The Spiritual Boxer

Hsiao Chien is a wandering trickster who survives by putting on a show. Using his martial arts training together with stage conjuring, he convinces superstitious villagers that spirits and angry gods take possession of his body, and he profits from their belief. His scheme runs into trouble when a threatening force closes in on the community. To protect the people he has been deceiving, Chien has to turn his skills from a con into a genuine means of defence.

The Spiritual Boxer is a Hong Kong action comedy produced by the Shaw Brothers studio and released in late 1975. It was the first film directed by Lau Kar-leung, who had previously been known as a martial arts choreographer; he went on to direct Challenge of the Masters, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin and The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter, among others. The screenplay is by Ni Kuang, and Runme Shaw produced. Wong Yu leads as Hsiao Chien, with Lin Chen-Chi, Chiang Yang, Shih Chung-Tien, Fung Hak-On and Lee Hoi-Sang in supporting roles, part of a credited cast of 67.

Audience response has been modest but positive: on IMDb it holds 6.5 out of 10 from 365 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.7 from 12 votes. Both figures point to a film with a small, fairly favourable following rather than a widely seen one, consistent with its standing as a genre entry from the mid-1970s.