Can Jackie Chan win with his foray into the revolutionary genre?

Hong Kong kung fu giant Jackie Chan stars in the latest film Railroad Tigers, a loose remake of the 1956 Shanghai Film Studio's Railway Guerrilla. [Photo provided to China Daily]

A symbol of Hong Kong action films, Jackie Chan is never short of death-defying stories. And in his latest film, Railroad Tigers, the 62-year-old kung fu giant again tests his limits: He gets onto a moving train to combat his enemies.

The scenes are shot in a frigid location in northeastern China where the temperatures are minus 20 C.

To create spectacular visual effects, two gigantic fans are used to blow at the actors, making their hair and collars move like they are traveling really fast. But in reality they are moving at around 20 miles an hour.

"I lay atop the train on a snowy day. But it felt like I was lying on a huge piece of ice. No matter where you fell (for action scenes), it hurt terribly," says Chan at a recent Beijing event.

While Chinese mainland fans who are familiar with his action comedies may not be overwhelmed by the action scenes, they will surely be surprised that Chan is a fan of the old revolutionary productions, which were very popular in the Chinese mainland in the '50s and '60s.

During the event, he sang the movie's theme song Tan Qi Wo Xin'ai de Tu Pipa (Play My Beloved Chinese Lute), a cover version of a 1950s original.

His old favorites, he says, include The Red Detachment of Women and The White-Haired Girl. Chan says he was attracted by these titles, when he was young. And this may partly explain why he expressed interest in starring in Railroad Tigers, a loose remake of the 1956 Shanghai Film Studio's Railway Guerrilla.