Next up on Hai!Karate, we've got a revenge epic from Shaw Brothers for review entitled Vengeance Of a Snow Girl! This action piece from 1970 stars the lovely Li Ching, Yueh Hua and Ku Feng. Handling direction is Lo Wei, in his final picture before venturing out to be the main director for Golden Harvest and Raymond Chow. More on that in a bit.
Vengeance Of A Snow Girl opens with Shen Bing-Hong
(Ching),a young woman who is crippled, showing off
the famous Jade Phoenix Sword hidden in one of her
jade crutches. She encounters Gao Tin-Ying(Hua)and
finds out about a nobleman named Ge. She shows up
at his mansion and reveals that she was the daughter
left behind when Ge and two other swordsmen killed
her parents years ago in attempts to get the Jade
Phoenix Sword. She hid in a pool of freezing water
to escape, which led to her infirmity. Bing Hong
then kills him, setting off a chain of events that
involve high drama and adventure in this revenge
saga.
This is a classic wuxiafilm here. It shows
off Lo Wei's flair for employing a good mix of
fight action and drama. There's also a martial
arts film Easter Egg or two here as far as cameos.
James Tien has a key role as the Prince of Pin
Nan's son in the film, but he also has a bigger
contribution as the action director for the film.
This would prove to be his only time handling
such duties, but it proves to be real valuable.
The fight scenes are enthralling as a result and
Li Ching looks like the hellion Bing Hong is
supposed to be. Also, look out for Sammo Hung
in one of the earlier fight scenes. Yueh Hua
as the noble Gao Tin-Ying finds himself in a
role that's almost one-dimensional. This is
just as he was approaching the peak of his glory
with Shaw as a dapper leading man with depth.
Chiao Chiao also seems trapped by her role as
a spiteful daughter of one of the villains.
Now as good as this film is, bear in mind there
are a few drawbacks. One, having to believe
that Bing Hong, who is crippled, can magically
LEAP INTO THE AIR with no problem. If you've
watched this genre of film, you can handle it
better. Also, there's a scene where Bing Hong
and Tin Ying have to go into the heart of a
volcano. They wind up getting armor that makes
them look like they're going to go hit a
Funkadelic concert after everything's done.
You also will find a lot of dialogue, but the
film's key moments come in the latter half.
If you want a good revenge drama to fill a
quiet evening, Vengeance Of A Snow Girl can
fit the bill.
