Chen Hung-Min’s 1968 directorial debut lends another poetic treat for curious audiences sitting in for this year’s Old School Kung Fu Festival spotlighting Taiwanese classics. Vengeance Of The Phoenix Sisters is the name with eighty-seven minutes of straightforward action and drama with just a few frills and snags but nothing that takes too much away from the institutionalized efforts to revitalize and restore this bygone action adventure.
Chinese opera and silver screen stars Yang Li-hua, Liu Ching, and Chin Mei take on the respective roles of Xieufeng, Qingfeng, and Zhifeng in a story that leaps forward fifteen years following the deadly massacre of a former sheriff and his wife at the hands of three criminals he once jailed. Chen’s story takes off with Xieufeng front and center as she desperately begs her master and uncle, Zhenhai, for his blessing after years of training, hereby promising not to waste the skills she’s attained under his tutelage, and using them solely under a man’s alias. It isn’t long before Xieufeng’s first fracas brings her face to face with men working for a trafficker who turns out to be the first of her three intended targets.
After an earlier altercation, Cao’s men follow the mysterious swordsman they think she is, in an attempt to poison her which fails and ultimately escalates to a midnight chase. Separately, we are introduced to the other two sisters, Qingfeng, who dons a mask just as she rescues Zhifeng from an attack that evening on her family before revealing themselves to each other. The trio is eventually brought together by chance when Xieufeng is discovered unconscious and wounded. Treated by the other two women, she continues to keep her identity secret until another fateful encounter finally brings the sisters together in unity against the murderers who’ve upended their lives and accrued a small army willing to do their bidding.
OSKFF 2023’s digitally restored Vengeance Of The Phoenix Sisters presents a pristine black-and-white revenge thriller with a terrific score and performances that rightly earn the film’s ceremony. Yang’s portrayal of a masculine swordsman brings a touch of hilarity to a select few moments including when her alter-ego becomes a point of interest for the flirtatious wife of a disgruntled innkeeper. What keeps the story even more interesting is just how long she withholds her real name even as she crosses paths with the two women who might be her long-lost sisters.
Zhifeng and Qingfeng’s entry feels a tad abrupt midway through the film, which could be due to lost or damaged footage in the wake of the film’s restoration. The movie cuts right from an attempt on Xieufeng’s life to an attack on Zhifeng during which a masked Qingfeng emerges in black garb, blade in hand, and comes to Zhifeng’s defense. It’s easy to taper off unless you backtrack just to catch what you just saw and reassure yourself that you didn’t miss anything, otherwise, you might be left guessing, which can be frustrating.
Stylistically, the action runs at a pretty good pace, with the last half hour presenting a slightly more acrobatic showcase as our heroines do battle. At one point you see Yang catching a sword between both hands just before it’s lunged at her, and immediately it’ll remind you of a certain moment from a particular action scene in a comic book movie sequel a few decades or so ago. It’s little moments, elements, and aspects like this that make what the Taiwan Film & Audiovisual Institute is doing with these movies so much more important when it comes to wuxia cinema and improving our collective understanding of its history. Even short of its complete delivery, Vengeance Of The Phoenix Sisters offers a classic, poetic story of revenge and family worthy of its ceremony.
Vengeance Of The Phoenix Sisters screens for the 10th Old School Kung Fu Film Festival which runs from April 21 to April 30.