Hong Kong Synopsis
魔劍俠情
Li Xunhuan comes back to his home after three years of wandering. He had decided to have a normal life, but a group of skilled martial arts fighters and leaders are bent on killing him, so they can be ranked top by Bai Xiaosheng in his renowned list of the best warriors in the martial arts world. Li Xunhuan battles them as he searches for his estranged friend A'fei, who is now married and living in seclusion. Li asks A'fei to join forces and fight against a new threat that wants to rule the world: the Money Clan.
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with Return of the Sentimental Swordsman. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
Other Titles From Shaw Brothers
Action + Drama in Hong Kong
136 Hong Kong titles in our catalog blend the Action and Drama genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding Return of the Sentimental Swordsman itself).
The 1980–1982 Hong Kong Window
Return of the Sentimental Swordsman holds position #15 of 45 Hong Kong films in the 1980–1982 window, below highlighted by audience rating.
The 1980s Hong Kong Landscape
Catalog density by release year across the 1980s in Hong Kong, 151 titles in total. Highlighted year (yellow) is when Return of the Sentimental Swordsman premiered alongside 17 others.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 17 other Hong Kong films in 1981.
The 150th Hong Kong title from Hong Kong we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1955).
Our Hong Kong catalog contains 836 titles in total (828 films).
Audience Engagement
17 audience reviews — more than 34% of Hong Kong films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 31th percentile among Hong Kong films.
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on Return of the Sentimental Swordsman, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- shaw brothers · 1
- swordsman · 11
- kung fu master · 9
- martial arts · 369
- sequel · 143
- kung fu · 121
- sword fight · 56
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #255 of 836 Hong Kong films indexed here (69th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is +0.4 points above the Hong Kong average of 6.3/10.
Among Hong Kong Action productions specifically: #160 of 516 (top 31%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Hong Kong |
|---|---|
| Original Language | Chinese |
| Production Companies | Shaw Brothers |
| Runtime | 1h 41m |
| Release Date | January 31, 1981 |
| IMDb | tt0081168 |