The Lady Hermit (1971) User Reviews

A cool movie and a transition point for two action stars

[freakus · 8/10 · 1 December 1999]

Although the main plot is the standard "young inexperienced student trains under master to defeat evil overlord" story, the fact that both heroic kung fu masters are female adds a welcome turn of events. The fact that they are also engaged in a love triangle also adds another dimension to the plot. Both Cheng Pei-pei and Shih Szu look fabulous in this film and it marks an interesting point in both their careers.

At this point, Cheng Pei-pei had been a major star for the Shaw Brothers for a few years. Enter Shih Szu, only 16 when this film was made. The theme of "young student taking over where master leaves off" is very appropriate for this film as Shih Szu became the Shaw's newest female star.

Almost perfect

[phillip-58 · 8/10 · 28 November 2007]

This is a subtle, clever film that is almost as good as it gets. The first two thirds of the film are strongly character driven with the two strong female leads and Lo Lieh interacting very well. There are a few fights and given Cheng Pei Pei showed herself a master of the whip in SHADOW WHIP it is surprising that it is Shih Szu who uses it here - though she switches to the sword for the almost AZUMI like ending. Here no quarter is given and the set pieces on the wooden bridge and the pagoda are very bloody and terrific action. One of the great martial arts films and worth adding to any collection. Unusual for having two strong, almost equal female leads and a real love story. The Celestial DVD is very well done with for example the fight in the misty bamboo forest showing as well as any modern film. An few interviews would have been nice to give some background as it must have been an interesting film to make. This was Cheng Pei-pei's second-to-last Shaw Brothers film. It is also fun to try and spot Sammo Hung who appears briefly as one of the villains several times.

Yes, but who was that villager?

[ckormos1 · 8/10 · 14 March 2019]

The story is of a new student taking up an established master to become the next bright star in the martial arts world. This also reflects the situation with Cheng Pei Pei and Shih Szu's acting careers. In "reality versus expectation" Shih Szu made movies until 1988 and Cheng Pei Pei until 2015 (and could return anytime).

I would like to give respectful mention to Hoa Li-Jen ('1911-1978). I call him "Old Snaggletooth" so as not to confuse him with other bit players at Shaw Brothers. He has over 222 movie credits over a 24 year career. He probably played "villager" more than any actor in history. More specifically he played "drunk villager", "villager at execution", "suffering villager" and "old villager". Yes, he could fill an entire village playing one villager at a time. He was not limited to that role as he also played "waiter", "beggar", "rebel", "vendor" and even "mental patient, dies in bed". He seemed to peak at such roles as "kung fu master", "Chief Imperial doctor", and the unsurpassable "Village God". I consider his absolute best career moment to be when he played a relative of Bruce Lee in "Enter the Dragon". In this movie he played "The Explainer". His dialog explains to Shih Szu what is going on with the thugs selling magic tokens to prevent death by ghost.

Lo Lieh has a quiet supporting role here as the Lady Hermit's unrequited love interest. He started as one of the few lead actors proficient in martial arts before acting. He played the ideal hero and peaked with his title role in "King Boxer". After that he was cast primarily as a villain and is remembered as such by most fans. Sadly, when the camera was not rolling, he was always at the end of a lit cigarette and died relatively young because of smoking related causes.

This movie is a classic that all fans of the genre know so my recommendation is meaningless. For the trouble of my review I get to add a number to the ratings and that would be a solid eight out of ten considering the year and genre.

THE LADY HERMIT – Excellent female swordplay movie from Shaw Bros.

[BrianDanaCamp · 15 May 2005]

THE LADY HERMIT (1971) offers two wonderful swordswomen for the price of one. Shaw Bros.' top female martial arts star of the late 1960s, Cheng Pei Pei (COME DRINK WITH ME, GOLDEN SWALLOW), stars as the title character, a famous veiled crusader who fights bad guys with her sword but has dropped out of sight when the film opens. Shih Szu plays an eager, whip-wielding aspiring swordswoman who seeks to track down Lady Hermit and become her student. To make a long story short, the master-student relationship is forged and Lady Hermit does indeed teach the young girl her skills, including "flying tiger" style. This is a rare martial arts film in which both master and student are female. Lo Lieh (FIVE FINGERS OF DEATH) plays a young man who is in love with Cheng's character and who is, in turn, loved by both women. During the time he spends with them, he learns new techniques as well.

