Director: Ho Meng-Hua
Notable Cast: Cheng Pei Pei, Shih Szu, Lo Lieh, Fang Mian,
Wang Hsieh
After reacquainting myself with King Hu’s seminal classic A Touch of Zen, I found myself eager to
dig through some other 60’s and early 70’s female lead wuxia films that I have
not seen in a long time. A great place to start is always with the combination of
Shaw Brothers and the iconic Cheng Pei Pei. Most people may like to think that
perhaps her greatest film for the legendary studio was Come Drink with Me, also directed by King Hu, but for my money I
would be tempted to say that the often overlooked The Lady Hermit is at least as good, if not actually being an
overall better film. In many ways, The
Lady Hermit is a more distinctly Shaw Brothers film in its stream lined
narrative and gimmicky villain, but this
kind of stripped down and more entertaining approach allows the film to really
throw in some massively effective action sequences while not taking time away
from its active character building. The combination of the two is a film that’s
easy to consume, but filling for its viewers with its punchy storytelling and
fascinating character interactions.