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Monday, October 18, 2010

Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires (1974) review


LEGEND OF THE SEVEN GOLDEN VAMPIRES 1974 aka DRACULA & THE SEVEN GOLDEN VAMPIRES aka THE SEVEN BROTHERS MEET DRACULA

Peter Cushing (Professor Van Helsing), David Chiang (Hsi Ching), Julie Ege (Vanessa Buren), Shih Szu (Mei Kwei), Robin Stewart (Leyland Van Helsing), Chan Shen (Kah/Dracula), John Forbes Robertson (Count Dracula)

Directed by Roy Ward Baker

The Short Version: Cataclysmic clash of East meets West was just as harrowing behind the scenes as what ended up on screen. Shaw Brothers and Hammer make it all work in the end with a fun comic book flavored horror rendition of THE SEVEN SAMURAI paired with vampire lore.

To see more behind the scenes photos from LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES and also SHATTER, click here.


Professor Laurence Van Helsing travels to China to speak about his ordeals with the supernatural and discovers through an interested student that Count Dracula is alive and well and lording over a peasant village miles away from civilization. Taking his son and a wealthy lady traveler who finances the expedition, Van Helsing joins up with an honorable, yet vengeful Chinese warrior and his seven brothers, one of which is a feisty female fighter. They make their way to the village to protect it from Dracula and the dreaded golden vampires and their army of undead followers.


Shooting a night time scene; Southern Screen February 1974

1974 was the year of co-productions at Shaw Brothers studio. They had made numerous pictures with Korean film companies, but now they would work with American and European moviemakers. The worldwide success of KING BOXER (aka 5 FINGERS OF DEATH; 1972) had opened the floodgates for Bruce Lee and a cavalcade of kung fu killers. This success attracted various other movie producers from Italy, Germany and America. Great Britain was among them and the collaboration proved anything but fruitful.


Liu Chia Yung (left), Peter Cushing (middle) and Huang Pei Chi (right) make their way to Dracula's hideout

Roy Ward Baker has directed some of the finest examples of Hammer Films style of Gothic horror. Some of these are considered classics (QUATERMASS & THE PIT, THE VAMPIRE LOVERS), some were original takes on familiar material (DR. JEKYLL & SISTER HYDE) and some were far more gory than usual (SCARS OF DRACULA). LEGEND OF THE SEVEN GOLDEN VAMPIRES, the very first horror kung fu combo, falls somewhere in the middle. It's definitely an original take on a time worn tale and one that proved to be one of the most tumultuous, headache inducing experiences for both East and West.


Roy Ward Baker and David Chiang study the script between takes; Southern Screen Feb. 1974

Neither side were prepared for the culture clash about to take place. Both found the others methods of filmmaking to be perplexing to one another. Hammer wanted to shoot with live sound while the Shaw's shot silent and dubbed in everything in post. Hong Kong, at one time, used to shoot live sound, but later, they found it to be more economical to shoot silently since everything was going to be dubbed into different languages anyway.


Also, as opposed to being quiet on the set, the Shaw's crew had other things going on while shooting was taking place. This was disruptive to the British crew who obviously weren't used to it. Neither crew realized just how differently films were made and it resulted in some seriously bad feelings at the time. Reports of racism from the foreign crew towards the Chinese workers didn't help matters at all. Reportedly, Baker (and some of the other crew) was prejudiced against the Asian technicians constantly shouting aloud about them, which embarrassed many of the more understanding British crew. It got worse when the Shaw's were dissatisfied with the fight scenes Baker had turned out. At one point, the fight sequences were going to be re-shot with Liu Chia Liang and Tang Chia in control, but the production soon carried on under Baker's guidance.


Even though Baker, in a past interview, made statements that he directed the kung fu sequences better than the Chinese could, his action scenes (arranged by both Liu Chia Liang and Tang Chia; at the time, Liu was working as fight co-ordinator for the venerable Chang Cheh and desired to direct on his own which he did the following year with THE SPIRITUAL BOXER) do resonate with a certain degree of tension. This is especially evident during the first time we see the brothers in bloody battle against a Triad gangster. The finale is also well orchestrated and spectacular accompanied by a stirring score from James Bernard. The picture was very successful in Singapore and later in Britain. It did only moderate business in Hong Kong. Possibly due to their lackluster returns on their previous Hammer releases, Warner, despite the millions earned from their Shaw acquisition KING BOXER, sold the film off to a small time outfit where the picture was literally gutted with scenes rearranged from beginning to end without rhyme or reason.


