The Lady Hermit (1971)

The Lady Hermit (1971)
Original Title: 鍾馗娘子
Translation: Lady Zhong Kui

Starring: Cheng Pei-Pei, Shih Szu, Lo Lieh, Fang Mian, Wang Hsieh, Chao Hsiung, Chuan Yuan, Tong Tin-Hei, Lee Siu-Chung, Law Hon
Director: Ho Meng-Hua
Action Director: Leung Siu-Chung

Cheng Pei-Pei is the first modern wuxia heroine. What does that mean? Well, it mainly means that she participated in the first "modern" wuxia film, which was King Hu's landmark Come Drink With Me. One may argue that Chang Cheh's lost film Tiger Boy was the first modern wuxia film, but since it's lost and little is known about it, we'll set it aside for now. The one that made the most impact was Come Drink with Me, which predated The Magnificent Trio by seven months and Trail of the Broken Blade by eleven. Cheng Pei-Pei went on to become one of the biggest box office draws of the late 1960s in Hong Kong, and was doing well in Hong Kong by the time she went into temporary retirement in 1971.

As it goes, the custom in Hong Kong was for women to retire from the spotlight once they got married. Although Cheng was a Shaw Brothers actress, she did make a brief return to the screen after her marriage to make two films for her former employer's rival: Golden Harvest. The films she made for them were Attack of the Kung Fu Girls and Whiplash, which she probably made as a favor to director Lo Wei, who had directed many of her Shaw films.

Cheng Pei-Pei was originally from Shanghai, born to a factory owner and supporter of the Kuomingtang, or Nationalist Government. Cheng came into this world a year after the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937 - 1945) and just as the Chinese Civil War was heating up. It wasn't long before Cheng's father was snatched from his family and sent off to a labor re-education camp in Mongolia. Cheng stayed behind in Shanghai, studying ballet and Chinese dance, even after her mother fled to Hong Kong. Cheng did not go to Hong Kong herself until 1962, where she enrolled in the Shaw Brothers performance arts school--the fact that she spoke Mandarin and that Shaw films were filmed in Mandarin was a boon.

The Lady Hermit was Cheng Pei-Pei's last leading role at the Shaw studio. That would be followed by a two-year break during which she became a mother, followed by the aforementioned stint at Golden Harvest. The film is highly entertaining and an appropriate send-off to the actress, who showed that Cheng was the Matriarch to all ass-kicking women today in film today.

The film opens in the town of Baijang, where a couple of ghostly figures are skulking around the town at night. They enter a random house, which is followed by a bloodcurdling scream and blood splattering on the window.

Jump to the nearby town of Dunyang, where Miss Leng Yunhuang (Cheng Pei-Pei, of Dragon Swamp and Fist Power) is at the market buying vegetables. Her reflexes and impeccable instinct pick up some street performers trying to steal a man's money. Before she can get involved, a swordwoman named Cui Ping (Shih Szu, of Shanghai Lil and the Sun Luck Kid and Night of the Assassins) steps up and fights off the thieves with her whip skills. Cui Ping has arrived in town looking for the Wang Escort Company, which Leng happens to work for as a housekeeper.

Cui is introduced to the owner of the company, Uncle Wang (Fang Mian, of Swift Knight and Exorcising Sword), and informs him that she's looking for the infamous Lady Hermit. When asked why, Cui says that she would like to learn kung fu from this famous fighter and rise in the ranks of the martial world. We the viewer know that the Lady Hermit is Miss Leng, although nobody else seems to know. Cui mentions that there have been rumors that the Lady Hermit is residing at a temple in Baijang. Uncle Wang tells her that she's free to accompany his number one employee, Chang Chun (Lo Lieh, of Heroes of the Wild and Five Fingers of Death), to Baijang on the morrow.

The next day, Chang and Cui are taking the Ming Dynasty equivalent to a stagecoach to the next town, where it becomes clear the latter is infatuated with the former. The problem, however, is that it has already been made clear that Chang has the hots for Miss Leng. In any case, once Cui is in Baijang, it doesn't take long before the first scene in the film starts to make sense. She visits the temple, seeing a large line of townspeople paying money for an amulet--the yellow paper with writing on it. A townsperson explains that there are ghosts loose in the town and that the amulet is for protection. So yes, the temple is actually a racket for extortion money, playing on the locals' superstition. And if anybody refuses to pay, another murder will set the remaining naysayers in line. Worst of all, the patron of the temple is said to be none other than the Lady Hermit herself!

