Stephe
01-15-2011, 10:50 PM
THE FILMS
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(01) 017 Mambo Girl 03/06/57 [Grace Chang]
(02) 025 My Kingdom for a Husband (aka Romance of Jade Hall, The) 09/12/57
(03) 028 Our Sister Hedy 11/14/57 [Jeanette Lin Cui and Julie Yeh Feng]
(04) 030 Tender Age, The (aka Splendour of Youth) 12/11/57
(05) 044 Spring Song 02/14/59 [Grace Chang and Jeanette Lin Cui]
(06) 049 Her Tender Heart 05/21/59 [Lucilla You Min]
(07) 050 Air Hostess 06/04/59 [Grace Chang, Julie Yeh Feng and Roy Chiao]
(08) 052 Our Dream Car 07/09/59 [Grace Chang]
(09) 055 For Better, For Worse 08/20/59 [Helen Li Mei]
(10) 063 Cinderella and Her Little Angels 12/31/59 [Linda Lin Dai]
(11) 066 June Bride 01/27/60 [Grace Chang and Roy Chiao]
(12) 068 Sister Long Legs 02/06/1960 [Jeanette Lin Cui, Julie Yeh Feng, and Roy Chiao]
(13) 073 Forever Yours 04/07/60 [Grace Chang]
(14) 074 Devotion 04/21/60 [Kitty Ting Hao, Ou-Yang Sha-Fei, and Zhang Yang]
(15) 077 Happily Ever After 06/16/60 [Lucilla You Min and Roy Chiao]
(16) 078 Bedside Story, The 06/23/60 [Helen Li Mei]
(17) 084 Dreams Come True 08/27/60 [Kitty Ting Hao]
(18) 087 Wild, Wild Rose, The 10/04/60 [Grace Chang]
(19) 088 Between Tears and Laughter 11/10/60 [Helen Li Mei]
(20) 089 Bachelors Beware 11/17/60 [Linda Lin Dai]
(21) 091 Death Traps 12/08/60 [Helen Li Mei and Roy Chiao]
(22) 094 Greatest Civil War on Earth, The 02/14/61 [Kitty Ting Hao, Christine Pai Lu-ming]
(23) 096 Beauty Parade 03/30/61 [Kitty Ting Hao]
(24) 101 Education of Love 08/03/61 [Jeanette Lin Cui]
(25) 107 Sun, Moon and Star (Part 1) 12/08/61 [Grace Chang, Lucilla You Min, Julie Yeh Feng]
(26) 108 Sun, Moon and Star (Part 2) 12/30/61 [Grace Chang, Lucilla You Min, Julie Yeh Feng]
(27) 111 It's Always Spring 02/21/62 [Julie Yeh Feng, Helen Li Mei, Annette Chang Hui-Hsien]
(28) 117 Ladies First 08/02/62 [Jeanette Lin Cui, Christine Pai Lu-ming, and Roy Chiao]
(29) 122 Greatest Wedding on Earth, The 10/11/62 [Kitty Ting Hao, Christine Pai Lu-ming]
(30) 130 Because of Her 07/31/63 [Grace Chang and Roy Chiao]
(31) 133 Father Takes a Bride 10/02/63 [Lucilla You Min]
(32) 138 Magic Lamp, The 01/23/64 [Grace Chang, Lucilla You Min, Jeannete Lin Cui]
(33) 139 Story of Three Loves, A 02/12/64 [Grace Chang, Jeanette Lin Cui, Roy Chiao]
(34) 140 Story of Three Loves (Sequel), A 02/26/64 [Grace Chang, Jeanette Lin Cui, Roy Chiao]
(35) 154 Fairy, Ghost, Vixen 05/27/65 [Annette Chang Hui-Hsien]
(36) 181 First Sword, The 12/28/67
(37) 183 Darling Stay At Home 01/28/68 [Betty Loh Tih]
(38) 199 Spring Time Affairs 11/28/68 [Annette Chang Hui-Hsien]
(39) 215 Mad, Mad, Mad Sword, A 09/10/69
INTRODUCTION
oooooI came to Cathay films quite indirectly.
oooooI started out collecting Hong Kong films chiefly for Chang
Cheh's cycle of Venoms films and Jet Li's Hong Kong New Wave 1990's
films, then collected all of Cheng Pei-pei's films, then decided
that I liked Li Ching after seeing The Lotus Lamp, and started to
collect her stuff, then found that I liked Chang Cheh's 1966-1972
swordfighting films more than his Venoms films, then endeavored to
collect swordswoman films with an emphasis towards those with Lily
Ho because of her role in All Men Are Brothers, Shih Szu because
of The Lady Hermit, and Chin Ping because of her role in the Temple
of the Red Lotus trilogy and her appearance as one of the three
sisters in Hong Kong Nocturne.
oooooThen I decided to obtain all the Chang Cheh films the director
scripted before he was a director, and thus wound up watching the
Cathay film It's Always Spring. It's Always Spring starred Julie
Yeh Feng, Helen Li Mei, Roy Chiao, and Kelly Lai Chen. I liked it
and ordered what are considered to be perhaps the five key Cathay
films on the Panorama label: Our Sister Hedy, Mambo Girl, Sister
Long Legs, The Wild Wild Rose, and Air Hostess (not counting The
Greatest Civil War on Earth, which sounded too culture-specific).
oooooThen, I wound up collecting Hong Kong James Bond-esque films
like Angel with the Iron Fists, The Angel Strikes Again, The Golden
Buddha, The Lady Professional, Summons to Death, and Temptress of a
Thousand Faces, after finding web pages on Hong Kong secret agent
films. Then I started to collect Lily Ho and Jenny Hu (love her!)
romances, and anything with Fanny Fan Lai in it after having seen
her bare derriere in Angel with the Iron Fists. Meanwhile, I was
amassing more and more Cathay films.
oooooAs it stands, the Chang Cheh-directed films I have on VCD that
I have yet to watch are generally considered to be lesser films in
his oeuvre: Delightful Forest, Man of Iron, Four Riders, Young
People, Friends, The Delinquent (aka Street Gangs of Hong Kong),
Police Force, The Generation Gap, The Pirate, The Bloody Escape,
The Savage 5, and 7-man Army. I also have Death Ring on DVD that I
have yet to watch. I've seen everything else Chang Cheh ever
(co-)wrote or (co-)directed. No, really; I have. And I actually
like The Butterfly Chalice and The Nine Demons.
oooooWhat would my fave Chang Cheh films include? Let's see: It's
Always Spring (co-writer), The Mermaid (writer), The Butterfly
Chalice (co-director), The Magnificent Trio (a remake of the 1964
Japanese movie Three Outlaw Samurai, directed by Hideo Gosha), The
Trail of the Broken Blade, Have Sword Will Travel, Return of the
One-Armed Swordsman, The Deadly Duo, The Anonymous Heroes, The New
One-Armed Swordsman, The Iron Bodyguard, The Blood Brothers, Marco
Polo, Boxer Rebellion, Crippled Avengers, Shaolin Rescuers, The
Rebel Intruders, Masked Avengers, Five Element Ninjas, The Nine
Demons, and Great Shanghai 1937, at any rate.
oooooAfter seeing The Teahouse and its sequels Big Brother Cheng
and Big Bad Sis, I wound up collecting Chen Ping films because of
her searing starring role in Big Bad Sis. I have since seen her in
The Drug Connection (aka The Sexy Killer) and The Kiss of Death,
having not realized that I'd encountered her previously in Killer
Clans, The Oily Maniac (I have been a Swamp Thing fan since 1972,
and this film did not disappoint), and The Call Girls (which I saw
because Chang Cheh has a cameo as himself in it). Early on, I
confused Li Ching with Ching Li, and Chen Ping with Chin Ping!
oooooOf the Cathay actresses, I at first liked Julie Yeh Feng
(because of her role in It's Always Spring), Grace Chang, and Dolly
So Fung the most, but eventually came to appreciate Lucilla You Min,
Grace Chang, and Helen Li Mei the most, even though I have a soft
spot for Kitty Ting Hao, now, too. I am conflicted over Jeanette Lin
Cui, whom I respect as an actress but don't really like especially,
and my view of Julie Yeh Feng has changed after watching the 5 Shaw
Brothers films she appeared in that are on disc (The Shepherd Girl,
The Warlord and the Actress [scripted by Chang Cheh!], Pink Tears,
Unfinished Melody; and Farewell, My Love -- the last of which pairs
her with Jenny Hu for a tearjerk bonanza that has to be seen to be
believed), because they showcase her acting ability more than her
hotness. I also like Wang Li, whom I recognize as being one Cathay's
most capable actresses.
oooooAfter seeing Betty Loh Tih play a blind swordswoman in the
independent wuxia pian Duel at the Supreme Gate (on Rarescope DVD)
and viewing the one Cathay disc that she stars in (Darling, Stay at
Home), I liked her enough that I obtained the Shaw Brothers musical
The Dancing Millionairess because I thought it was the only disc
released pairing her with her husband Peter Chen Ho, whom I already
liked after having seen him in Hong Kong Nocturne as part of my Cheng
Pei-pei viewing spree. I then bought the rest of her Shaw Brothers
output available on disc (The Bride Napping, The Dream of The Red
Chamber, The Enchanting Shadow, The Love Eterne, Sons of Good Earth,
and The Story of Sue San), not having known at the time that Sons of
Good Earth co-starred Peter Chen Ho. Acquiring this small batch of
discs took some doing; since most of Betty Loh Tih's VCDs are
out-of-print, I had to obtain three of the films on Thai Celestial
DVD (because they're Region 0), and they're going out of print, too.
oooooHow is it that I came from collecting Jet Li and Venoms films
to collecting Cathay and Betty Loh Tih films? One of my
longest-running interests has been in the dozen-plus Shaw Brothers
kung fu movies directed by Chang Cheh between 1977 and 1981 which
starred the largely-Peking Opera-trained ensemble known to fans as
The Five Venoms (Kuo Chui, Chiang Sheng, Lu Feng, Lo Meng and Sun
Chien). I saw at least five of these films (The Kid with the Golden
Arm, Shaolin Rescuers, Ten Tigers of Kuangtung, Flag of Iron, and
Masked Avengers) first-run in neighborhood American movie theatres.
