It begins with a remake of the acid and axe attack that killed (or didn't kill) Ma Su Chen in the Jimmy Wang Yu movie. The theme from "Shaft" plays as Chia Ling in silhouette displays some kung fu moves. After that our girl has noodles at a road side stand in Shanghai and draws unwanted attention from the protection gangsters. Peter Yang Kwan defeats them in the movie's first fight as Chia Ling just watches.
Chia Ling's career of 57 films begins here. Or maybe it began with "The Escape" as it is hard to confirm many details in this genre. Judy Lee, as she became known, came from a Peking Opera background and attended the same school as Angela Mao. This movie is said to have been made in anywhere from 11 to 18 days start to finish. Fans will find the story quite similar to two other movies released that same year so not a lot of time needed to be spent in planning and writing. There is mixed information on the Judy Lee name but the result was fans believed she was Bruce Lee's sister. It turned into a bit of a scandal when the obvious truth came out but she weathered the storm.
Peter Yang Kwan began as a dramatic actor about 20 years before this movie. In the late 1960s he began action leading roles in such movies as "The Knight of Old Cathay" and "King of Kings". For fans of this genre I recommend both of those movies and have reviewed them here. His career eventually broadened to every job in the movie business. My copy is a digital file that plays on a HDTV as widescreen in dimensions but does not fill the screen. It is English dubbed with large Chinese and English subtitles embedded. I also have the Bonzai Media DVD. There are dozens of other versions out there and some are barely visible so if yours is low quality, just try again.
For a first movie Chia Ling could not have done better or could not have been luckier.
Chia Ling's career of 57 films begins here. Or maybe it began with "The Escape" as it is hard to confirm many details in this genre. Judy Lee, as she became known, came from a Peking Opera background and attended the same school as Angela Mao. This movie is said to have been made in anywhere from 11 to 18 days start to finish. Fans will find the story quite similar to two other movies released that same year so not a lot of time needed to be spent in planning and writing. There is mixed information on the Judy Lee name but the result was fans believed she was Bruce Lee's sister. It turned into a bit of a scandal when the obvious truth came out but she weathered the storm.
Peter Yang Kwan began as a dramatic actor about 20 years before this movie. In the late 1960s he began action leading roles in such movies as "The Knight of Old Cathay" and "King of Kings". For fans of this genre I recommend both of those movies and have reviewed them here. His career eventually broadened to every job in the movie business. My copy is a digital file that plays on a HDTV as widescreen in dimensions but does not fill the screen. It is English dubbed with large Chinese and English subtitles embedded. I also have the Bonzai Media DVD. There are dozens of other versions out there and some are barely visible so if yours is low quality, just try again.
For a first movie Chia Ling could not have done better or could not have been luckier.