The villains are a gang of evil Taoist monks, led by Lady Hermit's old adversary, Black Demon, who operate a racket whereby they sell Taoist charms at high prices to households seeking to ward off ghostly nighttime attacks. The gang then goes out in the dead of night to raid houses that have refused to buy the charms. Lady Hermit and her two followers engage the gang in a series of extremely lively sword battles which are spread throughout the entire film. There are several great setpieces, including a bit where the characters fight on one of those perilous rope bridges across a gorge and the bad guys cut the ropes and Shih Szu has to hang on to the dangling remains of the bridge and climb and fight her way to the top. The climactic battle in a towering pagoda is quite spectacular. There is a good mix of location work with studio sets.

Fans of Cheng Pei Pei from films such as DRAGON SWAMP, THAT FIERY GIRL, THE THUNDERING SWORD and the two mentioned above will, of course, enjoy this one just as much. But the real find here is Shih Szu, who starred in a number of martial arts films in the late 1960s and early '70s, beginning when she was still a teenager. She is bright-eyed, round-faced, beautiful and all smiles, as well as being quite an agile and energetic fighting performer. She appeared in the Hammer Films/Shaw Bros. collaboration, LEGEND OF THE SEVEN GOLDEN VAMPIRES. Curiously, after a few good starring roles, she was relegated to supporting roles at Shaw Bros. for the rest of the 1970s. Which makes this film all the more valuable for providing a rare opportunity for fans of female martial arts performers to discover this delightful unsung star.

Goes through the roof, literally

[unbrokenmetal · 9/10 · 3 September 2011]

Lady Hermit (Pei-pei Cheng) was injured in a fight against a man called Black Demon 3 years ago. Avoiding the rematch, she hides disguised as a serving maid in the house of Master Wang where Chang Chun (the ubiquitous Lo Lieh) also works. Young Cui Ping (Szu Shih) comes to town, as she wants to become Lady Hermit's student in the martial arts. Of course, she does not recognize the maid. But rumors come to Black Demon that Lady Hermit is back, and after he kills Master Wang, Lady Hermit and Cui Ping want revenge - but the problem is, they are both in love with Chang Chun and have to settle this matter between them first...

Wonderful movie. Everything you'd expect from a genre classic of the early 70s is there, blood and tears, love and hate, fights and drama. Not unusual for the time period, violence is close to the edge of cartoon style. Pei-pei Cheng has one scene when she tells 3 rogues she will cut an arm, a leg and the head off one of them each. A few seconds later - whoosh, slash, aaargh - guess what's lying on the floor? An arm, a leg and a head. But there are always the emotional moments, too, which make the characters interesting, for example the storm scene, when the roof is torn off and Lady Hermit offers shelter to Chang Chun. Memorable and highly recommended.

Very good film influenced "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"

[ChungMo · 8/10 · 2 September 2006]

Before the Venom series and the martial art miracles of Liu Chia Liang, Shaw kung fu films were a very mixed batch of stagy melodrama and frequently flimsy martial arts. Not to take away from the many good films from that era but it's like watching pre "2001" science fiction or silent films, you have to make an adjustment in expectations and then enjoy what there is. Many of the sword films are very stagy but that's the tradition they came from. Here is a rarity, a film that mostly transcends the technical limitations of the time and is quite enjoyable today.

Since others have covered the plot quite well, I'll write about the similarities to "Crouching Tiger". The love triangle is clearly repeated in the Ang Lee film. Two super fighting women and a man who is quite frankly not their fighting equal but the object of their affection. The younger woman goes on an angry mission to defeat the number one martial artist which includes a fight in a tavern (albiet an open air one). "Crouching Tiger" is not a remake but I would wager that it was influenced by this film.

The martial arts in the film are OK until the last third when the fight scenes go into overdrive. There's a noticeable chambara influence which in this case, unlike other Shaw films, is very good. Some of the martial arts are unfortunately simulated by camera tricks but the story keeps that from being a problem. Strangely the young woman is introduced as a whip master but at some point the whip disappears and she never uses it again.

A good story driven kung fu film.

The Shadow Whip strikes again...

