film rating:
a.k.a. Zhu Hongwu
company: Foo Hwa Cinema Co. Ltd.
year: 1971
runtime: 97′
director: Chui Dai-Gwan
cast: Peter Yang Kwan, Chu Jing,
Suen Yuet, Chiang Ming,
Cho Kin, Su Chen-Ping,
Ding Keung, Ng Ho
writer: Lin Yu-Yuan
special effects director: Koichi Takano
Not available on home video

I’ve been on a seemingly unstoppable giant monster kick here as of late, but after a quadruple-helping of Gamera and an ill-advised dip in the ever-more-disappointing pool of vintage Korean efforts I decided that it was time for at least something of a change of pace. On the plate for today is the 1971 Taiwanese historical fantasy Tsu Hong Wu, whose well-produced ‘Scope effects work would later be plundered for the likes of Sea God and Ghosts and The Fairy and the Devil. The title in this case refers to the Hongwu emperor Zhu Yuanzhang (the subtitles for my copy use the older Wade-Giles romanization Chu Yuan-chang), progenitor of the Ming Dynasty.

Far from a traditional biographical work, Tsu Hong Wu is a highly fictionalized fantasy retelling of the early years of Zhu Yuanzhang’s life that was obviously geared toward younger audiences. The tale actually begins in Heaven, where the various gods are busy paving the way for a new emperor. The very basic facts of Zhu Yuanzhang’s life are ostensibly correct – he is born to poor parents who both die while he is a child and later joins a Buddhist monastery – though the details of all seem wildly inaccurate in light of even the minimal research I’ve done on the subject. This is probably all for the best, as I wasn’t in the mood for a stuffy academically-minded biographical epic anyway.

Rather than concern itself with such trite things as historical accuracy, Tsu Hong Wu allows us to follow the young emperor-to-be (and his scabby, balding head) on his magical adolescent misadventures. The Zhu Yuanzhang of the film seems well aware of his heavenly mandate even at grade-school age, declaring himself emperor of a gaggle of other youths and earning their obedience through fear of painful supernatural retribution alone. In his spare time he runs around the countryside causing various troubles, losing other people’s oxen and bringing temple statues to life for example. His antics inevitably land him in hot water with the reigning Yuan warlords, who, though well aware of the child’s divine right, set off to kill the him after he makes a public mockery of them. It’s up to his rascally wizard friend Lou Po-Wen – the possessor of a killer magic hat and keeper of a mystical white monkey – to save him.

It is here that Tsu Hong Wu takes a rather unexpected turn into traditional giant monster territory, with a Taoist priest summoning a gigantic red-haired ogre (amusingly referred to as ‘superman’ in the subtitles) to destroy our heroes, who are in turn rescued when a golden dragon (the animal manifestation of one of the deities from earlier in the film) rises from the ocean to do battle with said ogre. The special effects were produced through the co-operation of none other than Tsuburaya Productions, directed by Koichi Takano (Ultraman, Ultraseven, Iron King) with art direction by Yoshio Suzuki and puppet operation by Sadao Tsukumoto. It’s no surprise, then, that the giant monster stuff here plays in a tradition very much the same as that pioneered in Japan, right down to the precision of the overcrank photography. And be it homage or outright theft on the part of the sound mixer, the roars of Godzilla and Rodan are even looped in for these new monsters (the footage would be re-looped with less iconic howls in its future iterations).

Much of Tsuburaya’s work both here and on the later (and apparently far more bonkers) Taiwanese fantasy production Monster From the Sea would find itself generously lifted for later pictures, notably the aforementioned Sea God and Ghosts and The Fairy and the Devil. An undersea battle featuring the gold dragon from Tsu Hong Wu and its green nemesis (a fight which originally appeared in Namuo Yuasa’s A Story of ‘Lou Po-Wen’ [trailer], a sequel to Tsu Hong Wu released later the same year) even made its way to South Korea, where it was cut into the disorienting climactic stock footage montage for 1985’s The Flying Monster. Amusingly, it was there accompanied by footage from several of Tsuburaya Productions’ many Ultraman series. Small world.

It’s easy enough to see why so many film producers both in Taiwan and elsewhere were looking to peddle Tsuburaya’s work as their own – it looks damned good! Tsu Hong Wu not only features miniature and suitmation effects largely unfamiliar to Taiwanese cinema production at the time, but some decent process photography as well. The climactic battle between the Yuan Dynasty forces and the young Zhu Yuanzhang and his accomplices is remarkably effective, blending live action location photography and studio-produced spfx in a manner not often seen in contemporaneous budget-conscious fantasy cinema. Not even Poon Lui’s Young Flying Hero, with its mythic (and frankly undeserved) reputation, can compare to it, and monster fans as yet unexposed to the footage will be in for a treat.

Dramatically Tsu Hong Wu can seem a bit stale and long in the tooth at times, but it’s a picture with real production value that still finds time to impress. The costuming, art direction and set design are all impeccably handled and the effects are top notch for the genre, making it one of the most satisfying of all the Taiwanese fantasy extravaganzas as far as actual quality is concerned. To any enterprising cult film distributors who happen to be reading out there, this would make be terrific in a boxed set alongside Sea God and Ghosts, The Fairy and the Devil and the previously unreleased Monster From the Sea and A Story of ‘Lou Po-Wen’. At the very least, you’d have one taker.

Sidenotes: Both Sea God and Ghosts and The Fairy and the Devil present a fight between the red-haired ogre and a gigantic version of the white monkey seen in Tsu Hong Wu, but the battle does not appear in any print of that film currently available. I’m of the opinion that the footage does date back to Tsu Hong Wu, and was either cut from the picture at the last minute, was intended for its sequel A Story of ‘Lou Po-Wen’ (which appears to utilize the same ogre footage), or is just lost in the prints we have today. Evidence? For starters, the fight obviously takes place in and around the same fortress miniature as the climax of Tsu Hong Wu – a miniature destroyed in epic fashion at the end of that film.

Secondly, and perhaps more convincing, is how that film is cut. The white monkey is last seen chained to up in the out-of-the-way cave home of the wizard keeping him, but suddenly shows up at the ogre’s feet later on. The battle footage from Sea God and Ghosts and The Fairy and the Devil both begin with the monkey breaking its chains as it grows to enormous size, before fighting and then being defeated by the ogre. It’s footage that would fit nicely between the ogre’s first appearance and the moment the monkey pops back into existence again.