Duel to the Death (1983)

Every ten years, the story goes, the greatest swordsmen of China and Japan meet in a duel to the death, and this time ninjas acting for the Shogun are kidnapping fighters to sabotage the contest. Ching Siu-tung's directing debut is wild and inventive, full of ninja trickery that borders on the supernatural. Its heart is the respect between Damian Lau's contemplative, Shaolin-trained swordsman and Norman Chu's pitiless yet honorable samurai, which builds to a gravity-defying duel around a rocky coastline. Ching went on to direct Swordsman II, and the airborne style that defined 1990s wuxia starts here.