A TASTE OF COLD STEEL (1970) has a slight plot but is filled with so much well-staged action and a solid cast of expert Shaw Bros. players that the short running time (78 min.) speeds by quickly enough to hide the plot holes. Three sword-fighting sisters are joined by an equally skilled cousin to go after the nobleman who'd killed their father and has since aligned with a gang of bandits, the Five Tigers, recruited with promises of the treasure to be had by raiding Fort Gan, where the sisters reside. During the raid, the Five Tigers and their band abduct the eldest sister and force the others to flee. The bandits also take the treasured Violet Light Sword, which is supposed to have immense power. The remaining sisters and their cousin have to figure out how to infiltrate the bandits' stronghold and free their sister and retrieve the sword. That's pretty much all there is to it.
The bandits are quite a sadistic bunch and treat everyone, including their own allies, with the utmost brutality. They regularly beat and torment the lead villain, Lu, son of Lord Wuyi, who covets the Violet Light Sword as much as Brave Tiger, leader of the Tigers. They frequently come to blows over it, although Brave Tiger clearly has the advantage. The Violet Light Sword is shown slicing through a couple of opponents' swords, but doesn't do much beyond that.
The action scenes are staged and directed by Hsu Erh Niu, aka Simon Hsu, who's done the fight choreography for a number of Shaw Bros. movies, including HEADS FOR SALE, BROTHERS FIVE, THE YOUNG AVENGER, BLACK TAVERN, AMBUSH, THE DRAGON MISSILE, and VILLAGE OF TIGERS, all of which I've reviewed for IMDb, along with VENGEANCE OF A SNOWGIRL, DUEL FOR GOLD, THE SHADOW WHIP, and THE FLYING GUILLOTINE, quite a remarkable list of credits. The fight scenes invariably involve multiple combatants fighting at once in large indoor or outdoor spaces with the camera tracking to follow the action. Participants have to learn lots of moves and hit their marks exactly so they have to be on their toes for a lot longer period than for a normal fight scene. Here the cinematographer, Pao Hsueh Li, has opted to take the camera off the tripod and shoot hand-held for such scenes, which gives it an immediacy that some might find refreshing, but also prevents every move from being seen that clearly as the camera moves past props and sets that block the action occasionally.
The three sisters are played by Shu Pei Pei (so impressive in VILLAGE OF TIGERS), Essie Lin Chia (SWORDSWOMEN THREE) and Yau Ching. Chang Yi, a notable star at Shaw Bros. early in his career, plays their cousin. He went on to play formidable villains in a long array of memorable kung fu films for other companies (e.g., EAGLE'S CLAW, FATAL NEEDLES FATAL FISTS, CHALLENGE OF DEATH). Huang Chung Hsin, always a dependable heavy, plays Brave Tiger. Ku Feng plays the whip-wielding One-Eyed Tiger. Wu Ma plays the hunchbacked Sick Tiger. Wang Hsieh, in a rare heroic role, plays the sisters' uncle. Chen Hung Lieh (Jade Faced Tiger in COME DRINK WITH ME) plays Lu. Other familiar Shaw actors populate the smaller roles and keep it interesting throughout.
