At only 78 minutes this Shaw Brother's wuxia packs a nice quick punch with
an array of action and a fine veteran supporting cast. The leads will probably
not raise any goosebumps but they are more than adequate in this flurry of
sword-fighting. It was directed by Griffin Yueh Feng who had just previously
directed Lily Ho in the wuxia The Golden Knight. The hero in that one was
Lily and in this film there are three female heroines. And all of them kill
their share of bad guys. The running time and the leads make me guess that
this was considered a secondary film but it has a well scripted plot that
keeps the story rolling along. Even a secondary film at Shaw got all the
trimmings and the sets, costumes and designs are up to Shaw standards.
You have to wait about three minutes for the action to begin. The father
of the three Gan sisters was murdered and they are performing his funeral
rituals when Prince Lu arrives full of false sympathy and an avaricious eye.
His father Lord Wuyi has sent him to really get the Gan family heirloom,
the Violet Light Sword which everyone covets though I am not really sure
why. Interestingly, Prince Lu is played by Chen Hung-lieh and Lord Wuyi is
played by Lee Wan-chung - the villains of Come Drink with Me - Jade Faced
Tiger and Smiling Tiger. That is how I always think of them. The sisters
refuse to give him the sword and let the fighting begin. The sisters are
joined by their cousin Chiu (Chang Yi) and when the fight is done the camera
pulls back to capture a floor full of the dead. All of the Prince's men have
been killed and he is on the run. That did not go exactly as planned.
But it isn't over till the last sword is drawn. As he makes his way home
he runs into the Tiger Gang, as cretinous a group of bad guys as you will
ever run into. All five of them - Boss Tiger (Huang Tsung-hsun), the hunchback
Sick Tiger (Wu Ma), One-Eyed Tiger (Ku Feng), Drunken Tiger (Hong Liu) and
to top it off Crippled Tiger (Simon Chui - who also is the choreographer).
They all have different specialties weapon wise like an All Star team. The
Prince offers them riches if they will help him defeat the Gans and get the
Sword. And as a bonus get one of the women. Another big fight - and this
time the bad guys win - the sisters are separated - First Sister (Yau Ching)
is taken captive; Second Sister (Elsie Lin) goes looking for help and Third
Sister (Shu Pei-pei) is wounded. Much more fighting to go - Elsie jumps into
the compound of Lord Wuyi and fights off his entire guard and another big
finale of course. Also appearing are Wang Hsieh and James Tien. Look
for Sammo in the finale dressed all in black with long straight black hair.
