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Chia-Liang Liu, or Kar-leung Lau (1934), directed
The Legend of Drunken Master/ Drunken Master II (1994), the sequel to
Woo-ping Yuen's Drunken Master (1978).
The humor is dubious, and the action is very slow because of the endless
ridiculous kungfu battles.
During the time when China was ruled by an emperor and Britain had infiltrated
its territory, a master of kungfu is traveling with his son Fei-hong and their
servant Cho. Before boarding a train, they have to stand in line to pay
customs duty. The master points out that the British diplomats, who arrive
in a fancy limousine, don't need to stand in line and are not requested to
pay duties. Fei-hong decides to hide the precious ginseng that they are carrying
in the suitcase of one of the diplomats. They board the train and Fei Hung
wreak havoc in the first class car to reach the suitcase and take the ginseng
back. In doing so Fei-hong catches a thief who has opened the same suitcase and
stolen something from it. Fei-hong chases him under the train and then outside
until the train is about to leave. During the fight the two end up switching
packages: the ginseng remains with the thief and Fei-hong finds an ancient
jade seal in his box. He narrowly escapes the British agents who are searching
the train for the stolen antiquity. The British ambassador orders his thugs
to find Fei-hong and retrieve the jade seal, that he has already sold to the
British Museum. At the same time he appoints a new cruel foreman in charge of
his steel factory, where the workers have had enough of the brutal work
conditions. The foreman uses violence to force them to work overtime.
Back at home Fei-hong is help by his stepmother Ling to replace the missing
ginseng with roots found under a bonzai tree in their backyard, so that
the master won't realize that the ginseng has been lost. These roots are handed
to one of the master's customers. The master seems to both run a kungfu
school, specializing in "drunken boxing", and act as a physician.
Now his young wife Ling, who secretely plays mah-jong with her female friends
when the master is away, needs money to buy real ginseng, knowing that the
customer will eventually return the fake ginseng, and so she decides to pawn
a necklace. Just then the British thugs attack the woman and steal the box with
the necklace, thinking that it contains the jade seal. Fei-hong challenges
them at drunken boxing, which literally involves him drinking huge amounts of
alcohol, and easily kicks their ass, humiliating the foreman and retrieving
the necklace. Ling roots for Fei-hong and is happy that he defeats the thugs,
but the master catches him in the act and punishes both: he had specifically
forbidden his son to fight and he quickly realizes that his wife has been
deceiving him. At the same time the customer's wife comes with the news that
the fake ginseng has poisoned her husband, so that a drunk Fei-hong has to
confess that he lost the real ginseng. The master loses his patience and
expels Fei-hong from his house. Fei-hong gets even more drunk at a restaurant
and is easily captured by the British thugs, who then hang him naked from the
arms at a gate, for everybody to see. His father takes him back into the house,
and Fei-hong swears to never drink alcohol again.
The thief of the train finally finds where Fei-hong lives and shows up one
night. Thinking he works for the British, Ling attacks him (she's a skilled
kungfu fighter herself although she pretends to be a weak peaceful lady
in front of her husband) but the master recognizes him as a patriot.
The "thief", Wen-Chi, explains that he is trying to recover the jade seal that
was stolen from a Chinese museum by the evil ambassador.
The British thugs ambush Wen-Chi and Fei-hong, but friends, among which
fellow kungfu master Tsang, come to their rescue. Fei-hong is saved but
officer Wen-chi is killed and the jade seal is stolen.
Tsang and Fei Hung independently break into the embassy trying to rescue the
jade seal but are captured, beaten and tortured. The ambassador blackmails
the master into selling his school if he wants to see his son alive again.
The master reluctanctly accepts to sell the kungfu school that has belonged
to his family for centuries. Fei-hong and Tsang are released. The ambassador
is ready to leave the country with the loot, that includes many more ancient
pieces. The steel factory was just a cover: now he shuts it down and lays off
the workers. The steel rod are simply used to hide the antiquities inside
the boxes that are to be shipped out of the country. Some of the workers
find out the truth and one runs to alert Fei-hong.
Fei-hong has promised his
father not to leave the house, but the moment his father steps out of the house
for some business his own stepmother encourages him to run to the factory and
help the other patriots fight the evil British.
After a long series of kungfu duels, Fei-hong, drunk with the inflammable
industrial oil of the steel mill, defeats everybody. The antiquities are saved,
and Ling makes sure that her husband gets some recognition for his son's
achievement (which was actually carried out against the master's will).
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