The Shadow Whip (1971)

"We'll have to fight our way out!"

Cheng Pei Pei was one of Shaw Brothers big female stars after the success of Come Drink with Me. This time instead of a sword she wielded a deadly whip in the snow for The Shadow Whip. While the film didn't break any new ground or have memorable fight choreography it was fun and stocked with plenty of familiar faces for kung fu fans.

Shadow Whip opened with stunning mountain scenery shot in the snow. It was a rare departure for SB using this kind of outdoor scenery for a big part of a movie. Pei Pei played, Miss Yun, the "niece" of a secluded inn keeper who would turn out to be the infamous Shadow Whip, Fang Cheng Tian played by Tien Feng. Ku Feng as Chief Hong, Wang Hsieh as the leader of the Serial Trio, and Yueh Hua as the earnest Wang Jian Xin all collide with Miss Yun and her comic sidekick Er (Li Kun) violently at a local inn. Later Chief Hong, the man who cast no footprints in the snow, would show up at the isolated inn owned by Miss Yun's uncle. At this point everyone believes that her "uncle" is the legendary Shadow Whip who stole 300,000 taels worth of jewelry 15 years ago, killing a respected official's family in the process. Wang's uncle had been the head of the escort service for the transport who was ruined after the theft and murders. Hong and Wang are out for revenge and a plethora of others are on the hunt for the Shadow Whip in order to steal the stolen jewels.

Miss Yun comes home at one point to find people murdered and she is surrounded by bandits led by Kao Ming. "Are you officials?" "We're the bandits of Yan Yun. I trust Fang Cheng Tian has mentioned us." She did not look frightened, more like, 'Only 16? You should have brought more men'. Her uncle showed up and the two of them made short work of the bandits with their powerful and lightning-fast whips. Later that night she takes a message to Wang and they are surrounded at the inn by what looks like all the men in the region. "We'll have to fight our way out!" It's a martial arts movie, we'd expect nothing less. Chief Hong becomes determined to kill Miss Yun when he discovers her real family name is Yang. Mmm… let's see… it's Ku Feng with a maniacal evil laugh, he's hanging out with Wang Hsieh, and keeps trying to kill the heroine. Even with Tien Feng playing the Shadow Whip it doesn't take much to connect the dots to see who the real bad guy is.

The fights were mostly with swords and the aforementioned whips. The whips were used creatively to cause much bodily harm even if it wasn't always logical or physically possible. Swords, spears, and bodies were propelled with deadly and dismembering results! The sword-fights were slightly above average for the era. And 30 years before Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, this film had a flying battle in the trees. Being a wuxia, there was quite a bit of light body flying. Despite having decent sets, you could see the wires in several scenes. Pei Pei is one of my favorite action heroines. She battles fiercely and doesn't look out of place with a weapon in her hand. Even better, she was allowed to take vengeance on her enemy instead of leaving it up to the men.

The snowy scenes were beautiful and nicely highlighted the bloody battles played out on the glittering ground. Horses were ridden through the deep snow up and down the mountains and in the forests. During one scene it was nice that the snow plow from ye olden times must have cleared off the road for the horses though it would have been nice if they'd covered the tire tracks.

Yueh Hua was less stiff than usual and quite energetic in his fights. Pei Pei was gorgeous, fluid and agile in her movements, always a delight to watch. Tien Feng, normally cast as a baddie made a sympathetic whip fighter. And I'm always happy to see Ku Feng who seemed to be having a good time with this role.

The Shadow Whip wasn't a great martial arts film but the fights and plots twists were fun and Pei Pei brought her A game as always. I grade old niche movies on a curve. This film was about average but I gave it an extra bump for the spectacular scenery and a proper ending. No frozen frame as the killing blow was landed!

4/27/23

Read More