The Lady Hermit is all about action, atmosphere and, for lack of a better term girl-power. Yeah you better believe it, the two leading ladies in this film kick ass and look good doing it - okay, I admit, that was cheesy. However, I cannot overemphasize how great it is to see two such strong female fighters working together in a film to overcome the evil powers of an evil kung fu master. It is also a breath of fresh air to witness a love triangle between the three heroes that does not pander to juvenile male fantasies or ask the charismatic leading women to compromise their strength and integrity. The narrative is very mature in that it develops the characters and their individual arcs in a way that makes sense, and makes the characters stronger and more likable for the audience.

Memorable Characters
The three heroes of the film all offer something to the narrative and are all quite memorable.

The Lady Hermit - Although you may not recognize Cheng Pei-Pei from her earlier roles such as this, you may remember her as Jade Fox from Ang Lee's crossover hit Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. She starred as a swordswoman in a dozen or so films beginning with the genre defining classic Come Drink With Me directed by King Hu - many fans credit this film as being the first modern martial arts film. The Lady Hermit character is both understated and intense, as she wishes to keep her real identity a secret but is soon overcome with the burning desire to see Black Demon dead. She may also possess slight supernatural abilities, as she is able to appear seemingly out of nowhere, scale walls, and move at great speeds. Likening this character to Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name, or Charles Bronson's Harmonica would not be a stretch. As a matter of fact the entire film has the same kind of inconspicuous supernatural atmosphere as seen in Leone's great westerns.

Chang Chun - Lo Lieh is a martial arts film superstar. At one point at the height of the Shaw Brothers reign, Lieh could be seen in dozens of films per year. He directed classics such as Fist of the White Lotus, and starred in genre-defining gems like Five Fingers of Death. The character of Chang Chun is not a typical Lieh role however. In the film he plays a love interest of the two leading ladies but this is not to say we don't get to see him kick some butt - because we do. Although Chang may not be a true martial arts master, he possesses a sense of honor and chivalry and plays a very important role in the last battle.

Cui Ping - Cui Ping, in a word, rocks and unfortunately I know next to nothing about the starlet behind the rockingness: Si Si. What I do know is this: I will never forget her performance from the film, nor her character. Like Gordon Liu in many of his roles, Cui Ping is determined to overcome evil, and is consumed by an earnest spirit. Also like Liu's many characters, Cui Ping always looks like she is having the time of her life, even when fighting dozens of henchmen, hanging from a dangling suspension bridge, or staving off a band of ruthless thugs - nothing dampens her attitude, as she is all smiles mixed with equal amounts of kung fu skill.

Memorable Fights
The first major brawl in the film is utterly fantastic, as is each consecutive bout of kung fu fisticuffs. This first major set piece transpires on an abandoned street in a small Chinese village as Cui Ping is trying to track down a group of killers who have disguised themselves as ghouls. Soon she is overrun by the baddies, and who should show up in the nick of time? No other than the enigmatic Lady Hermit, clad in a white cloak, and wearing a wide brimmed hat, the Lady Hermit looks like some kind of ghostly beauty poised to kill with her sharpened sword. Together, the Lady Hermit and Cui Ping take on the gang of thugs and one by one, one spray of blood after another, they dispatch of their adversaries in a ballet like fashion of beautiful violence.

Memorable Set Pieces
During the last big brawl, which just so happens to run almost 25 minutes, Cui Ping climbs a tall pagoda to reach Black Demon's flag in order to slice it down in a symbolic demonstration of humiliation. She does not however use the stairs on the inside of the pagoda. No, she is too dang cool to use stairs. She scales the pagoda from the outside like a female kung fu Spiderman only stopping at each level long enough to kill a handful of lackeys. She climbs, spins, flips, pulls, jumps, and slices her way to the top of the dark tower in a display of prowess seldom seen. The entire sequence is something of an action fan's dream and is executed flawlessly.

Lasting Impressions
The Lady Hermit is a classic film in every sense of the word. Like Chang Cheh's Return of the One-Armed Swordsman, I have to wonder why this film is not more well known or mentioned along side the likes of The Seven Samurai, A Fistful of Dollars, The Wild Bunch and other high profile genre films. Everything about the film from the music to the staging, from the script to the acting, from the cinematography to the action choreography, represents a shining example of near-perfection. The narrative is engaging, the characters are endearing and the entire film just oozes with classic charm. When people say "they just don't make them like they used to," they are talking about films such as The Lady Hermit: a film that represents the best of the genre, embraces the tropes of the genre, and simultaneously transcends the trappings of its genre by shedding any false pretense and being confident in what it is - a perfectly crafted martial arts classic