THE SWORD OF SWORDS is one of the early Shaw Brothers movies to capitalise on the new-found stardom of Jimmy Wang Yu, who had achieved success with his turn in Chang Cheh's ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN. Cheh found this film's story silly, apparently, so somebody else directed, but the good news is that the quality remains very good despite the lack of the great man's presence.Wang Yu plays a youthful martial arts student whose dying master owns the titular weapon, which has incredible magic powers. Unfortunately, elder student Tien Feng covets the weapon and is happy to commit murder to get his hands on it. The story that follows goes on a little too long, but it's filled with action that gets better and better - and bloodier and bloodier - as it goes on. Feng makes for a truly worthwhile foe, as he always did, and Wang Yu's heroism is never in doubt. The film also has some extraordinary nihilistic moments, like the attack on Wang Yu that ends in disaster; a more visceral moment you couldn't imagine. Things culminate in a lavish, large-scale climax that doesn't disappoint.

I can't help but wonder how this movie came about. Yu Wang was huge in the late 60s and had just done The One-Armed Swordsman. Some executive might have said "Hey we had this huge hit where Yu Wang was disabled. Let's think of another major injury he has to overcome and it'll be a hit!" They settled on blindness, but Chang Cheh thought they were idiots, so they got someone else to direct it. I doubt this really happened, but blindness isn't the only obstacle for Yu Wang in this movie.Well, naturally there are dozens of armed men for him to cut down. But what bothered me most here was there are so so many dumb and stubborn characters. The melodrama factor is really high too. But, I watch these for the action, and it was pretty good. The main villain, Feng Tien, admits pretty early that he's not as good as Yu Wang, but they still get a few fights out of the pair because of the villain's plans. Great here as a villain, especially what he pulls on Yu Wang near the end, oh my god.