There's plenty to talk about here...let's put together a compilation of "movie swords", from the smallest cameo appearance to the biggest stars. Name the movie (title, director, when it was made, if possible), briefly describe the scene where the sword is featured...and let's see if we can identify what kind of swords were used!

Ok, so I had some time to kill last night, so I finally watched Hannibal Rising (I've been putting it off, since my expectations were so low). It was indeed a very weak film - directed by Peter Webber (2007).

The only time I was riveted was the fight scene with an overweight butcher (belly hanging out of his shirt and all). Long story short, that butcher was very rude to a lady friend, so Hannibal took matters in his own hands. It was a little "Crocodile Dundee-ish"...the butcher took out a knife to defend himself, so Hannibal responded by drawing his....katana! He then sliced the butcher's stomach, arm and back, before decapitating him.

It was a very small cameo appearance from a katana, but the scene was pretty cool.

One of my recent favorites, which would obviously fall under the "popular" category, was Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."  The Green Destiny sword was a main plot device featured prominently throughout the movie.  This was the first movie that I know of to use all those crazy flying acrobatics/martial arts.  Doesn anyone know of any film previous to this (2000) that uses these martial techniques?

cloakedsamurai-

You might want to check out "Swordsman" (Xiaoao Jianghu) from 1990.

Swordsman was the beginning of the modern Wu Xia Pan and the flying swordsman style. This film's moves were copied by films like Butterfly & Sword (1993), A Warrior’s Tragedy (1993), The Legend of the Flying Swordsman (2000) and of course the great one you mentioned, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000).

All the moves that most people know from CTHD including mid-air combat, rebounding off trees and flying through the air can be seen in Swordsman. It's not the best of this genre, but deserves much credit for being the first it its kind.

The two sequels are Swordsman II (1992) and Swordsman III: The East is Red (1993).

Highlander(Russel Mulcahy)(1986) starring Christopher Lambert & Sean Connery: a movie in which swords play a prominent piece

hey everybody

aye Blossom. i was wondering how long it would take for Highlander to make an appearance here lol. a personal favourite of mine, as well. i will just have to put in a mention for the other 4 films and 6 seasons of the series. the series being good once you allow some poetic license and put aside allegiance to the original movie which was the best of the bunch. having said that, is the katana pictured (poised cutting off flow to all them xylem and phloem tubes) not Duncan's? Ramirez's blade also had the ivory grip but the dragon-head pommel differed from the one in the series (duncan's) and the carving detail as well. btw, i used to own the series katana pictured in the post, made by Marto. unless it has changed a lot in recent years, they make attractive sword-like objects that are definitely NOT functional.

loved the original movie, the next 2 sequels were a supreme disappointment (come on... ALIENS!!!!! wth was that all about?) and the series was good taken on it's own, as are movies 4 and 5 (supposedly a 6 coming). guess it goes to show how much we fans love the essence of the story.

take care

t

I am partial to a Liu Chia Hoi (aka Gordon Liu) film Shaolin chalenges Ninja. A Chinese man is in an aranged marriage w/ a Japanese woman, who happens to be proficient in several Japanese martial arts. He is a student of several styles of  kung fu. He demonstrates to her that his arts is superior to hers. She gets mad and runs off back to Japan. He writes her a letter to get her back, but the letter is in the form of a sparring chalenge. Her instructor for ninjitsu intercepts the letter and IT is on. Several MASTERS of Japanese arts head to the husbands house in China to take him up on the chalenge. Some serious sword play here. This has to be the most realistic Japanese and Chinese sword play that I have seen in a movie. Most movies show blade on blade/ edge to edge combat. Real sword play does not use edge to edge blocking. The only edge to edge that happens would be incidental. This would destroy the edge of even the best swords. Blocking is done w/ the side of the blade.

I know, I am being long winded. but this is one of my favorite movies. Even the kendo master uses his yali sword (katana) to block by using the side and back of the blade. WOW, it is so realistic. Also the jian that the star uses is not a flimsy wushu type. It is sturdy and has only the right amount of flexibility. His forms are impecable. I cant find any pix from the movie on photobucket. as soon as I find some, I will post them.

ok lets try youtube. 

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/PMp034WdiVE&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/PMp034WdiVE&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMp034WdiVE

okay, the embed code from youtube didnt work... just gonna post link for copy paste to browser...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5vh5ebCipI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMp034WdiVE