Daigoro
09-26-2008, 05:29 AM
I had been searching for the film for 3 years nonstop. I had e-mailed every person who made a mention of this film online
(of which there were very few) I had also had it requested that results via the eBay search feature be returned to me. Not
once in those three years had there been even one result that landed me anywhere but the start. I began during that first
year to question if the search for that film would forever remain as elusive as the title of the film it'self. Shadow Girl. Ironic
as it seemed that being the title of the film and me searching for a movie that really did not seem to exist was about an
Invisible Swordswoman who often showed signs of herself in one moment only to disappear the next, astonishing unsus-
pecting wizened old women and, blowing the hats off prince and princess alike. The search for the film Shadow girl and
the way she (Lily Li 李丽丽) was in the film had been just as lubricious. In the end nothing to be left or heard but her laughter
trailing out along the wind, soon only to be a whisper and what then only a legend perhaps. Those dusty roads after she
had come and gone began to mirror my own search for the long lost Classic but I refused to be fooled so easily, paying
no attention to what i saw and only what i believed in as is the price to pay sometimes to see a dream come true.
Shadow Girl 隱身女俠 (1971) Starring Lily Li 李丽丽 (Shaw Brothers) http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m72/store_age/a-SG-INTRO.jpg
For me it was a dream at least it seemed to be one worth the chase. As each year passed without result and the film that
was called ''Shadow Girl'' remained and seemed to want to remain elusive somehow i understood that if i was persistent
that eventually no matter how impossible it seemed one day it would fall into my hands. Finally ''Shadow Girl'' would be
mine. I had become a fan of Lily Li after all she was partly responsible for my re-introduction into Asian cinema. As a child
i used to watch Martial Arts Theatre on TV in Detroit; those recollections were amongst my fondest times. They burned
bright like gold and as a child in my innocence so little seemed to speak volumes. Although i probably did not understand
what was going on in the filmwork i knew there was something special about it even then. I could never really have come
close to guessing that as an adult those once forgotten and half remembered times, memories i had so fondly held
as a child would come Rising from whatever place they were once cherished, rising in their wondrous might. In all
the forgetfulness they were one of few things that had such life breathed into them and even though i thought i had
forgotten that time they (those memories) seemed to take a life of their own.
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m72/store_age/A-over-EFS.jpg
It was not until 25 years later i found myself recalling the scenes from one of the movies i had seen back then. The
details from some scenes from a movie (i had not placed yet) had been playing in my head like a roll of film. Over and
over the visions would begin to make their way through. They began and it was like seeing something elusive i could not
quite put my finger on almost as if trying to touch a Shadow, it was there and yet it was not. No matter what it seemed
all i could think of was some white haired villain calling me from the past, laughing and a hero who rose to the challenge
like full and sparkling righteousness, rising above the crest of his zenith along the horizon. He arose this hero like a tiger
a man yet not just a man a savior when there was none. With pinpoint precision he would turn his fists into the shape of
tigers claws as he practiced on a statue made of gold from wherein ball bearings would flow through it's system like liquid
steel. Just as i began to see the bearings loose; so that it was with my memory and that's when it all came flooding back.
That statue of course as we know it now was Iron statue Hong Xi-guan (ala Chen Kuan-Tai) practiced on for years in order
to defeat the undefeatable. The white-haired villain known as Pai Mei. The ball bearings that coursed through out the
statue being a representative of the pressure points Hong Xi-guan feverishly sought to aim his fingers at like heat seeking
missiles to discover the weakness of Pai Mei on a body where there seemed to be none. The name of that film as i soon
found out was, "Executioners From Shaolin". (Starring Chen Kuan Tai, Lo Leih, Lily Li among others).
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m72/store_age/B-over-EFS.jpg
In the heat of the moment as the sun threw it's shadow down in that that final hour and he struck with his ''tiger style'' he
did so with such style that is was all that we do but hope along side him that he would emerge once again just as the sun
does when it comes each day (as it does) after the darkest night. Those moments that were caught on film even though
it seems they do not last past the moment they are seen, remain. One day they themselves if sparked together by those
seeing eyes as children turned into adults who have forgotten the wonder remains will see that they will spring forth and
emerge again from that forrest where nothing seems to be like a tiger cub that comes emerging from his den suddenly
from under a cleft of rock and foliage. Yawning, eyes full of wonder yet knowing all he will ever need to know because
all that he needs to know is already in him. No question soon enough that cub one day will roar and shake his time through eternity.
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m72/store_age/C-over-EFS.jpg
As for the film Executioners From Shaolin and how it relates to Shadow Girl, well that was the film that brought it all back
it was also the reason why i started to collect Asian filmworks. It was also my introduction to Lily Li, i began to collect her
films and i own most all of them (52 i think i lost count). She only had one other single starring role of where in the film she
took primary focus in the movie besides Chu Yuan's (who is my favorite director) 1973 cult classic THE BASTARD. A rare
find a dream perhaps but one worth chasing down and fighting for in the end. Here are some screen caps which i will
be posting on Kungfucinema.com forums. This sadly enough is NOT one of the films Celestial is going to release so for
some, for most it will remain in the catacombs of elusivity never to be seen again only heard of like her laughter once she
had been someplace and just before she disappeared again.
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m72/store_age/b2-SG-INTRO.jpg
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m72/store_age/shadow-girl-set-1.jpg
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m72/store_age/shadow-girl-set-2.jpg
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m72/store_age/shadow-girl-set-3.jpg
To be continued...
