Synopsis: A girl raised by apes falls for a prince who is secretly using her kung fu for his personal gain. (84 Mins)

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Views: A wild ape-girl is captured and taken from the wild by an old kung-fu master. He begins to train her in martial arts, as well as how to read and speak Chinese. One day, the ape-girl makes her way into a birthday party where she finds herself in a spot of bother and soon meets the 4th Prince. Stealing her heart and manipulating her, the 4th Prince convinces her to help him steal the current Emperor's Will so that he can alter it to make himself the next in line. Having fallen for the 4th Prince, the ape-girl learns of a solution that can help her turn into a real girl if she soaks her body in it – something that works for the most part, although leaves her with a large tail. After catching the 4th Prince with another woman and finding out about his evil ways now he is the Emperor, the ape-girl must use her deadly tail-kung-fu to take him down and help make things right!

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Retitled as Lady Iron Monkey for obvious reasons, this film is better suited to its original title of Ape Girl as it bears no connection at all to the the original classic starring Chen Kuan Tai (or even that of the Donnie Yen smash hit). For starters, the titular character is little a humanoid monkey more akin to what you would see in any amount of Monkey King movies, even jumping through the trees (unconvincingly) with her little monkey brothers who all look like they are just wearing furry pyjamas. This was to be one of the last films penned by Hou Cheng, the very same man who directed the crazy Shaolin Invincibles and the absolutely bonkers, Zodiac Fighters (of which he also wrote), so those two examples should give you a fair idea of how nutty Ape Girl actually is. The wonderful, and often over-looked, Chen Chi Hwa is at the helm and although it may not be one of his finest moments, he seems to have had fun dishing out yet another wild kung-fu comedy jammed in-between Jackie Chan's Snake & Crane Arts Of Shaolin and Half A Loaf Of Kung Fu in 1978, and The 36 Crazy Fists and Dance Of Death which were both shot the same year as this. While Jackie may have helped with the choreography for the aforementioned 1979 titles, it would be popular kung-fu actor and choreographer Wang Tai Lang who took the reigns of action-director on this. Having starred in classics like One Armed Boxer Vs The Flying Guillotine, Flash Legs, Phantom Kung Fu, Militant Eagle, and Spiritual Kung Fu, 1979 proved to be a busy (and final) year for Wang starring in no less than 8 productions over the course of 12 months, including Dance Of Death for director Chen. His work on Lady Iron Monkey would also become the last of his career and although it could hardly be hailed as his swan song, Wang still manages to provide enough entertaining fights with plenty of energy and impressive moves. While it will never go down as one of the greatest kung-fu movies ever made, Lady Iron Monkey aka Ape Girl does have its moments and enough entertaining fights to keep fans happy. The final 25 minutes sees the titular heroine become a human due to a special potion, although it doesn't get rid of her tail. After learning a deadly new style from her master, the ape-girl returns to see the 4th Prince who has now become the king, and soon sees the error of his ways after he attempts to kill her and The 8 Heroes with a bomb. Surviving the attack, the ape-girl leads the heroes into battle as they take-on Chen Sing and Lo Lieh (who has suddenly went from assassin to ally of the Prince) in a fun and energetic finale.

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Chin Fung Ling stars as the titular ape-girl in, what seems to be, one of only the two roles of her career alongside Iron Bridge Kung-Fu which was made the same year (and co-starred Wang Tai Lang who also choreographed). And although it's a pretty madcap role for her, I have to admit that Chin does entertain in a similar way that Polly Shang Kwan would do, and handles both the comedy and action side of things positively. I'm surprised she didn't star in more! The great Chen Sing stars as the scheming 4th Prince who manipulates the naïve heroine, and gets in on enough fight action to keep fans happy and kung-fu superstar Lo Lieh pops up as a Tibetan fighter who attempts to kill the Prince. Veteran Taiwanese actor Miao Tian, who starred in films such as Dragon Inn, A Touch Of Zen, Furious Slaughter, and Kung Fu Executioner, stars as her master and Lee Man Tai from Millionaires Express, Magnificent Warriors, Face Behind The Mask, continues his old beggar role as seen in Chen Chi Hwa's Snake & Crane Arts Of Shaolin and Half A Loaf Of Kung Fu. Jackie Chan Stunt Team member, Danny Chow Yun Kin, also appears as one of The 8 Heroes who makes a deal with Chen, and there's a host of other recognisable faces from Taiwanese cinema of the mid-late 70s...

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Overall: Typically madcap in that Chen Chi Hwa way, Lady Iron Monkey is far from perfect but still has enough fun moments and good fights to keep fans happy!