[TXnMA]

This brings to mind a scene I recall from an old (ca 1950?) movie called, IIRC, "The Crusades":

King ?Richard? and a Saracen sheikh are in a parley and are bragging about the "sharpness" of their swords.

Richard has an aide lay the metal handle of a mace across two chairbacks and, with a single mighty blow with his two-handed sword, hacks it in two.

The Saracen tosses a gossamer silk scarf into the air and holds his scimitar out horizontally, blade edge upward. As the silk wafts down onto the blade, it falls on either side -- neatly sliced in two.

Then the Saracen says, "Your sword is strong. Mine is sharp -- and strong."

~~~~~~

I attributed the scarf trick to special effects, (which were pretty primitive back then) -- but I always wondered...

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

I attributed the scarf trick to special effects, (which were pretty primitive back then) -- but I always wondered...

I once read about a Japanese 1930s propaganda film that showed a soldier with a samurai sword slice through the barrel of a machine gun.

[fish hawk]

Kevin Costner did that same thing with a sword in "The Bodyguard" with Whitney Houston.