Lady of the Law Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

Lady of the Law Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 2, 2025

The Shaw Brothers were absolute experts at repackaging and/or revisiting any number of plot tropes and even plots as they churned out one film after another. In that regard, it may be somewhat amusing for some to compare and contrast another Shaw Brothers effort recently released on Blu-ray, Lady with a Sword, with this film. While it might seem at first glance that even the titles of the two films are at least a little similar, this film's original title was completely different, though it may salient to note that this film was evidently begun in 1971, but not finished until 1975 (or at least not released until then), and some may wonder if perhaps intervening films like Lady with a Sword (also a 1971 effort) or (to expand Asian Cinema to Japan) the Lady Snowblood outings may have contributed to whatever marketing decisions led to this Americanized title. One way or the other, both Lady with a Sword and Lady of the Law share several pretty much interchangeable plot developments, including the early harassment and potential death of an innocent little boy, an attack which ultimately leads to the involvement of a female with a "particular set of skills".

In this case, the female sword wielder is Leng Rushuang (Shih Szu), who rather interestingly is almost a sidebar character in the film. The real focus here is arguably that aforementioned little boy, who manages to survive the opening maelstrom (if only barely), and who grows up to be an apparently almost developmentally disabled man named Yaner (Lo Lieh), though that may be a bit of subterfuge on Yaner's part, since he is in fact a virtual slave to his boyhood attackers. What initially seems like it's going to be a straightforward revenge picture with Yaner attempting to avenge his father's death and his subsequent tribulations with his father's murderers, instead takes at least something of a left turn when Yaner himself is accused of a horrifying crime. Suffice it to say Len Rushuang shows up to sort things out.

As David West's interesting commentary gets into, the film's apparently troubled production history may be apparent in a kind of uneven quality to the finished product. The fight scenes seem almost like an afterthought at times, and are arguably even more cartoonish than many in the Shaw Brothers canon. Still, performances are winning and the film has the typically nice production values of this period of Shaw Brothers productions.

Lady of the Law Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Lady of the Law is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 88 Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. The back cover of this release states this is an "HD transfer from the original negative in 2.35:1", and is part of Celestial Pictures' mammoth undertaking involving the Shaw Brothers catalog, but it may be salient to note that this bears a copyright date of 2006 by Celestial. It may be arguable that a newer scan could tighten grain and improve clarity, but what's on tap is largely very enjoyable, and the palette in particular has considerable pop, especially with regard to primaries like reds and blues. Detail levels tend to fare best in midrange and close-ups, as might be expected. Anamorphic peculiarities are frequently on tap, and a number of relatively wide framings can look pretty blurry (see screenshot 9). Very minor age related wear and tear can be spotted.

Lady of the Law Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Lady of the Law features LPCM 2.0 Mono audio in Mandarin. David West's commentary gets into some of the history vis a vis Shaw Brothers and Cantonese vs. Mandarin. The upshot here is that a lot of this film was obviously post looped, and as such sync can be loose. The entire track can be slightly brash on the high end (the Shaw Brothers masthead music in particular), but midrange and low end fare better, even if things are arguably overly reverberant, making everything sound slightly echo-like. Dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Lady of the Law Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary by David West


• Stills Gallery (HD; 3:41)

The keepcase has a reversible sleeve and encloses a nice double weight double sided poster (folded). Packaging features a slipcover.

Lady of the Law Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Shaw Brothers completists are probably the strongest candidates for completely enjoying this film. There's probably just a bit too much recycled or at least overly familiar material here for others, but technical merits are generally solid and the West commentary very enjoyable, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.