VHS Synopsis: Fierce females in flowing frocks force fear on fiendish filchers of the Five Phoenixes!! Angela Mao and Chai Ling star as cops on the trail of bandit leader Chang Yi, whose gang has stolen the Five Phoenixes Night-Shining Pearl. They confront him at his fortress stronghold in an all-out effort to prevent evil from dominating the martial world! (87 Mins)

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Views: Kung-fu cinema queens, Angela Mao Ying and Judy Lee team up to stop a feared bandit leader who has robbed and killed a team of escorts, in order to gain the Five Shining Pearls. The former plays the sheriff of the town of which the robbery took place, with the latter playing the niece of the murdered escort leader and on a quest for vengeance. On their journey, they are often aided by a silent swordsman, who only communicates with hand written scrolls and works as the chief bodyguard to the Prince. While the three of them help each other when needed, there's still an obvious reluctance that kicks off a little healthy competition in the race to find the bandit leader. Their search pits them against five different bandit gangs in search of the real criminal, with each of their leaders often ending up in a coffin on the back of Judy Lee's cart. It's here that she hurries off with the prisoner so that she can interrogate them alone. Unfortunately, there also happens to be a secret killer at large who is intent on silencing the very same people before they can talk. As they narrow the suspects down, the trio soon find the man they've been looking for and face-off against him in a duel to the death!

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I remember buying this on video when I lived in Toronto over 20 years ago. It was a fun watch back then, and still is now, but I can only imagine how much better it just could be if restored and released in its wide-screen glory. But I say that about a lot of titles and no doubt I'll be waiting some time. Lady Constables isn't anything overly amazing, but it does carry a half-decent story, and the chance to see these two starlets in action is always a plus. It also offers plenty of kung-fu battles to keep any old-school fan happy, with men in metal suits (looking like some very poor early designs of Robocop), and Mao Ying shooting long ribbons out of her sleeves. While I've seen better from all main stars involved, I suppose it isn't all their fault when it comes down to it. The action is handled by veteran actor and fight director Ko Pao in his last duty as a choreographer. While he would also deliver his last starring role the following year alongside Mao Ying in the fun, Dance Of Death, Ko Pao would go on to direct a small number of titles until the mid-1980s including Shaolin Iron Claws, 7 Commandments Of Kung Fu, 5 Fighters From Shaolin, and one of my favourites – Ninja Kids: Kiss Of Death with Alexander Lo Rei. Although he had worked with many of these same stars over the years, Ko provides enough exciting kung-fu fights during the course of its running time, but certainly doesn't push himself (or the stars) in delivering any martial arts action that would have had the young Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan shaking in their boots who were offering up classics like Enter The Fat Dragon, Dirty Tiger, Crazy Frog, Warriors Two, Snake In The Eagles Shadow, and Drunken Master, the very same year.

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Of course, it's having such a great cast that helps Lady Constables be a bit more entertaining than many other average kung-fu flicks. At this stage of the game, Angela Mao Ying had starred in a string of hit films for Golden Harvest including The Angry River, Hapkido, When Taekwondo Strikes, The Fate Of Lee Khan, Broken Oath, and many more including her infamous role in Enter The Dragon. Fu Shing Opera School classmate, Judy Lee/Chia Ling was in a very similar position with films like Queen Boxer, The Girl Named Iron Phoenix, Assassin, The Blazing Temple, 8 Masters, 10 Brothers Of Shaolin, and more under her belt. So I think in knowing what they had done by the time this production came about and given the rare chance to have them share the screen in such great leading roles, Lady Constables may have possibly benefited more from having a stronger fight choreographer on-board that may just have made this one of their greatest titles. The great Chang Yi appears in what is pretty a much just a cameo, that sees him take on the trio of heroes in the finale but its hardly anything to write home about, and popular Taiwanese actor stars as Hung Yi, the chief bodyguard to the Prince. Although he starred in almost 80 productions, Lady Constables was still early on in his career after starring in titles like Iron Ox: The Tigers Killer, Adventure At Shaolin, The Golden Mask, and Clutch Of Power for example. Minor flaws can be excused to a point as this was only Chang Hsin Yi's second feature as a director, after the lesser known Snaky Knight Fight Against Mantis, directing a total of 10 films over his 4 year career (as a director) with titles such as John Liu's Incredible Kung Fu Mission, and Struggle Through Death, as well as Raiders with Chen Kuan Tai. Chang, who had been writing screenplays since the early 70s, then returned to his first love after directing Woman Police in 1982, going on to pen many great titles such as The 18 Bronzemen, Fist Of Fury 2, The Traitorous, Eagle's Claw, Snake & Crane Arts Of Shaolin, Dance Of Death, Kung Fu Wonder Child, A Life Of Ninja, and many, many more...

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Overall: Plenty of old-school fun with a great cast, Lady Constables makes for a good watch at least once!