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Released by: Arrow Video
Released on: January 10th, 2023.
Director: Feng Huang
Cast: Angela Mao, Sammo Hung, Carter Wong, Yi Chang
Year: 1972/1972
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Lady Whirlwind / Hapkido – Movie Review:
Arrow Video brings to Blu-ray two of Angela Mao’s best and best known Golden Harvest films. Here’s a look…
Lady Whirlwind:
When the first feature begins, a Chinese man named Ling Shih-hua (Chang Yi) gets seriously beaten by the Japanese men who used to employ him. So serious are his injuries that his assailants leave him limp on the beach, presuming he is dead. He's nursed back to health by a young woman who finds him, and once he's better, he swears revenge on those who tried to kill him.
Meanwhile, a young woman named Tien Li-Chun (Angela Mao) has a score of her own to settle with Ling, the man who left her sister during a dark period in her life which ultimately led to her suicide. Tien blames Ling for her sister's death and is hell bent on paying him back in kind. When she finds him in town, however, she decides that she will give him a few days to track down his Japanese assailants before she kills him herself. He heads out to give them what for but is once again defeated although, this time, Tien comes to his rescue and saves his life. Even having done that, however, Tien still thirsts for vengeance. Will she be able to forgive Ling for what he did and help him take down the Japanese or will her steely determination get the best of her and land Ling six feet under?
Re-titled Deep Thrust for its US release (definitely one of the weirdest movies to ever try cash in on the success of Damiano's Deep Throat!), Lady Whirlwind is a fast paced and violent picture that showcases some pretty solid fight scenes and frequently impressive choreography. Mao obviously gets the spotlight here, she's top billed and her skills are on display throughout the picture – and to be fair, the camera loves her - but Shaw Brothers stalwart Chang Yi gets a lot of screen time too and he handles himself well in front of the camera as well. Sammo Hung shows up here, too, and while his is more of a supporting role it's fun to see him in the movie. Again, however, this is primarily Mao's show. As beautiful as she is deadly, her character works well as an instrument of vengeance. We don't get a ton of character development but there's enough to propel the story along nicely and really, it’s all about the action set pieces, which are very well-executed.
A period film, the movie showcases some decent looking sets but there are spots where the low budget does shine through. Though this isn't necessarily to the picture's detriment it's not quite as glossy as what the Shaw's were pumping out around this time. Feng Huang's direction is quite efficient, however, and this hard hitting picture remains a seriously solid early seventies slice of martial arts entertainment.
Hapkido:
The second feature (released in the US as Lady Kung-Fu), made the same year and also directed by Feng Huang, follows three martial arts students - Yu Ying (Angela Mao), Kao Chang (Carter Wong) and Fan Wei (Sammo Hung) - who are studying at a school in the Korea of 1934. With the Japanese occupation in full effect, the students are hoping to head back home and bring with them the art of Hapkido so that they can open their own school and teach martial arts to others. Of course, this doesn't sit well with a competing Japanese school called The Black Bear Gang.
When Fan Wei gets into a scrap with a few of the Japanese gang members at a restaurant the authorities come looking for him and he goes into heading. Kao Chang, however, feels he can go to the Japanese and hopefully talk things over - no dice! They beat the Holy Hell out of him leaving Yu Ying alone to contend with all of this. She goes to her Hapkido teacher (Ing-Sik Whang) for help taking on the Japanese and setting things right for her comrades.
As with this first movie on the disc, there's a strong anti-Japanese sentiment running throughout the picture (common in Chinese martial arts movies of the time). The film paints the Japanese as heartless, evil stereotypes and the Chinese as nothing but noble, and as such, it deals pretty much exclusively in blacks and whites but it makes for good entertainment if you can look past the fairly thin characterization in the picture. It's a blast seeing Angela Mao, Carter Wong and Sammo Hung all fighting on the same team, each one bringing their own distinct screen presence and fighting style to the picture. Again, Mao is top billed and gets more screen time than her compatriots but Hung really steals the show when he goes up against the two Japanese at the bar, definitely the stand out scene in the movie.
The production values are a little better this time around and the film shows off some nice costumes and sets. The fights are frequent and often thrilling and the movie goes at a good pace. Like the first feature, it might not be deep, but it is a lot of fun.