What I am about to relate now may not sound relevant at first, but it
is, as you'll see. Twenty years later, I learned that I was androgyne,
i.e. psychologically androgynous (someone with the gender identity of
both a man and a woman, or a gender identity in between that of a man
and a woman, if you prefer), and since most people aren't familiar
with the concept nor the term, I researched diligently and made a
website to explain it. It's at http://androgyne.0catch.com. Two years
later, Celestial began releasing their Shaw library to disc, and one
year after that, Panorama began releasing their Cathay library to disc.
oooooIntricately-choreographed asian-made martial arts films appeal to
my androgyne sensibilities in that they are combative on the one hand
and balletic on the other. Not a few people, including Chang Cheh
himself, have observed that Venoms films look as much like dancing as
fighting, and that's often why contemporary martial arts movie fans
don't like "old school" kung fu movies: because their moviegoing
history (except for Jackie Chan) usually doesn't have elements of
Chinese opera in it. The following is a quote from pages 126-127 of
the book Chang Cheh: A Memoir: "Many years ago when I was making
martial arts films in Shaws, Run Run Shaw once remarked, 'How come the
fighting looks so much like dancing?' Not so long ago, [the renowned
film critic] Sek Kei [aka Shi Qi] made a similar observation in his
column, remarking that Chinese martial arts is quite akin to dance
choreography. In fact, it is. Northern style kung fu has long been
affiliated with stage performance. The wu (martial) repertoire
in traditional kunqu, Peking Opera and Sichuan opera, in many
ways, resembles narrative dance in ballet or modern dance."
oooooOne year after Panorama began their release of Cathay films, I
learned that I have Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism marked by
social impairments such as missed social cues and a highly-lacking
understanding of subtle eye movements and body language, and
perfectionistic perseverence in narrow areas of interest, so my guess
is that one reason I wound up liking romances starring Betty Loh Tih,
Li Ching, Lily Ho, Jenny Hu, and the Cathay players is that they all
take place in a non-peer milieu, i.e. in another culture and another
time, since I am a Jewish-American of European descent. The subject
matter of these films operate in very different contexts than mine,
and therefore the broad strokes are more easily understood and less
threatening to me. They also appeal to my feminine side (since
androgynes are in between men and women, psychologically).
oooooAlrighty, then! Now that all that's out of the way . . .
oooooI watched eleven Cathay films before determining to review them
all, so the observations I made for the first 11 reviews are not as
fresh as the other twenty-eight. Has anyone else online reviewed all
39 of Panorama's Cathay releases? Not in English, at any rate; no.
Well, I'm not sure I have either, actually, since my contribution
here seems to constitute a commentary moreso than a body of reviews,
but I thought I'd share, just the same. I watched all 39 Panorama
releases in an 11-month timeframe, from March 2010 to January 2011.
oooooCathay Studios released 250+ films from 1955 to around 1972,
and Panorama released 39 of them to VCD and DVD between 2003 and
2006, with A Story of Three Loves and Sun, Moon and Star both
re-issued as 4-disc VCD sets in 2009. All of Panorama's Cathay VCDs
and DVDs are subtitled in Chinese and English, and all of their DVDs
are Region 0 even though they are marked as Region 3.
oooooHoker Records of Taiwan issued nine Cathay titles, and they are
all Region 0 and subitled in Chinese and English, even though they
are marked as being subtitled only in Chinese. The Hoker Records
titles are Mambo Girl, Air Hostess, Forever Yours, The Greatest Civil
War on Earth, The Greatest Wedding on Earth; Sun, Moon and Star
(issued on one disc as one long film); Spring-time Affairs, Because
of Her; Fairy, Ghost, Vixen; and The [sic] Story of Three Loves
(issued on one disc as one long film). I recommend all these films to
one degree or another except for Spring-time Affairs and Because of
Her. The sole source of Hoker Records Cathay DVDs that I have found
online is YesAsia. Note that they had some Hoker Records Cathay VCDs
(Mambo Girl, Air Hostess, The Greatest Civil War On Earth; Sun, Moon
And Star [on 4 discs]; and Fairy, Ghost, Vixen), as well, but they're
all sold out (or out-of-print?) right now.
oooooThe Greatest Civil War on Earth is out-of-print on Panorama DVD,
so grab it on Taiwanese Hoker Records DVD while you can. A Story of
Three Loves Pts. 1 and 2 are both out-of-print on Panorama DVD, and
Sun, Moon and Star Pts. 1 and 2 are getting scarce, but A Story of
Three Loves Pts. 1 and 2 can both still be obtained on DVD as part of
the five-disc The Films of Wong Tin Lam boxset, which consists of The
Story Of Three Loves I, The Story Of Three Loves II, Because Of Her,
Death Traps, and Mad, Mad, Mad Swords, or together as one long film
on Taiwan DVD. Also out-of-print on Panorama DVD are Our Dream Car and
Spring Song.
oooooThe June Bride DVD stops and skips during its last minute, and
The Education of Love DVD has mastering problems including stopping
and skipping during its first 30 minutes and last 2 minutes, so
getting the VCD of these films is recommended to ensure playability,
despite the fact that the June Bride VCD is scarce and now available
only as part of the five-disc The Films of Grace Chang boxset, which
consists of Mambo Girl, Spring Song, Because Of Her, Forever Yours,
and June Bride.
oooooCinderella and Her Little Angels is out-of-print on both DVD and
VCD, and Beauty Parade is scarce on both DVD and VCD. Our Sister Hedy
and The Wild, Wild Rose are getting scarce, and Mambo Girl might be
the next title to go the scarcity route, although there is a Hoker
Records DVD version of Mambo Girl still available.
oooooOne more thing: Cathay/MP&GI films prior to 1963 are Academy
ratio. Cathay Scope began in 1963 around the time of the release of
Because of Her (07/31/63). All films issued on Panorama and Hoker
Records disc are academy ratio and therefore pan and scan or cropped
at the left and right. None are widescreen/letterboxed. C'est la vie.
KEY: [00] = indicates the order in which I watched the thirty-nine films
ooooo0.0 stars = indicates my own rating of a film on a five-point scale
ooooo(00) = indicates the chronological order of films available on disc
ooooo000 = indicates the chronological order of a film's theatrical release
ooooo00/00/00 = indicates a film's actual date of theatrical release
DEMONSTRATION
o+---- indicates the order in which I watched the thirty-nine films
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o|oooooooo+---- indicates my own rating of a film on a five-point scale
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o|oooooooo|oooooo|ooo|oooooooooooooooo+---- indicates a film's actual date of theatrical release
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[03] 5.0 stars (01) 017 Mambo Girl 03/06/57
COMMENTS ON THE 39 CATHAY FILMS RELEASED ON PANORAMA VCD AND DVD
[01] 4.0 stars (27) 111 It's Always Spring 02/21/62
oooooThe 1962 film It's Always Spring was my first experience
with the Cathay Studio because I am a Chang Cheh collector and
he wrote the script with some help from the film's director.
(This is the only Cathay film with a Chang Cheh script available
on disc, by the way, because he provided only script doctoring
for Death Traps.) I was immediately smitten by its star, Julie
Yeh Feng, who is apparently considered to be Hong Kong's answer
to Kim Novak, and intrigued by her co-star, the reserved yet
smoldering Helen Li Mei, who had worked with Chang Cheh on His
Cruel Heart in 1956 and Wild Fire in 1957. This was my first
time seeing Roy Chiao other than in Enter the Dragon, Enter the
Fat Dragon, and Tower of Death (aka Game of Death II), and my
first encounter with Kelly Lai Chen, who is the brother of Betty
Loh Tih (who co-starred with Ivy Ling Po in The Love Eterne). The
story involves a rivalry between two singers, and it is really
quite entertaining, with memorable tunes and performances. There
is a pair of dogged, mostly one-sided romances woven through the
proceedings. Annette Chang plays a spunky go-getter who is an
understudy of sorts to Julie Yeh Feng. Highly recommended.
