Original Title: Se ying diu sau

Directed by: Woo-Ping Yuen

This review contains a severe Kitty Carnage Warning!

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: Chien Fu (Jackie Chan) works as a janitor in a martial arts school where he is bullied until he is taught by the elderly Pai Cheng-Tien (Siu-Tin Yuen), one of the last Grandmasters of Snake Fist Style fighting.

Featured Feline: After helping to rescue the old man, Chien Fu invites him back to the school. As they enter the backyard, an orange and white cat is sitting nearby.

Chien Fu introduces the cat to the old man, explaining that the feline, whom he simply calls Kitty, is his pet.

Pai Cheng-Tien sits down and pets the cat as Chien Fu gets some tea.

The same orange and white cat is sitting on a table when Chein Fu wakes up to find the old man gone. Above the cat is a message on how to learn the moves to fight Snake Fist style fighting.

Chien Fu goes to stay with Pai Cheng-Tien in the woods to learn the martial art skills. While he is gone, the school’s cook (Gam Yam) is seen feeding the cat. Only this cat is a different cat with classic tabby markings and white socks. In a close shot of the cat it is clear that the animal is tethered with some kind of cord to stay in place.

Kitty Carnage Warning! Returning to the school to retrieve a rare book on Snake Style fighting, Chien Fu finds it ripped apart and blames the cat. But then he sees the cat in a corner fighting a cobra. Note that this is yet another cat, orange and cream with very light tabby markings.

The following scene is notoriously controversial and for good reason. The cat and snake are basically forced to fight each other on screen.

The “fight” has been edited quite heavily in some countries, with the more violent aspects of the encounter removed. In one version Chien Fu sees the cat facing off against the cobra and in the next shot the snake is dead. The full scene runs well over a minute. The cat fights the cobra, striking at the snake’s head with its paw. The screeching cat sounds throughout the scene are obviously overdubbed.

The cat is clearly tethered again, this time with some twine. In one portion of the scene the cat does not appear to be fighting the snake as much as trying to get loose from this thread.

A second cobra can be seen just off screen in some shots but was not pointed out or focused upon in the scene.

Even more bizarre are shots where the cat is leaping into the air to avoid the snake or, in one shot, leaping with the snake wrapped around him. It would appear that the cat is being jerked into the air with thread or string, as it is bouncing up and down in a completely unnatural way. It appears, too, as if the snake is being jerked back by the tail off screen as the cat swipes at it.

After the cobra is killed (it is actually still moving), Chien Fu approaches the cat and pets it, complimenting it on the fight.

Chien Fu realizes that the cat’s claw is very powerful and decides to combine Cat Claw style with Snake Fist to become unbeatable.

It is not known if the snake’s poison was somehow removed or if both the cat and snake were put in harm’s way to make this scene. What is clear is that both animals were clearly under duress during the prolonged scene. Regardless of the means, this kind of violent interaction between animals to make movies is now considered inhumane and atrocious. But then again, even the welfare of the human actors was not always a major concern in some of these low budget Chinese films of the time.

Final Mewsings: Thank goodness that CGI makes this kind of filmmaking unnecessary.

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