Content/Display Daigoro-san
(of which there were very few) I had also had it requested that results via the eBay search feature be returned to me. Not
once in those three years had there been even one result that landed me anywhere but the start. I began during that first
year to question if the search for that film would forever remain as elusive as the title of the film it'self. Shadow Girl. Ironic
as it seemed that being the title of the film and me searching for a movie that really did not seem to exist was about an
Invisible Swordswoman who often showed signs of herself in one moment only to disappear the next, astonishing unsus-
pecting wizened old women and, blowing the hats off prince and princess alike. The search for the film Shadow girl and
the way she (Lily Li 李丽丽) was in the film had been just as lubricious. In the end nothing to be left or heard but her laughter
trailing out along the wind, soon only to be a whisper and what then only a legend perhaps. Those dusty roads after she
had come and gone began to mirror my own search for the long lost Classic but I refused to be fooled so easily, paying
no attention to what i saw and only what i believed in as is the price to pay sometimes to see a dream come true.
Shadow Girl 隱身女俠 (1971) Starring Lily Li 李丽丽 (Shaw Brothers) http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m72/store_age/a-SG-INTRO.jpg
For me it was a dream at least it seemed to be one worth the chase. As each year passed without result and the film that
was called ''Shadow Girl'' remained and seemed to want to remain elusive somehow i understood that if i was persistent
that eventually no matter how impossible it seemed one day it would fall into my hands. Finally ''Shadow Girl'' would be
mine. I had become a fan of Lily Li after all she was partly responsible for my re-introduction into Asian cinema. As a child
i used to watch Martial Arts Theatre on TV in Detroit; those recollections were amongst my fondest times. They burned
bright like gold and as a child in my innocence so little seemed to speak volumes. Although i probably did not understand
what was going on in the filmwork i knew there was something special about it even then. I could never really have come
close to guessing that as an adult those once forgotten and half remembered times, memories i had so fondly held
as a child would come Rising from whatever place they were once cherished, rising in their wondrous might. In all
the forgetfulness they were one of few things that had such life breathed into them and even though i thought i had
forgotten that time they (those memories) seemed to take a life of their own.
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m72/store_age/A-over-EFS.jpg
It was not until 25 years later i found myself recalling the scenes from one of the movies i had seen back then. The
details from some scenes from a movie (i had not placed yet) had been playing in my head like a roll of film. Over and
over the visions would begin to make their way through. They began and it was like seeing something elusive i could not
quite put my finger on almost as if trying to touch a Shadow, it was there and yet it was not. No matter what it seemed
all i could think of was some white haired villain calling me from the past, laughing and a hero who rose to the challenge
like full and sparkling righteousness, rising above the crest of his zenith along the horizon. He arose this hero like a tiger
a man yet not just a man a savior when there was none. With pinpoint precision he would turn his fists into the shape of
tigers claws as he practiced on a statue made of gold from wherein ball bearings would flow through it's system like liquid
steel. Just as i began to see the bearings loose; so that it was with my memory and that's when it all came flooding back.
That statue of course as we know it now was Iron statue Hong Xi-guan (ala Chen Kuan-Tai) practiced on for years in order
to defeat the undefeatable. The white-haired villain known as Pai Mei. The ball bearings that coursed through out the
statue being a representative of the pressure points Hong Xi-guan feverishly sought to aim his fingers at like heat seeking
missiles to discover the weakness of Pai Mei on a body where there seemed to be none. The name of that film as i soon
found out was, "Executioners From Shaolin". (Starring Chen Kuan Tai, Lo Leih, Lily Li among others).
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m72/store_age/B-over-EFS.jpg
In the heat of the moment as the sun threw it's shadow down in that that final hour and he struck with his ''tiger style'' he
did so with such style that is was all that we do but hope along side him that he would emerge once again just as the sun
does when it comes each day (as it does) after the darkest night. Those moments that were caught on film even though
it seems they do not last past the moment they are seen, remain. One day they themselves if sparked together by those
seeing eyes as children turned into adults who have forgotten the wonder remains will see that they will spring forth and
emerge again from that forrest where nothing seems to be like a tiger cub that comes emerging from his den suddenly
from under a cleft of rock and foliage. Yawning, eyes full of wonder yet knowing all he will ever need to know because
all that he needs to know is already in him. No question soon enough that cub one day will roar and shake his time through eternity.
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m72/store_age/C-over-EFS.jpg
As for the film Executioners From Shaolin and how it relates to Shadow Girl, well that was the film that brought it all back
it was also the reason why i started to collect Asian filmworks. It was also my introduction to Lily Li, i began to collect her
films and i own most all of them (52 i think i lost count). She only had one other single starring role of where in the film she
took primary focus in the movie besides Chu Yuan's (who is my favorite director) 1973 cult classic THE BASTARD. A rare
find a dream perhaps but one worth chasing down and fighting for in the end. Here are some screen caps which i will
be posting on Kungfucinema.com forums. This sadly enough is NOT one of the films Celestial is going to release so for
some, for most it will remain in the catacombs of elusivity never to be seen again only heard of like her laughter once she
had been someplace and just before she disappeared again.
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m72/store_age/b2-SG-INTRO.jpg
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m72/store_age/shadow-girl-set-1.jpg
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m72/store_age/shadow-girl-set-2.jpg
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m72/store_age/shadow-girl-set-3.jpg
To be continued...
Content/Display Daigoro-san