[02] 5.0 stars (03) 028 Our Sister Hedy 11/14/57
oooooI went into Our Sister Hedy prepared to drool over Julie Yeh
Feng, who I liked in It's Always Spring, and who I'd heard played
a temptress to a T in this film, but I was not prepared for the
wonderful ensemble acting and involving storytelling. The plot
details the romantic efforts of three sisters, played by Muk Hung,
Julie Yeh Feng, and Dolly So Fung, and a fourth sister, the title
Hedy, played by Jeanette Lin Cui, who is ostensibly content to stay
at home and be daddy's little girl while smoothing things out behind
the scenes. Maybe I'm a sap for liking this so much, but I really
did. This is the first time I'd seen Jeanette Lin Cui (whose only
Shaw Bros film was The Golden Buddha), and I instantly liked the
long-faced Dolly So Fung. I was really surprised to encounter Tin
Ching playing an affable, wholesome guy, after having first seen
him as a backstabbing weasel in The Boxer from Shantung, and Peter
Chen Ho playing a dour architect, after having previously seen him
only in Hong Kong Nocturne, opposite Cheng Pei-pei and Lily Ho.
[03] 5.0 stars (01) 017 Mambo Girl 03/06/57
oooooMambo Girl introduced me to the ebullient and talented Grace
Chang, who plays the most talented singer and dancer in her school.
It co-stars Peter Chen Ho, who'd I'd encountered in Our Sister Hedy
and as the male lead in the Cheng Pei-pei musical Hong Kong Nocturne,
and it's a mostly upbeat tale save the plot thread of the title girl
searching for her adoptive mother. Shaw Brothers apparently more or
less remade the film with Li Ching as A Place to Call Home, but minus
the musical stylings. The music in Mambo Girl is organic to the plot
and is infectious. Kitty Ting Hao makes an early appearance (she was
only 18), as does future wife of Run Run Shaw, Mona Fong (under the
name Fang Yihua), who we see sing an entire song in a nightclub. Fong
is prettier here than she is in the 1965 Shaw Brothers film The Lark.
This is a good, solid dramatic film, which is something you might not
expect since it is in large part a musical. See it.
[04] 3.0 stars (12) 068 Sister Long Legs 02/06/1960
oooooI went into Sister Long Legs with high hopes, since Julie Yeh
Feng wears glasses in this film and looks cute in them, but I was
not prepared for what it was: a screwball comedy of manners between
two classes: urban and suburban Chinese. The performances are all
endearing, and Roy Chiao shines as a shy automobile mechanic who
attracts Yeh Feng, but I found much of the proceedings overwrought.
Yeh Feng and Jeanette Lin Cui, who have very different personalites,
play off each other well and are both great in this, and Ting Ching
is fun as a bumbling suitor, but I was not taken with the material.
After having watched the entirety of Panorama's output of Cathay
discs, I returned to re-watch this film (the new review is at [40]),
thinking that I might have been unfair. As it turns out, I liked it
a lot more the second time, since I was more familiar with the stars,
bit players, genres, and genre conventions of the Cathay studio.
[05] 5.0 stars (18) 087 The Wild, Wild Rose 10/04/60
oooooThe Wild, Wild Rose is probably the most polished and classic
MP&GI film in the Hollywood sense. Grace Chang plays extremely
against type as a wily, man-eating nightclub singer, and this film
details her lusty power and her decline after falling for the wrong
man. A must-see, but only after seeing at least one other Grace
Chang film in order to put the magnitude of her performance into
perspective. Grace is a great singer and a singular persona, and
everything she does here is mesmerizing. A noirish-flavored film,
worthy of being considered a classic in every way. The story has
several key elements from Carmen and Sternberg's Der Blau Angel.
A handsome fellow named Zhang Yang plays the doomed smitten
character reminiscent of the one in Der Blau Angel, Ting Ching
plays a bandmate who is jealous of him, and Dolly So Fung is a
standout as his long-suffering erstwhile fiance. Originally,
Grace turned down doing this film. She suggested that Julie Yeh
Feng play the role, instead.
[06] 3.5 stars (07) 050 Air Hostess 06/04/59
oooooAir Hostess stars three of my MP&GI favorites, Grace Chang,
Julie Yeh Feng, and So Fung, and was my second dose of the era's
performances by Roy Chiao. He plays an overly serious flight pilot
here, and his co-pilot is played by his MP&GI antithesis, Kelly Lai
Chen. This is a color film, bright and earnest, with rich hues. I
thought it was okay, but I'm surprised to find that it's regarded
highly. Maybe it's because it's a memorable time capsule for those
who saw it in its first release, as it reflects the appeal of the
commercial air travel of its day. The bulk of the film is comprised
of women in stewardess school, and Grace Chang is radiant in it, so
there's that, too. While in school, an instructor makes a comment
about the way Yeh Feng walks, asking her to rein in it a little,
as the audience is treated to a rear view of Yeh Feng's wide hips
swinging. Hee hee. Air Hostess is really Grace Chang's show, though,
and the camera adores her. Trivia: Yeh Feng's second husband was
Zhang Yang. Her third was the Shaw Brothers leading man Ling Yun,
who I've seen in Hong Kong Nocturne, the Jenny Hu version of Love
Without End (in which he co-starred), and Clans of Intrigue.
[07] 5.0 stars (06) 049 Her Tender Heart 05/21/59
oooooHer Tender Heart was my introduction to Lucilla You Min, and
she is really quite affecting. It would be easy to say that it's
because of her saucer-sized eyes, but it's more than that. She has
a quiet, controlled inner beauty and she underplays what could have
been an overdramatized part to great affect as she essays the role
of a relatively naive young girl. This film deals with a child's
relationship with a single parent, and also a conflict between an
adoptive parent and a birth parent, and as an adoptee myself, I
found the choices she makes to be quite refreshing. Zhang Yang plays
an altogether different and nicer man here than he did in The Wild,
Wild Rose. Wang Lai adds great nuance as the birth parent who is torn
between her old relationship with the birth father and her new one
with the daughter who doesn't realize who she is, while Wang Yin
works wonders as the adoptive father who only wants the best for his
daughter, who in turn is caught in the middle without understanding
the nature of their relationship. I thought this film was moving and
memorable, with wonderful performances, and I recommend it highly.
[08] 3.0 stars (08) 052 Our Dream Car 07/09/59
oooooOur Dream Car is the story of a highly attractive young couple,
played by Grace Chang and Zhang Yang, who undertake financing a car
even though they really can't afford it, and the strain it puts on
their marriage. Grace buys the after being cajoled by car salesman
Kelly Lai Chen, who is the boyfriend she had right before meeting
Zhang Yang, so both Kelly Lai Chen and the car itself are the impetus
for strife. Much has been said about this film being a paean to
consumerism, and indeed at one point, Grace Chang sings a song about
the car that has a section that sounds like a communist work song,
but it works more as a time capsule, when buying a car was a true pop
culture event. Grace is really a knockout in this film, and she wears
several ornate, modern, highly flattering cheongsams. Zhang Yang plays
her husband very naturalistically, and he is shown both in a good and
a bad light, as the situation and story dictates. Close-ups of the two
actutely photogenic stars appear in the film frequently, so this is a
real glamor parade. The movie itself is only so-so, though, and works
best as a vehicle for matinee idol worship of Grace. Very cool is the
fact that the menu page of the Our Dream Car DVD plays the entirety of
the Car song before beginning the film.
[09] 2.5 stars (05) 044 Spring Song 02/14/59
oooooSpring Song details the rivalry between two college girls, one
a singer and the other an athlete, as played by Grace Chang and
Jeanette Lin Cui. It's kind of cool to see Jeanette with long hair in
a ponytail, just like Grace has here, because she usually has short
hair in her roles. Peter Chen, Tin Ching, and Roy Chiao play upper
classmen, and Wang Lai plays the music teacher in charge of the two
girls' hostel (dorm) that they share with two other roommates. The
timid Peter is an old friend of Jeannete's and is buddies with star
athlete Roy, while Tin Ching plays an affable bully (if there is such
a thing). Jeanette likes Roy, but Roy likes Grace. Grace likes Peter,
and that makes Jeanette jealous. Both actresses are charismatic and
riveting here, and the script plays to their strengths, but the roles
are indulgent. Their rivalry becomes too serious, and this leaves a
slightly sour taste as the two feud with each other for almost half
the film's running time over their mutual lack of ability in each
other's areas of strength, and over the men they like. It is indeed
fun, however, to see Roy Chiao play a jock who can't dance. For those
who care, you get to see him shirtless when he benchpresses free
weights and drives a boat while Jeanette Lin Cui waterskis. He was
Cathay's only real beefcake.
