Golden Shallow (1968)

Golden Shallow is different from other director Chang Cheh's works. Usually his movies are about brotherhood, but here there is a beautiful love story. I love the poetic image of Wang Yu in white with dark big tree in the background, with chinese characters hanging from the tree.

With a sword I travel alone...

Cheng Pei-pei played Golden Shallow. In the beginning of the movie she was wounded and helped by Iron Whip, played by Lo Lieh. This scene was shot from an old woman's view as she witnessed the incident from her house's ventholes.

Cheng Pei-pei as The Golden Shallow

The whip used by Lo Lieh is rarely seen in movies. When I hear the word 'whip', what I have in mind is a strap. But the 'whip' here is a rod.

Iron Whip vs Silver Roc

While Golden Shallow was being recuperated from her wounds, Iron Whip gradually fell in love with her. However Golden Shallow could not forget her childhood sweetheart, Silver Roc, played by Wang Yu. Golden Shallow and Silver Roc had not met for years, but the man in front of one's eyes was hard to compete with the one on one's mind only. The image of Silver Roc had been planted in Golden Shallow for long that she had shaped the image to perfection. Silver Roc had become her idol.

Wang Yu as Silver Roc and Lo Lieh as Iron Whip

Silver Roc was also looking for her. He killed bad people using her name to lure her out. [One of the cases was similar to the case of King Ahab vs Nabot: a rich man wanted his neighbour's land, but the neighbour refused to sell so the rich man used an evil trick to obtain the land.] He also had a lover in a brothel, the one he could trust with his sad story of his lost love. A strange way to express his love for Golden Shallow, I say.

Because this is a kung-fu movie, when someone dies, there will be another who seeks revenge. Since Silver Roc killed people using Golden Shallow's names, many people looking for Golden Shallow, wanted to avenge their loved ones. Iron Whip tried to protect Golden Shallow and stop Silver Roc from killing more people.