The Swordsman (1974 film)

For the 1948 film, see The Swordsman (1948 film). For the 1990 Hong Kong film, see The Swordsman (1990 film).

The Swordsman
Directed byLindsay Shonteff
Written byHugh Brody
Produced byLindsay Shonteff
Elizabeth Gray
Stuart Black
StarringLinda Marlowe
Alan Lake
Edina Ronay
CinematographyLes Young
Edited byAnton Schiller
Music byColin Pearson
Roger Wootton
Production
company
Lindsay Shonteff Film Productions
Distributed byRank Film Distributors
Release dates
  • 1974 (1974)
  • 27 June 1976 (1976-06-27)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Swordsman, also known as Zapper's Blade of Veangeance, is a 1974 British action film directed by Lindsay Shonteff and starring Linda Marlowe, Alan Lake and Edina Ronay.[1] It is a sequel to Big Zapper (1973) and follows the adventures of female private detective Harriet Zapper.[2]

It was produced in 1974, including location shooting in the South of France around Nice. In 1976 it was picked up for release on the Odeon Circuit by Rank Film Distributors.[3]

Plot

Reynaud Duval runs a fencing school, and wanting to be his father's sole heir, forces him to write a false will and then murders him. He leaves a note with the body which incriminates master swordsman Zendor. Duval's younger brother Karel hires detective Harriet Zapper and her Chinese side-kick Hock to investigate.

Cast

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "The Swordsman is remarkable only for the relentless consistency with which it apes the style of the more overblown TV commercials. Making pseudo-sophisticated hay of swashbuckling adventure, sub-Bond chicanery and the private eye thriller, the film is never more embarrassing than in its archly knowing references to other movies, from Bogart ... to Jane Russell. All of which, as the script labours over the slightest of exchanges and the plot staggers from implausibility to implausibility, only underlines ineptness of the present material."[4]

References

  1. ^ "The Swordsman". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  2. ^ Sheridan, Simon (2007). Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema. Reynolds & Hearn Books. p. 99. ISBN 978-1905287543.
  3. ^ Gifford, Denis (2016). British Film Catalogue, Volume I. Routledge. p. 865. ISBN 9781317740636.
  4. ^ "The Swordsman". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 43 (504): 129. 1 January 1976 – via ProQuest.


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