Apparently Jackie himself, merely 17 when this film was made, says to stay away from this movie. I shoulda learned that earlier. It's at least two movies Frankensteined together, and new footage (with the old master beating up the flamboyantly gay landlord, farting in his face and avoiding his Popeye-themed attack (complete with Popeye's theme music - calling all lawyers)) was added years later to complete the "film", such as it is.

Plot? Barely there. Jackie plays an evil warlord who kills one of his men (who squirts blood out of his mouth in an unintentionally hilarious scene reminiscent of Monty Python's Black Knight),whose young son (Jackie again) is raised by another former henchman, who does not want Jackie to be a fighter. "You want to destroy life? Well, kill flowers!" he yells, tossing potted plants at his wayward stepson. However, Jackie's been training in secret with a crazy old guy in the woods since he was 6 (in a series of disjointed and somewhat creepy flashbacks),and there's only so much he can take before springing into action, especially since people attack him and his sister on a daily basis. He fights through a bunch of generic thugs as the camera whips around randomly, the canned soundtrack saws away pompously and dubbed threats ("I will take care of you now! Hum!") assault the viewer's ears. Characters mostly pop up to get killed (foster dad, a young pickpocket),or disappear after a few scenes (Jackie's uncle and sister).

The editing is such a mess it's usually impossible to tell exactly what's going on. When Jackie's pickpocket "friend" (I put that in quotes because they only met three times beforehand) is threatened by being tied up high on a pole, Jackie fights off the thugs around him. We cut to a thug falling into the water, and then the pickpocket just falls from the pole he was shown to be snugly tied to (shown by a dummy falling towards the camera),a musical sting, and Jackie looking... kinda bummed. "Goodbye, my little friend." Then a suddenly shirtless Jackie points at the villain (actually, he points at the camera - most of the dialogue scenes are played in separate shots) and declares "YOU killed him. YOU are responsible for his death." I dunno, Jackie. Was he the one who made the ropes magically disappear?

The dubbing is horrid, the characters either having British accents or Brooklyn accents, neither of which match the tone well at all. It sure is weird hearing Jackie's voice dubbed over by somebody else, and the endless "Ho! Hah! Huuuh!" during the fights is the fine line between hilarious and unbearable. Every blow, even light smacks, get a loud *CRACK* sound effect, and at one point Jackie holds a conversation with a villain while we hear a hilarious number of loud *CRACKS* in the background!

And then there's the final battle with the warlord, now elderly and played by a tall actor who looks nothing like Jackie (same dubbed voice, though) and a fat guy who follows the Way of the Fish, which Jackie easily disposes of, Old Master cheering from the sidelines. Jackie and the warlord blindfold themselves, which is cool, but it mostly is a desperate attempt to hide the fact that even Jackie is played by a different actor now. The bad guy whips around and whinnies like a horse. It's that kind of movie.

Don't fret though, fans. Pseudo-Jackie beats the villain by knocking him over, breaks his neck by turning it slightly to the right - complete with spaceship sound effects - and Old Master says Jackie has earned the right to carry a blue flag. Jackie waves it triumphantly, the movie ends five seconds later, and the soundtrack grinds to a halt.

Only for people who want to see Jackie's first starring role. Other than that, you won't find any of the elaborate choreography and set-pieces you'd expect from Jackie, although some of the hand-to-hand stuff is pretty well done, from what you can see of it through the insane editing. You'll likely have more than a few laughs as well, albeit the uneasy kind.

Rated R for God knows what reason. The violence, save the blood squirt, is clean, there's no swearing, and a really cheesy attempted rape scene involves a fully clothed couple wrestling while the woman screams. Norway banned it, although in retrospect that was a really good idea.

These comments are based on watching the English dub of the version titled 'Master with Cracked Fingers'.

Young Jackie wants to know how to do martial arts but his father has forbidden him from fighting. He secretly trains with an elderly master who he originally assumes is a beggar. The training is tough but he grows to become highly skilled. Jackie is working as a waiter when he crosses a group of minor gangsters. He easily beats them but his father is far from pleased; not only that the gangster's boss is furious and orders his men to beat Jackie. Things escalate and ultimately the gangsters burn Jackie's house with his father inside. Inevitably Jackie will ultimately face the man responsible. Before that though his master fights a rather camp landlord who has been pressuring Jackie's employer.

When I watched this I didn't realise that what I was watching wasn't the original film but an edit with many scenes changed… it does explain why it was a bit messy at times. The main story is simple enough to follow but certain scenes seemed out of place; most notably the opening scene with a moustache twirling villain who is virtually forgotten till Jackie has to fight him in the final scene… there is some explanation that he killed Jackie's real father in that opening scene and the man who raised him was a friend of his father. There is plenty of fighting; this is fun enough but it is obviously so highly choreographed that at times it looks more like a dance than a fight. There is a fair amount of comedy; sometimes it is funny other times it is too forced; more than once I suspected that a gag was added to the dub that wouldn't have been in the original version. Having Jackie Chan play a character renamed 'Jackie Chan' might have seemed a good idea when this dub was made but I found it to be a distraction. One scene that is just weird and would have been best left out features Jackie as a child being forced to strip naked and climb into a bag containing snakes. The cast are okay; Siu Tin Yuen is probably the most impressive as Jackie's Master; Jackie Chan does a decent job but few people watching this would guess that the person we are watching here would go on to be a global star. Overall this is entertaining enough and is worth watching if you enjoy cheesy old martial arts films.

Fans need to know there are three edits of this movie. Another possible title is "Cub Tiger from Kwantung." Other than that there is no way of knowing which one you have by looking at the box or titles. You have one chance in three of getting the one that is not that bad and two chances in three of getting the stinkers. If I could do video editing I could put together a fourth version that would be as good as any Jackie Chan movie (without needing any additional scenes). If there's a guy with a moustache at the beginning of your DVD then go out and buy another one. Both of the stinkers begin with the guy in the moustache. Any time you see Jackie Chan fighting this guy in the moustache (Kwang Yung-Moon) it is NOT Jackie Chan. The better version begins with Tien Feng and brother fighting Chen Hung-Lieh. The scene ends with Tien Feng escaping to raise his dead brother's child, who is the grown up Jackie Chan in the next scene. Though this is the better version it skips the scenes of the child growing up and tutored by Simon Yuen. Further problem is that in one version Simon Yuen is a borderline pedophile who puts the boy bare ass into a bag of snakes. The other version is far more "family oriented." My idea of the best (my fourth version) would be to begin the movie with the child watching the kung fu school practice. This version unfortunately seques into the snakes in a bag scene. Instead replace that segment with the scene from the other version with Simon Yuen holding a chicken leg out for the child to grab. The master/student scenes in this edit are not creepy at all. There is also a rape scene that comes and goes and even comes again after it was cut (if that makes any sense... really it was like that). Also in one version with Simon Yuen there are some totally unnecessary scenes where he is teaching Jackie's body double. Most important of all in this genre is the final fight. Both versions with moustache guy end with a fight with Jackie's body double. The good version ends with an eight minute long fight on a dock. This is Chen Hung-Lieh (and occasionally his body double) versus the one and only totally real Jackie Chan. This is a darn good fight. Fans of Jackie or old school martial arts movies need to see this fight. So get the right version and just rest assured despite some things being dumb by the time the beer buzz hits you will be watching some real good action at the final 8-9 minutes.