[poe426 · 10/10 · 28 February 2012]

THE LADY HERMIT (Cheng Pei Pei, of GOLDEN SWALLOW and THE SHADOW WHIP fame) is living undercover as a maid when Cui Ping (the beautiful Shih Szu, from THE LEGEND OF THE SEVEN GOLDEN VAMPIRES) shows up wanting to learn kung fu from her. Lady Hermit, however, has plans to find The Black Demon, leader of a gang that's selling "protection from ghosts" to the frightened residents of a nearby village. (Anyone who doesn't buy a charm and affix it to their door at night is mysteriously murdered. By "ghosts.") Cui, handy with a whip, joins the Security Agency for which Lady Hermit works and finds herself pining for Changchun (Lo LIeh, in another rare sympathetic role), who pines for Lady Hermit. Before long, Lady Hermit takes Cui under her wing and together they prepare to take on The Black Demon and his gang. At one point, Lieh tells Lady Hermit: "You live, I'll live. You die, I'll die." Not as artistic as A TOUCH OF ZEN, maybe, but not bad at all.

Female swordplay effort with a vicious edge

[Leofwine_draca · 8/10 · 23 February 2018]

THE LADY HERMIT is a fine swordplay effort from the Shaw Brothers studio, notably starring COME DRINK WITH ME's Cheng Pei-Pei in one of her last roles for the studio. She plays a master swordswoman who takes on a young disciple, as played by yet another Shaw regular Shih Szu. Trouble arises when both women end up falling in love with Lo Lieh (in a rare romantic interest role). Meanwhile, the machinations of a master criminal called the Black Demon threaten to spell disaster for all involved. The unusual love triangle storyline keeps this film moving along well for the first hour or so, and if I'm honest it's the calibre of the acting from the three leads which makes it interesting. Then, in the last half hour, director Ho Meng Hua (responsible for such gruesome horrors as BLACK MAGIC) lets rip with the set-piece action. Limbs are severed, bodies slashed, eyes impaled. The action comes thick and gory in an extraordinarily satisfying way, with massive set-piece towers and rope bridges to add to the fun. It's one of the best endings I've seen in a Shaw film, and is certainly worth the wait.

Generally enjoyable characters, plot and action with engaging turns from the female leads in particular – only the tone of some of the violence put me off

[bob the moo · 20 August 2013]

Having been injured by her enemy Black Demon, the legendary swordswoman Lady Hermit has been in hiding. This is known to young Tsui Peng, who has decided to seek her out to become her student. Tsui Peng's search takes her to a small town where she is taken in by a family after meeting their servant – totally unaware that the servant is indeed the Lady Hermit she seeks. Tsui Peng learns that the Black Demon is running a scheme of selling very high priced protective trinkets in a temple to offer protection from spirits – and people are happy to pay since those that don't buy them get murdered by ghosts in the night. When she learns that these "ghosts" are the Black Demon's men, she intervenes which forces the Lady Hermit to reveal herself – starting a master/student relationship which is not always smooth and is filled with danger.

This is quite a lively film which has the added appeal of having two female leads and all the male characters tending to be supporting players. The plot is quite nice and it doesn't overdo the "living in secret" thing more than is reasonable. From this point the training is quite good and the series of fight sequences are mostly enjoyable. The climatic fight on and around a pagoda is the best but all the skirmishes are enjoyable (and there were plenty). The one thing I didn't care for was some of the graphic gore – so people taking needles to the eyes and the like, it felt unnecessary and a bit gaudy. The "normal" violence was well done and I liked that it had a certain dramatic impact due to some main characters being in real danger. There are little moments of comedy too, but mostly it is a harder film in terms of action and events.

The cast is pretty good. I liked Cheng Peipei but I did think she did look a little too young for the role; the irony is that I think she was over 30 when she did this film, but she looks a lot younger and it didn't fit my vision of this legendary master. Shih Szu is must better cast; she has a sass of youth to her and has the bright eyes of enthusiasm which can give way to hurt or disillusionment well. Lo Lieh works well with both of them and, although a bit hammy, I enjoyed Wang Hsieh as the villain of the film. The filming is professional and makes good use of external locations and the action is well put together without being excessively choreographed.

Some of the violence didn't really work for me personally, but other than this I did enjoy the characters, the plot and the action. It was an added bonus to have it be all female leads and for both actresses to be good in their roles (although Shih is the better of the two.