It’s Polly Shang-kwan times two in this sluggish kung fu crime actioner made palatable only by fierce basher action in the latter half highlighting the talents of three martial arts-trained leads. Shang-kwan plays a fighting female tasked with finding her wayward twin sister, also played by Shang-kwan. The former teams with an undercover detective (Chin Kang) who is tracking down a murderous robber (Yasuaki Kurata) conveniently in an abusive relationship with the helpless twin.
A GIRL CALLED TIGRESS is Shang-kwan’s first basher role and comes shortly after she left Taiwan’s Union Film Co. and a string of entertaining wuxia films. The term basher refers to the sub-genre of kung fu cinema involving largely formless, karate-style fisticuffs that dominated the Hong Kong and Taiwanese box office in the early ’70s in the wake of the enormous success of Bruce Lee’s BIG BOSS and Chang Cheh’s BOXER FROM SHANTUNG.
Angela Mao had already been crowned the first lady of kung fu in Hong Kong by fledgling studio Golden Harvest with films such as LADY WHIRLWIND and HAPKIDO. Yet when the same studio put Shang-kwan into the leading role of the kung fu comedy BACK ALLEY PRINCESS with Mao in a supporting role in 1973, it was a hit that earned Shang-kwan a Golden Horse award and helped her make the transition from wuxia starlet to kung fu-bashing mistress just in time to take advantage of the latest genre trend.
Unlike BACK ALLEY PRINCESS, A GIRL CALLED TIGRESS is an independently produced, low-budget basher with a flimsy plot, bad acting, cheap costumes, and little to recommend beyond several energetic yet conventional screen fights.
Of the three leads, Japanese-born martial artist and screen fighter Yasuaki Kurata stands apart, as he often does, with the film’s best fighting performance. He doesn’t fight enough in the film and is forced yet again to play a real bastard, this time a man willing to beat on defenseless women. In the story, he finally meets his match when Chin Kang and Shang-kwan take him on yet it isn’t difficult to see who has the real skill, at least on screen. Kurata is faster, more graceful and conveys greater impact than either of his fellow stars.
Shang-kwan may have been too influenced by her alter ego in this film. The twin she plays is a hapless victim, untrained in fighting, which is perhaps the only time she has appeared so defenseless on film. I cringed while watching her get smacked around by Kurata. It was like watching Michelle Yeoh get beat up. It just shouldn’t happen. Her fighting counterpart evens the score and delivers moments of ferocious and highly satisfying beat downs but too often she delivers weak-looking attacks, particularly during the final duel with Kurata. She has looked more potent in other films but even at her best I’m not sure she could match Kurata.
Chin Kang looks like a fighter, has potent karate skills and moves like a real martial artist with a proper center of gravity but his kicks are sometimes clumsy and his fist work is stiff and lacking in power. His best fighting roles are typically ones with exaggerated action, most notably as the blind villain in Jimmy Wang Yu’s grindhouse classic MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE. Like Shang-kwan, he looks seriously outclassed next to Kurata. Ultimately, the blame for this imbalance should go to whoever the action director was. Quality choreography, camera work and editing can make all the difference in balancing out screen fighters of varying skill.
Like most indie kung fu flicks released in the U.S. by Ocean Shores, this one has an English dub track featuring a very familiar voice acting team from the late ’70s and early ’80s. The soundtrack on the dubbed version is a mix of the original Chinese-themed stock music and newer samples ripped from at least one Italian Western, as well as Pink Floyd’s “Time” off their “Dark Side of the Moon” album.
For anyone who doesn’t count themselves as serious fans of either the stars or the basher genre, there isn’t going to be much entertainment to be had from A GIRL CALLED TIGRESS. The fighting action is decent and all of the players perform well, including Blacky Ko and even the portly Cheng Fu-hung who makes one of his few non-comedic supporting appearances during an arm-wrestling match. Yet there is too much talk amid a dull plot and not enough distinctive action. Also, Polly Shang-kwan should have been the main draw here but the dual-role gimmick doesn’t work well and her fighting action is upstaged by Kurata’s superior skill. She was to have one more chance to match fists with Kurata when the two appeared onscreen together with Chin Kang once again the following year in the kung fu comedy THE RANGERS, featuring choreography by skilled action director Tommy Lee.
by Mark PollardRelated Topics:
A Girl Called Tigress (1973) • Chin Kang • Genre: Basher • Genre: Kung Fu • Polly Shang-kwan • Yasuaki Kurata
