CIRCLE OF IRON
A film review by Shane R. Burridge
Copyright 1997 Shane R. Burridge
Circle of Iron (1979) 95m.
Martial arts fantasy starring David Carradine as a blind wanderer who carries a four-foot flute and dispenses koans to wannabee hero Jeff Cooper. Cooper, who plays a brash muscleman named Cord, is seeking the path that will lead him to the Book of Enlightenment. Naturally there are trials along the way. Oddball Kung Fu (or more accurately, Kung Flute) movie has surprisingly little violence and disappointingly little to offer in the way of martial arts. As neither Carradine or Cooper are sufficiently proficient fighters, their combat scenes aren=92t terribly exciting - Carradine was obviously picked because of his role in TV=92s KUNG FU; Cooper=92s trademark seems to be to strike defensive poses with his hands as if he=92s preparing to make shadow puppets. Film has a low-rent atmosphere despite its technical polish, but most striking feature is the careless mise-en-scene that permeates the entire picture - most jarring for me was hearing an irrelevant blast of Susato=92s Pavane Bataille inside a cave of monkey-men! Starting off in what appears to be a Tibetan monastary (with Roddy MacDowell in a piece of miscasting worthy of the musical LOST HORIZON), the film=92s first jolt comes upon utterance of Cooper=92s booming, impossible American accent. Playing the barbarian-as-tourist, Cooper meets up not only with Carradine but also a mixture of Mongols, Tartars, Berbers, and an elderly Hebrew couple who seem to have strayed in from the biblical epic next door.
This total lack of unity (it was filmed in Israel, just to add to the overall dislocation), while seen as CIRCLE OF IRON=92s greatest liability, could also, however, be its biggest asset. It really does enforce the feeling of an alternate world. It=92s as if the film-makers were given a surplus of props and costumes and went to town with them - even Carradine dresses up in four different roles. Fortunately, film doesn=92t take itself seriously, and Carradine has some good one-liners. I don=92t think it lives up to Bruce Lee=92s original story concept however (he died before it went into production), and there=92s never any real explanation about the true meaning of the quest for the Book - just the pat pseudo-philosophical punchline you=92d come to expect. If anything, story lazily perpetuates the idea that those who have Ultimate Knowledge also have the right to beat up anybody who wants to ask them about it.
Also known as THE SILENT FLUTE
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