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The Silent Flute
Circle of Iron / Das Geheimnis des blinden Meisters
USA 1978
produced by
Sandy Howard, Paul Maslansky, Richard R. St. Johns (executive), Alex Massis (executive)
directed by Richard Moore
starring David Carradine, Jeff Cooper, Christopher Lee, Roddy McDowall, Eli Wallach, Anthony De Longis, Earl Maynard, Erica Creer, Michael M. Vendrell, Leo Whang, Donnie Williams, Robert Gardner, Tom Ascensio, Heinz Bernard, Zipora Peled, Larry S. Dratch, Ronen Nabah, Michal Nedivi, Nissim Zohar
story by Bruce Lee, James Coburn, Stirling Silliphant, screenplay by Stirling Silliphant, Stanley Mann, music by Bruce Smeaton
review by
Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
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Cord (Jeff Cooper), a hot headed martial artist, wins a martial arts
competition to be allowed to go on a quest and find the fabled master
Zetan, and through him ultimate enlightenment. Cord is disqualified
though, as he didn't abide by the rules, so he decides to follow the
winner of the contest, Morthond (Anthony De Longis), anyhow, figuring
sticking close enough to him will lead him to Zetan. However, Morthond
eventually escapes Cord, and when Cord finds him again, Morthond is dying,
having failed the first test along the way. Cord soon makes the
acquaintance of a blind man (David Carradine), whose martial arts exceed
his by far and who seems to know everything about Cord's quest, so much so
that Cord suspects him to be Zetan. Thanks to the blind man's advice, Cord
manages to defeat the leader of the monkeymen (also David Carradine), yet
later he, despite his vow of chastity, succumbs to the charm of Tara
(Erica Creer), wife of his host on one stop along the journey Changsha
(David Carradine yet again), which eventually has him waking up in the
desert and her crucified. Cord meets up with the blind man again, but
despite his wisdom, the blind man's actions seem deliberately erratic, as
they include wrecking a poor ferryman's (Heinz Bernard) boat and breaking
a boy's (Ronen Nabah) nose, things that can only be explained by
hindsight. Eventually, Cord makes it to the real Zetan (Christopher
Lee), who lives in a realm of everlasting harmony, where he's to guard a
book that's supposed to hold all secrets, but really only holds a mirror
for the reader to see his own image. Zetan begs Cord to replace him as the
guardian of the book, but Cord, more interested in martial arts than
harmony, turns him down and returns to the blind man for more adventures
... Allegedly, Bruce Lee came up with the story for the movie
through a series of dreams he had about a quest for the truth - and the
dream-origins of the film still shine through in many absurd, often
surreal scenes (like Eli Wallach sitting in a vat of oil trying to
dissolve himself) and the film's overall rather esoteric logic. Also the
Israeli locations that include many a castle and temple in decay, give the
film a very unreal feel - and it has to be said, both visually and
atmospherically, The Silent Flute is pretty awesome. Unfortunately,
the film falls short in many other ways, like it gets disappointingly
clunky when it comes to bring philosophical messages across, plus the lead
character Cord isn't written in a very relatable way, and Jeff Cooper
lacks the charm to make up for that. And actually, where the film really
falls flat is its martial arts, which at times look disappointingly
staged, at others just like regular brawling. That all said, the film's
still a watch for its beautiful images and inherent surrealism, but it's
doubtful whether it was what Bruce Lee had in mind when he originally
envisioned the film (that was to have starred him in Carradine's roles and
either Steve McQueen or James Coburn as Cord - but the project was
originally abandoned even before Lee's death).
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eThaiCD.com
find The Silent Flute at adultvideouniverse.com