Cui Ping thinks this is fishy, so she resolves to go back to the town that evening and investigate. She does mention this to Miss Leng, who gets nervous about Cui Ping getting involved with other people's affairs. The finds out that the "ghosts" are indeed killers and a huge fight breaks out. She is joined by the Lady Hermit, who helps her fight off an entire gang of killers. Chang Chun shows up and joins Cui Ping as she goes to the temple to find the Lady Hermit--she now knows that Miss Leng and the Lady Hermit are one and the same. Another huge fight breaks out and dozens of false monks, plus the fake Lady Hermit, are slaughtered by the three heroes.

The next day, Cui Ping arrives at the Wang Company to confront Miss Leng, who has quit and left the town. The young swordswoman has a lot of moxie, however. She finds Leng and convinces her to take her own as a student. The two set up shop in an abandoned house and Leng starts teaching Cui the "Flying Tiger" technique. Why that one? You see, the current head of the Martial World is a fellow named Black Demon (Wang Hsieh, of Heads for Sale and The Devil's Mirror). Leng had fought him a few years back, but he injured her with his claws and superior people-throwing skills. Both Leng and Cui want to depose him, although their reasons are different: Leng out of a sense of justice and Cui to further her own ambitions. And all that business at the temple? Just a ruse by Black Demon in order to ferret out the Lady Hermit...

Director Ho Meng-Hua is known just as much for his horror movies as he is for his martial arts films, perhaps even more so. The Flying Guillotine is a great example of a movie that balances sensibilities of both those genres. He does bring some of his horror instincts to this film, especially in the first act, which deals with the "ghosts" that haunt Baijang. The first scene really does feel like the opening to a horror film, even if the explanation is ultimately rational. He also brings a hard edge to the violence, which includes lots of bloody hacking and slashing, but also severed limbs, impalings, and a guy getting his eyes gouged out by chopsticks.

What really struck me about this movie is how much the story seemed to parallel Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Both films are kicked off by the actions of a petulant young girl trying to make her name in the Martial World about which she understands very little. Said girl's actions ultimately results of the death of innocent people. The Shu Lien and Li Mu-Bai roles are gender reversed, with the legendary swordsman being the woman and the Escort Company employee being the man. And yes, there is something of an unrequited love subplot between those two characters, although in this film, it becomes an outright love triangle. And instead of the Jade Fox, you have the Black Demon. But the fact that there is an outstanding grudge between the film's resident swordswoman and the criminal villain is also a similar.

Cheng Pei-Pei puts in a strong performance as the embattled Leng Yushuang, a powerful martial artist who wishes for a life away from the violence of the Martial World, but whose sense of justice prevents her from pursuing that while the Black Demon is still around. She is initially reluctant to take on Cui Ping as a student, but ultimately relents, which ultimately sends all three leads barrelling toward the film's bloody climax. Shih Szu shines in an early role as Cui Ping, a sort of prototype for Zhang Ziyi's Jen in Crouching Tiger. This film also feels like a sort of meeting of generations of martial arts movie heroines, with Cheng Pei-Pei passing the torch to Shih Szu, sort of her "successor" at the Shaw Studios at the time.

The action was staged by Leung Siu-Chung, better known as the father of Bruce Leung Siu-Lung. The fight scenes are exclusively weapons fights, although the characters occasionally throw a kick or two. Swords and sabers dominate the action scenes, although a few extras--look for Cliff Lok as one of Black Demon's top fighters during the attack on the Wang Company--can be seen wielding more exotic weapons like hook swords and golden coin spears.  The last half hour or so is pure martial arts goodness, as both Shih Szu and Cheng Pei-Pei are fighting their way through a virtual army of bandits, albeit in different places, until their paths converge at the villain's hideout. The fighting does feel like an evolution from the swordplay in films like Come Drink with Me and Dragon Inn. Not quite up to the level of Ching Siu-Tung, but a respectable mid-point between Ching and Han Ying-Chieh. On the whole, the choreography is solid and the fight scenes are all entertaining, thanks in part for the actresses' natural charisma.

The Lady Hermit is a highly enjoyable wuxia pian with a lot of action, some good performances, and of course, the Golden Swallow herself: Cheng Pei-Pei.