VENGEANCE OF A SNOW GIRL (1971)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *good*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological*

I've only seen a handful of the films Lo Wei wrote and/or directed since the 1950s, so the info that this was the last film he directed and co-wrote for Shaw Brothers doesn't mean much to me. What I found meaningful was that VENGEANCE OF A SNOW GIRL was a better than average take on the consequences of revenge.

As much as Western cinema, HK films, whether they're chopsockies or otherwise, often depend on vengeance to drive their plots. Only a small number of such movies show that revenge is a dish that can poison the avenger, and even a lot of those which expose the downside of the avenger's quest still manage to kill off all the villains anyway, a tradition as old as HAMLET.

As a child Shen Bing Hong (Li Ching) witnesses her parents, the custodians of the formidable sword Jade Dragon, slain by a quartet of martial artists who don't think Bing's daddy (played by the director) is strong enough to keep the weapon safe. Actually, Little Bing only thinks all four kill her parents; one among them, Lord Kao, abstains from the murderous action. Little Bing hides from the killers by partly submerging herself in a freezing lake, and when she comes out, her legs have become severely weakened. (Hence the sobriquet "Snow Girl.") Somehow, in the next fifteen or so years, she gets martial arts training (though sword-fighting is her only martial skill). Thus, even though she can only walk with the help of crutches, Bing can somehow bound as high as the top of an eight-foot wall, with what I assume is some sort of wuxia magic-- which alone places SNOW GIRL within the marvelous domain.

Bing's opening gambit is to steal the Jade Dragon from Ge Hung, one of the murderers. Then she disguises herself as a man and pretends to set up selling a weapons shop near Ge's house. Tien Ying (Yuen Hua), one of Lord Kao's grown sons, notices the Jade Dragon and invites Bing to Ge's estate, because Kao and the other two murderers all live in the same town and keep up contact. In fact, Ying is engaged to marry Ming Zhu (Lisa Chiao Chiao), the daughter of another of the four middle-aged martial artists. Ying is utterly clueless as to Bing's true nature, but she apparently takes to Ying, despite knowing he's the son of a man she plans to kill.

Getting access to Ge's estate gives Bing the chance to kill Ge. Ying intercepts the disguised Bing in flight, and is flummoxed that this apparent cripple can fend off Ying's best sallies. Bing escapes, but listens in on a conversation in which Ming Zhu busts Ying's balls for letting the killer escape. For no explicit reason, Bing disposes of her male guise, shows her true feminine self to the quarreling couple, and announces her intention to kill the other three older men, Ming Zhu seems much less concerned with the threat to her father than to some possible competition from another young woman, and in this her suspicions are justified, though the clueless Ying doesn't yet realize that he has become smitten.

Bing escapes again, and Ying relates her story to his father Kao and his brother Ting Wei. Bing attacks Kao at the latter's house, but Kao is more than a match for her. Ying intervenes, pleading mercy for a crippled woman, and wonders if his father's vast knowledge of medicine might cure Bing's malady. Bing resists the idea, claiming that even she got a cure she'll still seek the lives of all her parents' killers. But she does want to be cured, and she's becoming more and more attracted to Ying.

Kao then informs Bing that her cure depends on undertaking a sort of fantasy-quest. First, she must journey to a foreign kingdom and request the loan of "fire resistant suits." Second, she must use this protection to descent into a certain volcano and retrieve a magical pearl. Third, she can use the pearl to enter a snowbound realm where it's so cold that it can freeze a human being to ice-- unless one can offset the cold with the heat of the pearl. Oddly, at the center of the snow-zone is a boiling-hot spring, and if Bing can submerge her legs in the spring for an hour, she'll be cured.

Ying talks his diffident brother Wei into coming along, but Wei's only in the story to act as a messenger at a particular point in the narrative. The real story is of course Bing falling in love with the selfless Ying, and he with her. I won't detail all of the quest-adventures, but the first one is the most revealing. Upon entering the foreign kingdom the locals capture Ying and Wei. The king threatens to kill the intruders, but Bing appears and offers her own life in exchange. Fortunately, she's able to impress the monarch with her sword-skill, so that all three depart with the fire-suits (which look a lot like modern plastic). Wei then finds some reason to go back home, to let his father know what's happened. However, Ming Zhu, her father and some soldiers (possibly the other murderer too, I forget) get on the trail of Ying and Bing, and cause them trouble during their progress. Kao duly follows to see how things sort out.

The climax takes place in the snowfield. Only one of the two heroes can venture into the small cold-zone at a time, since the pearl can only protect one person. I can't swear that Lo Wei was using the conjoined cold and heat as metaphors for Bing's cold heart being warmed by her passion for her courageous companion, but I think it's a decent justification for these fantasy-elements. Unfortunately, when Ming Zhu's forces show up, this places Ying's life in danger, and the heroine sacrifices her own life to save him-- though, as noted above, all the original murderers are killed, while Ming Zhu's only punishments are losing her father and her lover.

SNOW GIRL's no neglected classic. But Li Ching gives a fine performance amid all the swordplay, and I'm prepared to give a look to any other works by Lo Wei I may encounter.