The Bride with White Hair (1993)

Absolutely the worst movie.

A lot of fun.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Back in the 80s, the Hong Kong movie industry was making some of the best action-fantasy movies around and this was maybe its high water mark, combining historical action fantasy with quite a touching central romance. Adapted from the 1954 Chinese novel 'River Lake' and set during one of China's many historical periods of internal unrest, Bride is a lush folk tale about a martial artist who wanders into the woods and encounters the Wolf Girl, a legendary recluse who had been raised by wolves, playing one of those yard-long wooden Chinese flutes. They circle one another playfully at first but eventually their passion can no longer be contained. A love affair crossing their two obviously separate and incompatible worlds proves impossible and hardship, misunderstanding and tragedy follows. The whole production has an operatic quality to it, with haunting music, sweeping camera work, dark magical elements and STUFF blowing around quite often, perhaps symbolic of the swirl of events and political chaos around the principles. Brigitte Lin (39) and Leslie Cheung (37) were quite a bit older than the 20-something characters in the book, but still make an attractive romantic pairing. Recommended.

What happens when you mix 'Chinese Ghost Story' and 'Fantastia' together? You get 'The Bride with White Hair'! Not only does it have killer Siamese twins, random wire work and men growing breasts, but it also invents a new form of weaponry: killer hair! Now come on, ladies, who wouldn't want a superpower like that? And it has a goat! Who doesn't love a good old goat, eh? So, in conclusion, beautifully filmed, badly dubbed (in the English version there's a farmer guy with an Irish accent) but completely and utterly mad.But if this isn't your cup of tea, go and watch Kurosawa's 'Rashomon';thats always a good laugh!

Colorful Asian fantasy with the emphasis on romance and fanciful action; enjoyable enough in itself but not particularly compelling. The plot and look of the film reminded me of the "Chinese Ghost Story" Trilogy (1987-91), which I watched – and loved – only a few years back, while the gravity-defying stunts looked forward to Ang Lee's (obviously more accomplished) CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON (2000). As is the norm for this sort of film, the characters are all stock types (the nasty Siamese-twin villains being a particular liability) – which means that, for all the pseudo-philosophy which gets spouted (usually by elders) from time to time, the tale follows a rigid, rather simplistic and all-too-familiar path which doesn't allow for much depth or surprise…though "The Bride With White HaIr" herself (when she belatedly appears) is a memorable creation – and I wouldn't mind catching up eventually with this film's sequel (from the same year and director).

The special effects, the sword fighting, even the romance was absolutely wild. The story is familiar to all... you fall in love with someone and that person turns around and breaks your heart (or at least she thought so). But in the end (watching part 2) they found each other again, although the outcome was tragic. The cinematography was excellently done. Seen both "Bride with the White Hair 1 and 2, and both practically stole my breath away. A must watch for all martial artist/fantasy lovers I truly adored this movie