One of the true queens of kung fu cinema, Chang Pei-Pei has had an extensive filmography in her legendary career, with one of the main phases -- her time with the Shaw Brothers studio -- coming to an end after the release of 1971's The Shadow Whip. As ever, Chang creates a compelling screen presence, and the film gets a couple of points for the use of the titular weapon and a rarely-seen snowy setting, but ultimately, Lo Wei's meandering script and lackadaisical direction lets this production down.

In the movie, Chang plays Yun, whose adoptive "uncle" is the legendary Shadow Whip, Fang Chengtian (Tien Feng). When a group of constables, bounty hunters, and swordsmen (most notably Wang Jianxin, played by Chang's frequent co-star Yueh Hua) looking for revenge come to the isolated town where they live, Yun discovers her uncle's past is even more colorful -- and dangerous -- than she ever imagined.

Stylistically, The Shadow Whip is a mixed bag. Chang looks great wielding a whip, but the action direction is often marred by undercranking, a technique which is made even more obvious due to speedup present from a poor PAL to NTSC conversion on the DVD from Image Entertainment. The speedup is so pronounced that, at some points, the action looks more like a Warner Brothers cartoon than classic Shaw Brothers kung fu.

Matters are not helped by the script. It feels like Lo Wei and Ni Kuang were trying to do something more than your usual kung fu revenge plot, but there are just far too many characters thrown into the mix, and the exposition scenes take a lot of the steam generated by the action, resulting in a production that isn't bad per se, but feels like it could have been something more substantial. Despite this, The Shadow Whip still does do enough things right that aficionados of the old school genre should enjoy this picture for the most part, especially if they are fans of the actors involved.

RATING: 6