Friday, October 30, 2015

Blake Edwards and the Martial Arts

(Black Belt Magazine June 1990 V-28 No. 6)

If anyone deserves credit for introducing me to the movie industry, it would have to be Terry Robinson.  He was a trainer and friend to Mario Lanza (the tenor/actor), and he had prepared numerous celebrities to look as if they knew what they were doing on the screen.

I met Terry at the Hollywood American Health Studio in 1956 through another good friend, Roy Woodward.  Terri was a combat instructor in World War II and was impressed by my demonstration of Kenpo karate.  He said that what he knew about martial arts was like kindergarten level, and he invited me to teach Kenpo at the Beverly Wilshire Health Club in California, of which he was in charge.  I accepted his offer - a historical part of my life that I've never regretted.

Terry was a great promoter.  He arranged for Kenpo demonstrations at the club before many producers, directors and actors, enabling me to meet and become friends with a number of movie industry VIPs, some of whom later hired me for their productions.  Frank Lovejoy, Fabian, Robert Wagner, and many others became students of mine as a result of this demonstration.  It wasn't long before I developed lifelong friendships in the industry.

One such friend is Blake Edwards, world-famous producer and director.  As a student of mine, Blake saw the potential of the martial arts for the screen.  Used first in his film Experiment in Terror, starring Glenn Ford.  Then in his Pink Panther series, he created the character of Cato, the faithful valet who keeps Inspector Clouseau on his toes with unexpected Kenpo attacks.  I myself played the role of "Mr. Chong from Hong Kong" in two episodes of the series.  I would venture to say that Blake through his films, was an important influence in promoting the martial arts around the world.

Blake was interesting to work with.  On days I was not scheduled to shoot, I would visit him on location or on the set.  At first, he would ask me why I was there since I wasn't scheduled to shoot that day.  I answered that I was there to pick his brain, to become more knowledgeable about his trade.  He was happy to oblige and taught me a lot about camera angles, lenses, lighting, and various effects.  When I made suggestions, he was very receptive.

One suggestion I made was to intermittently employ slow motion with regular speed to get greater audience reaction.  I felt the slow motion gave the audience time to observe and relate to a particular move.  Switching back to regular speed would then change the audience’s pulse.  He followed my suggestion in the fight scene for Revenge of the Pink Panther, changing into slow motion when I flipped my opponent into the air.  The opponent continued to sail in slow motion, but when he hit the coffee table, it was back to regular speed, and the audience response was favorable.

During the initial screening of this film, Blake asked me if I notice anything different about the scene.  I could sense something different, but could not say exactly what it was.  Blake then pointed out that he had removed all of my grunts, groans and kiai (yells), leaving only the sound of my strikes.  This technique magnified the effects of the strikes, and I again learned from this cinematic master.

Blake is a genius in his field.  For a scene in Curse of the Pink Panther, where I break a huge boulder with a knife hand strike, he wrote additional dialogue for me on the spot that went something like "Visualize strength like a gathering cloud which, when transferred to the rock, will act as a delayed chain reaction on an atomic bomb."  I then struck the boulder and nothing happened.  But as I walked out of the room, not only did the boulder disintegrate, the entire building collapsed!

The next shot showed me exiting from the building as it collapsed.  Concerned about my safety, Blake warned me to start at the foot of the stairs, but I insisted that I start at the top to give him the extra footage he needed for editing.  I convinced him that I would react faster than the man pushing the plunger to detonate the dynamite.  And I was right.  The most difficult part for me was to walk away without reacting to the shockwave from the blast.

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