Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

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.

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.

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.

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.