[10] 4.5 stars (13) 073 Forever Yours 04/07/60
oooooForever Yours is a devastating weepie about a woman, played by
Grace Chang, who falls in love with an adoring, poetic man, played by
Kelly Lai Chen, who makes bonsai arrangements and has a seemingly
terminal disease. The sacrifices she makes to keep him happy are like
the ones the husband makes in Love Without End (certainly like in the
1961 Linda Lin Dai version, but less so in the 1970 Jenny Hu re-make),
and are heartbreaking. The film is somber and downbeat, with evocative,
nuanced noirish lighting, and features a more-masculine-than-usual
performance by the ordinarily elfin and fey Kelly Lai Chen (who is the
brother of Betty Loh Tih!) as the husband. As others have pointed out,
this is the only film in which Grace Chang does not dance nor sing a
single song. She's a very good actress, though, so her work here is
not a stretch, by any means. Think of the second half of Mambo Girl,
wherein Grace searches for her mother; and the last third of The Wild,
Wild Rose, where she lies low and tries to save her beloved; and
you'll have an idea of the mode she is in in this film. (Later on, I
found that her role in the two-part epic Sun, Moon and Star bears
much in common with her role in Forever Yours, as well.) I thought
this film was great and recommend it highly. Apparently, this is one
of Grace's most underappreciated films. Be sure to bring tissues with
you if you see it, which I suggest you do.
[11] 3.0 stars (11) 066 June Bride 01/27/60
oooooJune Bride concerns three men competing for the attention of
Grace Chang. On a cruise ship, goofy would-be loverboy guitarist
Tin Ching tries to romance singer Grace Chang who is traveling to
Hong Kong to marry Zhang Yang. Zhang Yang is pals with a nightclub
songstress (who looks vaguely like Julie Yeh Feng), even though he
is engaged to Grace. Roy Chiao plays a man who we first see highly
intoxicated who is engaged to a woman who apparently may no longer be
interested in him. Seeing how drunk he is, Chiao takes pity on him
and lets him crash at his place. He then tries to set Chiao up with
his nightclub pal, but accidentally, Chiao doesn't meet the nightclub
songstress, but with Grace the songstress, instead. He gets her
drunk, and it's her first time drinking. The choreography of Grace's
drunk scene is great. It's overstated, but in a good way. Then comes
a musical dream sequence where Grace wears a bridal gown and dances
first with Zhang Yang, then Tin Ching, then Roy Chiao. When Grace
shops for a real wedding dress, her best friend turns out to be Dolly
So Fung. Yay! But then Grace calls off the wedding because she is
conflicted. This film is a combination of musical and screwball
comedy, and really doesn't quite come together, but there are many
memorable moments amid the jumble. My DVD stopped and skipped during
the last minute-and-a-half of the film. Note that this glitch might
exist in all copies of the DVD: I returned mine, and the seller's
distributor replaced it with a disc that did the very same thing.
[12] 4.0 stars (25) 107 Sun, Moon and Star (Part 1) 12/08/61
[13] 3.5 stars (26) 108 Sun, Moon and Star (Part 2) 12/30/61
oooooSun, Moon and Star is an epic love story in two parts, taking
place before, during and after the Sino-Japanese war. Zhang Yang
falls in love with poor neighbor Lucilla You Min, then with his
wealthy cousin Grace Chang, then with Chinese nationalist Julie Yeh
Feng, but it's Julie Yeh Feng that he's really hung up on, leading
him to join the military just to track her down. He's a foolhardy,
smitten sap. Grace eventually learns about Lucilla, takes pity on
her, and virtually adopts her, and both women serve in the war in
one capacity or another. At one point, the destinies of all three
women interlap, but the meeting is brief. Like his character in The
Wild, Wild Rose, Zhang Yang can't get one woman (Julie Yeh Feng, in
this case) out of his head, and makes himself and everyone else
miserable for it. Were it not for his character's over-the-top
thickheadedness, this two-parter would have been a classic. Lucilla
You Min is outstanding in this film, even better than in Her Tender
Heart, and won the Golden Horse Best Actress award for her efforts.
Highly recommended for the three actresses' performances and hours
of quality drama, despite the fact that Zhang Yang's character casts
a pall over much of the film.
[14] 4.0 stars (09) 055 For Better, For Worse 08/20/59
oooooIn For Better, for Worse, the ordinarily opulent and glamorous
Helen Li Mei, who I'd liked in It's Always Spring, plays a put-upon
wife who is browbeaten by her husband's decadent sister after her
husband loses his job. It is really easy to identify with Li Mei in
this film, although the patience she exhibits while supporting her
husband above and beyond the call of duty is often heartbreaking and
exasperating. The trouble starts soon after they are married, when
the husband's sister, a very disagreeable woman -- okay, an outright
asshole -- played by Lau Sin-Mung, refuses to attend the couple's
wedding dinner on the grounds that Li Mei is a widow and that such a
woman brings bad luck to the (extended) family, the irony being that
the only real bad luck brought to the family is the result of the
sister herself, who proceeds to treat Li Mei and her daughter from
her previous marriage like dirt. Zhang Yang plays the husband in an
even more earnest and clueless mode than he displayed in Sun, Moon,
Star, as he is egged on by his awful aunt. He is a handsome man but
tends to have a streak of unlikeability and a penchant for ruining
the lives of the woman characters he plays off of. Prime examples
being The Wild, Wild Rose and Sun, Moon and Star, both of which make
you want to slap him for very different reasons. Dolly So Fung plays
Li Mei's sister, and Tin Ching plays her fiance -- as he did in Our
Sister Hedy -- with a distinct lack of clowning. Child actress Connie
Chan Po-Chu, who plays Li Mei's daughter, is very good. I found this
film to be well acted and memorable, and recommend it.
[15] 3.5 stars (21) 091 Death Traps 12/08/60
oooooDeath Traps is a noir about a woman who in a fit of drunken
jealous pique, puts out a contract on anyone who her erstwhile
beau marries, only to wind up marrying him herself and hence being
the designee of the contract. Tin Ching plays a crooked smoothie,
but one not as harsh as the backstabber he played in Boxer from
Shantung. It has been claimed that Chang Cheh wrote the script,
but he actually only did re-writes (script-doctoring), perhaps as
a favor to star Li Mei, who he had worked with on The Cruel Heart
of My Man in 1956 and Wildfire in 1957. Chang Cheh thought the
script ultimately a failure, but I found the film to be rather
good. It is certainly involving. I thought that Helen Li Mei as
the woman and Roy Chiao as her beau were well suited to the genre,
and I would like to see them again in a noir vein if such films
were to be made available on disc.
[16] 3.0 stars (19) 088 Between Tears and Laughter 11/10/60
oooooThree Cathay stars representing three very different personas
and bodies of work are represented in Between Tears and Laughter.
Wang Lai plays a divorced woman with a young son, Helen Li Mei plays
a novelist scared of new relationships, and Kitty Ting Hao plays a
perky girl anxious to meet her Singaporean penpal, played by Roy
Chiao. Having Li Mei and Ting Hao in the same film is a disorienting
experience, and having Wang Lai play a peer to these two women adds
to the disorientation. This is the first time I'd really gotten a
good taste of Kitty Ting Hao because her role was so small in Mambo
Girl, and I was not too taken with her here because she is way too
snippy with her ardent, ingenuous suitor, Tin Ching (who is also her
boss at work), on account of being hung up on the penpal whom she has
yet to meet. Li Mei's introduction in this film is highly unglamorous
as we first see her asleep in bed with a relative lack of -- or at
least unflattering -- makeup. Wang Li's estranged husband is played
very straight by Shaw Brothers regular Yeung Chi-Hing, whom she
encounters while visiting her young son who has been in the hospital
with polio for a year. While all three women work through anguished
situations by the time the film ends, I felt especially bad for Li
Mei's character, and was gratified when her situation changed for the
better. It's this portion of the film that I enjoyed most, since I
like Li Mei quite a bit.
[17] 2.5 stars (30) 130 Because of Her 07/31/63
oooooBecause of Her has Grace Chang fronting a musical troupe and
performing eloborate dance routines in full color, but many of
the scenes seem rushed and don't always fit in with the plot of
the film. The main plot consists of Grace starting a relationship
with Kelly Lai Chen who takes a job in Japan rather than marrying
her, which results in Grace having a child out of wedlock. Her
manager, played by an avuncular Roy Chiao playing against type
with frosted salt-and-pepper hair, marries her and takes up
responsibility for her child to keep his star attraction from
scandal and from diminished revenue for himself. Alas, Kelly Lai
Chen comes back and joins the musical troupe, and make a mess of
things by constantly making a play for Grace. It is a mystery to
me how she -- and especially Roy -- puts up with it. Kelly is
really an obsessed figure here, almost as tragic as Zhang Yang
was in The Wild, Wild Rose.
[NA] Duel at the Supreme Gate (studio: Gam Ying) 07/25/1968
oooooDuel at the Supreme Gate is not a Cathay film, but one made
by Betty Loh Tih and director Yuen Chau-Fung (the co-director of
Chang Cheh's The Butterfly Chalice) for their short-lived Golden
Eagle Film Company. It stars Loh Tih, and co-stars her brother
Kelly Lai Chen, and Zhang Yang. Playing strongly against type,
the usually effete Lai Chen is almost unrecognizable as the
villain. Loh Tih plays a swordswoman with a storied past who is
blinded and yet is still able to fight. The plot is forced and
stilted, but Loh Tih and Zhang Yang's interplay is affecting and
absorbing. Loh Tih is quite memorable here in this film issued in
the US by Rarescope. Loh Tih made eight films with Cathay, while
Lai Chen and Zhang Yang were Cathay mainstays. See it for Loh Tih.
