always Spring	桃李爭春	Evan Yang	Yes
	Come Rain, Come Shine	野花戀	Tang Huang	Yes
	Her Pearly Tears	珍珠淚	Wong Tin-lam	Yes
1964	The Amorous Lotus Pan	潘金蓮	Chow Sze-loke	Yes
	The Female Prince	雙鳳奇緣	Chow Sze-loke	Yes
	The Warlord and the Actress	血濺牡丹紅	Ho Meng Hua	Yes
1965	The Mermaid	魚美人	Kao Li	Yes
	The Butterfly Chalice	蝴蝶盃	Yes	Yes	co-directed with Yuen Chow-fung
	Crocodile River	鱷魚河	Lo Wei	Yes
	Inside the Forbidden City	宋宮秘史	Kao Li	Yes
	Call of the Sea	怒海情仇	Lo Wei	Yes
1966	Tiger Boy	虎俠殲仇	Yes	Yes
	The Knight of Knights	文素臣	Hsih Chun	Yes
	The Magnificent Trio	邊城三俠	Yes	Yes
	The Perfumed Arrow	女秀才	Kao Li	Yes
1967	The Trail of the Broken Blade	斷腸劍	Yes	Yes
1967	One-Armed Swordsman	獨臂刀	Yes	Yes
1967	The Assassin	大刺客	Yes	Yes
1968	Golden Swallow	金燕子	Yes	Yes
1969	The Singing Thief	大盜歌王	Yes
	Return of the One-Armed Swordsman	獨臂刀王	Yes	Yes
	The Flying Dagger	飛刀手	Yes
	The Invincible Fist	鐵手無情	Yes
	Dead End	死角	Yes
	Have Sword, Will Travel	保鏢	Yes
1970	The Wandering Swordsman	遊俠兒	Yes
	Vengeance	報仇	Yes	Yes
	The Heroic Ones	十三太保	Yes	Yes
	The Singing Killer	小煞星	Yes
1971	King Eagle	鷹王	Yes
	The New One-Armed Swordsman	新獨臂刀	Yes
	The Duel	大決鬥	Yes
	The Anonymous Heroes	無名英雄	Yes
	Duel of Fists	拳擊	Yes
	The Deadly Duo	雙俠	Yes
1972	The Boxer From Shantung	馬永貞	Yes	Yes	co-directed with Pao Hsueh Li
	Angry Guest	惡客	Yes
	The Water Margin	水滸傳	Yes	Yes
	Trilogy of Swordsmanship	群英會	Yes	Yes	co-directed with Cheng Kang
	Young People	年輕人	Yes	Yes
	Delightful Forest	快活林	Yes	Yes	co-directed with Pao Hsueh Li
	Man of Iron	仇連環	Yes	Yes	co-directed with Pao Hsueh Li
	Four Riders	四騎士	Yes	Yes
1973	The Delinquent	憤怒青年	Yes	Yes	co-directed with Kuei Chih-Hung
	The Blood Brothers	刺馬	Yes	Yes
	The Generation Gap	叛逆	Yes	Yes
	Police Force	警察	Yes	Yes	co-directed with Tsai Yang-ming
	The Pirate	大海盜	Yes	Yes	co-director
	The Iron Bodyguard	大刀王五	Yes		co-directed with Pao Hsueh Li
1974	Heroes Two	方世玉與洪熙官	Yes	Yes
	The Savage Five	五虎將	Yes	Yes
	Men from the Monastery	少林子弟	Yes	Yes
	Friends	朋友	Yes	Yes
	The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires		Yes		English-language film, co-director
	Shaolin Martial Arts	洪拳與詠春	Yes	Yes
	Na Cha the Great	哪吒	Yes	Yes
	Five Shaolin Masters	少林五祖	Yes
1975	All Men Are Brothers	蕩寇誌	Yes	Yes	co-directed with Wu Ma
	Disciples of Shaolin	洪拳小子	Yes	Yes
	The Fantastic Magic Baby	紅孩兒	Yes	Yes
	Marco Polo	馬哥波羅	Yes	Yes