After the disastrous reception received by the two modern day Dracula's, Christopher Lee was adamant that he wouldn't be appearing in any more Hammer vampire movies. According to Michael Carreras in 'House of Hammer' #17, "When we saw the finished picture, we thought the Kung Fu parts of the film were much more exciting than the Dracula sequences, so we cut a version without Dracula...what we had was a very good Chinese action-adventure/Kung Fu frolic but unfortunately in that form it was too short so we had to put Dracula back in." Most critics make fun of John Forbes Robertson's make up, but I never really paid all that much attention to it. He looked dead and that was fine by me. More successful is prolific actor, Chan Shen's portrayal as Kah, whose body is possessed by the bloodthirsty Count.


Chan Shen was a contract player at Shaw Brothers whose career began back in the early 70's. From that time, he amassed an incredible amount of character roles with most of them as nasty villains. Some of the juicier ones are as a Japanese in THE DEADLY KNIVES (1972), a sex crazed rapist in INTIMATE CONFESSIONS OF A CHINESE COURTESAN (1972), another rapist in THE KISS OF DEATH (1973), the Centipede chief in WEB OF DEATH (1976) and yet another despicable rapist/slave trader in the deplorable LOST SOULS (1980). He did play a good guy in Chang Cheh's INVINCIBLE SHAOLIN (1978) as a teacher. Chan had intense, piercing eyes and the film would have worked just fine with him playing the main antagonist.


David Chiang is impressive as the leader of the seven brothers. He speaks very good English and impressed his occidental counterparts, especially Peter Cushing and Roy Ward Baker. Chiang came to prominence after he got critical notices from his supporting role in Chang Cheh's avant garde tragedy, DEAD END (1969) starring Ti Lung. From there, he featured mostly in swordplay and action films, but did partake in a drama, or two. He was better suited to Wuxia adventures, but occasionally the choreographers made him look good performing kung fu. His skills are convincing here in this visually impressive production.


Shi Szu during a break in filming; Southern Screen February 1974

One thing is for certain--the Shaw's were able to instill an epic feel that Hammer couldn't have done at the time. Compared to the other strange vampire picture from the company, CAPTAIN KRONOS (1972), the Shaw-Hammer co-production is the better film in my opinion. KRONOS has a TV movie feel and outside of some fun ideas and quirky moments, the action pales when compared to Baker's movie. GOLDEN VAMPIRES looks like a hellish version of SEVEN SAMURAI (1954) while KRONOS is simply bland.


This movie also has something that KRONOS doesn't have and that's Peter Cushing. The gentle old man of horror always brings something to even the lower level pictures he appeared in. If he was miserable on set, it doesn't show. Cushing was 60 when this film went into production in 1973 and gets down with some kung fu of his own during the battle royal at the conclusion. He battles the golden vampires, their zombie slaves and then finally Dracula. Van Helsing had more to do here than probably all his other ventures combined.


Peter Cushing battles the undead minions of Dracula and the Golden Vampires


Other people to look out for are the lovely Shih Szu, swordswoman extraordinaire who filled the boots of Cheng Pei Pei after she left Shaw's to get married. Liu Chia Liang's brother, fellow director and choreographer Liu Chia Yung (TREASURE HUNTERS 1981) has a role as one of the brothers as does choreographer Huang Pei Chi and actor Tino Wong (INVINCIBLE ARMOR). Also, the sensual Julie Ege doesn't mind getting her hands dirty as the adventurous Vanessa Buren.


Despite all the turmoil in getting it made, the director seems to have grown fond of the movie over the years and did have nice things to say about working in Hong Kong (Set Designer, Johnson Tsao and David Chiang for instance). For many years this picture was given the cold shoulder by most Hammer fans. The plot and the preponderance of Chinese and kung fu in the film seem to turn people off who are more accustomed to the more familiar European settings. Still, a lot of those same people (including some of those that worked on the film) seem to have warmed to the late Roy Ward Baker's movie over the years. It's quite a fun picture with lots of action and some stylish set pieces.

This review is representative of the Anchor Bay DVD


15 comments:

dfordoom said...

This is one of my favourite late Hammer movies. Enormous fun.

It's a great pity the production was so troubled - it would have been great to see more co-productions between these two great companies.

Franco Macabro said...

Always been a favorite of mine, its so different! Plus, its fast paced, and it has Kung Fu! Plus the most unexpected things happen.

I preferred the Chinese Monk Dracula to the english actor, if they weren't going to have Lee on it, they might as well had simply used a Chinese Vampire Monk, it would have been better.

I love the Seven Titular Vampires, they look like these weird vampire zombie things...and that army of darkness they resurrect? Awesome stuff!

There are two versions of this film, but my favorite is the one called Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires as opposed to The Seven Brothers Meet Dracula.

Somehow this review feels perfectly in place on this blog! Shaw Brothers Kung-Fu plus Vampires! Great mix.