[18] 1.5 stars (36) 181 The First Sword 12/28/67
oooooFor those used to Shaw Brothers, Cathay's first wuxia pian,
The First Sword, will seem overly restrained. The swordplay is
by-the-numbers, and despite the presence of most of the tropes
of the genre, the film never really convinces you of the hero's
ability. He is a stuffed shirt and clueless as to the nefarious
machinations going on around him. Tin Ching is over-the-top as
a one-note Faustian traitor who hatches plot after plot.
[19] 2.5 stars (32) 138 The Magic Lamp 01/23/64
oooooThe beginning ten minutes of The Magic Lamp are lost and
replaced with a title card. The remainder is a telling of the same
story as Shaw Brothers' The Lotus Lamp. Although it pre-dates The
First Sword, and is more a Huangmei opera than a wuxia pian, the
naturally athletic Jeanette Lin Cui performs impressive swordplay
in one climactic scene. Grace Chang's tearful portrayal is a bit
overplayed, but Lucilla You Min does a good job with the material,
as does Jeanette Lin Cui.
[20] 5.0 stars (14) 074 Devotion 04/21/60
oooooDevotion concerns the devotion a housemaid, played by Ou-Yang
Sha-Fei, has towards her daughter, and marks the first time a HK
actress (Ou-Yang Sha-Fei) won Best Supporting Actress at an
international film festival. The film stars Kitty Ting Hao in two
roles, as well as Roy Chiao, and Zhang Yang in a rare role wherein
he atypically plays someone who is not a selfish, self-involved
git (see The Wild, Wild Rose and Sun, Moon and Star for cases in
point) but a fun guy and fine man. I admit to being shocked seeing
him in a positive role for once. The plot often seems fragmentary,
going off on many tangents, but by film's end, everything comes
together. Kitty Ting Hao proves to be almost as affecting as
Lucilla You Min was in Sun, Moon and Star, which I didn't expect,
but the roles have a bit in common, since they both have the women
playing poor country girls with braids. Several heartwrenching
scenes appear in this film, so you'll need handkerchiefs to view
this one. This is among the best Cathay films I have seen so far,
and it did much to change my perception of Kitty Ting Hao whom I
hadn't really liked in Between Tears and Laughter.
[21] 3.0 stars (20) 089 Bachelors Beware 11/17/60
oooooBachelors Beware is a comedy, and perhaps I was not in the
right mindset, having just recently seen a Cathay melodrama that
was rather wrenching, but there's something about star Linda Lin
Dai that hasn't clicked with me yet. My only previous encounters
with her had been the Shaw Brothers films Love without End (in
which she plays a woman with a terminal disease) and The Lotus
Lamp, in which she plays a fairy, and so her impish role in this
film wasn't something I was prepared for. Zhang Yang plays the
part of a playboy with three girlfriends, and Lin Dai plays his
cousin come to visit and woo him. Straightaway, she sizes up her
competition and sets to derailing all her cousin's relationships
in quick succession. My trouble was in identifying with her rather
than with the put-upon recipients of her machinations. I guess
this is understandable after having seen several Cathay dramas in
which the long-suffering female leads fall victim either to others
or to circumstance. Against type, the wonderful Dolly So Fung plays
a rich socialite, and Zhang Yang is uncharacteristically delightful.
[22] 2.5 stars (38) 199 Spring Time Affairs 11/28/68
oooooIn Spring-time Affairs, a barely-recognizable Zhang Yang, with
hair combed dashingly across his forehead, plays a married violin
virtuoso who becomes smitten with a nightclub singer, played by
Annette Chang, who was Julie Yeh Feng's memorable, spunky sidekick
in It's Always Spring. Being that it's from late 1968, the film is
in color, but it is mood piece just the same, thanks in part to some
woozily-lensed images and extreme close-ups. The plot is slight but
the somber, yearning, slightly bleak tone of the film carries it,
sort of like in the way of a Tarkovsky film like Solaris or Stalker.
And as with a Tarkovsky film, the viewing is a turgid experience
whereas the resultant processing of information and emotions yields
resonant evocation. An odd experience, it could also be compared to
the style of Alain Resnais, I suppose.
[23] 2.5 stars (23) 096 Beauty Parade 03/30/61
oooooBeauty Parade is a fluff piece about country girl Kitty Ting
Hao being accepted in a city high school. She is very cute but
the film isn't even as serious as Spring Song, where Grace Chang
and Jeanette Lin Cui played adversarial college student roommates.
Tin Ching plays a country bumpkin smitten by Kitty, and Kelly Lai
Chen plays Kitty's best friend's brother who likes Kitty, but no
romantic relationship flourishes in this film. Rather, Kitty
excells in sports to the detriment of her studies, and has to try
hard to stay in school. Lo Wei plays her father, and it is
surprising to see him emote with tears in his eyes -- a great
departure from all the pompous roles he had at Shaw Brothers. A
slight, but enjoyable film, but really only recommended for those
who like Kitty Ting Hao, who is undeniably cute.
[24] 5.0 stars (22) 094 The Greatest Civil War on Earth 02/14/61
oooooBeing an American who does not speak Chinese and has never
visited the Asian hemisphere, I went in to seeing The Greatest
Civil War on Earth assuming that this cultural comedy of manners
pitting Northern (Mandarin) against Southern (Cantonese) mores
would go over my head, but surprisingly found few impediments to
enjoying this classic film. Cathay mainstay Liu En-Jia, a jovial,
rotund man who is usually given supporting roles, is here one of
two lead characters, the other being likewise portly. The two men
are tailors and have daughters who fancy suitors from the other
culture. They continually try to one-up each other and make a show
about how their culture is best, while the harried daughters try
to make to best of things. At one point, mismatched couples go to
the movies, and we're treated to three scenes of Grace Chang in
The Wild Wild Rose. Liu En-Jia's character's daughter, a
stewardess with a stylish bob, is played delightfully by Kitty
Ting Hao, and Kelly Lai Chen plays a role that has layers that
are at first not readily apparent. This film breezes by at a fast
clip like an old Hollywood comedy. Highly recommended.
[25] 3.0 stars (29) 122 The Greatest Wedding on Earth 10/11/62
oooooThe Greatest Wedding on Earth is the 1962 follow-up to the
1961 hit The Greatest Civil War on Earth, and features much the
same cast, but where the feuding Northern and Southern men were
tailors in the first film, they are here restaurateurs, and the
comedy is courser and less intricately plotted, despite a script
by esteemed novelist Eileen Chang. Not paricularly recommended
unless you are Chinese or speak both Cantonese and Mandarin. The
charm of this film pales in comparison to its predecessor. Not
even a liking for Kitty Ting Hao is enough to recommend this all
that much, really. The female lead (also of The Greatest Civil
War), Christine Pai Lu-Ming, befuddles me in that she looks a
lot like Jeanette Lin Cui, but acts quite differently.
[26] 2.5 stars (28) 117 Ladies First 08/02/62
oooooLadies First involves two women, played by Jeanette Lin Cui
and Christine Pai Lu-ming, and two men, played by Roy Chiao and
Tin Ching, who meet, yet who are at odds with their chosen ones.
Jeanette likes Roy, while Christine likes Tin, but Roy likes
Christine, while Tin likes Jeanette. Both men try to match with
the woman of their choice despite the women trying to change
their pairing, and both women try to match with the man of their
choice despite the men trying to change their pairing. The four
get pretty devious in the end, to the point of really politically
incorrect bits about trying to get the other pair drunk and in
compromising positions in hotel rooms. One bit even has the two
men in an alleyway fist fight while the two women egg them on,
going as far as shouting, "Keep going!" to the men. Roy Chiao's
shirtless muscular torso is played up when the four people first
meet at a beach. A very young David Chiang, then billed as Yan
Wei, plays Christine's little brother. The two fathers from the
Greatest...on Earth films make cameo appearances. Christine Pai
Lu-Ming, who I'd previously though looks a lot like Jeanette Lin
Cui, looks much less so when paired with her in the same film.
Cathay was a mostly Mandarin production company, but they had a
Cantonese division, and Christine was one of its major stars. I
liked her more than Jeannette in this film. She radiates a quiet
intelligence that, among the Cathay actresses I have seen, is
surpassed only by the regal, willowy Wang Lai -- who here plays
Jeanette's mother -- or by perhaps Li Mei.
[27] 3.5 stars (04) 030 The Splendour of Youth 12/11/57
oooooThe Splendour of Youth (aka The Tender Age), from 1957, is a
sordid melodrama about a schoolgirl misled into depravity by her
best friend's mother. At this point, I had seen 25 of Panorama's
Cathay films, so I was surprised to find not one familiar face in
this film. The acting is quite good, but the plot content, which
concerns decadent aristocratic partiers, is appalling, rife with
unsavory characters manipulating each other for their own ends.
