The 14 Amazons (1972)

November 24, 2016

One of the first stories about the Generals of the Yang Family. This classic Shaw Brothers film is about a straight two hour fight scene.  Even though I thought it was secondary to all the action, the acting is very well done. Lisa Lu,  won Best Supporting Actress for the 1973 – 11th Golden Horse Awards and Lily Ho, Outstanding Female Lead Performance for the 1973 – 19th Asian Film Festival.

All of the action was very convincing, I don’t know if all of the actors were trained in martial arts but you didn’t get many stylised shots to hide any inability on their part.  There were also only a few parts that were kind of wuxia otherwise the film is primarily a Historical, martial arts film. It was a pleasure to watch and I would have to rate it my favourite of all the Generals of the Yang Family movies I have watched (Legendary Amazons, Saving General Yang, and The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter).  I honestly couldn’t say who my favourite Yang was as they didn’t get to spend a lot of time with character development, although Ivy Ling Po would probably be it, although Lisa Lu was also very good. Lily Ho did a pretty good job as a young man although there were two good reasons to know it was a woman playing the role.

I watched this on Amazon Prime, it is a Celestial Pictures Limited remastered version, although it was subtitled and english dubbed.

Cheng Kang, Director & Script
Charles Tung Shao-Yung, Director
Tony Ching Siu-Tung, Action Director
Leung Siu-Chung , Action Director

Lisa Lu Yan (The Empress Dowager) as Grand Dame/She Tai Chun
Ivy Ling Po (The Twin Swords, The Sword and the Lute) as Mu Kuei Ying
Lily Ho Li-Li (The Monkey Goes West, Lady with a Sword, The Water Margin) as Yang Wen Kuan, only surviving Male of the Yang family
Yueh Hua (Come Drink with Me, Shaolin Temple, The Green Dragon Inn, Rumble in the Bronx) as Lu Chao
Shu Pei-Pei (The Thundering Sword, The Imperial Swordsman) as Yang Pai Feng
Wang Ping (The Duel, Trilogy of Swordsmanship) as Yang Chiu Chu
Liu Wu-Chi (Trilogy of Swordsmanship, The Flying Guillotine) as Yang Chiu Lan
Karen Yip Leng-Chi (Shaolin Hand Lock) as Yang Chiu Mei
Li Ching (The Sword of Swords, Have Sword, Will Travel, The New One-Armed Swordsman) as Yang Pa Mei
Tina Chin Fei (Swordsman at Large, The Kung Fu Kid) as Tu Chin Ngo
Ou-Yang Sha-Fei (The Prodigal Son, Shaolin Deadly Kicks, The Fatal Flying Guillotines, A Chinese Ghost Story II) as Chai Chun Chu
Wong Gam-Fung (The Undefeated Sword, The Sword Hand, The Thunderbolt Fist) as Ma Sai Ying
Betty Ting Pei as Huang Chiung Nu
Teresa Ha Ping (The Spiritual Boxer, Killer Clans, Shaolin Mantis) as Tung Yueh Ngo
Lin Jing (Quick Swordsman, The Magnificent Boxer, The Prodigal Son) as Tsou Lan Ying, 2nd sister
Chen Yan-Yan (The Deadly Knives, Mantis Combat, The Young Avenger) as Ken Chin Hua, 1st Sister
Chung Wah (Return of the One-Armed Swordsman, The Invincible Swordswoman, Shaolin Heroes) as Commander Yang Tsung Pao
Fan Mei-Sheng (One-Armed Swordsman, The Magnificent Swordsman, Project A II ) as General Chiao Ting Kuai
Huang Chung-Hsin (The Assassin (1967), One-Armed Swordsman, The Imperial Swordsman) as General Meng Huai Yuan
Cheung Ban (The King’s Sword, Cold Blade) as Commander Yang’s Officer
Ku Wen-Chung (Thirteen Heroes with Seven Swords, Swordsman of Shu Mountain, Flying Guillotine, Part II) as Yang Hong
Ng Man-Wah as Niu Hu
Tien Feng (Revenge of a Swordswoman, Return of the One-Armed Swordsman, Green Snake) as King Wang Wen of West Hsia
Wang Hsieh (The Sword Hand, Shaolin Deadly Kicks, Snake Crane Secret) as First Prince
James Nam Gung-Fan (Six Assassins, The Water Margin) as Second Prince
Tin Ching (The Iron Fist, The Bare-Footed Kid, Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre, Part II) as Third Prince
Paul Chun Pui (Famous Swordsman Tin Kiu, The Silver Spear, Fist of Legend) as Fourth Prince
Lo Lieh (Temple of the Red Lotus, The Flying Dagger, Dirty Ho) as Fifth Prince

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