You won't be disappointed!

Highly Overrated But Still Good

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I saw this one under the title SNAKE IN THE GHOST'S SHADOW. It's a routine chop-socky story about a couple of orphaned brothers whose father is killed by an evil master. They're separated and reunited twenty or so years later by which time each has become a master in his own martial arts style; one crane, one snake.Everything about this film is typical for the genre, with a profusion of fight scenes which fail to connect with the audience. It's a surprise that the choreography is below par, because Meng Fei and Flash Legs Tan were both respected martial arts in their own right so teaming them up should have been a dead cert. Instead what we get is a movie which merely goes through the motions without innovating. The main bad guy lacks presence and director Wu Ma shoots with a minimum of fuss and style. The training scenes and plot twists aren't bad but you can do a lot better for this genre.

Villainous Hung Kung-shan (Yu Tien-Lung) convinces gullible Hang Kuei (Li Tung) that his brother Tin is working for the Qing government, when in reality it is Hung Kung-shan who is the traitor. When Hung Kung-shan kills Tin and tries to execute Tin's two young sons, Hang Kuei realises his mistake and legs it to safety with the kids, placing each boy in the care of a different monk (Buddha's name be praised!).Twenty years later, Ehr Lang (Mang Fei), the youngest son, now schooled in crane style kung fu (and proud owner of a hairstyle copied from glam rockers The Sweet), learns the truth about his father's death and goes looking for Hung Kung-shan, now a top Qing official (who sports sideburns like well-used Brillo pads). Ehr Lang's quest for revenge eventually reunites him with his brother, a master in snake style, and together the pair work out a plan of attack to defeat the wicked Hung Kung-shan.Secrets of the Dragon (AKA Snake-Crane Secret) is standard old-school martial arts fare all the way, a routine tale of revenge that never manages to distinguish itself from countless other similar chop socky flicks of the same era. The fighting is decent enough, with Mang Fei performing some impressive acrobatics, director Wu Ma has an amusing cameo as a drunken officer, a couple of good looking kung fu chicks with weapons provide some eye candy, and a fun scene featuring the two brothers sparring whilst balanced on water jugs offers a little jollity, but there is nothing here that serious kung fu fans won't have seen countless times before.

It has a couple of saving graces but generally is just bad. It begins with some reasonably well done flashbacks that show the background of the current situation. There is some treachery, some decent fighting and the sudden appearance of a monk to save the day--or at least saves the lives of the protagonists when they were children. The next acceptable scene features Fang Fang, showing some kung fu and spear moves to a not very enthusiastic audience—she really sells the moves. I know that the Shaw Brothers studio had training courses for actors and actresses in fighting for the camera. They didn't learn kung fu as such but how not look ridiculous when imitating it on film. She was able to wield her spear, the short staff and a few other weapons without embarrassing herself during fights.Elsa Yeung Wai San was a different story. Perhaps she was having a bad couple of weeks, but she always looked out of place during the fights. Her work with the jointed staff reminded me of a housewife with a flyswatter. A fight with Elsa and Fang taking on a bunch of bad guys is one of the dullest I have ever seen.The reunion between the brothers who had been separated for 20 years was lame--it was as emotional as if one of them was returning from lunch.Mang Fei was an almost totally unlikable protagonist. His ambition was to kill a Ching Dynasty official who had killed his father but he came across as petulant and spoiled. And Yu Tien Lung as the Ching official was an extremely bland bad guy. Until the end of the movie he was simply an ambitious local bureaucrat looking for promotion. In the last reel, however, he became a kung fu master. It took Mang Fei, played by his brother Hang Kuei, played by Tung Li, and their uncle Shao Ting San, played by Dean Shek, to defeat Yu. and he was still able to injure Erh Lang and kill Hang Kuei. He went from a petty timeserver to a martial arts killer in the blink of an eye.Not recommended.

I bought this movie at Meijer for $5.99. The plot makes really no sense whatsoever, and the fight scenes are not choreographed well at all. However, if you like cheesy kung fu action, poor cinematography, and ridiculous characters that promise only to do "menial labor," Then you will love Snake Crane Secret. I have seen it many times, and it is a great movie with which to impress a date. The key is: do not take it seriously. It is no Crouching Tiger, but it is a "good" movie in and of itself.