My Blade, My Life (1978)

My Blade, My Life had an enormous cast, full of famous faces, but blink and you would miss most of them. There were endless blink and you'll miss them duals as well.

Pearl Chang Ling starred as Lu Du Shing AKA Lone Traveler Wu, the swords"man" in search of Peerless Swallow, a renowned swordsman. Poor Pearl was dressed in a wooly tunic for the length of the movie. She looked more like a vagabond than a skilled swordswoman. Violent and with a temper to match, she dispatched anyone who crossed swords with her, or just plain crossed her, ruthlessly. As per usual, everyone accepted her as a man until the shocking reveal late in the movie. Pearl did a good job playing the single-minded warrior who wanted to be free of her duty and was willing to slice her way through the kingdom to get there.

The plot was needlessly complicated by varying factions which didn't add anything to the main story. The plot revolved around Wu and Peerless Swallow's family histories and the dire consequences and burdens left to the children of swordsmen. Wu had sacrificed her entire life to become a swordswoman to fulfill her father's wishes. Chained to a sword for ten years, unable to free herself of it unless she fulfilled her mission or died trying. Ling Yun played Peerless Swallow, the object of Wu's scorn. He gave a suitably noble turn as a man who was tired of the swordsman code of endless fighting.

My Blade, My Life was shot in Taiwan. The sets were rudimentary, the costumes outlandishly bright at times. The score was forgettable except for the original Star Trek sci-fi sound effects during fights.

If they'd trimmed this movie to around 90 minutes and cut away much of the useless cast and story, I would have rated this movie higher. As it was, it dragged on too long when Pearl and Ling Yun were the heart of the story.

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