The Better Bruce Lee Movie

For some, The Big Boss will always be the best Bruce Lee film. Perhaps it was the first Bruce Lee movie; perhaps it was the setting in an ice factory plant in Thailand was appropriate for the plot of the movie.

As usual,as with other films in the 1960s, it's mayhem and murder for drugs that made the plot both arresting and interesting. For a first Bruce Lee movie, it was certainly explosive.

The Fist of Fury set during the era of Japanese occupied China played too much on Chinese values and loyalties with the final sacrifice by Chen in his death at the hands of the local police force. There was plenty of excitement here especially playing on anti-Japanese feelings. Some of the sub-plots were pretty creative.

For me, The Way of the Dragon was the apex of the Bruce Lee movies. It was one cool movie and did not overplay on Chinese values though the camaraderie continues to be there. Set in Rome,it provides a pleasant departure from Asian settings and the cultural shocks that Tang Lung underwent were quite humorous especially his need to search for the bathroom in a foreign land. However, there was little screen chemistry between Bruce Lee and Nora Miao. It never built up in the Big Boss, tried for a dismal breakthrough in Fists of Fury and was undeveloped once more in The Way of the Dragon.

Chuck Norris, Nora Miao, Malisa Longo and Wei Ping Au made this one a great outing at the cinema in the 1970's

I still enjoy the movie even now on DVD.

Another Sinbad Voyage with its Strange Encounters

Yes, this 1950's production of The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad introduces the familiar creatures that we have read in the standard story books on Sinbad.

As Sinbad sets out on another adventure,this time to restore his beloved Princess Jasmin who has been shrunk by Scoura, a wizard with a magic lamp and a small boy genie; and helping the Grand Vizier to get back to his natural look after he had horrendous burns to his face. Expect to meet one-eyed Cyclops roasting human for a meal,a green-scaled dragon, a flying two-headed roc and her nestling, an cannibalistic satyr as well as fighting skeletons.

Kerwin Matthews is Sinbad and of all those who played Sinbad, he just does not cut it as he lacks the he-manship for the role of Sinbad unlike John Philip Law and Patrick Wayne.

Quite an enjoyable movie as you can see Dynamation techniques of Ray Harryhausen at work as they make the strange creatures that Sinbad met on this voyage to come alive!

The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad

An Eyeful of Jane Seymour

The title of my posting might be misleading. But this movie actually showcases a very young, nubile Jane Seymour as the attractive Princess Farah.

Just like another adventure of Sinbad, this time it is the eye of the tiger of the witch, Zenobia, that Sinbad has to combat as she had used sorcery to prevent Prince Kassim from ascending the the position of Grand Viziership.

Being changed into a baboon, Kassim will become more and more a baboon and cannot be changed back if the full moon fades away.

As usual expect the wonders of the stop-go animation effects of Dynatron created by Ray Harryhauser.

In this movie, you will see big eyed ant-like soldiers, a metallic bull, a giant-sized walrus, a sabre tooth tiger and a troglodyte.

Patrick Wayne Wayne is Sinbad and the movie introduces Taryn Powers as the telepathic Dione.

If you love Sinbad movies, this one entertains.

Trapped in an Elevator-Inconvenience and Anxiety

Well, what do you know.

I got stuck in a lift with some twenty people at lunch-time this afternoon(3 May 2012).

I was attending a meeting and we piled into an elevator(No. 8 which actually means lucky in Cantonese)at Dataran Takaful in down-town KL.

Then it happened. On reaching the ground floor, it refused to open its doors.

The usual swearing words we heard; and a women was almost frantic-banging on the lift door panels unceasingly.

The sad thing about old buildings are they are served by old lifts.

We were unfortunate to be served by more than a few decades old OTIS elevator.

After being alerted, the security officer had to called in an OTIS maintenance expert to open the doors as their maintenance crew is not allowed to handle lifts.

Sadly, they do not a man that is conveniently around to prise open the elevator doors on demand.

All of us had to agonise over 35 minutes until the maintenance man arrived from the other side of town which was Damanssra.

There was more anxiety than inconvenience. We were fearful of what would happen in the lift. Will someone faint or even die? Was there going to be sufficient oxygen for all of us before we all collapsed in a huddle?

When we heard noises from the other side of the door panel,we knew help was at hand. Then the doors opened and we saw the OTIS man.

What a relief to be able to breathe fresh air again, away from the stale human odours!

An experience best avoided!