Martial Law

This one does exactly what it says on the tin: MARTIAL LAW: LO WEI’S WUXIA WORLD offers three tales of betrayal directed by Lo Wei, revenge and plenty of action, naturally! Available for the first time in the UK, MARTIAL LAW has just been released in a Limited Edition (2,000 copies) 2-disc Blu-ray set and including collector’s booklet.

THE BLACK BUTTERFLY (1968) turns the ole Robin Hood tale on its head in so far that here, the protagonist is female. Her real name is Bao Zhu (Chiao Chiao… there’s a name for you…) and she happens to be the daughter of a former swordsman named Kwan Yee (Tien Feng) who now enjoys retirement. Thing is that back in the day, Kwan never instructed his daughter in martial arts despite her eagerness to learn - instead having focused on teaching male students including a particularly gifted one, Xi Lang (Yueh Hua). But hey, who needs daddy when Drunken Beggar (Yang Chi-Ching) has spotted the potential in Bao Zhu and secretly taught her the demanding skills of martial arts. Which is just as well because when her community is in peril and farmers are forced by their ruthless lords to pay taxes and what have you (which of course they can’t) and face the prospect of going hungry, Bao Zhu decides to rob the rich and distribute to the poor.

Whenever she successfully breaks into the extravagant homes of all those who are swimming in money and ‘relieves’ them of valuable bling and gold, she leaves a black butterfly (presumably made of paper) behind. Soon, this becomes her trademark and the female ninja is thus referred to as ‘The Black Butterfly’. Of course, no one, least of all her father, suspects that Bao Zhu is behind the feisty robberies for the simple reason that he still thinks his daughter doesn’t have the foggiest when it comes to martial arts skills. But when a dastardly gang of bandits, who she also robbed (of their stolen goods) arrive in town to search for the mysterious Black Butterfly, Bao soon finds herself in peril and has no other option that to come clean - culminating in a showdown at Five Devils Rock where the bandits’ hideout is. The film takes a while to get going and the first half is taken up mainly with our purple-clad female ninja warrior jumping, climbing and gliding over rooftops and walls but things gather momentum with the arrival of the bandits and it’s on a good pace throughout. The downside is that we, the viewer, know pretty quickly who the Butterfly is - for one, Bao’s hairstyle is somewhat of a giveaway to say the least…

Next up is DEATH VALLEY (1968) is more complex in its set up and has one hell of a nasty femme fatale at its core. Director Lo Wei decided to turn up in a little cameo role as Master Chao Yun Yang, who owns the stately Chao Manor Martial Arts School which, you guessed it, is located in a place called Death Valley (sounds more like a Western, actually). Anyway, because Chao is getting on and has no kids, everything he owns will one day go to his nephew Chao Yu Lung (Yueh Hua again). But Yu Lung isn’t just Master Chao’s nephew, no! He’s an expert swordsman and also nobody’s fool. Another individual Master Chao takes a liking to is a lonesome traveller by the name of Tu Chi (Lee Kwan) and this set-up is important because it depicts Master Chan as a thoroughly nice guy who can still stand his ground and even fight off some bandits. But Master Chan doesn’t only have a nephew, he also has a young niece by the name of Chao Chien Ying (Angela Yu Chien) who is pretty miffed that Master Cha’s estate should one day go to his nephew Yu Lung, while she herself will inherit… nothing! This is the moment when Chien Ying turns super-bitch and starts scheming big time, because she too wants a slice of the cake. What am I saying, she wants the whole cake and - wasting no time putting a dastardly plan into action - she dispatches Master Chao by poisoning his tea. She is helped by her guard Yuen and her hopelessly naive lover Lam Hung (Wong Chi-wai) who really is gullible enough to believe that Chien Ying has sincere feelings for him too when in fact, he is nothing more than a mere cog in her machinery of intrigues.

Now that Master Chao is out of the way, the next obstacle is her cousin Yu Lung - the lucky chap who will one day inherit everything. Scheming again, Chien Ying thinks up the next step of how best to get rid of her cousin without falling under suspicion herself. Enter Chin Hu (Chen Hung Lieh), the son of her nanny (who also gets killed by Chien Ying) and himself a swordsman of considerable repute. As she hatches yet another plan and tries to play the two swordsmen against each other, she has no idea that Chin Hu and Yu Lung are in fact old friends. Now, their friendship and loyalty is put to the test while the net around the evil Chien Ying tightens… The action sequences are incredibly well choreographed and the characters are given more depth. Angela Yu Chien clearly had a field day playing the scheming bitch from hell and who wouldn’t - from an actor’s point of view, it’s always more interesting playing a baddie! There’s also a fair bit of nudity thrown in the mix but it’s tastefully done.

Last but not least we have VENGEANCE OF A SNOW GIRL (1971), the most complex of all three insofar that the characters here are really fleshed out. We also see some familiar faces again, notably Tien Feng and Chiao Chiao. The film starts out as a pretty straightforward revenge flick but quickly morphs into a tale of forgiveness and redemption. Li Ching takes centre stage as Shen Ping Hong, an orphaned young woman whose parents were brutally slain some years earlier in a dispute over the legendary Tsui Feng sword. Ever since that fateful event, Shen lost the use of her legs (you need to see the scene) and now she’s hellbent finding the four men responsible for her parents death. Easier said than done, seeing how she can’t actually walk but thanks to her remarkable martial arts skills and her two ‘crutches’ - which are actually two swords with jade handles - she is fearless and determined.

The way she seemingly floats in the air and glides above ground suggests plenty of wirework and occasionally it’s almost too much but it looks good it must be said. Now, the thing is that the four men turn up sooner rather than later and they attempt in vain to tell their side of the story and why Shen’s parents ended up dead. Then there’s Chiao Chiao as Tung Ming-Chu, the daughter of almighty warrior Tung (Ku Feng) who hates Shen so much that she would do anything to see her dead…just as Shen would do anything to see her parents’ killers dead. It goes without saying that things aren’t as straightforward as they sound because a mysterious knight in shining armour called Kao Yun (Tien Feng), who turns out not quite as mysterious after all, attempts to make Shen see the errors of her way while at the same time, he knows of a secret place that might hold the cure for Shen’s crippled legs. In between, there’s plenty of action and almost surreal settings (red-tinted volcano undergrounds and landscapes covered in ice). It’s weird and wonderful, even though the ending is rather bizarre.

Bonus features include optional English subtitles, audio commentaries and ‘Hong Kong Hustle ‘ - an interview with Hong Kong cinema scholar Wayne Wong on the work of Lo Wei