Master with Cracked Fingers
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| Master With Cracked Fingers | |
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 Japanese DVD cover |
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| Directed by | Chu Mu Jackie Chan as Yuen Lung Chan (martial arts director) Fu Yai Se (martial arts director) |
| Produced by | Lee Long Koan |
| Starring | Jackie Chan Siu Tien Yuen Dean Shek |
| Release date(s) | 1971 |
| Running time | 80 mins |
| Country |  Hong Kong |
| Language | Cantonese |
| IMDb profile | |
Master with Cracked Fingers (simplified Chinese: 广东小老虎; traditional Chinese: 廣東小老虎; pinyin: Guǎngdōng xiǎo lǎohǔ), aka Snake Fist Fighter is a 1979 martial arts film directed by Mu Chu and starring Jackie Chan. It is often cited as being produced in 1971 or 1973. Whilst the original footage was filmed in 1971 released in 1973, Master with Cracked Fingers was not actually released until 1979.
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[edit] Background
The film was concocted using footage from other films, primarily from a little-seen independent 1973 film entitled Little Tiger of Canton (aka Cub Tiger From Kwang Tung) which featured a teenage Chan in one of his earliest roles. After Chan had become famous through films like Snake in the Eagle's Shadow and Drunken Master in the late 1970s, the footage was re-edited. Additional material from the Drunken Master era and new footage of Dean Shek and Yuen Siu Tien (in another appearance of his beggar character), was tacked on. Even a rather obvious Jackie Chan double was hired and fought blind-folded in an attempt to hide the doubling from the viewers. In 1981, the poorly edited and assembled footage was acquired by Dick Randall, who named it Master with Cracked Fingers and dubbed it into English. It was then sold to 21st Century Distribution, and released in the US on VHS under the title Snake Fist Fighter.
The initial DVD releases in the US and UK were given Randall's title Master with Cracked Fingers. However, the forthcoming Region 2 DVD re-release of the film has been given the old US title, Snake Fist Fighter.
In addition, the original film, Cub Tiger From Kwang Tung has finally had a DVD release in its original un-tampered form.
[edit] Plot synopsis
The film has a similar theme to The Young Master (1980). The young and undisciplined Jackie (Jackie Chan) undergoes the tutelage of a nomadic master who has a rigorous training style focusing upon the hardening of the fist.
Jackie has been intrigued by kung fu since he was a boy, but he cannot afford to pay for lessons. He later meets an old beggar, "The Man Who Isn't There", who offers to teach him the secrets of fighting. After years of training under his sifu, his skills advance, but his father forbids him to practice. After a series of fights with a local gang of extorionists, and progressively more severe punishments from his father, he fends off the gang once more. In retribution, the gang burn down his house, killing Jackie's father. To avenge his father's death, Jackie agrees to a blindfolded fight against the gang leader, (Kwan Yung-moon).
