All Men Are Brothers (1975)

September 27, 2017

Directed by Chang Cheh and Wu Ma, All Men are Brothers is a sequel to the 1972 hit movie The Water Margin.  This film assumes you have a descent knowledge of the Water Margin which is considered one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. The characters come in fast and doesn’t provide much back story as you should already know it.  Much like if Robin Hood or Three Musketeers played in Western Culture.  Most people have a basic understanding of those stories even if you have never read the books before.  This may make the beginning of the film slightly confusing but doesn’t really matter for the rest of the film.  The action and plot are fast paced and the blood drenches the screen as both friend and foe defeat, and are defeated by their adversaries.

The film is certainly worth watching.  Filmed both in the studio and on location there certainly seems to be some time and money invested in the film.  I found only two things off and one was at the heroes camp where it was obviously a bunch of tents in a very small studio as the backdrop was directly behind the tents, and the other was a modern tire on the tip of the boats!

I’m pretty sure rubber tires were not a thing in the 1100’s

The acting was great and David Chiang is amazing as ever. Ti Lung, Fan Mei-Sheng, & Chen Kuan-Tai certainly makes it an all star cast! Not to mention cameo’s from Lily Ho Li-Li, Yueh Hua, & Cheng Lui. I was surprised to see a young Bolo Yeung with only half the chest size he has in The Kickboxer.  Certainly worth watching if you enjoy Shaw Brothers films.  The action choreography is not as polished as they are in later Shaw Brothers productions and no where near as precise as modern films, however I still found it exciting and entertaining to watch.

Bolo Yenng as Si Xingfang

There are just too many cast to place them all here.  Check them out on HKMD

David Chiang (The Sword of Swords, Golden Swallow, Once Upon a Time in China II) as Yan Qing
Fan Mei-sheng (One-Armed Swordsman, The Iron Buddha, The 36 Deadly Styles) as Li Kui
Chen Kuan-tai (The Water Margin, Iron Fists, 14 Blades) as Shi Jin
Wong Chung (The Wandering Swordsman, Duel of Fists, The Water Margin) as Shi Xiu
Danny Lee (The Brave Archer, Flying Sword Lee, The Sword Stained with Royal Blood) as Zhang Shun
Wang Kuang-yu (One-Armed Swordsman, The Magnificent Swordsman, Delightful Forest) as Zhang Qing
Yue Fung (Swordsman at Large, Shadow Girl, Delightful Forest) as Sun Erniang
Ti Lung (Return of the One-Armed Swordsman, Perils of the Sentimental Swordsman, Drunken Master II) as Wu Song
Zhu Mu (Revenge of a Swordswoman, The Unknown Swordsman, The Shaolin Boxer) as the upstart Emperor Fang La

David Chiang as Yan Qing and Ti Lung as Wu Song

Other films based off of Outlaws of the Marsh a.k.a. The Water Margin

Film

• Delightful Forest (1972)
•  The Water Margin (1972)
• Pursuit (1972)
• Tiger Killer (1982)
• Water Margin: True Colours of Heroes (1992)

Television

•  The Water Margin (1973) – Famous Japanese telling of the story
• Outlaws of the Marsh (1983)
• The Water Margin (1998)
•  All Men Are Brothers (2011)

Silver Emulsion review

Kiai-Kick review

City on Fire review

Trivia

• Wikipedia and IMDB declare the movie made in 1975 where as HKMD says 1973.
• Ti Lung plays the character Wu Song in Delightful Forest (1972), The Water Margin (1972), All Men Are Brothers (1975), and Tiger Killer (1982)