This early Chinese silent was based on a classic Chinese literature. What I understand is those Chinese classic novels are usually extremely long, so I was curious about if the running time of approximately 45 minutes will encompass the whole story. After seeing it and did some reading on the web, I realized that the movie did amazingly told a bare bone of the entire story.
The setup was about a scholar, in ancient China, on his way to the Imperial city to take his exam and took a stop at a temple. There he found a beautiful girl also visiting and staying there with her mother and her maid. Of course, he and the girl felt in love. However, there was a gang leader who also wanted the girl. So the story was if the scholar was able to get the girl and how.
The story seemed simple, but I thought the presentation was effective. The acting was very theatrical which was necessary for the silence. The only problem was the battle scene was just flashing and swiping of blade among of groups people in fast motion, which was nothing epic about that. I guess it was okay since this wasn't an action film. Overall, the movie was a worthy primer to this classic literature.
