Deadful Melody
Deadful Melody is a 1994 Hong Kong fantasy wuxia film directed and produced by Ng Min Kan, starring Brigitte Lin, Yuen Biao, and Carina Lau.[1] It is based on the wuxia novel of the same name by Ni Kuang.[1] The film premiered in Hong Kong on 18 January 1994.
| Deadful Melody | |
|---|---|
| Traditional | 六指琴魔 |
| Simplified | 六指琴魔 |
| Mandarin | Liuzhi Qinmo |
| Directed by | Ng Min Kan |
| Produced by | Ng Min Kan |
| Written by | Johnny Lee Man Choi Lee |
| Based on | Ni Kuang Deadful Melody |
| Starring | Brigitte Lin Yuen Biao Carina Lau |
| Music by | James Wong Mark Lui |
| Cinematography | David Chung |
| Edited by | Jun Yu |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Runcheng Entertainment Distribution co., LTD |
Release date |
|
Running time | 91 minutes |
| Country | Hong Kong |
| Language | Cantonese |
Plot summary
The time of Xuemei’s peaceful upbringing was interrupted by her father's old classmate who, on the verge of death, begs him to take the magical lyre and flee. However, when he was forced to fight the oncoming raid of the 6 well-known master martial artists, his family was killed except for Xuemei, who survived the waterfall and escaped with the magical lyre. For years, the powerful and magical lyre disappeared without a trace.
In the present, Lun Lin, heir to the Tianhu Escort Agency, is promoted so his father, Teng Lin, could retire. To prove that his escort agency is the best, Lun Lin foolishly takes on the mission of delivering the infamous magical lyre to one of the famous masters Hou Xeng when everyone else avoided the mission for fear of their lives. Lun Lin's master warns him about the magical lyre and the deaths it racks up due to what people would do to obtain it.
When some of the master martial artists heard of the sudden reappearance of the magical lyre, no attempts were made to retrieve it. Lun Lin and his father stops at a rest stop but were ambushed by both Hou Xeng's son and the Hard-Hearted Witch. Xuemei rescues them by killing Hou Xeng’s son. Master Fire's disciple, Tan Yuehua, dresses as an innkeeper to rob the lyre behind Lun Lin's back. But when Lun Lin catches her stealing the lyre, he ties her up but saves her when bandits threaten to rape her. Xuemei suspects that Lun Lin is her brother whom she was separated from during the chaos of her family's massacre. She attempts to check his body for a birthmark while he is sleeping but Yuehua stops her.
Yuehua is thankful for Lun Lin's kindness in saving her and decides not to take the lyre, allowing Lun Lin to deliver it to Hou Xeng. Unfortunately, when the lyre was delivered, only the corpse of Hou Xeng's son was left in the lyre's container and Hou Xeng was later killed. Fire and Yuehua make their way to Mo Yee Mountain to meet with the rest of the masters upon hearing news of Hou Xeng’s death. Lun Lin stops them and blames Yuehua for taking the lyre and leaving the corpse. He is left tied up (similar to what he did to Yuehua) on a tree by Fire. As the masters meet, Teng Lin gets the apparent blame for the death of both father and son. Xuemei suddenly reveals herself to the masters and massacres them with the powers of the magical lyre. Teng Lin recognizes Xuemei but when Lun Lin reaches him, Teng Lin's sentence was cut short upon his death, making it seem as if Xuemei was his killer.
Ghost, Fire, and the Hard-Hearted Witch regroup and tells Master Tong Fong Pak to reunite with them, believing that their numbers will prevent Xuemei from attacking them. Tong Fong Pak instead proposes that he will reunite with the masters only if marriage with Yuehua is a guarantee. Yuehua is sad to learn that Fire offered her hand in marriage to Tong Fong Pak and runs away. Lun Lin buries his father and becomes inebriated. He is visited by Xuemei but he injures her out anger and she leaves. Their reunion is cut short as they catch Ghost in his unsuccessful attempt to ambush Xuemei and take the lyre. As Ghost escapes, Lun Lin warns her against taking vengeance but Xuemei will not give up.
Xuemei joins Lun Lin in his fight against Tong Fong Pak but takes control of the battle, decapitates the enemy, and delivers the head to the remaining masters. She then kills the masters' army along with Ghost. Fire and the Witch counterattack by pushing a drum towards her, which reflects magic back at her when she uses the lyre. Lun Lin was able to repel Fire and Witch's attack, but suffers injury from using the lyre improperly. Before Witch and Fire could snatch the lyre, Xuemei severely injures them with it. The Witch leaves in bitter defeat but explodes before she could fully escape. Fire's life was spared from Yuehua's begging.
Xuemei returned to the waterfall playing the lyre while Lun Lin presumably returned to the Tianhu Escort Agency.
Cast
- Brigitte Lin as Huang Xuemei (Chinese: 黄雪梅), also known by the name "Liuzhi Qinmo" (Chinese: 六指琴魔), she has a brother, Lü Lin.
- Yuen Biao as Lü Lin (Chinese: 吕麟), the boss of Tianhu Escort Agency.
- Carina Lau as Tan Yuehua (Chinese: 谭月华), Liehuo Laozu's disciple.
- Zheng Shuang as He Qinghua "Hard-Hearted Witch" (Chinese: 赫青花).
- Wu Ma as Liehuo Laozu "Fire" (Chinese: 烈火老祖).
- Elvis Tsui as Tong Fong Pak (Chinese: 东方白).
Release
The film was first released in Hong Kong on 18 January 1994, then released in South Korea on 23 July 1994.
References
- "Deadful Melody". Archived from the original on 3 May 2014.
External links
- Deadful Melody at Douban (in Chinese)
- Deadful Melody at the Mtime.com (in Chinese)
- Deadful Melody at AllMovie
- Deadful Melody at Rotten Tomatoes
- Deadful Melody at the Hong Kong Movie DataBase
- Deadful Melody on IMDb