1976	Boxer Rebellion	八國聯軍	Yes	Yes
	7-Man Army	八道楼子	Yes	Yes	co-director
	The Shaolin Avengers	方世玉與胡惠乾	Yes	Yes	co-directed with Wu Ma
	The New Shaolin Boxers	蔡李佛小子	Yes	Yes	co-directed with Wu Ma
	Shaolin Temple	少林寺	Yes	Yes	co-directed with Wu Ma
1977	The Naval Commandos	海軍突擊隊	Yes		co-director
	Magnificent Wanderers	江湖漢子	Yes	Yes	co-directed with Wu Ma
	The Brave Archer	射鵰英雄傳	Yes
	Chinatown Kid	唐人街小子	Yes	Yes
1978	The Brave Archer 2	射鵰英雄傳續集	Yes
	Five Venoms	五毒	Yes	Yes
	Invincible Shaolin	南少林與北少林	Yes	Yes
	Crippled Avengers	殘缺	Yes	Yes
1979	Life Gamble	生死鬥	Yes	Yes
	Shaolin Rescuers	街市英雄	Yes	Yes
	Shaolin Daredevils	雜技亡命隊	Yes	Yes
	The Magnificent Ruffians	賣命小子	Yes	Yes
	Kid with the Golden Arm	金臂童	Yes	Yes
	Ten Tigers from Kwangtung	廣東十虎與後五虎	Yes	Yes
1980	Heaven and Hell	第三類打鬥	Yes	Yes
	2 Champions of Shaolin	少林與武當	Yes	Yes
	Flag of Iron	鐵旗門	Yes	Yes
	The Rebel Intruders	大殺四方	Yes	Yes
	Legend of the Fox	飛狐外傳	Yes	Yes
1981	Sword Stained With Royal Blood	碧血劍	Yes	Yes
	Masked Avengers	叉手	Yes	Yes
	The Brave Archer 3	射鵰英雄傳第三集	Yes	Yes
1982	House of Traps	冲霄樓	Yes	Yes
	The Brave Archer and His Mate	神鵰俠侶	Yes	Yes
	Five Element Ninjas	五遁忍術	Yes	Yes
	Ode to Gallantry	俠客行	Yes	Yes
1983	The Weird Man	神通術與小霸王	Yes	Yes
	Attack of the Joyful Goddess	撞鬼	Yes
1984	Death Ring	擂台	Yes
	The Demons	九子天魔	Yes
	Shanghai 13	上海灘十三太保	Yes	Yes
1985	The Dancing Warrior	霹靂情	Yes
1986	Great Shanghai 1937	大上海1937	Yes	Yes
1987	Slaughter in Xian	西安殺戮	Yes	Yes
	Cross the River	過江	Yes	Yes
1990	Hidden Hero	江湖奇兵	Yes	Yes
1991	Go West to Subdue Demons	西行平妖	Yes	Yes
1993	Ninja In Ancient China	神通	Yes	Yes

TV series

In 1992, Chang produced Taiwan Television's Ma's Assassination (刺馬), which tells the same story as his 1973 film The Blood Brothers. The series is directed by Lu Feng and stars, among other actors, David Chiang.

As lyricist

Chang Cheh wrote the lyrics of more than 70 Chinese songs that have appeared in his films. The theme song of his directorial debut Happenings in Ali Shan, "Ali Shan de Guniang" (阿里山的姑娘; "Alishan Range's Girls"), also known as "Gao Shan Qing" (高山青; "The Green High Mountain"), is a particularly famous song in the Sinophone world.

External links

• Chang Cheh at IMDb
• Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database
• Chang Cheh: the Godfather of the Kung Fu Film website
• Chang Cheh and other Shaw Bros. reviews at Cityonfire.com