Lady Whirlwind / Hapkido – Blu-ray Review:
Each of the two films in this set is taken from a brand new 2K restorations by Fortune Star and presented in AVC encoded 1080p high definition on its own 50GB disc and framed at 2.35.1 widescreen. These generally look pretty solid. There might be some light DNR applied in a few spots as you’d expect grain to be a bit thicker than it is here but the image hasn’t been completed sandblasted and still manages to show good detail, depth and texture. Colors look really strong on both movies, bold and bright without appearing oversaturated, and we get deep black levels and pretty accurate looking skin tones as well. Neither film shows any compression artifacts of note and both transfers are quite clean, without any really noticeable print damage at all.
Lady Whirlwind gets the original Mandarin mono audio as well as an English dubbed mono option in 24-bit DTS-HD 1.0 with optional newly translated English subtitles for both the English and the Mandarin audio options. The Mandarin track sounds quite a bit better, with the English track sounding a bit thin especially when it comes to the sound effects. Either way, both are balanced well and quite clean. There’s definitely more depth to the Mandarin track, however.
Hapkido also gets the original Mandarin in 24-bit DTS-HD 1.0 Mono as well as three options for an English dubbed version, those being the vintage “kung fu” and “hapkido” dubs in 24-bit DTS-HD 1.0 mono, which sound like typical vintage kung fu movie dubs, and the 2006 DVD dub in 16-bit DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio which is downright terrible and should be thrown into a pit of fire never to be heard from again (at least it’s preserved here for those who want it but it really is awful). The Mandarin track is the superior option, it’s clean, clear and nicely balanced. The vintage English tracks have a bit of minor hiss that isn’t on the Chinese language track but they also sound fine. Skip the 5.1 track though, it really is an abomination.
Disc One:
Extras start off with a commentary by Frank Djeng and Robert “Bobby” Samuels that goes into quite a bit of detail about the different cast members in the movie, the Korean shooting locations, the influence of spaghetti westerns on the cinematography, the use of music in the film and why some of it might sound very familiar, the use of ben wa balls early in the movie, Sammo Hung's fight choreography, the use of color in the movie, the gambling scenes, Samuels' own experiences in the Hong Kong film industry, where the movie shares sets with Hapkido and lots more.
Frank Djeng also shows up on a second commentary, this time joined by Michael Worth that covers the film's box office returns, how you can tell when scenes were shot out of sequence, when and how Mao's star status would start to rise after this movie was made, the use of props in the fight scenes, the portrayal of Japanese as bad guys in the movie and how his predates Fist Of Fury, details on the supporting players that pop up in the movie and plenty of other details.
A third commentary by Samm Deighan discusses why this is more than just an important Angela Mao movie and how she isn't top billed in the film, the original Chinese title and its significance, lots of biographical details on Mao's life and Deighan's thoughts on Mao's character in this movie, how this and other Golden Harvest films compared to the Shaw Brothers movies of the time, biographical details on most of the other cast members, the nebulous quality of the heroes in the movie, the evolution of Mao's martial arts training, Sammo Hung's importance to Mao's career and the way that the finale strips the antagonist and protagonist down to just their martial arts skills and how the movie makes that interesting in its execution.
Up next is Lady Whirlwind Speaks, the first part of a newly filmed interview with Angela Mao that runs thirteen minutes. In this piece, she talks about her upbringing and family life in Taiwan, her training in opera and in martial arts and the differences between doing opera and acting in films, connecting with Golden Harvest which was a newer company at the time, moving to Hong Kong and befriending Feng Huang, some of the early films she appeared in, working with Sammo Hung, how Raymond Chow took care of the younger actors, the popularity of wuxia films, her personal favorite films from her filmography and how she is always happy to meet fans when they sometimes come into the restaurant that her family operates in Bayside, Queens. Mao comes across as modest and charming in this interview and it's great to get to hear her story in her own words.