The last ten minutes of the film trots out one heartwrenching
trainwreck after another, to the point where one's credulity is
strained to the maximum and beyond. The overall content of what
transpires would merit an R rating even to this day, even though
there are no curse words nor nudity, so it must have been quite
shocking for 1957. It would have been so for 1967, too, actually.
I suppose claims could be made for this film's having camp value,
but only of a cynical Andy Warhol or David Lynch sort. I must
admit, however, that the film stayed with and grew on me, on the
strength of the characters and the acting. Powerful stuff.
[28] 2.5 stars (17) 084 Dreams Come True 08/27/60
oooooIn Dreams Come True, Kitty Ting Hao plays a poor orphan girl
who sells flowers and is hassled by two local toughs who extort
her for protection money. Since this is primarily a comedy, she
is saved when at a ship arrival, a wealthy young man, played by
Kelly Lai Chen, mistakes her for a woman due to arrive from San
Francisco and takes her home. The bulk of the film has Kitty
hiding from Kelly's family finding out her true identity, while
trying to evade her extorters. When the real San Francisco woman
arrives, it is Kitty in a tight shimmery cheongsam with coke
bottle glasses and fake protruding upper canine teeth. Looking
for their missing daughter, the orphan girl's parents mistake the
San Francisco woman for their own. To her credit, Kitty plays the
Chinese-American woman with deft body language that makes it hard
to believe that it's really her. In the end, everything works out
well for everyone. Sort of fun despite the undercurrent with the
extorters. Maybe I'm still recovering from The Splendor of Youth.
[29] 2.5 stars (39) 215 Mad, Mad, Mad Swords 09/10/69
oooooMad, Mad, Mad Swords, starring Tin Ching at his goofiest
(moreso than in Beauty Parade, even) and least malevolent (in
contrast to his roles in The First Sword and The Boxer from
Shantung), was not all that great, but not as miserable as some
would have it. Sammo Hung plays two parts. Veteran character
actor Fung Ngai (who played the fat bespectacled karateka in
Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury) appears with a three-sectional staff
which the choreographer doesn't know what to do with. Infamous
Shaw villain Chiang Nan (most memorable as the traitor in The
Iron Bodyguard) has the funniest scene: he is forced to fight Tin
Ching with a full bladder after having eaten eight bowls of
congee. Rascally Tin Ching purposely delayed their competition to
make sure the congee would do what it did. The best fight scene
has Shaw actor Paul Chang in a Zatoichi homage. The One-armed
Swordsman homage is not nearly as successful. Being a Cathay
film, the women hold sway over the men, and it is in ways that
you wouldn't see in a Shaw Brothers or Golden Harvest film. For
example, Tin Ching's betrothed controls the purse strings to his
dead master's fortune, and a subplot with a courtesan is played
out mostly from the woman's perspective. In the end, it's Tin
Ching's pompous, almost-bowlegged strut that makes for the most
indelible image: It's John Wayne by way of Popeye.
[30] 3.0 stars (31) 133 Father Takes a Bride 10/02/63
oooooFather Takes a Bride stars the same main three actors as in
Her Tender Heart -- the doe-eyed Lucilla Yu Ming, the fatherly
Wang Yin, and the tall, regal Wang Lai -- but in place of Zhang
Yang, we have Betty Loh Tih's brother Kelly Lai Chen. And as it
turns out, Lucilla and Kelly make a perfect couple: their looks
match each other handsomely, and they play off each convincingly
(unlike Kelly's match with Kitty Ting Hao in Dreams Come True).
The tone of this film is quite different from that of Her Tender
Heart. Two couples -- one being Lucilla and Kelly, the other
being Lucilla's father Wang Yin and Wang Lai -- are threatened by
jealousy on the part of Lucilla's two younger brothers, aged 8
and 9, who make a fuss about their dead mother and how marriage
by their father would disrespect her memory, while marriage by
their sister would leave them all alone in life. The way things
play out in this Eileen Chang scripted film is rather ingenious,
but until then, you fear for nearly everyone's happiness at one
point or another. I was surprised not to care all that much for
Lucilla's character, here. I preferred her work in Her Tender
Heart and in Sun, Moon and Star.
[31] 4.5 stars (37) 183 Darling Stay At Home 01/28/68
oooooI thought the 1968 color film Darling, Stay at Home, was
great. Betty Loh Tih plays a repressed, resourceful housewife, and
Zhang Yang plays her sexist husband who doesn't allow her to seek
gainful employment. She devises a scheme to trump her husband,
which she does in surprising and delightful ways, not unlike the
way in which Linda Lin Dai operated in Bachelors Beware, but what
stands out is the feminism and its contrast to the conservative
mores of the time. Betty essentially has two roles in this, the
only modern era vehicle she starred in at Cathay. Not having yet
seen The Love Eterne, the only other film I'd seen her in was the
Rarescope release Duel at the Supreme Gate, and I thought she was
great in that, so I was hoping that I'd like her here, too, even
though the genre and era were different, and I did. Zhang Yang's
smug arrogance is utilized exceptionally well for comedic effect
for once, and Tin Ching adds flavor to Zhang Yang's performance
with his more overt comedy. The plot is fairly simple, but plays
out in a highly entertaining manner. I laughed out loud at this
film moreso than with any other Cathay or Shaw Brothers comedy
I've seen. I enjoyed this immensely, and will be getting some Loh
Tih Shaw Brothers discs in order to see more of her.
[32] 3.5 stars (02) 025 My Kingdom for a Husband
oooooI knew that My Kingdom for a Husband was a Cantonese opera
set in the modern era, so I half-expected to be bored, but the
novelty of seeing a film with Cantonese opera instead of Huangmei
(Yellow Plum) Opera was intriguing. So, too, were the lead actors,
Cheung Ying, who played the sparkle-eyed lothario in The Splendor
of Youth, and Leung Sing-Bo, who played the Cantonese tailor in
The Greatest Civil War on Earth and the Cantonese restaurateur in
The Greatest Wedding on Earth. The two men are paired almost like
a Hollywood Golden Age comedy duo, with Cheung Ying as the straight
man and Leung Sing-Bo as a broadly delineated vaudevillian type.
The former seems almost like Dean Martin, with the latter somewhat
akin to Oliver Hardy or Red Skelton. It's ironic that I should have
viewed this film directly after having seen Darling, Stay at Home,
because that title describes this film, too, in many ways. While
Darling dealt with a housewife whose husband endeavors to keep her
at home rather than let her work, My Kingdom has a queen whose
husband The Prince Consort comes to resent having no autonomy once
married. Although the film is overly leisurely at first and is slow
slogging for the first hour, the second half picks up significantly
once most of the plot comes together, and the developments in the
last half hour are riveting. After his relatively one-note role in
The Splendor of Youth, it was surprising to see Cheung Ying display
such an emotional range in this film. Trivia: Cheung Ying appeared
in over 300 films from 1937 to 1988, and he directed the 1969 Shaw
Brothers film The Swordmates, as well as co-directed the 1949 film
Wind and Storm Over Alishan with Chang Cheh (Wind is the first film
that Chang Cheh ever co-directed; the first films he ever directed
on his own were Tiger Boy and The Magnificent Trio, both in 1966).
My Kingdom for a Husband is worth it if you've got the patience for
the first half. Leung Sing-Bo is particularly good in this.
[33] 4.0 stars (10) 063 Cinderella and Her Little Angels 12/31/59
oooooCinderella and Her Little Angels begins on a strange note in
a clothing shop, where two children's mannequins come to life and
sing a song about the lead character, a tailor played by Peter
Chen. There is a woman mannequin in the shop which he kisses
goodnight every evening, and his co-workers (Tin Ching among them)
know about it. What they don't know is that the mannequin is a
dead ringer for a girl he's sweet on, played by Linda Lin Dai, who
works in the orphanage that sews the shop's clothing. The plot
hinges on the foibles of Peter and Linda keeping the orphanage's
prim matron (Wang Li) in the dark about Linda's modeling for the
clothing shop's fashion shows, which Linda assents to in order to
get funding for renovating the orphanage, which is badly in need
of structural repairs. Lots of fun fashion is on view, and Linda's
character is not annoying like it was in Bachelor's Beware. I admit
to dreading this film because of not having liked Bachelor's Beware,
but Linda's character here is much different. Tin Ching's love
interest is played by Dolly So Fung, who I haven't seen in ages,
and she is really cute in glasses and pigtails, although she
doesn't have much of a part. The sewing room in the orphanage is
pretty much a sweatshop, and there is a disconcerting scene where
they sing a jaunty tune about how they work as fast as they can.
Peter Chen, who was married to Betty Loh Tih from 1962-1966 (which
made Kelly Lai Chen his brother-in-law), later re-teamed with Linda
Lin Dai in the 1963 Shaw Brothers film Love Parade. Cinderella and
Her Little Angels (the title refers to Linda's character and to the
youngest orphans in the orphanage; the title's literal translation
is "After the Cloud Clothes Are Colorful," which probably refers to
both the pall over the orphanage cast by the matron and by the
storm that assaults the orphanage near the end) is a predictable
but engaging film, which I enjoyed.
