The Butterfly Murders

Infobox Film
name = The Butterfly Murders


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director = Tsui Hark
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released = 1979
runtime = 88 minutess
country = flagicon|Hong Kong|colonial Hong Kong
language = Cantonese
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imdb_id = 0079051

"The Butterfly Murders" (also known as Die bian or Dip bin) is an wuxia film set in an unspecified time in China's past. It has elements of history and a murder mystery. Butterflies have apparently become a lethal weapon. Several rivals contend for a mysterious prize, using a variety of unusual weapons.

There is an apparent explanation near the end, though in the English version it is obscured by cryptic subtitles. But it seems that the butterflies were innocent after all - someone knew how to control them and used them as cover. The martial-arts experts were apparently working on something that looked remarkably like a machine-gun, a superior weapon that would have changed history if the Chinese had developed it. But they get diverted into internal feuding and the implication is that the martial-arts experts kill each other off.

The film is not available on tape or DVD in the west, though there was a Hong Kong release. [http://www.dighkmovies.com/v5/258/258.html]