The Delightful Forest (1972) Movie Review

“The Delightful Forest” is a rare 1972 Shaw Brothers classic directed by the legendary Chang Cheh (responsible for countless genre masterpieces such as “One-Armed Swordsman” and “Five Venoms”) and with martial arts choreography from the equally renowned Lau Kar Leung (who has worked on the likes of “The 36th Chamber of Shaolin” and “Mad Monkey Kung Fu”), which has long been a much sought after item for fans and which now finally makes a welcome appearance on DVD. The film is yet another adapted from the 14th century Chinese epic ‘Outlaws of the Marsh’, which the studio has mined on a number of other occasions for similar tales of honour, heroism and brotherhood.

The film follows the character Wu Song (played here by Ti Lung, one of the studio’s top stars during the 1970s before finding new fame in the 1980s thanks to a role in John Woo’s iconic “A Better Tomorrow”), an inspector famous for killing a tiger. The action starts with Wu Song avenging his brother by killing the lover of his adulterous sister in law, after which he gives himself up to the police. He is sent to prison, where he is enlisted by local boss Shi En (Tien Ching), who releases him with the understanding that he will free the town from a gang of thugs led by a big bearded bully called Chiang Chung (Zhu Mu). Since he considers his foe to be an unreasonable man, Wu Song is only too happy to agree, though on the condition that he be bought three large bowls of wine at every inn on the way to the duel. Unfortunately for the boozy hero, after the battle is over he attracts the attentions of his vanquished foe’s allies who scheme to have him framed and done away with in suitably dastardly fashion.

One of the main reasons why “The Delightful Forest” is a genuine classic is the fact that Wu Song is a truly great character, providing Ti Lung with a role which he takes on with real energy and relish. A steadfastly righteous fellow who refuses to escape from justice, even when he has the chance, and who insists on taking his punishment, he is nevertheless perfectly happy to kill people, so long as he feels he has taken responsibility for his actions. Amusingly, he is very keen to mention his tiger killing feat, and never misses a chance to drop it into wholly unrelated conversations. Best of all, his considerable fighting skills are equalled only by his drinking skills, and he spends most of the running time on the sauce, claiming that it will only make him more powerful. To be fair, this does seem to be the case, as he downs an incredible amount of booze before his fight with the fearsome Chiang Chung, though it also results in him getting into a fair few brawls (usually as a result of his getting angry at being served what he considers to be substandard wine) and spouting pearls of drunken wisdom such as ‘The world and time do not exist when one is intoxicated’.

With such a great, likeable protagonist at its heart, the film has a fine spirit throughout, and is entertaining in the studio’s classic two-fisted style. The villains also add to the fun, being a colourful bunch prone to odd fits of cackling laughter and half baked plots which are never particularly likely to defeat the seemingly superhuman Wu Song. Of course, the story is predictable from start to finish, though this is entirely beside the point, and the film never puts a foot wrong as a crowd pleasing epic.

The talents of Chang Cheh and Lau Kar Leung combine well to make the film more dynamic than many other Shaw Brothers productions, with some surprisingly fluid camera work and excellent fight choreography. A few slapstick touches here and there help to keep things fairly light, although the film is notably brutal in places, especially during the blood splattered finale in which Wu Song cuts his way through hordes of adversaries and the sets are liberally splashed with a few coats of red paint. This gives “The Delightful Forest” a certain edge, and it makes for intense, exciting viewing, and as a result it stands as a must see film not only for Shaw Brothers fans but for anyone who enjoys classic martial arts action.

Cheh Chang, Hsueh Li Pao (director) / Cheh Chang, Shu Mei Chin, Kuang Ni (screenplay)
CAST: Lung Ti … Wu Sung
Mu Zhu … Chiang Chung
Ching Tien … Shih En