Thirteenth Sister kicks some early cinema butt in White Cloud Monastery

Should you watch Ernu yingxiong di san ji today? Only if you really care about how action movies started or if you just like seeing women beat up bad guys with swords. ⚔️

If you need fancy CGI or fast editing, you are going to hate this. It is slow and very old.

This is the third part of a series, but don't worry if you missed the first two. I haven't seen them either and I followed it just fine.

The whole movie is basically one long rescue mission. Thirteenth Sister has to get into the White Cloud Monastery because they've got Ji hidden away there.

The monastery looks like it was built in someone's very large backyard. You can tell they didn't have a huge budget, but they made it work with what they had.

Xuepeng Fan plays the hero and she has this amazing way of staring down the camera. She looks like she could actually take on five guys at once without breaking a sweat.

The villains are sort of funny to look at. They have these exaggerated expressions like they're trying to make sure the people in the very back row of a theater can see how evil they are.

There is one guy who keeps adjusting his hat every time he moves. It’s a tiny detail but once you see it, you can't stop looking for it. 🎩

The fighting isn't like the stuff we see now. It’s more like a dance or a very aggressive gym class.

They move in these big, circular patterns. It feels a bit like watching At the Ringside but with more robes and less boxing gloves.

I noticed the lighting is really flat. Everything is just... bright. It makes the monastery look a bit less mysterious than it probably should.

There is a scene where she’s hiding behind a pillar that is clearly too thin to hide a person. But the villains just walk right past her anyway. 🙄

It’s that kind of movie. You just have to go with it.

The middle part of the film drags a bit. It’s just people walking through courtyards and talking with title cards that stay on screen for a long time.

It reminded me of the pacing in A Lost Lady where you’re just waiting for something to happen. But then the swords come out and it gets better.

I really liked the way they handled the rescue. She doesn't just run in and leave. She has to stay and fight until the troops show up.

The "troops" look like about ten guys in uniforms running in a circle to look like a bigger group. It’s charming in a weird way.

I wonder if the actors were actually cold on set? You can see some of them shivering in the background of one shot.

Maybe the monastery was drafty. Or maybe they were just nervous about the stunts.

Compared to something like The Masks of the Devil, this feels much more grounded and less like a fever dream. It’s just a straight-up adventure story.

The ending is very abrupt. The bad guys are gone, the hero wins, and then—boom—it’s over.

It doesn't have the weird vibes of Heebee Jeebees, which is probably a good thing. It knows exactly what it is.

I think the director, Kang Wen, just wanted to show off some cool sword moves. And honestly, he did a pretty good job of that for 1928.

The print I saw was a bit grainy and some parts were hard to see. It’s like looking through a dusty window into the past.

There’s a moment where a villain falls over a table and you can see the table leg wobble like it’s about to snap. I don't think that was supposed to happen.

But that’s why I like these old movies. They feel real and messy.

If you’ve seen The Humdinger, you know how these early silents can be either really funny or really boring. This one stays mostly on the fun side.

It’s not a masterpiece, but it’s a good way to spend an hour if you’re a nerd for film history. Just don't expect anything too deep.

Thirteenth Sister is a legend for a reason. Watching her delay the villains while waiting for the army is actually pretty tense, even if you know how it ends.

The way she uses her cape to distract people is a nice touch. I haven't seen that move in many other films from this time.

I give it a thumbs up for the effort and the vibe. It’s definitely better than some of the other stuff from that era like Scrambled Wives.

Anyway, go watch it if you can find a decent copy. It’s a piece of history that actually moves.