Black Butterfly
Lo Wei returns to the endless well of other Lo Wei films by remaking his 1960 film. This time taking full advantage of the Shaw Brothers studio and their growing push into wuxia films. I’m assuming, as the 1960 film is not widely available so I can’t compare the two. The outlines at least appear to be the same. A woman leads a double life as a thief who steals from the rich and gives to the poor.
I wonder if the 1960 version abandons that premise as easily as the 1968 version does, though. The remake starts out strong and fun, with The Black Butterfly easily stealing from various bandits and rich jerks and using the proceeds to fund free food for victims of some never-described calamity.
The social critique of these scenes is not subtle, especially as the government gets involved. They want to know where all this free food is coming from. Could it be propaganda from a nearby evil king (who is as vaguely described as the calamity)? An official says the great line “You seem so poor and broke that I’m suspicious.”
Of course the government official is sweet on Bao Zhu, unaware that she’s secretly the Black Butterfly. This adds a fun wrinkle to the Robin Hood theme, as if Maid Marian was working for the FBI.
Sadly, about 45 minutes into the movie the script remembers the troop of bandits it introduced in the first scene (where Lo Wei plays the main villain, his favorite thing to do) and the story switches over to focus on the bandits and Bao Zhu’s dad. The Robin Hood stuff is mostly dropped with Lisa Chiao Chiao fading to the background as Yueh Hua and Tien Feng take over the story.
The wuxia effects are fun. The fights are OK. Sometimes Lisa Chiao Chiao is doubled by a man at least 4 inches taller than her. And the film goes to great lengths to have legendary mystical Swordsman Loong do no actual fighting as he was played by 50-year-old Yang Chi-Ching.
The result is fine, though I wish it had stuck with the fun social critique of the opening 30 minutes. But the whole thing feels like a B-grade version of a Cheng Pei-Pei film. Which was probably the plan, to be honest. Cheng Pei-Pei spent all of 1968 making wuxia films for Shaw Brothers. Many other Shaw actresses made one or two. And most of those films co-stared Yueh Hua/Elliot Ngok Wah. Chasing after Come Drink With Me is clearly the plan for 1968.
Ian Whitney
Published: 2025-05-31