Main Cast: Brigitte Lin, Leslie Cheung, Nam Kit-Ying
Release Year: 1993
Country: HK
Run Time: 92 minutes
Plot
Following on the success of 1987's Chinese Ghost Story, Hong Kong was inundated with romantically themed tales of the supernatural. Most were awful, but Ronny Yu's The Bride With White Hair has become a classic of the genre. Based on a two-volumed 1954 novel written by Leung Yu-Sang, the film tells the story of star-crossed lovers and bloody conflict. The two meet when Lian (Brigitte Lin Ching-Hsia), a beautiful sorceress who was raised by wolves, saves young warrior Zhuo Yi-Hang (Leslie Cheung) from a pack of hungry animals. Though she disappears before he can thank her, Zhuo is entranced. Later Zhuo becomes a master swordsman with the Wu Tang Clan, a tight-knit martial arts society dedicated to the villainous Ji Wu-Shuang (played by both Francis Ng and Elaine Lui), a mutant half-man, half-woman creature who rules the land with an iron fist. Though Zhuo is more interested in quiet life of contemplation, the clan elders see Zhou as their best weapon against their evil King/Queen. Meanwhile, Lian has grown into a formidable adversary herself -- especially with the use of her trusty whip, which can slice a man in two. She has been recruited by Ji to thwart the rebels. In the midst of battle, Zhou and Lian meet. Ji -- who secretly lusts for Lian -- orders her to kill Zhuo. She refuses, much to his displeasure, and orders her tortured to within an inch of her life. Zhuo discovers Lian's semi-conscious body and nurses her back to health. The two soon fall passionately in love and vow to always trust one another. Unfortunately, Ji's black magic revenge spoils the lovers' new-found bliss. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
Review
Among martial arts movies, The Bride With White Hair is a good example of the evolutionary bridge between the old Bruce Lee movies and films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. In other words, the filmmakers cobbled together some decent stunts and wire work -- albeit obscured through blurred camerawork, quick edits and smoke machines -- but shooting on a sound stage was still all the budget would allow. Consequently, watching this film has its frustrations at the promise that might have been better fulfilled with greater resources. But what Ronnie Yu does bring to the screen has plenty of merit, and it's clear why this was one of his final films before Hollywood came knocking. While it can be difficult to keep track of all the various characters and clan mythologies, at its core, this is a Romeo and Juliet story, featuring warring "families" and star-crossed lovers. This male-female dichotomy is even explored within the same character, a conjoined evil warlord metaphorically torn apart by his/her differing desires. The fight scenes are decent if not groundbreaking, but where The Bride With White Hair distinguishes itself is in the complexity of the characters. The villains are essentially hissable and the heroes essentially valiant, but each shows moments of human weakness that either temper their evil or qualify their goodness. In fact, at times the story may go too far in this direction, leaving certain characters behaving in ways that run contrary to their prior motivations. But Yu is careful to modulate the emotions of his characters, steering clear of the melodrama that can dominate this historically histrionic genre. The Bride With White Hair was so popular that it spawned a sequel within the same calendar year -- another indication of how relatively inexpensive it was to produce. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Eddie Ma - Art Director, Emi Wada - Costume Designer, Philip Kwok - Director, Ronny Yu - Director, David Wu - Editor, Richard Yuen - Composer (Music Score), Jacqueline Cristianini - Musical Direction/Supervision, Peter Pau - Cinematographer, Michael Wong - Producer, Raymond Wong - Producer, Ronny Yu - Producer, Clifton Ko - Producer, Ronny Yu - Screenwriter, Lan Kei-Tou - Screenwriter, Tseng Pik-Yin - Screenwriter, David Wu - Screenwriter, Leung Yu-sang - Book Author, Liang Yusheng - Book Author
The film's main character, Lien Ni-Chang, is very loosely based on the protagonist of Liang Yusheng's novel Romance of the White Haired Maiden, which had earlier served as source material for the 1982 film Wolf Devil Woman[1]. However the director Yu himself saw the film as a “Romeo and Juliet” story and said that the lovers’ struggle against fate and their heroic duty inspired him more than the familiar trappings of most martial arts adventures [2]. As such the movie departs significantly from the original source .
Cho Yi-Hang (Leslie Cheung) was raised by Taoist Tzu Yang (Pao Fong) of the Wu-Tang Clan and groomed into a fine young swordsman with a sense of chivalry and righteousness. He is placed in command of a coalition army formed by the Eight Great Clans of the Central Plains to eliminate an evil cult based in Manchuria. During the battle, Cho meets a young woman named Lien Ni-Chang (Brigitte Lin) and falls in love with her. She reveals herself to be an orphan who was raised by wolves as an infant and later brought into the care of Chi Wu-Shuang (Francis Ng and Elaine Lui), the Siamese twins who led the evil cult. For their love, Lien decides to leave the cult and be with Cho forever. Both of them want to leave the Jianghu and become an ordinary couple.
Lien Ni-Chang manages to leave the cult after suffering great pains. On the other hand, Cho Yi-Hang returns to Wu-Tang and discovers that his teacher and fellow students have been murdered. They believe that Lien Ni-Chang was responsible. When Lien Ni-Chang shows up to bring Cho Yi-Hang away with her, the coalition attacks her. Cho is forced to take the side of the coalition and he fights Lien. Lien feels that Cho had betrayed her love and she immediately morphs into a vicious white-haired killer. Lien Ni-Chang kills all the coalition members present, henceforth becoming a sworn enemy of the Eight Clans. Meanwhile, Chi Wu-Shuang appears and reveals that they were responsible for killing the Wu-Tang members. With their combined efforts, Cho Yi-Hang and Lien Ni-Chang manage to defeat and kill Chi Wu-Shuang. However, Lien Ni-Chang vows never to forgive Cho Yi-Hang for betraying her love and the film ends with Lien walking away into the far distance while Cho looks on helplessly.
