When DANCE OF THE DRUNK MANTIS came to Thailand in 1979, it was billed as the third and final installment in the DRUNKEN MASTER series (not including the formal DRUNKEN MASTER 2, which came out in the mid-1990′s). And why not? It stars Yuen Siu Tien in his Sam the Seed character and revolves around drunken kung fu. The major difference here is that Jackie Chan had already skipped out. I would imagine his rise to super stardom made him too costly for the relatively low-budget film.
Once again, Thai distributor Krung Kasem Films turned to Kham for the poster art. The central content, featuring Wang Jang Lee and Yuen Siu-Tien sparring with cups of “white lighting” in their fists was redrawn from the original Hong Kong promo material. As were the smaller figures above and in the background. The practice of copying scenes from lobby cards and other promotional material sent by the international distributor was common place in the Thai poster world. There are relatively few posters drawn strictly from the artist’s imagination (though for obvious reasons, those are often the most interesting). Nonetheless, Kham arranged all the characters in this film beautifully, employing that nuanced color pallet for a gentle look.
As far as my own Thai poster collection goes, this is my favorite Kham work. He did some other masterpieces that have eluded me, but for what I own, this is my fave.
Once again, the title translates to = The Kid with the Drunken Punch
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