Kung Fu Cooking is a newly filmed conversation with Mao’s son Thomas King (and an adorable cocker spaniel!) that runs thirty-two minutes. King speaks about how his mother tried to teach he and his siblings martial arts when they were kids before he knew she was famous. He then talks about how he learned that his mother was famous when he saw her appear on Enter The Dragon when it was shown on TV and when a fan showed up for the first time at one of their restaurants. He then goes on to talk about how over time his mother came to be more accepting of some of the attention that she was getting in America, how the fans tend to be very respectful of her space, the importance of preserving vintage Hong Kong action films, how the family came to open their first restaurant, what went into getting that business off the ground, the family's love of food and the cuisine they serve, the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic had on the business and more.
Rounding out the extras on the first disc are some alternate English credits, the original Hong Kong theatrical trailer, a U.S. theatrical trailer, a U.S. radio spot, a still gallery, menus and chapter selection options.
Disc Two:
Once again, we get a commentary from Frank Djeng and Robert “Bobby” Samuels on this film as well. They go over the opening credits and discuss the setting of Japanese occupied Korea, the prevelance of the theme of Japanese occupation in Chinese and Korean films of this period, details on the different cast members that appear in the movie with plenty of emphasis on Mao's work in the picture, the depiction of the Hapkido fighting techniques in the film, the importance of Sammo Hung and Carter Wong's presence in the movie, the quality of the character development in the movie, the fight choreography and more.
And once again, we also get a commentary by Frank Djeng and Michael Worth. This track covers some of the same ground as the first but it gives yet more details about Angela Mao's life and career and the historical background of the film's setting, the influence of King Hu on wuxia films, how the film gathers together three of Bruce Lee's opponents in one scene, details on Ji Han Jae's career, the judo influence in the fights, the work that Siu-Lung Leung (aka Bruce Leong) did on the movie and his career in general, how Raymond Chow discovered Angela Mao, the umbrella fight scene and plenty of other topics.
Lady Kung Fu Speaks, the second part of the newly filmed interview with Angela Mao, runs eighteen minutes. Here she talks about her appearance in Enter The Dragon and the impact that Bruce Lee had on the Hong Kong film industry, his status at Golden Harvest, how she was able to ride his wave of popularity, what it was like filming outside of China and Hong Kong, working with Korean cast members and what it was like living there temporarily, getting along with co-star Chang Yi, what went into the fight choreography, how Chinese/Japanese relations had an effect on martial arts films including Hapkido, working with Carter Wong, having to 'fight' with her pigtails and how grateful she is to have had the career she did fifty years ago. Again, Mao comes across as very humble and kind and this second part of the interview is just as good as the first part and a real treat for her fans.
We also get a few archival interviews included here. In the first, Angela Mao herself shows up for a seventeen minute on camera interview in which she talks about working with the likes of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, the films that she made for Golden Harvest, how she got into making martial arts films in the first place and more. Also appearing on camera for an interview is Carter Wong, who speaks for seventeen minutes about who he broke into martial arts movies, what it was like working with both police forces and with Sylvester Stallone and his work with Mao on Hapkido. There's also a nine minute interview with Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao in which they discuss a few of the films they've collaborated on over the years, working with their friend Jackie Chan and a fair bit more. The interviews are all tape sourced and fullframe but they are a very nice addition to the disc.
Up next is an original vintage featurette from 1972 showing Hapkido Master Ji Hanjae teaching the lead actors of the film in the art of Hapkido. Newly restored in 2K by Fortune Star, this was originally released to help promote the film and it runs just under seven minutes. There’s some cool demonstration footage in here and it’s neat to see the cast members training for the production.
Finishing up the extras on disc two are three alternate opening credits sequences (a textless intro, an English intro and the U.S. theatrical intro), two original Hong Kong theatrical trailers (one in English and the other in Mandarin), a U.S. theatrical trailer, a U.S. TV spot, a still gallery, menus and chapter selection options.
Note that as this review is based off of a test disc we can’t comment on packaging or inserts or confirm that it will match finished, retail product. Should finished product be made available, we’ll update this review accordingly.
Lady Whirlwind / Hapkido - The Final Word:
Arrow Video’s Blu-ray release of Lady Whirlwind / Hapkido does justice to two of Angela Mao’s most popular films by presenting them in very nice transfers, multiple audio tracks and loads of interesting extra features highlighted by interviews with the lady herself. Recommended!
Click on the images below, or right click and open in a new window, for full sized Lady Whirlwind / Hapkido Blu-ray screen caps!
