One of the big common plots in martial arts movies is the tournament that pits fighters of different styles against each other. Whose fighting style will prove to be the most dominate? This was the plot to Enter the Dragon and hundreds of others. Audiences didn’t get bored of a well made tournament films since it allowed them to see monkey fu vs crane fu vs hapkido vs whatever fu on the big screen. There are probably a few people who chose what local martial arts style to learn at local dojos based off a movie with a fist-based showdown. A viewer couldn’t go wrong with this plot. Duel To the Death amps up the tournament plot by having there only be one match and national glory at stake. Instead of fists, it’s sword play. Even more compelling is the winner is the one left alive. The only judge is the coroner. Things can’t be that simple as outside influencers want to rig the event for a profitable outcome. Duel To the Death goes to the ultimate of action to be the match of a lifetime.
Every ten years, the best swordsman of China faces off with the greatest samurai warrior in Japan for a battle to the death. It becomes major bragging rights for one of the countries. It’s like the Olympics except instead of silver, the second placer competitor gets sliced in half. Bu Qingyun (School on Fire‘s Damian Lau) has been chosen for China. He’s a very spiritual fighter which comes from his studying at a Shaolin monastery. He also gets a little extra guidance from a hermit who doesn’t play by the rules. Japan’s Hashimoto Ichirō (Bastard Swordsman‘s Norman Chui) is fierce as he uses his sword to slice down all those in his way. If you want a sense how bad people want their countryman to win the duel; late at night Ichirō gets attacked by a masked assailant. He strikes the man down only to discover he was someone close to him. They did this to let him know that he must not stop until he wins it all. What neither man knows is that there are people who have a plan to screw with the outcome of their fight. There’s an army of ninjas that are willing to explode in order to create an outcome that will allow Japan to get access to Chinese combat secrets. People are taken hostage. While Bu Qingyun and Hashimoto Ichirō want to hack away on each other, they will join forces in order to protect the sanctity of their fatal feud.
Duel To The Death came out in 1983 and elevated the way wuxia films were filmed. Things just seem a bit more kinetic on the screen. The camera and the cutting soar with the gravity defying swordsmen. Director Tony Ching would continue this with his Chinese Ghost Story films that followed. The stunts involving the ninjas alone are mind blowing. They truly become mystical warriors as they fly on cuts and even grow to be giants in scenes. The big thing is the headlining fighters in Bu Qingyun and Hashimoto Ichirō do face off in the third act. I hope you don’t see that as a spoiler. But they deliver a massive battle on a scenic and rocky coastal location. And there’s plenty of metal, flesh and blood on the screen. Tony Ching doesn’t tease us with a headlining fight that doesn’t happen. We get a sense of what’s more the effective blade technique as the two rip each other apart. I won’t spoil that part of the excellent Duel To The Death.
The Video is 2.35:1 anamorphic. The transfer is a 2K restoration from the original camera negative. You’ll see swords swinging and blood flowing. The Audio is the original Cantonese LPCM 2.0 mono. The English dub is LPCM 2.0 Mono. Although mostly you’ll hear swords clanging and explosions over the speakers. The movie is subtitled in English.
Audio Commentary by Frank Djeng is once more the best way to rewatch the film the second time. Frank gives so much information about the cast, crew and context.
Interview with Eddy Ko (13:46) talks about how he entered the Shaw Brothers training program. He became a fight choreographer and stuntman. He started acting because he knew his body wasn’t going to be able to handle the rigorous action. He learned acting from watching the actors during their takes. He got the role in Duel to the Death even though he was working on two other movies for Golden Harvest. He was running between the three flicks.
Interview with Manfred Wong (10:32) sits down with the script writer. Her started in college writing gags for the RTV station in Hong Kong. He ended up quitting school to focus on the gig. He used this to get into the film industry. He ended up head of the creative department at Golden Harvest. This lead to D&B films. He also worked with Shaw Brothers. Then he moved to Mainland China to work. He gets into how the script and film came together at Golden Harvest. It took nearly two years of pre-production as they developed ninjas vs Martial Arts. This is the longest he’s ever spent on the script.
Duel Identity – Archival Interview with Actor Tsui Siu-Keung (19:54) has Norman Chui talk about his previous career as an accountant at the Stock Market. Someone said he was handsome and should be an actor so in 1970, he started a course at Shaw Brothers. You know that Bob Newhart was an accountant before he got into show business. Although Bob didn’t train with swords and martial arts like Tsui. This came in handy for Duel To The Death which amped up wuxia fighting on screen. He gets into learning to use a sword Japanese style. Force and power is the key to approaching the samurai sword.
Flora Cheung on Duel To the Death (9:34) is an archival interview with the actress. She was discovered at a fashion show when a TV show needed a replacement for a pregnant actress. She became hot fast. She really enjoyed working with Tony Ching because he had a sense of everything necessary on the set. Martial Arts fighting was like ballet dancing for her. She talks about being burned out in her career since her manager had her make 10 films in one year.
No Strings Attached (28:22) is about wirework in Hong Kong cinema. Plenty of industry secrets are exposed. We see the machines brought to the sets and locations to let the actors fly during intense battles. They also use mini trampolines. We see that sometimes multiple stuntmen substitute for actors for different effects.
Alternate English Credits (3:54) changes up the text and titles for opening and end crawl.
Image Gallery (2:41) includes posters, press photos and release booklet.
Original Hong Kong Trailer (3:22) is from the Golden Harvest release. This is hyped as a major advance in cinema. The Japanese ninjas are declared the bad guys.
Reconstructed Tai Seng Trailer (1:50) is an English language trailer for an earlier release. It talks about the contest.
88 Films present Duel To The Death. Directed by Tony Ching. Screenplay by Tony Ching, David Lai & Manfred Wong. Starring Norman Chui, Damian Lau, Flora Cheong-Leen, Eddy Ko & Chang Chung. Running Time: 88 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: February 24, 2026.
