The Lady Hermit Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

The Lady Hermit Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 22, 2024

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Arrow's Shawscope Volume Three set.

It's maybe not even that much of a joke to state that lately it has felt like there's a new Blu-ray release of a venerable Shaw Brothers film coming out every week, and in fact there have been some weeks where my own review queue has had more than one Blu-ray release of a Shaw Brothers film in any given seven day period. That said, and even granting a two title per week release schedule, it would take literally years, and arguably maybe even a decade or more, for labels to get around to releasing the entire Shaw Brothers output. In that regard, then, this massive newest volume in Arrow's evidently ongoing Shawscope series may be thought of as something of a "shortcut", at least in terms of offering a veritable gaggle of films, even if wending your way through this gargantuan enterprise will hardly seem short in any way, shape or form, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Once again, as with the first two volumes in this series, Arrow has aggregated both better known and lesser known films, delivered with typically solid technical merits and some very appealing supplements. This set has been packaged to be a shelf mate with its two "siblings" (for more information on the packaging, see the supplements section in the main Shawscope Volume Three Blu-ray review).

For "rabid completists" interested in what's already been released by Arrow in the Shawscope department, the following review links may be of some assistance:

Shawscope Volume One Blu-ray review

Shawscope Volume Two Blu-ray review

The Lady Hermit serves as something of a showcase for star Cheng Pei-Pei, a performer whose background in dance is often rather startlingly utilized here for one of the film's decided assets, some viscerally effective action scenes. While the supposed (very minor spoiler alert) "secret identity" of her character Leng Yushuang as the titular Lady Hermit is really not much if any surprise once it's revealed, that revelation at least throws the figurative blinders off the audience and allows the character, whatever you want to call her, to rout the film's chief villain, Black Demon (Wang Hsieh). That of course takes a while, and kind of interestingly, the story actually begins with a showdown between these two characters instead of waiting until the end for what in many Shaw Brothers outings tends to be the cinematic version of the "final boss" skirmish in any given video game.

While the action elements help to elevate and actually propel the plot dynamics of The Lady Hermit, a couple of subplots may not add to the flow quite as effectively. The first of these involves another would be female wielder of a sword, Jin Cuiping (Shih Szu), who wants to be an acolyte of Leng Yushuang, which probably would have been all well and good had the screenplay not decided to insert what pretty much amounts to a ménage à trois when Jin Cuiping falls for Wu Changchun (Lo Lieh), and then becomes distressed with a seeming relationship starts to develop between Wu and Leng. In what is almost a recurring trope in some of these films, the male character ends up being injured, needing a rescue from at least one of the women, though perhaps more traditionally Jin ends up being a veritable damsel in distress later in the story.

This is another often quite violent Shaw Brothers outing that has some especially "vibrant" blood letting in a calamitous climax. Trivia lovers should keep their eyes peeled for a very brief early appearance from Sammo Hung, as one of Black Demon's henchmen.

The Lady Hermit Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Lady Hermit is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Arrow's almost overwhelming insert booklet lumps all the films together on its informational page about the transfers, as follows:

All fourteen films in this boxset are presented in their original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, with their original Mandarin plus Cantonese and/or English (where applicable) monaural soundtracks. Every effort has been made to present these films in their original and complete versions using the best materials available.

One-Armed Swordsman was restored in 4K resolution by Celestial Pictures and L'Immagine Ritrovata in 2020. Additional grading was completed at R3store Studios, London in 2024.

Return of the One-Armed Swordsman, The New One-Armed Swordsman, The Lady Hermit, Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan, The 14 Amazons, The Magic Blade, Clans of Intrigue, Jade Tiger, The Sentimental Swordsman, The Avenging Eagle, Killer Constable, Buddha's Palm and Bastard Swordsman have all been newly restored by Arrow Films in 2024, in collaboration with L'Immagine Ritrovata, Hong Kong Film Archive and Celestial Pictures. The original 35mm negatives for these films were scanned at L'Immagine Ritrovata Asia and restored in 2K resolution at L'Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna. Return of the One-Armed Swordsman, The New One-Armed Swordsman, Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan, The 14 Amazons, The Avenging Eagle, Killer Constable and Buddha's Palm were graded at R3store Studios, Lady Hermit, The Magic Blade, Clans of Intrigue, Jade Tiger, The Sentimental Swordsman and Bastard Swordsman were graded at Dragon DI, Wales. These restorations have used the entire film negative without resorting to the practice of "framecutting" resulting in the loss of film frames at each negative splice point.

The mono mixes were remastered from the original sound negatives at L'Immagine Ritrovata. Additional sound remastering was completed by Matthew Jarman/Bad Princess Productions. The audio synch will often seem loose against the picture, due to the fact that the dialogue and sound effects were recorded entirely during post-production, as per the production standards of the period.

All original materials supplied for these restorations were made available from the Hong Kong Film Archive via Celestial Pictures. The additional sequences in the uncensored version of Clans of Intrigue were sourced from a 35mm print held by Celestial Pictures. For the presentation of the alternate South Korean cut of Killer Constable, efforts were made to access original film materials for this version held at the Korean Film Archive, but this was not possible. A Korean VHS copy was used as a guide to reconstruct this cut in high definition, using the new 2K restoration of the original Hong Kong version for the bulk of the film and standard-definition inserts for the audio and unique footage. The original trailers were restored by Arrow Films from the original 35mm materials held at the Hong Kong Film Archive.

While perfectly watchable, and actually quite nicely robust in at least some moments, this transfer shows a few more issues than some of the others in this set. The palette is a bit on the wan side some of the time, and some sequences, notably the first fifteen minutes or so, and then recurrently later, have a somewhat blue tint. The story has a lot of nighttime or dimly lit material, and detail levels understandably suffer in those moments, though there are other variances in full lighting, including some anomalies that are either signs of defective lenses or faulty focus pulling (see screenshot 8). Some of the outdoor material that starts showing up at around the half hour mark and thereafter pops considerably better than both earlier and later sequences. Grain tends to be most visible against some of the bright blue skies in that outdoor material.

The Lady Hermit Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Lady Hermit follows suit with many of the other offerings in the third Shawscope collection by offering LPCM Mono options in either Mandarin or English. The Mandarin track provides a more consistent listening experience overall, with a noticeably fuller sound, especially in the midrange. The English track can sound thin and tinny by comparison, and it also suffers from occasional issues like minor pops and crackling. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly on both tracks despite any passing anomalies. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Lady Hermit Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary by James Mudge


• Theatrical Trailers

  HK Theatrical Trailer (Mandarin) (HD; 4:27)

  
  

  HK Theatrical Trailer (English) (HD; 4:27)

The Lady Hermit Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Maybe joking just a little bit considering the three films that precede this one in Shawscope Volume 3, maybe Lady Hermit might have fared better had Leng Yushuang lost an arm sometime in her fracases with various bad guys. That said, it's the (two armed) action sequences here that probably deliver the most excitement, with some of the more soap operatic "romantic" material coming off as mere padding a lot of the time. Technical merits are decent, if not quite at the levels seen in some of the other offerings in this volume of Shaw Brothers productions, and the commentary track is worthwhile, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.