Probably the most interesting thing about this film is the director. It is Kao Pao-shu, one of the very very few female directors at the time. And not only that but she directed a few martial arts films with her first in 1971 being Lady with a Sword starring Lily Ho for Shaw Brothers. After that she went out on her own with a Jimmy Wang-yu film, The Desperate Chase. In all she directed eleven films but before that she appeared in over 100 films beginning in the early 1950s and then joined Shaw for many films - often a tough middle-aged female. In this film it begins with her throwing the dice for the House at a gambling table and cheating.


Watching this after The Invincible Armour one can really see the difference in the quality of the action. Compared to that this is sluggish, not very imaginative and there are many "hits" that are clearly missing by a mile. Only Kurata Yasuaki acquits himself well. So well in fact that when he finally loses, you have to roll your eyes. He was crushing his opponent in a hundred ways for ten minutes and somehow loses. Back to the opening scene - a security man for the city catches Kao cheating and breaks up the party. On his way back he is attacked by Kurata and murdered - Kurata is a vicious bastard in this - with Kurata's signature kill mark left on the body. I love Kurata in everything I see.


A year later the daughter of the murdered man is still looking for the killer - the only distinguishing factor the marks he leaves on the face of his victim from Iron Finger. She is the wonderful Hsu Feng of A Touch of Zen fame. She has picked up two companions on the way - both small time thieves, cheats and con-persons. Chen Hui-lou this runty guy who was in nearly 120 films and the siren of the Shaw Brothers - Hu Chin with the famous mole on her chin. She appeared in a lot of Shaw films - reaching her biggest popularity when the erotic films did. Usually playing a devious seductress or a prostitute or a Madam of a brothel. She had been discovered by Li Han-Hsiang in Taiwan and when he returned to Shaws and made his erotic films, he often used her. In this film she goes full court flirt and seductress with kung fu on the side. In one fight against about ten men, she takes all their pants off and steals their money.


Also showing up looking for Iron Fingers is the law in the form of Wong Yuen-san and his sister played by Cindy Tang. Eventually, after fighting each other they team up to go after Kurata. A lot of the action especially from Hsu Feng and Hu Chin just isn't very convincing. I have seen Feng look much better in other films. Tien Feng is also in this.