Starring: Angela Mao, Carter Wong, Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Han Jae Ji, Ying Bai, Nancy Sit Nonetheless, it remains a nicely shot martial arts drama with plenty of fights to keep fans happy. So, Lady Whirlwind is, in places, a classier affair than Hapkido but with a few overly melodramatic moments and an underuse of Mao, particularly in the finale, it ends up feeling slightly less successful overall. It looks more impressive too, with good use of movement, framing and locations (some in Korea). Whilst melodramatic in places, the story and character dynamics are a little more interesting in Lady Whirlwind. Though the action would improve in Mao, Sammo and Feng’s next film (more on that later), I actually thought some other aspects were stronger here. Kung-fu movies were still new back then, so directors and crews hadn’t quite perfected the art of shooting action. You can clearly see a lot of the hits don’t connect though. Handled by Sammo Hung, they have a lot of energy, some acrobatics, fun use of props and feel pretty brutal due to the big, aggressive movements. Reportedly, Bruce Lee was so impressed he pushed for her to appear in his latest film, Enter the Dragon.Ĭoming from the early era of the kung-fu movie, the action has a fair amount of wild arm swinging rather than the more intricate, carefully choreographed strikes that would follow in later years, but the fights are well orchestrated for the time and plentiful. She steals the show whenever she appears though, in a badass, anti-hero role, so you can see why she became a star from the back of this. Tien’s story doesn’t develop much over the course of the film. It’s somewhat of a small ensemble piece and Ling’s narrative gets much more attention than anyone else’s. I’m not sure I’d say Mao is the lead here, despite her billing. However, Ling begs that he first be allowed to get his own vengeance on Tung and his gang before facing off against Tien. ![]() Ling is now a changed man, aided by a mutual love of Hsuang, but this doesn’t stop Tien from wanting to kill him. It turns out, in his villainous past, when he was a member of Tung’s gang, Ling had mistreated Tien’s sister, mentally bullying her into suicide. We then discover why she was so doggedly pursuing the man. Noticing Hsuang’s suspicious reaction during another altercation with Tung’s goons, Tien follows her home one day and finally meets Ling. Their suspicions turn out to be well-founded when the audience discovers Ling is alive and well, as Hsuang Hsuang (Oh Kyung- Ah) had rescued him that fateful day, nursed him back to health and kept him in hiding from his enemies. After beating up a bunch of their goons, Tien demands that Tung hands over Ling.īelieving the man to be dead, Tung and Taio are understandably surprised but also suspicious. We then jump forward a couple of years to find Miss Tien Li-Chun (Mao) causing trouble at a casino run by Tung and Madame Taio Ta-nian (Liu Ah-na), who seems to be the real boss of the gang. Lady Whirlwind opens with what looks like the murder of Ling Shi-hao (Chang Yi) at the hands of a group of gangsters, led by Tung Ku (Pai Ying). Starring: Angela Mao, Yi Chang, Ying Bai, Kyung-Ah Oh, Feng Huang, Sammo Kam-Bo Hung I must admit, I hadn’t seen them before, so was keen to get hold of a copy and give my thoughts. These landmark titles are being released together in a box set by Eureka Classics. The most famous of these collaborations are probably Lady Whirlwind (a.k.a. Feng, Mao and Sammo proved to be successful collaborators here and the trio worked together on several films. ![]() It also features an early action director credit for Sammo Hung, as well as a small acting role. ![]() It’s an important film, being her first lead role, the first production from Golden Harvest and the directorial debut of Huang Feng. Mao’s big break came in 1971, with the wuxia The Angry River. One of these was Angela Mao, who became a star in the early days of the kung-fu boom at the start of the 1970s. The kung-fu movie genre is often thought of as a ‘man’s game’, but there are several female stars who could give even their biggest male counterparts a run for their money.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |