The Supergirl of Kung Fu
     
             
Director: Wu Min-hsiung
Year:  1975
Rating: 4.0
I will watch anything if either Angela Mao, Polly Shang-kuan or Chia Ling is in it. For me they are the three essential female kung-fu stars out of Taiwan - all trained the old-fashioned way - by abusing them as children! Chia Ling is in this one and I got through the film but it wasn't easy. First the video I had is dubbed and clearly missing bits. It is really shot on the cheap and the story is threadbare. There is plenty of fighting as you would hope for but the choreography is very basic, predictable and dull. Unfortunately, Chia Ling and the other two I mentioned got stuck in a lot of rubbish with an occasional diamond in the dross - Angela more than the other two because she signed up with Golden Harvest while I believe the other two basically made films for Taiwanese companies. Polly started off her career in style with King Hu's Dragon Inn and some very solid films after that and two that I can think of with Golden Harvest - both terrific fun - Chinatown Capers and Back-Alley Princess.  Chia Ling began with The Avenger aka Queen Boxer which has become a classic primarily for the kill count. 



Here we have Chia Ling going to Shanghai during the Japanese occupation to find two kung-fu students of her father's - Rock and Mercury in the dubbing. This was obviously not shot in Shanghai. The city is full of gangs, pickpockets, Japanese and rebels and Ling gets into the mix almost immediately. She comes across a gang harassing a man and his tightrope performing daughter. She beats them all up and moves on. Within a few minutes she comes across a different gang harassing a pickpocket and beats them all up. Now she has everyone after her because they suspect she is one of the rebels - but first she gets employed in a brothel and then a gambling casino - all which has nothing to do with the plot.






Eventually, she makes contact with Rock (Yang Lun) who is a member of the rebels. Then she becomes the leader and they want to steal a shipment of munitions coming in. And a big fight at the end. Pretty awful.



The Chinese cop is played by Charles Heung who was to keep acting in films up until recently but that isn't why he is so-well known. He has in fact been one of the most influential people in HK film over the past four decades - first as being a founder of Wins Entertainment along with his brother Jimmy, then later China Star and after that One Hundred Years of Film. But it goes beyond that. His father was the triad leader of the Sun Yee On, one of the biggest triads with about 25,000 members and a global reach. His family still has control of it but he says he has nothing to do with it. But there have been a few occasions in which actors did not want to work for him and something very bad happened to their business associates. Two such incidents brought Jet Li and Andy Lau into the fold. When Charles Heung asks for a favor, you give it to him. And that has been pretty much everyone in the acting and directing business. Jackie Chan may be the exception but he may have his own triad ties and now is protected by the Mainland. At the same time his companies have produced some great films. At one time he was also married to Betty Ting-pei the Shaw Brothers actress and lover of Bruce Lee when he died. An interesting life. He will pop up as an actor from time to time in older films - almost always as a bad guy. Easy for him.