Category Archives: Fiction

Umbrella vs. Knife in a Hamburg Back-alley (Swing Kids, 1993)

Posted on December 22, 2020 by BartitsuSociety

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Monday, 4th September 2017 In this short fight scene from the movie Swing Kids, Peter Müller (Christian Bale) takes on a knife-wielding member of the Hitlerjugend, applying some deft umbrella techniques that will be … Continue reading →

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The Gentlemanly Art of 19th Century Cane Fighting in … 1990s Russia!?

Posted on December 22, 2020 by BartitsuSociety

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Wednesday, 6th September 2017 The 1990 Russian sociopolitical satire Bakenbardy (“Side-whiskers”) is distinguished as the only feature film in which walking stick fighting serves as a crucial plot device.  It’s also a pertinent warning as … Continue reading →

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“… brutal flicks of peaky blinders …”

Posted on December 22, 2020 by BartitsuSociety

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Saturday, 22nd November 2014 The historical drama series Peaky Blinders is named for a fearsome Birmingham street gang armed with razor blades sewn into the rims of their flat “peaky” caps.  But did that really happen? … Continue reading →

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“John Steed’s Sword-Stick”: an Umbrella Fighting Tutorial from The Avengers Annual of 1967

Posted on December 21, 2020 by BartitsuSociety

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Tuesday, 2nd January 2018 Having already addressed the umbrella combat of debonair super-spy John Steed in general terms, our attention now turns to some of the specifics, as delineated in The Avengers Annual of … Continue reading →

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Adam Adamant: an Edwardian Gentleman-Adventurer in Swinging ’60s London

Posted on December 21, 2020 by BartitsuSociety

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Tuesday, 2nd January 2018 Popular enough in its day but almost forgotten over the past four decades, the mystery/adventure TV series Adam Adamant Lives! was intended as the BBC’s answer to The Avengers.  Both series featured … Continue reading →

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Cane Vs. Sword (Sherlock Holmes, 2009)

Posted on December 20, 2020 by BartitsuSociety

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Saturday, 5th May 2018 The climactic fight between Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey, Jr. and Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong), in which Holmes appropriately wields a cane against Blackwood’s devilish blade: For details on this … Continue reading →

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“Ju-Jitsu to the Rescue” (1913)

Posted on December 18, 2020 by BartitsuSociety

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Friday, 30th November 2018 Here’s a newly-discovered Bioscope playbill for the short silent film Ju-Jitsu to the Rescue, which starred former Bartitsu Club instructor Yukio Tani and which played widely throughout England during late 1912-early 1913. … Continue reading →

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“I Look Forward to the Debate, Sir!” – a Bartitsuesque Fight Scene from “Q.E.D.” (1982)

Posted on December 18, 2020 by BartitsuSociety

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Tuesday, 19th January 2016 Readers of a certain age may fondly recall the short-lived TV series Q.E.D. (also titled The Mastermind), which screened during the early 1980s. The show featured Sam Waterston as the eccentric former Ivy … Continue reading →

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“The Colonial Applicant ‘Taps the Mat’” (1917)

Posted on December 18, 2020 by BartitsuSociety

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Saturday, 16th February 2019 A spectacular jiujitsu moment from the popular 1917 comedy play Wanted, A Husband, in which the protagonist, a young writer named Mabel, mischievously advertises for a husband to spark ideas … Continue reading →

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“It was jiu-jitsu!” (1906)

Posted on December 17, 2020 by BartitsuSociety

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Monday, 2nd January 2012 I drew a deep breath as I mastered the contents of this momentous document. Then, just as I was about to replace it in the ingenious receptacle contrived for … Continue reading →

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