Shi san mei

Personally, I blame The Forbidden Kingdom and Kung Fu Panda for my fondness of martial arts flicks. But in a thoughtful way, and after watching the BBC documentary "Wild China," I am starting to love China and Japan. Whenever I am at Wal-Mart, I start buying martial arts films on DVD from Fusian Films; I have already bought four.

In this classic martial arts film (featuring plenty of swordplay and fast-paced fighting), An Chi, a young, clumsy, skiddish scholar, was taking money to bail out his falsely accused father. Yu Feng, a red-clad swordswoman, saved him from the robbers. She is seeking revenge for her parents' deaths, saving her 12 sisters from an evil lord, and using them to create her own personal harem. He wants Yu Feng to train him in martial arts, but he becomes more interested in the daring "13th Sister," who sees him as a nerd. She even tries to set him up with the daughter of a family they rescued.

So, after seeing this picture a few times, I felt it was terrific, with fast-paced action and a bit of comedy. And I don't have a favorite scene (as I said many times), because I love the whole film from beginning to end.