Shadow Girl (HK 1971)

Rating: *
Review Date: 10/18/00
Cast: Lily Li

Simply awful. And just when I thought kung fu movies couldn't get much worse... This is actually an invisible girl movie, so you can imagine how it's going to go. A young swordswoman (Lily Li in an early role) has the ability to become invisible and enjoys playing pranks on people. She eventually offends the bad guy in the movie and has to go up against such bandits as the Three Wolves, the Four Terrors, and the Two Ancients. During her battles, she becomes poisoned and a handsome doctor rescues her. After recovering, she finishes off the rest of the bad guys while the doctor searches for a cure for Lily's invisibility. Presumably they get together at the end of the film and live happily ever after.

This Shaw Brothers production is just dreadful on all accounts. The story is non-existent, the acting is poor, the action scenes are laughable, and the drop-frame editing is atrocious. Then of course there are the requisite invisibility gags, which seem particularly inadequate in this day and age. Most of the time Ms. Li has her face covered and her hands tucked into her sleeves to imply her invisibleness, which looks downright silly. A very out of character role for Lily Li, as when she's not invisible she spends most of her time giggling or pouting. And there doesn't seem to be a point to the whole invisibility angle - it's just a cheap gimmick that neither adds or detracts from the story. Don't bother.