A Deadly Secret (1980)

Pai Piao learns of a ‘Deadly Secret’ and pretty much everyone else in the Martial world wants to know what it is! Unfortunately for them though he also has transcendental kung fu and is a right stubborn bastard! After being tortured in prison he teams up with a good hearted young lad (Wu Yuan-Chun) and eventually, the secret is revealed.

A Jin Yong adaptation that happens to be yet another of my favourite Shaw’s films – mainly because it’s so dark in tone but also because it’s really well filmed. Despite the heavy use of flashbacks it’s still nicely paced and keeps you guessing right until the end (unless you’ve read the book I suppose). Somehow it’s slightly different from the norm (maybe because it was the directors only wuxia effort) but it’s all the better for it!

No.

Excellent! The action director Hsu Hsia was involved in classics like ‘Five Superfighters’, ‘Invincible Armour’ and ‘Kid From Kwangtung’. Obviously being a wuxia adaptation there’s more emphasis on fantasy swordplay but not to the crazy extent of something like ‘Bastard Swordsman’.

Obviously Piao Pao and Yueh Hua rarely give a bad performance but ‘A Deadly Secret’ is more of an ensemble piece.

If you want to see a Jin Yong adaptation that actually works ‘A Deadly Secret’ is the film for you (’Brave Archer’ or ‘Emperor & His Brother’ anyone?). Actually ‘Sword Stained with Royal Blood’ and the ‘Flying Fox’ films aren’t bad but ‘A Deadly Secret’ shows how it should be done.