Shaun Anderson [The Celluloid Highway] said...

I love Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires. This for me, is the only genuine cult movie, that Hammer had anything to do with. The whole thing smacks of a wonderful desperation on the part of Hammer. I enjoyed reading the contextual background information you included Brian, and also appreciated the detailed perspective of the Shaw Brothers side of things, an aspect of the production which often gets overlooked.

venoms5 said...

@ D: This has a been a huge fave of mine since first catching it on the local channel 48 when cult films dominated the channel. Back then, horror and kung fu were on television day and night on the weekends and this movie was the best of both worlds. Oddly enough, the version on TV was not the butchered, re-edited version that was released to theaters here.

@ Fran: Yeah, that was their plan afterward to leave Drac out of it, but when the film ran short, they put the Dracula segments back in. Chan Shen was a really good actor, too. He died in 1984. I forget the cause. I have some pictures from a Shaw magazine when he died. Yeah, that butchered version makes zero sense. No wonder this movie had such a bad rep for so many years.

@ Shaun: Yes, I love this one, too. It's a shame the follow up, KALI, DEVIL BRIDE OF DRACULA, set in India, never got off the ground. Warner's was gonna do a Shaw type deal by financing the film with rupee's they couldn't take out of the country. This was similar to what Shaw's did by sending Chang Cheh to Taiwan to film a series of movies using funds they likewise couldn't extract. But the Indian government gave Warner their money and then they weren't interested anymore for some reason. Wayne Kinsey talks about this in one of his two Hammer books 'The Bray Years' and 'The Elstree Years'. Both are excellent reads. He had access to files no one else had seen at the time. Lots of info on cut scenes, letters from the BBFC, rare behind the scenes photos, etc. It's a must if you're into what went into the making of the movies themselves. I'll be finally reviewing both of them very soon.

R.A.M.'67 said...

I have the Anchor Bay DVD, too, venoms5! Has this been released in an anamorphic version anywhere?

venoms5 said...

Yes, in Britain. I think it was Warner Brothers that released it there.

achillesgirl said...

It's really interesting to read what people thought about their own movie after the fact. And it's nice to know that some were open enough to recognize HK talent and style. Great post; thanks!

venoms5 said...

Yeah, I agree, achillesgirl. It seemed it took some of them years to realize they didn't turn out such a bad movie after all. But I agree with what Carreras said about wanting to remove the Dracula bits. It would have worked just fine without the character being in there.

achillesgirl said...

Kinda like "Shatter" would have been better without Shatter, :)

venoms5 said...

I must say I never paid much attention to the fact that Ti Lung should have been Mr. Shatter instead of Stuart Whitman, lol. I do like Whitman, though.

You should see him in the Italian crime film BLAZING MAGNUM. He's insane in that. For instance, he gets into a fight with an apartment full of transvestites, kicks one through a plate glass window and rams a hot curling iron up one of the guys rectums and later partakes in what has to be the most insane car chase ever in movies. It goes on non stop for 7 minutes. He seems to have done all his own stunts in that, too. Martin Landau, John Saxon and Tisa Farrow round out the cast of that one.

achillesgirl said...

really? i would have never guessed! i'll keep this one in mind for sure!

I Like Horror Movies said...

Still on my "To See" list V, but hot damn man, this could be the review to end all reviews! What a great wealth of background information into the production. You would think that both film crews would have anticipated some of those differences, but then, how many films even outside of the Horror genre had attempted anything like this? Cant wait to see it!

venoms5 said...

You mean a co-production between two foreign companies, Carl? If that's what you mean, the Shaw's did lots of them, not counting a slew of films they did with Korean companies...

SHATTER (1974)Shaw-Hammer
VIRGINS OF THE 7 SEAS (1974)Shaw-Germany
THIS TIME I'LL MAKE YOU RICH (1975)Shaw-Italy
SUPERMEN OF THE ORIENT (1974)Shaw-Italy
AMAZONS & SUPERMEN (1975)Shaw-Italy
CLEOPATRA JONES & THE CASINO OF GOLD (1975)Shaw-US
CANNONBALL (1976)Shaw-US
METEOR (1979)Shaw-US
INSEMINOID (1981)Shaw-UK
BLOOD BEACH (1980)Shaw-US
BLADE RUNNER (1982)Shaw-US

Franco Macabro said...

Holymoly! You mean, The Shaw Brothers had something to do with freaking Blade Runner??! Thats info I was not aware of!

venoms5 said...

Sir Run Run Shaw put up a portion of the budget and was a producer. I spoke with an editor who said it was Run Run who fired Scott from the film. Apparently, Scott rubbed a lot of people the wrong way during the shoot.

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