The Shadow Whip (1971)

Lo Wei

Hong Kong

78 min, color, Mandarin (English subtitles)

Review © 2003 Branislav L. Slantchev

A pleasantly surprising feature by director Lo Wei that has Cheng Pei-pei playing her customary role as a strong female fighter, this time wielding a mean whip instead of an assortment of cutlery. Most of the film is shot on location, quite a departure for Shaw productions at the time, and the outside scenes in the snow are both well executed and add to the romantic feel of the movie. There were some problems with the transfer: several scenes appear very obviously sped up, which may be due to Celestial using PAL masters. Still, a very enjoyable film.

Cheng Pei-pei, not the Shadow Whip	Wang Hsia looking bad, but may be good
Yueh Hua paying attention	Miss Yang, please come down from the ceiling

This is early Shaws stuff, so the martial arts are quite pedestrian actually. There's tons of wirework (some of it quite obvious) and although it does not bother me, it might be a stretch for some, especially because the camera work is a bit weak in these sequences. Having said that, the fighting scenes are well done overall, and are somewhat unusual in that two characters use whips. Now one may think a whip is not exactly a versatile weapon (and in several scenes it does look that way), but plenty harm can apparently be done with one. For example, you could rip out a man's leg. I did not know that, did you?

Even Ku Feng can look goofy	Encounter in the snowy glade
Yueh Hua: the definition of cool	Cheng Pei-pei: girl behaving badly

The story is a bit of a stretch for such a short film (78 mins) that also wants to pack a dollop of action. Basically, a bunch of people are hunting the Shadow Whip because the latter has allegedly robbed some jewels, killing a bunch of people in the process. Some, like Ku Feng, are after him because they were supposed to protect the jewels, so it's a matter of honor. Others, like the bunch of bandits, simply want their share of the heist. And yet others, like Yueh Hua, seek to avenge the death of their families.

Do you want to kill my uncle?	The Whip vs. the Chief of Security
The ruined the perfectly good servant	Women's Lib...

As it quickly turns out (and should have been obvious from the beginning when Cheng Pei-pei used her whip), Pei-pei has some connection to this mysterious Shadow Whip who, by the way, has somehow managed to elude his various persecutors for decades. And, sure enough, he turns out to be her uncle, although she was not aware of his underground moniker.

...and the patriarchal response	So, did you or didn't you kill them?
This was bound to happen	A Chinese stand-off (doesn't last long)

The rest of the film is mainly about various people trying to kill Shadow Whip, while Cheng Pei-pei is a bit torn between affection for Yueh Hua and the fact that the latter wants to off her relative. Fortunately, she is distracted from this dilemma by the relentless pursuit of all other would-be killers, who finally manage to kill the entirely harmless comic relief provided by the singing servant Li Kun.

Ku Feng, best character actor	Director Lo Wei (guy on right) in cameo
Proper use of cartoons	Another scene with 1,000 fighters

Of course, Lo Wei is not exactly known to probe deep into the motivations of his characters, so one is forgiven to expect some resolution that saves them from having to make difficult decisions. Wouldn't it be great if the uncle turned out to be innocent just so that Cheng Pei-pei and Yueh Hua can properly couple? It would, but then how come all this other people are convinced otherwise?

You, bastard, yes, you did it!	The bastard buys the farm

An enjoyable film that has two things going for it: the excellent scenery and the beautiful leads. The fighting (although, as mentioned above, seems a bit sped up) is nicely done as well. I particularly enjoyed the nice touch during a fight inside a house where some extras off-screen provide the necessary confusion outside where there's another fight going on. Nice attention to detail.

The Celestial DVD comes with 2.35:1 widescreen anamorphic picture that looks decent especially considering its age. There is a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack in Mandarin with the optional English subtitles. The extras include a photo gallery, trailers, and talent files. Definitely worth having if nothing else then for Cheng Pei-pei.

December 14, 2003