Two Chinese fighters (Wong Tao and John Liu) separately converge on a small town in Korea where they set up residence in a local inn. Sheng Ying-Wei (Wong Tao) is attending a martial arts competition held by the corrupt prince to find himself a new bodyguard. Shao Yi-Fei (John Liu) watches proceedings from a distance. Both men are drawn to the innkeeper’s daughter, sparking rivalry when Shao sends her a brooch and Sheng unwittingly takes the credit. The prince, meanwhile, has a visit from the Silver Fox (Hwang Jang Lee); a bad sort indeed. Our two heroes’ interest is then piqued and we find the real reason they’re in town.

Secret Rivals is a fast-paced kicking showcase. There’s hardly a moment when someone isn’t doing something nasty to someone else. While it’s true that at times both leads look like they’ve just stepped out of a Bruceploitation movie (Wong Tau even has a blistering nunchaku scene in the latter half of the film), there are enough fresh ideas thrown in the pot to keep things boiling along nicely. In fact, it may be a case that there’s too much action in this, as it can seem a bit strange when people start fighting at the drop of a hat without so much as a cursory exchange of words.

When you’ve got two great kickers in one film (Hwang Jang Lee and John Liu), it’s always going to be a bit special. Kicks are much more aesthetically pleasing, I find. I have to admit I’ve never seen Liu in anything else and I know absolutely nothing about him. Hwang Jang Lee debuts here, and of course he went on to bigger (and badder!) things with the director of this film, Ng See-Yuen.

Secret Rivals is an enjoyable, cheap-and-cheerful kind of film from Seasonal Films, and should be seen by those with a keen interest in good legwork. However, the script shows a lot of promise that doesn’t really pay off in a satisfactory way, and a lack of a sound structure to the film stop it short of being an all-time classic.