The Lady Hermit
(Zhong kui niang zi, 1971)

Ho Meng Hua

Hong Kong

93 min, color, Mandarin (English subtitles)

Review © 2005 Branislav L. Slantchev

This is the first film with the incredibly talented starlet Shih Szu in the lead and it instantly catapulted her into stardom. The film itself is much more of a historical curiosity, it's very well made, with excellent martial arts sequences, a very nicely done story that is neither convoluted nor pedestrian, and all of that directed deftly, with captivating performances by the two female leads. It is among my favorite Shaw Brothers films.

Gratuitous shot of Shih Szu	Smitten with a dolt

Although the incomparably intense Cheng Pei-pei is the eponymous Lady Hermit, we are in double trouble because Shih Szu as the impetuous, but frequently pouting, Cui Ping often steals the scenes, and this is no mean feat for I don't think I can recall a single other film with Cheng Pei-pei in which she did not rule unchallenged in every scene there was a hint of her presence. This is all even more impressive when one takes into account that Cheng herself delivers one of her most varied and memorable performances as the physically ailing swordswoman bent on avenging her injury, a goal for whose sake she is prepared to sacrifice friendship and love.

The night Lady Hermit came out of the closet	Cheng Pei-pei's unmistakable presence

For one who is used to seeing Shih Szu in her somewhat more mature performances (her bit role in Jade Tiger is one I recall most vividly because of her imperious presence), meeting her in this feature as a brash adolescent is all the more rewarding. The casting is especially apt for she fits her role as if it were written specifically for her, something one almost never gets with these conveyor-belt studio system films. But she displays the perfect mix of arrogance and humility that is required of someone in her position: incredibly skilled in what she does but determined to improve by learning from someone even better than her. Throw her developing love interest toward an unavailable man into this, and you get a complex and potentially explosive combination. It is because Shih Szu carries it off so well that I said she stole the film.

Sifu, take me for a student or I'll beg to death	Cheng tells Shih it's all her fault really

Despite the title and the fact that it is Cheng's story that is essentially the backbone of the film, one cannot look at what she does and how she does it without also examining Shih's role. Briefly, Cheng is a martial artist of some renown who used to go around "ridding the world of evil," that is, doing skin-tailoring on various unsavory characters. Unfortunately, one such encounter with a man with the ominous moniker of Black Demon (Wang Hsieh) nearly ended her career in vigilantism. She did get away but with an injured back that forced her into a premature vacation that she was forced to undertake clandestinely on account on not being popular with the friends of all those she has dispatched into permanent retirement.

Lo Lieh is trickier than he thinks	Cheng about to part body parts from bodies

When the film opens, she lives and recuperates at the house of one Wang (Fang Mien) under the name Leng Yushang. She has taken on the role of a docile servant who basically goes shopping and spends her time cooking and cleaning (although presumably she also trains in secret and employs advanced Taoist physical therapy to heal her back). She is also not above flirting with Changchun (Lo Lieh), whose relatively unsophisticated understanding of the female psyche is only rivaled by his inadvertent sex appeal that he dispenses as if he'll be joining a monastic order tomorrow. While he's making funny faces and is trying to make Yushang aware of his feeling by behaving essentially like a middle-school boy who's just discovered that girls are more fun than just pulling their hair, Yushang is secretly in love with him but cannot bring herself to do anything about it because of that revenge thing.

Never thought 'sleeping on the couch' would be like this	Spare the rod, spoil the child

It is into this relationship that is brimming with sexual tension that Cui Ping bursts with all the bravado and boisterousness that accompanies any clueless kid bent on saving the world and becoming famous. She comes to look for the Lady Hermit, convinced that she can become a student of that famous swordswoman. Cui Ping repeatedly gets herself in trouble when she tries to help villagers who are being terrorized by "monks" running a supernatural protection racket (they sell ludicrously expensive charms to protect households against ghosts and those who refuse to buy them get mysteriously killed by badly maquillaged villains pretending to be ghosts). Yushang cannot let the youth get killed for her trouble, and intervenes on several occasions to save her, eventually revealing her identity in the process.

No part of Shih Szu...	...was harmed in the making of these scenes

Since she's not ready to face Black Demon yet, Yushang attempts to leave incognito but Cui Ping is nothing if not persistent, so she finally charms Yushang into becoming her teacher. Soon, a teaching triangle develops, with Cui Ping studying from Yushang by day and then teaching Changchun by night. At this point, her affection for the guy blossoms into love but, unbeknownst to her, it is destined to go unrequited because, knownst to us, Changchun is totally smitten with Yushang. When Yushang. and Changchun, totally oblivious to Cui Ping's predicament, get together while she is away on an errand, the scene is set for a tragedy.

Not a stroll through a bamboo grove	Black Demon's fancy camp

And tragedy indeed strikes as soon as Cui Ping returns and discovers the amorous nature of the friendship between her teacher and her student. In a fit of rage, she leaves to hunt down Black Demon by herself, and it is not at all clear if she is trying to prove herself to be better than Yushang. or if she is trying to commit suicide by proxy. She battles through a seemingly endless array of relatively competent extras with short life expectancies just to reach the very nice encampment of said arch villain. These sequences, which include one memorable fight on a suspended bridge that gets demolished in the process, are really nicely done, and Shih Szu simply shines as the long-haired killing machine.

Gratuitous shot of Shih Szu	The L'Oreal Stance

Of course, Yushang. cannot just sit idly by while her protege gets creamed by the same guy who forced her to file for supplemental disability, so she goes after Cui Ping. She also battles a generous supply of extras and basically functions as the agent of a Darwinian natural selection process, although if it truly did work that way we still have trouble explaining how come villains do not get tougher over time. The apocalyptic duel is, somewhat uncharacteristically, really a duel just between her and her nemesis because Cui Ping is out of commission and Changchun has been delayed by the Transportation Safety Administration. This duel is as quick as it is crucial, but the film's ending would leave one scratching one's head in bewilderment.

Gratuitous shot of Shih Szu in over her head	Obligatory gratuitous shot of Cheng Pei-pei

There is much to recommend this film. In addition to the attractive strong female leads (Lo Lieh's character is disposable and serves as a foil to get the plot moving along) and all the fine martial arts and pretty good acting, we have some moody cinematography. For example, the fight in the misty bamboo forest stands out, with the camera tracking the progress of Yushang. as she cuts her way through a horde of bad guys. Ho Meng Hua is particularly good at this sort of dynamic representation which is often sorely missing from other films whose directors prefer either static long shots or frequent cuts to speed up the action. Scenes like this one remind me of the better samurai films where the hero's rush toward the goal is often accentuated by similar techniques.

The final duel	Black Demon sporting horns (hehe, get it?)

The Celestial DVD is very good, with a crisp anamorphic 2.35:1 transfer that is equally at home rendering lush colors and muted foggy days. (Incidentally, the last screen caps are from such foggy days so do not let the washed out look scare you away.) It comes with the usual Mandarin Dolby Digital remix and with optional English subtitles (no complaints there). The extras are limited to trailers, a still gallery, and talent files. A solid disc for a remarkable film, this is most certainly one to own.

December 14, 2005