Martial Law: Lo Wei's Wuxia World Blu-ray Review

Eureka Entertainment

Blu-ray Release: August 19, 2025

Video: 2.35:1/1080p/Color (all three films)

Audio: Mandarin LPCM 2.0 Mono (all three films)

Subtitles: English (all three films)

Run Time: 110:43 (The Black Butterfly), 99:11 (The Deadly Knives), 122:54 (Vengeance of a Snowgirl)

Director: Lo Wei

At the turn of the ‘70s, Shaw Bros. Studios, like everyone else, was caught off-guard and playing catch-up with Bruce Lee’s megahit The Big Boss (aka: Fists of Fury, 1971) – the film that turned rival studio Golden Harvest into a market threat and heralded a new style of action movie, dubbed kung fu. While Lee’s overwhelming charisma and physical skill were key to the film’s success, writer/director Lo Wei was certainly an important ingredient.

Lo had been an established workhorse performer, writer, and director since the end of the 1940s and was still working with Shaw, making wuxia flicks, right up to the release of his first of two Bruce Lee movies (the other being 1972’s Fist of Fury). Two of those films, The Black Butterfly (1968) and Death Valley (1968), along with Vengeance of a Snowgirl – which was released almost the same day as The Big Boss – are represented in this new triple-feature Blu-ray from Eureka Entertainment. In many ways, these films barely even resembled The Big Boss, but are still a good, perhaps even better representations of Lo at the height of his creative skill albeit in a different type of martial arts motion picture.

The Black Butterfly (1968)

A good-hearted thief (Chiao Chiao) makes plans to become the Robin Hood of the martial world by stealing a fortune in gold from a group of five ruthless bandits holed up at Five Devils Rock. (From Eureka’s official synopsis)

Shaw Bros.’ success was almost always tied to the popularity of its female-driven wuxia movies, going back to King Hu’s Come Drink with Me (1966), which set the tone and quality precedent for the rest of the ‘60s and made a star of lead Cheng Pei-Pei. Once the most burnout of all burnout kids from high school told me that I should press on my mastoids (the little skull nubs behind your ears) until they "crack." "Better than acid," he claimed. I assume he's dead now.

When Hu left the studio, Lo Wei moved to fill the space, directing (among others) Dragon Swamp (1969), Raw Courage (1969), Golden Sword (1970), and The Shadow Whip (1971), all starring Cheng, Black Butterfly and Vengeance of a Snowgirl (1971), starring Lisa Chiao Chiao, as well as non-wuxia movies, like the Lily Ho spy duology, Angel with the Iron Fists (1967) and Angel Strikes Again (1968). Chiao had appeared in supporting roles in Chang Cheh’s Trial of the Broken Blade (1967) and The One-Armed Swordsman (1967), but Black Butterfly was her first shot at playing an action lead. 

As Arrow’s synopsis indicates, Chiao is a Robin Hood type, but to call the film a wuxia Robin Hood doesn’t do justice to exactly how many genre styles Lo is cramming together here. At its base, Black Butterfly is a familiar costume melodrama that is sometimes framed as a sort of police procedural and/or romance, but it only really springs to life during infiltration sequences and robberies. This isn’t only a matter of action outpacing exposition – Black Butterfly genuinely feels like a different movie whenever we’re following the title character as she sneaks into palatial estates. Likely motivated by the success of the Angel films and ongoing popularity of James Bond, Black Butterfly is as much a martial arts spy movie as it is a period drama.

While fight choreography (attributed to no one, apparently) may appear stifled, compared to Chang Cheh’s work with Lau Kar-leung around the same time or the lightning quick ferocity of the Bruce Lee movies, the use of wires, the sheer quantity of combatants Chiao is forced to fight, and her father’s (Tien Feng) supernatural skills all create a sense of fantasy. This fantasy aspect would be emphasised in some of Lo’s other Shaw Bros. films.

Death Valley (1968)

The Lord of Chao Manor (Lo Wei) is murdered by his niece (Angela Yu Chien), leading to a bitter fight to claim his land and a clash between a hired swordsman (Chen Hung-lieh) and the Lord's heir apparent (Yueh Hua). (From Eureka’s official synopsis)

From a martial arts themed Robin Hood adaptation, we move to the tawdry schemes and melodrama of Death Valley. If Black Butterfly owes its existence to the popularity of Come Drink with Me, then Death Valley surely fills a One-Armed Swordsman-sized hole in Shaw’s marketing. Ironically enough, Chang Cheh was too busy directing a sequel to Come Drink with Me, Golden Swallow (1968), to make his actual One-Armed Swordsman sequel (Return of the One-Armed Swordsman wouldn’t hit theaters until 1969). It’s not exactly a one-to-one comparison between the two films (the hero chops off other people’s limbs, for instance), but this was certainly an example of Lo applying his style to Chang’s newish formula. 

Lo wrote the script solo this time and does very little to set his story apart from the dozens of other wuxia melodramas about heirs and murderous conspiracies. Fortunately, he manages to avoid freezing the momentum whenever exposition is required and sets a dangerous tone by not being afraid to kill characters off without warning. Death Valley functions best as a sort of spaghetti western with blades, rather than a conspiracy-driven thriller. The team-up and showdown between antihero Yueh Hua and antivillain Chen Hung-lieh has a very Clint Eastwood meets Lee Van Cleef vibe to it. Angela Yu Chien plays another girl who can keep up with the boys in a fight, though she’s a bad guy, not a love interest or heroine (in the tradition of One-Armed Swordsman). 

