Lady with A Sword by Kao Pau Shu (1971)
2 November 2007Any Lily Ho Li Li film I will certainly see, and especially another martial arts film, and this one does not disappoint. This is another fun Shaw classic. This is a classic tail of revenge, though with a female martial arts protagonist, and the fight being with the intersection of two families, and the downfall caused by some evil men they took in. Well worth checking out, and the end fight is really something to see. And cool to see a 32 year old actress helming this film.
A mother and her son ride on horses in mourning clothes heading to her family home, but on the way they are laid on by 4 brigands, and their young leader tries to rape the mother, and ends up killing her, though the son manages to escape. He heads to his mother’s family and finds his aunt, Feng Fei Fei (Ho Li Li). He parents are at the house of their best friends, whose son Feng Fei Fei is engaged to, and has been since they were little children. She and her nephew head out to get the brigands, and they find them and fight them, and she has almost killed the one who killed her sister, when she sees his jade and realizes it is her fiancee, so she backs off to wait for her parents to see what to do. The brigands head back to their parents, where the son knows his over protective mother will spoil him and keep him safe.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
The nephew does not understand why his aunt did not kill his mother’s killer, so he heads to the families fortress to try and kill him himself. Feng Fei Fei i wakes up and sees her nephew is gone, but then sees the Brigands about to attack and manages to fend them off. They have also been joined by another villain with a whip who actually killed her sisters husband to begin with.
Feng Fei Fei realizes the only way for her to do it is to go to the family as herself instead of the boy and take her fiancee to the Magistrate. She goes in and is welcomed, but goes and tries to take her fiancee out at sword point. The mother won’t stand it and tries to attack, but thanks to the righteous father they manage to get out, but the mother follows with the 2 villains, and they say they won’t help unless she agrees to kill Feng Fei Fei i’s whole family, so she does, but they still hold off. The Mother Madam Chin (Ching Lin) attacks Feng Fei Fei and the Nephew tries to fight her fiancee, but he ends up smashing the boys head on a rock, so in a rage Feng Fei Fei sends her sword through him, killing him. The mother freaks out, and attacks, wanting blood, and is only stopped because the 2 villains decide to kill them both and make up a story.
Meanwhile the fiancees father Master Chin Kai Yung (Li Peng Fei) has gone to find Feng Fei Fei i’s parents and they go to stop whatever is going on, but find the son dead, and his wife as well, and Feng Fei Fei ’s parents kill the Villains, and take their wounded daughter, and she carries her dead nephew.
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Brutal with great action and a lovely lead. This is a great film and a must see! I love these old Shaw Martial arts films so much. The colors are amazing and impressive.