Iron Sister
Though this Hsu Chi video is showing up in Chinatown
video stores and apparently was released in HK in 1999, according to Ryan
it was a film made very early in Hsu Chi’s career – perhaps in Taiwan.
An early Hsu Chi film might fill most serious moviegoers with horror, but
she actually does a very nice job here. I can’t say the same for the film
– though it has an intriguing plot with potential – it is very badly executed.
It takes place during the Japanese occupation
of China in the 1930’s and 40’s. Tung Fei is caught by a Japanese commander
playing house with the commander's Chinese mistress and in the ensuing
fight he kills the commander and escapes into the grasslands. There he
is found by Hsu Chi and her father (maybe Dick Wei behind those whiskers?)
and nursed back to health. Hsu and her father earn their living by hunting
and farming. Tung Fei is soon telling everyone about his heroics – but
leaving out a few details such as the fact that he was sleeping with the
commander’s mistress and was in fact a Japanese collaborator.
Hsu Chi is in love with Little Tiger and after
running down a deer one day – they decide to celebrate by going skinny-dipping
and then making love. Within a few weeks Hsu Chi is throwing up in the
morning – must be that damn venison! One day all the men decide to go out
and kill some Japanese and Little Tiger is killed. With a child on the
way, Hsu Chi feels she has to marry Tung.
Years pass, a little girl (Tigress) is born and
Tung discovers that the mistress is now a prostitute in a town nearby.
He again begins an affair with her and this leads to the inevitable tragic
results. The end of the film is pretty good as Hsu Chi turns into Lone
Wolf and Cub when Tung and some other collaborators try to kill her and
Tigress.
For the male readers – how much nudity is there
here? A little – Hsu Chi in her dip in the river and the mistress a few
times. Whether this is enough to rent this tape is up to you!
My rating for this film: 4.5