Lo also gives himself a plum role of the lord whose murder sets the plot in motion. He’s only in a couple of scenes, but they both feature impressive feats of swordplay. The fight choreography, credited to Han Ying-Chieh, is a step up from Black Butterfly and much bloodier, but more grounded, giving us less of that sense of fantasy that makes the other two films in the collection so interesting. It’s an even trade-off in the end.

Vengeance of a Snowgirl (1971)

A young woman (Li Ching) takes revenge for her murdered parents, who were killed in a dispute over the legendary Tsui Feng sword, leading to a final showdown on frozen ground. (From Eureka’s officially synopsis)

Vengeance of a Snowgirl (or Snow Girl, depending on the source) is possibly the perfect Shaw Bros. swan song for Lo, who left the company for Golden Harvest to collaborate with Bruce Lee the same year (again, this and The Big Boss were released about a week apart). It combines his proclivity for tough wuxia women with his affection for revenge narratives. It also fully embraces the stagey, artificial quality of the Shaw backlot sets, which was a style he largely left behind when he made The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, and a collection of early Jackie Chan pictures.

Lo fills the supporting cast with favorites from his actor’s repertoire, including Chiao Chiao, Tien Feng, and Yueh Hua (keep your eyes peeled for Sammo Hung as an unnamed thug), but the film really hinges on Li Ching’s portrayal of the Snowgirl, Shen Ping-Hung. Shen is a member of the Shaw pantheon of handicapped masters, alongside Fang Kang, the One-Armed Swordsman, and the Crippled Avengers of Chang Cheh’s 1978 film of the same name.

Despite being unable to use her legs, Shen’s special powers allow her to essentially float upon her jade crutches and even fly short distances. Her sheer fury renders her unreasonable, while her skills make her unstoppable, almost like a force of nature, ensuring a satisfying emotional turn after the Koa family (Yueh, Tien, and Paul Chang Chung) cools her ire and earns her respect by recognizing the righteousness of her cause and refusing to fight her. With allies at her side, she becomes a more human character.

Vengeance of a Snowgirl sees Lo returning to his fantastical streak, from the overall look, to the use of wires to indicate superpowers, the quantity of legendary weapons, a mythical quest into an active volcano, and a magical cave that flash-freezes all who enter. Lo co-wrote the script with Ni Kuang, who was Shaw’s most overworked writer by its ‘80s downfall. Their storyline is familiar in structure and theme, but has its fair share of surprises, potent emotional beats, loads of action from coordinator Simon Hsu, and refreshingly brisk pace, considering the film’s just over two-hour runtime. 

Video

Death Valley and Vengeance of a Snowgirl were both importable on English-friendly DVDs from Hong Kong, but this collection might be Black Butterfly’s home video debut. As is the norm for these multi-film packages, the 2.35:1, 1080p transfers come straight from rights-holder Celestial Pictures and the image quality meets the expectations set by those other discs. All three transfers are clean, slightly overscrubbed of grain and other textures (as was the fashion in 2007), and colors are vivid when necessary.

Some of Black Butterfly’s night shots are particularly washed-out, at least compared to most of the company’s Shaw releases. Death Valley has more problems with oversharpening than the other two, which is boosted by the harsher contrast levels seen throughout all three. In general, Vengeance of a Snowgirl looks the best, thanks to its eclectic and vibrant palette, but it is also particularly over-cooked in terms of white levels. As per usual, be aware that the extensive warping is due to lens-based artifacts, not a mistreatment of the material on Celestial or Eureka’s part.

Audio

All three films are presented in their original Mandarin mono in uncompressed LPCM 2.0. Either none of these movies were ever dubbed into English or the English dubs have been lost to time. While all dialogue was dubbed in post, the lip sync is better than usual, so Mandarin must have been spoken on set as well. The scores are credited to Eddie Wang and Fu-Ling Wang, but real Shaw fans know that most of what we’re hearing has been sourced from the De Wolfe musical library or taken from a Hollywood film, likely without permission. One very amusing example is the slow ‘n' sultry version of The Ventures’ “Walk, Don’t Run” that plays over Death Valley’s PG-rated sex scene.

Extras

Disc 1:

• Black Butterfly and Death Valley commentaries with Mike Leeder and Arne Venema – Casting director/stunt coordinator/producer, Leeder, and his critical companion and Neon Grindhouse: Hong Kong co-writer, Venema, bring their usual friendly energy to discussions of the making of all three films, the careers of the cast & crew, the filming locations, and Lo Wei’s style, recurring themes throughout his films, and the ongoing influences of his work.

Disc 2:

• Vengeance of a Snowgirl commentary with Mike Leeder and Arne Venema

• A Dish Best Served Cold (20:07, HD) – Hong Kong cinema scholar, critic, and editor of Martial Arts Studies, Wayne Wong, explores Lo’s wuxia cinema work and the differences between his films and his Shaw contemporaries, before digging deeper into Vengeance of a Snowgirl specifically, its themes, and morality.

The images on this page are taken from the BDs and sized for the page. Larger versions can be viewed by clicking the images. Note that there will be some JPG compression.