opinions on THE KUNG FU GIRL/NONE BUT THE BRAVE??

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

How is this GH effort? Never seen Pei Pei doing much hand to hand, so that would be interesting! But the opinions I've heard/read so far, are widely divided!

Any thoughts?

[KyFi]

I just got the new Joy Sales DVD, and I loved it. She just moves very fluidly, and I thought her hand-to-hand was almost on the level of Angela Mao. I liked the movie a lot, too---definitely felt like Lo Wei was trying to do a bit of a female version of Fist of Fury. Great movie, IMO, and considering it's not remastered, the Joy Sales print looks pretty good. Well worth the $6 at DDDhouse.

Oh yeah, and it's quite entertaining to see her put the beat-down on a young Jackie Chan playing a Japanese thug!

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

Thanks KyFi... I'll pick it up soon then!

[KyFi]

I also found this review that I thought was pretty on-target:

http://www.beyondhollywood.com/kung-fu-girl-1973-movie-review/

[Guest WuxiaFan]

I just got the new Joy Sales DVD, and I loved it. She just moves very fluidly, and I thought her hand-to-hand was almost on the level of Angela Mao. I liked the movie a lot, too---definitely felt like Lo Wei was trying to do a bit of a female version of Fist of Fury. Great movie, IMO, and considering it's not remastered, the Joy Sales print looks pretty good. Well worth the $6 at DDDhouse.

Oh yeah, and it's quite entertaining to see her put the beat-down on a young Jackie Chan playing a Japanese thug!

Thanks KyFi - you beat me to the punch! My copy from DDDHouse is on the way, but I haven't received it yet! Just about anything with Cheng Pei Pei in it will be good. I was very interested in seeing her in something outside of SB.

[WhiteTiger1]

I would put it in the bottom of my top 1000 Kung Fu flix... Rubbish

I have the original Video, I need to part ways with it...

Save your money!!

[Guest WuxiaFan]

I just watched KUNG FU GIRL (aka None but the Brave) last night and thought it was a very good movie. This was a Golden Harvest production with "Queen of Swords" Cheng Pei Pei headlining. KUNG FU GIRL (1973) marked Pei Pei's return to film making as she was lured back to Hong Kong after retiring from Shaw Bros.KUNG FU GIRL was directed by Lo Wei (FIST OF FURY) and like in FOF, Wei has a supporting role in the film. The film also has an all star line up of extras:

Jackie Chan (Japanese extra)

Yuen Biao

Cory Yuen

Yuen Wah

The Film:

The film is another Chinese vs. Japanese movie and is set during the early years of the Republic of China. Ying (Pei Pei) is a patriotic young woman who goes undercover to try and find out where a student revolutionary leader called Choi (James Tien) is being imprisoned. Coming up against the invading Japanese and their puppet government, she works her way into the favor of Lui, the Peking Bureau Chief of Security (Ou Wei) by pretending to be his long lost younger sister. I thought Wei was great in this role. Her investigations pull her deeper into the revolutionary struggle, and she puts her life on the line as she faces off against deadly enemies on all sides. Pei Pei is not a swordswoman in this movie. She is a kung fu master and her fight scenes are pure kung fu awesomeness! It was great to see Pei Pei just kick ass! It was very "Angela Mao-ish" and the story was somewhat similar to Mao's HAPKIDO (1972). Something else that's a little korny, and maybe its a reference to Bruce Lee in FIST OF FURY, but while fighting, Pei Pei has one of her legs up in kicking position as to do a crescent kick. As she holds her leg up, she slowly moves her leg in slow motion as she does the kick as to somewhat hypnotise or distract her opponent. If you remember Bruce doing that with his arms in FOF, its similar to that except Pei Pei is doing it with her legs. IMO, I thought it was just out of place and didn't give the effect I think it was intended to.

The plot of KUNG FU GIRL is surprisingly complex and involved, with plenty of political intrigue and two-faced scheming, even though most of the spying succeeds thanks to the fortunate fact that Ying’s targets don’t seem to mind her sitting around in the same room while they discuss supposed secrets. Although things get a little confusing at times, this does make for a refreshing change from the usual revenge plots and training scenes, and I found the film very engaging. Pei Pei doesn't have the same visceral intensity in her angry stare as Mao did, but she was still able to carry it off. If you're a Cheng Pei Pei fan, I highly recommend this movie!

The DVD:

This release by Joy Sales/Fortune Star is part of their Legendary Collection. Other DVDs I have bought from this collection have been very good (mostly Angela Mao's films). Unfortunately, this DVD is not as good. The transfer suffers from some grain, it is washed out at times, and the editing is abrupt and not seamless. The English subs are poorly written with a lot of misspellings, but you'll get the gist of what's happening. I also found that at times the Mandarin audio track was out of sync with the video and there were a number of scenes where the characters were talking, but there were no subs appearing. Overall, this DVD is still worth getting (IMHO).

[Cognoscente]

[ShawAngela]

I think that this is the first movie I saw Cheng Pei Pei in before I began to collect the Shaws' dvds and get Come drink with me. I loved it !