General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Snake in the Monkey's Shadow (猴形扣手)

Snake in the Monkey's Shadow (猴形扣手) is a 1979 Hong Kong kung fu comedy film directed by Cheung Sum (張森) and starring John Cheung Ng-long, Wilson Tong Wai-shing, and Charlie Chan Yiu-lam, released in Hong Kong on 15 February 1979 by Goldig Films (H.K.) Ltd.¹^•² It was made during the late-1970s wave of independent kung fu productions and is identified by Chinese-language reference sources as a follow-up to Jackie Chan's Snake in the Eagle's Shadow (蛇形刁手), with a similar plot structure built on martial arts combined with comedy.³

Key fact	Detail
Original title	猴形扣手 (Hóu Xíng Kòu Shǒu / Hau Ying Kau Sau); international titles Snake in the Monkey's Shadow and Snake Fist vs. the Dragon²
Hong Kong premiere	15 February 1979; produced by Goldig Films (H.K.) Ltd.¹^•²
Director and screenplay	Cheung Sum, co-writing with Wilson Tong, who also designed the action²^•⁴
Running time	100 minutes⁵
Martial arts content	Monkey Style, Snake Style, Drunken Boxing, and other animal-style kung fu²
1979 Hong Kong box office	HK$1,300,458.00 over its first week (15–21 February 1979), ranking 34th for the year⁶
IMDb rating	6.7⁵

Spoilers

Plot

The story follows Liang (John Cheung Ng-long), a poor young fishmonger who is beaten and humiliated after a late delivery to a wealthy family, and who wants to learn kung fu so he can defend himself.⁷^•⁵ He joins a local school run by Teacher Ho (Hau Chiu-sing), a master of the drunken style, and is eventually accepted as a student after proving his dedication by practicing at night what he has watched other students perform.⁵^•⁸

After Liang humiliates the two sons of the wealthy Yan patriarch, the father challenges Teacher Ho and is defeated; he then hires two snake-style fighters, Shao Sar and Lun Chun, known as the double snakes, to destroy the school.⁸^•⁹ One of the two snake-style fighters, played by Wilson Tong, was once defeated by the monkey-style expert Khoo San (Pomson Shi), a friend of Liang, and still seeks revenge.⁵ The assassins kill Teacher Ho and later Khoo; while burying Khoo, Liang observes a monkey fighting a snake and conceives a new technique combining the monkey and drunken fists, which he uses to take revenge on the snake masters.⁹^•⁸

Production and context

The film was produced by Goldig Films (H.K.) Ltd., one of the independent studios active in Hong Kong during the late-1970s martial arts boom, and released in Hong Kong on 15 February 1979.² The Hong Kong Film Archive's filmography lists the production company as 協利電影(香港)有限公司, the Chinese name under which Goldig is identified in English-language sources, with 林醒凡 (Lin Hing-fan) as producer and 吳協雄 as presenter.¹ The Chinese database MovieCool credits 吳協建 as both executive producer and presenter.⁴ The collector-oriented retailer ClassicKungFuMovies instead names Alex Gouw as producer.²

Cheung Sum directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Wilson Tong Wai-shing, who also served as action choreographer.²^•⁴ Other credited crew include cinematographer Fan Chuan-lin, editor Fan Kung-wing, and composer Chow Fook-liang.² The Hong Kong Film Archive records the film's dialogue language as Cantonese; Baidu Baike lists both Cantonese and Mandarin, while the English-language DVD edition is in Mandarin.¹^•³^•²

Cast

The credited cast includes John Cheung Ng-long as Liang, Wilson Tong Wai-shing as a snake-style assassin, Charlie Chan Yiu-lam as Hsia Sa, Pomson Shi as Koo Ting Sang, Hau Chiu-sing as Teacher Ho, and Tong Tin-hei as Master Yan.²^•⁵ Pomson Shi was a real-life Monkey Fist practitioner, and his monkey-style performance is one of the film's noted features.¹⁰ The Hong Kong Film Archive's entry also lists 陳耀林, 冼林煜, and 侯朝聲 among the principal cast.¹

Release and reception

After the Hong Kong premiere on 15 February 1979, the film played for one week, earning HK$1,300,458.00 and ranking 34th among 1979 Hong Kong releases.¹^•⁶ It reached West Germany on 7 March 1980, the United States in May 1980, Portugal on 14 July 1980 (Porto), and Spain on 15 February 1982 (Madrid).¹¹ Baidu Baike states that after release the film became one of the representative works of the Hong Kong comic kung fu genre and helped fuel the wave of similar productions.³ The Kung Fu Movie Guide notes that although the English title references the successful Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, the film adheres more closely to Jackie Chan's Drunken Master.¹² On IMDb the film holds a rating of 6.7.⁵

Home video

The film has circulated on home video under several titles and in cuts of different lengths. Reported running times include 100 minutes for the full version, 81 minutes on a Japanese DVD, 82 minutes on an American custom DVD, and 84 minutes on a German import, reflecting edited releases.⁵^•¹³^•⁹^•¹⁴ A German Blu-ray from Cargo Records presents the film in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio.¹⁵ A 2017 German limited edition from SchröderMedia was described as uncut and widescreen, with a new transfer from film plus a longer cut with inserts from an inferior source; a Red Sun region-all American DVD was noted as the uncut version containing the complete snake-versus-monkey footage absent from earlier video releases.¹⁶

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Action and adventure films (individual works) › Martial arts films › Released 1943 to 1985

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

Notice something wrong?