[NA] Les Belles (studio: Shaw Bros.) 02/25/1961
oooooLes Belles, from 1961, is a Shaw Brothers film, but it stars
Linda Lin Dai and Peter Chen Ho, and is said to be one of Shaws'
best musicals, so I figured I'd watch it after Cinderella and Her
Little Angels. The real reason I obtained this VCD is because of
Fanny Fan Lai being in it. Ever since I saw her bare backside
shower scene (yes, you see her fanny) and catfight with Lily Ho
in Angel with the Iron Fists (1967), I've been a Fanny Fan fan
(hoo boy), and have sought out anything she's in. Very few of her
appearances are on disc. Others would include Love Parade, The
Magnificent Trio, The Golden Buddha (featuring Jeanette Lin Cui's
only appearance in a Shaw Bros film), Summons to Death, and Diary
of a Lady-Killer. Anyways, Les Belles has Peter Chen as the
director and lead male dancer in a dance troupe, with Linda Lin
Dai as the talented newcomer who butts heads with him time and
again. The production numbers are indeed among the best I have
seen from Cathay and Shaw Bros, but the story was really lacking.
The main hook of the plot has Peter placing personal ads in the
newspaper with linda answering them, with neither knowing that
it's the other until the very end. Bleh. At least Fanny was fun
as Linda's roommate.
[NA] The Dancing Millionnairess (studio: Shaw Bros.) 02/12/1964
oooooI obtained 1964's The Dancing Millionnairess because it is
one of the only two films on disc (the other being the King Hu
film Sons of Good Earth) featuring the husband and wife team of
Peter Chen and Betty Loh Tih. It is a Shaw Brothers film, but it
turns out to have been directed by Tao Qin, aka Doe Chin, who
also directed Our Sister Hedy and the original Love Without End
(with Linda Lin Dai), both of which I liked. Then again, he also
directed Les Belles. Oh well. I found The Dancing Millionnairess
to be quite involving. It concerns a floundering dance troupe,
including King Hu in a comedic role as a set designer, and the
way they manage to involve an heiress in their company in a very
convoluted manner. Loh Tih goes from imperious to endearing, and
the film ends with a well-done, almost-20-minute extravanganza.
Peter Chen is usually pretty unflappable in everything I've seen
him in, but there are two scenes in this film where Loh Tih
psyches him out, causing him to get very agitated and evasive.
It's quite amusing, as well as delightfully squirm-inducing for
the audience. Doe Chin also directed the 1967 Lily Ho/Essie Lin
Chia/Ching Li Shaws vehicle, My Dreamboat, which I have on VCD but
haven't seen yet, and the 1963 Shaws film Love Parade, starring
Peter Chen and Linda Lin Dai, featuring King Hu and Fanny Fan Lai,
which I don't have. He also directed the sequel to Our Sister Hedy,
Wedding Bells for Hedy, which is not on disc, and Linda Lin Dai's
final film, the two-part The Blue and the Black, which is on disc.
[34] 3.5 stars (35) 154 Fairy, Ghost, Vixen 05/27/65
oooooFairy, Ghost, Vixen (1965) stars Tang Ching as a weak-willed
scholar who becomes romantically involved first with a fox vixen
spirit, then a ghost girl, and then a fairy -- at least it seemed
to be the case when I was watching the film. It is really a
trilogy of separate supernatural fables, but since all three star
Tang Ching playing almost the same character, it is easy to view
the three tales as installments in a hapless man's journey through
lack-of-self-discovery. After a slow start, the film becomes rather
engrossing, but there is a pall over the proceedings because of
the melancholy situations the ungrateful and self-involved scholar
creates for himself and his beloved in each story. I tend to feel
sorry for and identify with the ghost women in most of the asian
ghost stories I've seen, and this extends to the vixen and the
fairy here. Annette Chang Hui-Hsien, who played Julie Yeh Feng's
sister in It's Always Spring, and who played the lounge singer in
Spring-time Affairs, is especially fetching as the ghost, and Wang
Lai does a great job as her mother. Tang Ching stands out in my
memory for the especially impotent character (the husband) he
played in Deaf and Mute Heroine (1971), but he was considerably
more likable in the 1968 Shaws Brothers Cheng Pei-pei vehicle The
Jade Raksha, and in Vengeance is a Golden Blade (1969). I also
knew him from his suave, courageous pompadour-coifed roles in the
modern era Shaws films, Summons to Death (1967), Angel with the
Iron Fists (1967), and The Angel Strikes Again (1968), so I know
he has a fair range as an actor, but his weaselly portrayals, such
as that in Fairy, Ghost, Vixen make me feel like slapping him,
sometimes. In this film, the foxes' faces look more like those
of North American skunks than those of foxes, because they are
striped. I was not aware that asian foxes aren't all orange from
snout to tail. I suspect I will eventually be moved to watch this
film again, if only to revisit the sad love stories from the
perspective of the supernatural women. If and when I see this
film the next time, I will view Tang Ching as a catalyst moreso
than (a) discrete character(s).
[35] 4.5 stars (15) 077 Happily Ever After 06/16/60
oooooHappily Ever After has a woman masquerading as someone she's
not, like in Dreams Come True; and there is fiancee rivalry, like
in June Bride; and modeling for an agency figures in as a pretext
for plot development, like a Cinderella and Her Little Angels; but
I liked this film more than those others. Maybe it's because I'm
a sap for the lead, Lucilla You Min. The only time she's been
lovelier is in Sun, Moon and Star. Here, Lucilla has to pretend
to be commercial advertising artist Roy Chiao's fiancee when his
estranged wealthy father falls deathly ill and Roy's real fiancee
can't be located in time to visit the old man. Trouble ensues when
his father, who loathes Roy's golddigging real fiancee, develops
an instant liking for the unassuming, guileless Lucilla, and
regains his health. Keeping the old man happy while simultaneously
keeping him in the dark as to Lucilla's true identity makes up the
bulk of the film. The masquerade works much better here than it
did in Dreams Come True (which starred Kitty Ting Hao). Although I
liked Her Tender Heart (which starred Lucilla You Min) more because
it was a straight-ahead drama, I liked this Lucilla You Min vehicle
second-best, which means I prefer it to Father Takes a Bride. If
I had to choose between Devotion (starring Kitty Ting Hao) and
Happily Ever After, though, I would choose Devotion. Amazingly,
Devotion (04/21/60), Happily Ever After (06/16/60), and Dreams
Come True (08/27/60) were theatrically released within four months
of each other, and the great noirish Grace Chang weepie, Forever
Yours (04/07/60), predates Devotion by just two weeks!
[36] 3.0 stars (33) 139 A Story of Three Loves Pt. 1 02/12/64
oooooWatching the 1964 film A Story of Three Loves Pt. 1 was an
odd experience. It stars Zhao Lei (the lead actor in The First
Sword) as a rich student and kindhearted philanthropist of sorts who
takes to helping two poor women, a street performer (played by
Jeanette Lin Cui) and a teahouse songstress (played by Grace Chang)
get ahead. I just recently saw Zhao Lei as a skittish scholar in the
1960 Shaw Brothers Betty Loh Tih vehicle Enchanting Shadow. He seems
to always play mannered good guy roles. In this film, both Jeanette
and Grace are in love with him, and he gets engaged to Grace, much
to the chagrin of Jeanette. Complicating matters is a sophisticate,
who looks just like the poor Grace, who is also in love with Zhao
Lei. A further complication comes with the introduction of a barely
recognizable Roy Chiao as a lascivious general who is after the
poor Grace, whereupon the story starts to share elements with the
contemporaneous 1964 Shaw Brothers film The Warlord and the Actress,
wherein a general schemes to make a woman (played by Julie Yeh Feng)
his concubine. It is indeed fun to see Grace Chang play two roles,
but they are so diametrically opposed that the aristocratic character
that Grace plays hazards caricature. I was shocked by a scene where
the poor Grace shrieks in hysterics when she momentarily mistakenly
thinks that Zhao Lei has been untrue to her. It is not the sort of
scene I ever expected to see Grace Chang in.
[37] 4.0 stars (34) 140 A Story of Three Loves pt. 2 A 02/26/64
oooooIn comparison to the rather leisurely first installment, the
melodrama escalates exponentially in A Story of Three Loves Pt. 2.
Street performer Jeanette, who is indebted to Zhao Lei after he
saved her father's life by paying for him to be treated by Western
medicine in Pt. 1, infiltrates the general's mansion under the guise
of the poor Grace's maid in order to secretly help Zhao Lei, and is
forced to sublimate her love for Zhao Lei by helping the poor Grace.
