New Delhi, April 20 -- For such a load-bearing scene, it moves with lightness and grace. A young woman arrives at an inn in a Chinese village. She orders food and wine but is interrupted by a group of men spoiling for a fight. She obliges, slashing and pirouetting until they're all on the floor. This scene, along with everything else in Come Drink With Me, was a major influence on the modern wuxia film, swordplay epics derived from Chinese history and folklore. While wuxia stories had been adapted for the screen since the silent age, King Hu's 1966 film was a sensation for producer Shaw Brothers, the midpoint in their pivot from female-leaning melodramas to male-centric martial arts films.

Cheng Pei-pei must have felt a sense of quiet pr...