Black Five is filmed around Carnforth station in Lancashire, a location which had been the setting for the archetypal railway romance, David Lean’s Brief Encounter (1945) over 20 years earlier.
Centring on the legend of the four ancient Chinese heroines, the film was a novelty for audiences at the time, as the singing performance was in Cantonese and used huangmei operatic rhythms—a popular trend in the 1960s, yet it retained traditional flavours by using operatic luogu percussion in the battle scenes.
The Three Kingdoms period begins as the walled fortress of Hsin Yang falls to invaders. Centered around this historical event, The Last Days of Hsin Yang follows the escape of the prince of Hsin Yang as he hides with a small family and escapes from the sacked and burning city.
Five criminals are arrested after a bank-robbery. One escapes, and the police officer in charge of transporting them arrests a new person at random to cover up for his negligence.
Sam Moran is a Honolulu charter-boat captain who leads fishing expeditions in the tropical paradise. When his daughter is found murdered at the party of a wealthy young playboy, he seeks the truth about the murder.
Three identical prints of a single 100 foot fixed-camera take are shown from beginning to end-roll light-flare, with a few feet of blackness preceding/bridging/following the rolls.
A baleful limping man walks through Prague. He is Asmodeus (Juraj Herz), the fiend of lustfulness, entertaining himself by putting together by magic couples of lovers.
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Have you watched Black Five yet? What did you think about it?