Lady Whirlwind (1972) Movie Review

Martial arts fans have a reason to be excited this month with the re-release of “Lady Whirlwind”, a classic slice of old school action from 1972 featuring the incomparable Angela Mao. Thankfully the film has retained its original title, rather than its bizarre and misleading Western moniker “Deep Thrust: The Hand of Death”, with which it had been saddled in a misguided move to try and cash in on the success of the popular adult feature “Deep Throat” - salaciously promising viewers that they would witness ‘the deadly stroke of Bare-Hand Combat’. While this may have disappointed anyone looking for a different kind of action, the film itself is a genre classic and features another great performance from the star, who the exploitative poster at least had the decency to accurately refer to as the ‘Mistress of the Death Blow’.

Actually, although Angela Mao is the star, and indeed likely the main reason for watching the film, she shares most of the screen time with Chang Yi, himself a popular kung fu actor who featured in many genre films during the 1970s and 80s, including Shaw Brothers productions such as “The Silver Fox” and “The Silent Swordsman”, often as a villainous figure. Fans may also recognise him from his more recent role in the 1993 hit “Moon Warriors”, directed by the legendary Sammo Hung and starring Andy Lau, Anita Mui and Maggie Cheung.

Here, Chang Yi plays Ling Shih Hua, a man hiding from his past who runs into more trouble with some local thugs. Although he seems like a decent fellow, living with a girl called Wang (Huang Feng, who worked with Mao on a number of other films including “When Taekwondo Strikes” and others) who nursed him back to health and who is clearly in love with him, a mysterious woman called Miss Tien (Mao) turns up demanding vengeance for his having wronged her sister. After the usual case of mistaken identity sees Wang being grabbed by the villains, Ling asks Tien for a stay of execution. She agrees, though only on the understanding that once the dust has settled they will have a reckoning of their own.

“Lady Whirlwind” gives Angela Mao another great tough girl role and shows exactly why she still has so many fans. Easily stealing the show, she turns in a dynamic performance as a righteous, take no nonsense fighter, and director Huang Feng (”Iron-Fisted Monk”, “When Taekwondo Strikes”) wisely gives her plenty of chances to show off her considerable skills. The rest of the cast are also on good form, with Chang Yi effective as the tortured Ling, and with the bad guys being an interesting and colourful bunch, including the obligatory Japanese thugs, a whip cracking villainess, and a young Sammo Hung, who in the early days of his career frequently found himself on the wrong side of Mao’s fists.

The action is fast paced and well-handled, and Huang keeps things moving along nicely without ever really stepping outside the genre formula. The fight scenes are brutal and bloody, with some decent choreography as Mao and Chang effortlessly take on hordes of faceless opponents, and the film makes for exciting viewing. Although the plot is standard stuff and pans out exactly as expected Huang throws in enough kung fu nonsense to keep things interesting, including a great extended scene in which Ling randomly meets an injured wandering Korean herbalist who is rather conveniently able to school him in the deadly Tai Chi Palm style (cue ruined temple, wacky training montage and plenty of beard stroking).

To be honest, with Angela Mao as the star, “Lady Whirlwind” was always going to rank as a must-see for genre fans. However, the Mistress of the Death Blow aside, it stands as a solid film in its own right, with enough hard-hitting action, bright red blood and noble death scene sentiments to entertain and thrill in suitably classic style.

Feng Huang (director)
CAST: Angela Mao … Miss Tien
Yi Chang … Ling Shih-hua
Ying Bai
Siu-Lung Leung
Sammo Hung Kam-Bo