Matthew D
Angela Mao is fierce as the cool heroine of Lady Whirlwind!
Chinese director Huang Feng's Hong Kong martial arts film Lady Whirlwind (1972) is genuinely gripping. It's a tale of revenge and love with seriously deft kung fu from the heroine portrayed by Angela Mao. Feng pits her against tons of men all at once with her spinning techniques creating swift dodges and parries with her arms. I loved her cool fighting style that lets you believe this tiny woman could certainly defeat these scores of enemies. Producer Raymond Chow really gave us tons of classic martial arts pictures in the 1970s and Lady Whirlwind is another gem.
Writer Wa Toi-Chung Wa Toi-Chung creates a fascinating story of revenge, forgiveness, regret, love, and bravery. Lady Whirlwind seeks the man who caused her beloved sister's death, but ends up siding with him to take on a Japanese gang holed up in the Chinese countryside. It's a compelling dramatic tale and provides memorable characters to set up numerous outstanding fights.
Cinematographer Li Yu-Tang captures lovely trees and determined faces with the same graceful camera movements. The fast and focused panning shots through the kung fu combat is impressive. The skillful Dutch angles and far wide exterior shots are super pretty.
I love the vast forest and detailed sets for the backdrop. It looks like an old Chinese village. The lightning fast editing keeps Lady Whirlwind's fights exciting and quickly paced for a slick 88 minutes.
Chang Yu is compelling as the regretful man on the run named Ling Shi-hua. His kung fu moves are impressive from fists, kicks, knives, jumps, dodges, and rolls. Oh Kyung-Ah is very pretty and touching as Hsuang Hsuang, who loves the rogue scoundrel Ling Shi-hua.
Angela Mao is gorgeous and amazing as Lady Whirlwind herself, Miss Tien Li-Chun. She opens the film fighting 30 men at once both inside and outside a casino. She's breathtaking to watch fight off dozens of men at once with peerless kung fu skills. Her combat prowess and sheer beauty are very charming. She is fierce when seeking vengeance, but can also be more pensive or playful as the scene demands. I can see a young Michelle Yeoh seeing Angela Mao on the silver screen and wanting to be her!
Pai Ying is scary and fun as the Japanese villain Tung Ku. His spinning balls and shrewd karate is neat. Liu Ah-Na is alluring and entertaining as the villainess Tiao Ta Niang. Her cackle is fantastic like her whip work and cigarette smoking. Chin Yuet-Sang is great as one of the other bad guys. Sammo Hung portrays the chubby brother to Tiao Ta Niang, who Angela Mao beats up several times. It's fun to see him young and much less heavy before Dragons Forever or Ip Man 2. Wong Fung is a riot as the deadpan faced Casino dealer.
In short, Lady Whirlwind is awesome with an especially riveting performance from the daring beauty Angelo Mao.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
08/09/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Golden Harvest treasure ..........
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/28/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Although âLady Whirlwindâ is oft spoke/written of as an almost exclusively Angelo Mao fu vehicle, she is not the only tough woman in this movie. There are three significant female characters in this movie, two that you wouldnât want to mess with: Angela and the woman playing the Japanese matriarch. The latter even wields a whip at one point in the movie. Kudos to Raymond Chow and associates at Golden Harvest for giving us some strong females in a kung fu movie!
The plot of âLady Whirlwindâ is a little convoluted at best. Two main sub-plots abound: 1) a standard (for an early â70s HK fu flick) Japanese vs. Chinese sub-plot, and 2) the main conflict between Maoâs character and the male lead character, played by Chang Yi. Of course, in going after Yi, Mao ends up in conflict with the Japanese (who are the main bad-guys in the flick), since Yi is the central Chinese character at play in the first sub-plot. Mao certainly kicks Japanese ass to get to Yi, but only after she states, âI have nothing against you guysâ¦I want to kill [Yi]â. There are many little twists and turns that do little to clarify the plot lines (at least in the English dub), but both Mao and Yi, who are flawed characters to say the least, get some redemption during the plot development as both befriend someone in need leading to their own growth.
While fights are generally good (and fairly numerous and long) there are some very noticeable gaffs in some of the fights (hits and kicks not coming even remotely closeâprobably says something about the budget and lack of multiple takes, since Sammo Hung did the action direction and even early in his career he was generally solid). Thereâs lots of knife play and hand-to-hand martial combat (fu vs. karate), with moderate levels of blood, as might be expected of a Golden Harvest production.
As a bonus we get to see Sammo playing a bad-guy (Japanese thug)âcertainly a rarity in his early careerâwhile the role is small, Sammo is fun to watch, especially with his make-up, nasty facial scars and muttonchops.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/25/23
Full Review
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