Master of the Flying Guillotine (1976)

 

I think only Jimmy Wang Yu could have made a movie like this in the 70s.  The Shaws made the first Flying Guillotine movie the previous year, with the always great Chen Kwan Tai as the lead.  This first one was heavy on plot and light on martial arts action, but it is quite good.  Somehow Wang Yu did not get sued for using the exact same looking weapon in this sequel to The One Armed Boxer and he produced a classic movie as well.  He did get some help from the Lau brothers with fight choreography, and it helps make the martial arts look more authentic.The movie was considered incredibly rare for a time in the 90s, but I think Sinister Cinema released it in their version of "wide screen" which we called Sinemascope at the time.  I am still kind of amazed that both Sinister Cinema and Something Weird Video are still around in this day and age.  Good for them!  This movie is available on two different editions, a one disc version and a two disc version.  I had the first one, but double dipped for the second one since it was anamorphic.  It's nice to see the movie preserved so well.