Sep 14, 2020
A comically violent example of undercranking in this fight scene from ‘The Hayseed’, 1919, which speeds up the action…not quite ‘Raging Bull’ is it? ;)
seen from China
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seen from China
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seen from United States
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seen from Türkiye
seen from Italy
seen from Sweden
A comically violent example of undercranking in this fight scene from ‘The Hayseed’, 1919, which speeds up the action…not quite ‘Raging Bull’ is it? ;)
It’s pretty well known that Donnie Yen is one of the best fight choreographers in the world. However, this wasn’t always the case. In 1997 he directed his first film, Legend of the Wolf, and...well...just take a look for yourself. During the 90′s, undercranking was very popular. This involved shooting action scenes at a lower frame-rate so, when played back, the action looked super-fast. Everyone’s been guilty of it: Sammo Hung, Jackie, Yuen Woo Ping etc. Donnie just took it to the next level. To the point where his fight scenes just looked silly. Don’t get me wrong, some people love this film. I don’t hate it. I just think that the undercranking coupled with Donnie’s penchant for zooming in on hands so you can’t really see what’s going on is annoying.
Well, you live and you learn. Fast forward twenty years and Donnie is crafting some of the finest action to come out of China.
If you’re interested in this film, tough titties I’m afraid. It’s not streaming anywhere (as far as I know) and a used DVD is $40 on amazon. It’s definitely one for Donnie completists to own though.