L'ombre du fouet

It opens with horseback riders in the snow. They crack the whip and sing a song. Everyone looks happy. Three bullies ride by and give Lee Kwan a hard time. Cheng Pei-Pei and Lee enter the town and he finds the bullies in a tea house sitting at a table with Yueh Hua. He goes for revenge but forgot he has no kung fu.

First I must complain. My favorite martial arts movie is "Legendary Weapons of China". This movie focuses on eighteen authentic Chinese martial arts weapons. I do not like hokey weapons made up just for flash in a movie. The real deal is flashy enough. I have practiced many different styles of martial arts for more than 30 years and have never seen a whip in a martial arts class. Nevertheless, whips have found a place in martial arts movies. They are for safety. Any actor (with or without martial arts skills) can be injured by a weapon even if it is made of wood instead of metal. The whip is rather safe in that respect. First, it is almost impossible to hurt yourself even with a real whip. If you have never practiced weapons in martial arts you might be surprised to know there is more of a chance of you hurting yourself with a weapon before you even practice against an opponent. So in the movies the actor using the whip is very safe from self-harm and all it takes are good camera angles for the safety of the opponent. Flashy things can also be done with whips - as long as you are ignorant of the laws of physics. Enough said.

This movie is not one of my favorites and I rate it only slightly above average. The positives are the cinematography and plot structure. All the sword fight sequences are excellent. I just can't get past the whip taking me totally out of the moment.

Entertaining martial arts film with the intoxicating Cheng Pei-Pei as a master swordfighter known for her deadly skill wielding a powerful whip. While the fights between swords and whip may seem a little far-fetched, the film wields a compelling story of vengeance and past crimes, invoking as much a mystery as an action story. Typical for Shaw Bros films, the sets are magnificent and the color photography is beautifully preserved in this pristine DVD release from Celestial, which also saves the film's original Mandarin language so we don't have to endure the embarrassingly horrible dubbing of previous American releases. The setting is snowy northern China so we have interesting scenes on horseback in the snow and ancient icycled fortresses, and Cheng is equally compelling in a white fur cap and winter outfit. The musical score, also typical of Shaw Bros films of the era, is needle-dropped from John Barry's James Bond scores, except for original opening and closing title music, attributed to Wang Fook-Ling. A very enjoyable revenge thriller/crime mystery set in ancient China with beautifully designed group fights and an interesting conception in its whip-versus-sword, despite a proclivity toward some pretty unconvincing flying/soaring through the air moments.

Fifteen years earlier, a masked man with an incredible whip killed some folks and stole a shipment of jewels. Everyone assumes it was Fang Chengtian because he is the Shadow Whip--the best whip-man in the world. However, Fang's whereabouts are unknown and various people have been looking for him. One wants revenge--as he things Fang disgraced his family. Others, however, want to kill Fang in order to keep a secret--who REALLY stole the jewels and was a murderer.

I knew this was a pretty good Shaw Brothers marital arts film because as I watched it, my daughter and wife sat with me and never made fun of the film! Other, they laugh at the ineptness of many martial arts films--and it's pretty easy. But here, there is a decent story but more importantly the sword play and fighting is excellent. The only goofy thing is a common one--the extensive use of 'wire fu'--using wires and cranes to make people appear to fly! A common cliché but one that did elicit at least one chuckle from my daughter. Overall, while this is far from the best Chinese sword film I have seen, it's an awfully good one. Plus, the snowy mountain backdrop is very nice. Worth your time if you love the genre.

Fang is a famous fighter because he handles the whip so well. He had to hide many years because he was falsely accused of robbery of jewels and murder of a whole family, while he actually just rescued the young daughter from the attackers. Many years later, he has raised the girl anonymously in his hiding-place like she was his daughter and trained her in the art of fighting with a whip, so then they can finally start searching for the real murderer together. Solid action movie by Lo Wei with interesting fight scenes - whips against swords! Cheng Pei-Pei has a great role as Yang, the courageous female fighter... who looks cute with a white fur cap in this winter scenery. The serious revenge story leaves little room for comedy, the only character who could serve as a funny sidekick gets killed early.

...but don't expect the level of fight choreography that you'd see from Tsui Hark or Cheh Chang. It's a great vehicle for Cheng Pei-pei (Come Drink With Me, Crouching Tiger), who wields a whip to great effect. There are many familiar faces from other Shaw Brothers films here, and it's all capably done, though with a bit too much wire-fu for my taste.

One of the unusual aspects of this film is that it takes place during winter, with the outdoor action taking place in snowy fields and forests--I can't recall another martial arts film in a winter setting. This allows our heroine to go about fetchingly in fur-trimmed togs and headgear as she cracks the whip of virtue and honor.