So, too, does the aristocratic woman who looks like the poor Grace
sublimate her love for Zhao Lei by trying to help him despite
learning of his betrothal to the poor Grace and despite wanting to
marry Zhao Lei herself. Trapped by the general and forced to disavow
Zhao Lei, the poor Grace is eventually driven to the point of madness,
and her portrayal goes beyond the shrieking hysterics she displayed
in Pt. 1. Jeanette's role expands as she becomes the new focal point
of the general's attentions. I ultimately found this two-part film
more enjoyable than the two-part Sun, Moon and Star because I found
Zhao Lei's character easier to identify with than Zhang Yang's drippy,
clueless character in Sun, Moon and Star. Both two-parters are epic
love stories about three women in love with the same man, and both are
memorable, but Zhang Yang taints Sun, Moon and Star with his character.
I thought he did much the same to the ending of The Wild, Wild Rose,
actually. Anyways, the one-note performance Zhao Wei gave in the first
half of A Story of Three Loves gives way to a wider range of emotion
as things come to a boil, and he becomes much more engaging. Between
Tears And Smiles is Shaw Brothers' version of this two-part epic.
[38] 2.5 stars (24) 101 Education of Love 08/03/61
oooooWang Yin is a primary school teacher but is not teaching because
of an illness, so his daughter, Jeanette Lin Cui, who's only a high
school graduate, fills in for him. Her boyfriend, Kelly Lai Chen, is
interning for medical school and arranges for her father to see a
doctor. At first, Lin Cui doesn't like teaching, but it grows on her
after her father demonstrates that the students teach the teacher as
much as the reverse. Sammo Hung, under the name Zhu Yuanlong, plays an
underfed, skinny(!) student, and has a decent amount of screen time
throughout the picture in what is actually his film debut(!). Wang Yin
played Lin Cui's father in A Story of Three Loves, and played Lucilla
You Min's father in both Her Tender Heart and Father Takes a Bride. He
directed 41 films and acted in 63. He's a solid actor. I had seen Zhu
Mu, who plays Sammo's father, as the lead thug in Dreams Come True, as
the army commander in Sun, Moon and Star, and as the fur trapper Tiger
Zeng who wants to marry Julie Yeh Feng in the Shaw Brothers film The
Shepherd Girl. Lin Cui isn't one of my favorite Cathay actresses, and
this is not among my favorite Cathay films, but she is particularly
good in this. Maybe it's because the role is so atypical: she gets to
display a completely different set of emotions than she does in
virtually all her other films. Spunky, perky, and athletic are not
the adjectives that describe her here. Instead, conciliatory, tearful,
and empathetic are words that come to mind. The film is rather
schematic and preachy with regards to education, but some good
melodrama is to be had in the last half hour. The first copy of this
DVD I got would not play at all. The second was hard to cue up, and
stopped and jumped about 15 times during the first 30 minutes and
stopped repeatedly during the last 2 minutes. I had to get a VCD
copy of the film to view the last 2 minutes. Yep, I'm dedicated.
[39] 2.5 stars (16) 078 The Bedside Story 06/23/60
oooooThe Bedside Story is a strange film. While it has broad comedic
aspects, it's mostly the story of a crafty actress, played by Li Mei,
who seduces her star director, played by Kelly Lai Chen, into marrying
her despite the protestations of the director's newspaper reporter
brother, played by Zhang Yang. Zhang Yang tries to explain to his
lovestruck brother that his fiance is not in love with him and only
using him to further her career, but Kelly Lai Chen is smitten and
willfully deluding himself. Zhang Yang tells his secretary, Wang
Lai, who is in love with him, that he'll expose the actress's sordid
past if she doesn't do right by her brother. She threatens to leave
him if he does such a thing before Li Mei actually deserves it. This
is the only time I've ever seen Wang Li play a young woman instead of
some variety of matriarch, and the two-piece business dresses she
wears are very flattering. She's not really convincing as a youthful
woman, though; she is no Kitty Ting Hao, and no Lucilla You Min,
either. Anyways, Li Mei turns out to be an even more horrid wife than
Zhang Yang suspected: she lives in a room separate from Kelly Lai
Chen and parties night after night with her producer, played by Wu
Jia-Xiang (who usually plays sycophants in Shaw Brother films), who
is in love with her and still chasing her despite the fact that she
is married. Eventually, Zhang Yang gets wind of it, and he gives Li
Mei a list of ultimatums, threatening to ruin her with a newspaper
expose. I really like Li Mei, so I was uncomfortable watching this
film, because she mostly plays a self-centered jerk even worse than
Zhang Yang was in Sun, Moon and Star. While not nearly the tyrant that
Roy Chiao was in A Story of Three Loves, she is quite imperious and
makes life a living hell for the house servants and her husband with
her complete lack of empathy. In a way, The Bedside Story is like
Bachelors Beware turned inside out: instead of a chipper and outgoing
Linda Lin Dai manipulating a clueless Zhang Yang, we get a protective
Zhang Yang manipulating a self-serving Li Mei, who in turn manipulates
the clueless Kelly Lai Chen. I didn't like it when Zhang Yang's sister
treated Li Mei and her daughter like dirt in For Better, For Worse,
and I didn't like it when Li Mei treated her husband and servants like
dirt in The Bedside Story, either. Strangely, in this film, Kelly Lai
Chen is not the fey wet noodle he often plays, despite his being a
pushover for whatever his wife tells him to do, so when he finally
gets fired up and gets some gumption, it is entirely believable. Why
the film is named The Bedside Story, I don't know.
[40] 3.5 stars (12) 068 Sister Long Legs 02/06/1960 [2nd viewing]
oooooAfter having watched the entirety of Panorama's output of
Cathay discs, I returned to re-watch this film (my original review
is at [04]), thinking that I might have been unfair. As it turns out,
I liked it a lot more the second time, since I was more familiar with
the stars, bit players, genres, and genre conventions of the Cathay
studio. (I am now tempted to re-watch Bachelors Beware [20], which I
suspect I might have misjudged, as well.) Insurance salesman Liu
En-Jia and his wife Wang Lai are the working class parents of
schoolteacher Julie Yeh Feng and younger sister Jeanette Lin Cui.
Wang Lai runs into a rotund old school chum, Kao Tsiang, now
wealthy, who comes to visit. She invites Wang Lai's family to her fat
daughter's birthday party. Her husband is Cheung Kwong-Chiu, who
played the part of the magician father of the three woman leads in
Hong Kong Nocturne, and was also in the original Love without End
(1961). Kao Tsiang introduces millionaire's son Tin Ching to Julie,
but right away, Tin Ching takes a shine to Jeanette, instead. Kao
Tsiang wants her daughter to snag Tin Ching for a husband, though.
There's a funny bit when a short guy swing dances with Julie and has
to jump for the over-her-head moves. Roy Chiao, who works across the
street at a car repair shop, is also at the party, and to her mother
Wang Lai's dismay, he hits it off with Julie. Tin Ching's character's
last name is the same as that of Roy Chiao's, but instead of fixing
cars, Tin Ching raises dogs as a hobby. Twice, we see him imitate
dogs in Julie's presence, and it's jawdropping to see her not be
appalled. Kao Tsiang takes advantage of the two men's last names
being the same and purposely confuses Wang Lai, causing Wang Lai to
accidentally invite Roy Chiao to visit rather than Tin Ching,
because Kao Tsiang wants Tin Ching to spend time with her own
daughter rather than go to Wang Lai's house. Wang Lai, meanwhile,
wants Julie to marry Tin Ching, but she only has eyes for Roy Chiao.
And much as Jeanette Lin Cui has fun with Tin Ching, she makes a
play for Roy Chiao at one point. Everything reaches a crescendo at a
mountaintop picnic. I give this film one more half-star, now.
AT A GLANCE
[01] 4.0 stars (27) 111 It's Always Spring 02/21/62
[02] 5.0 stars (03) 028 Our Sister Hedy 11/14/57
[03] 5.0 stars (01) 017 Mambo Girl 03/06/57
[04] 3.0 stars (12) 068 Sister Long Legs 02/06/1960 [1st viewing]
[05] 5.0 stars (18) 087 The Wild, Wild Rose 10/04/60
[06] 3.5 stars (07) 050 Air Hostess 06/04/59
[07] 5.0 stars (06) 049 Her Tender Heart 05/21/59
[08] 3.0 stars (08) 052 Our Dream Car 07/09/59
[09] 2.5 stars (05) 044 Spring Song 02/14/59
[10] 4.5 stars (13) 073 Forever Yours 04/07/60
[11] 3.0 stars (11) 066 June Bride 01/27/60
[12] 4.0 stars (25) 107 Sun, Moon and Star (Part 1) 12/08/61
[13] 3.5 stars (26) 108 Sun, Moon and Star (Part 2) 12/30/61
[14] 4.0 stars (09) 055 For Better, For Worse 08/20/59
[15] 3.5 stars (21) 091 Death Traps 12/08/60
[16] 3.0 stars (19) 088 Between Tears and Laughter 11/10/60
[17] 2.5 stars (30) 130 Because of Her 07/31/63
[18] 1.5 stars (36) 181 The First Sword 12/28/67
[19] 2.5 stars (32) 138 The Magic Lamp 01/23/64
[20] 5.0 stars (14) 074 Devotion 04/21/60
[21] 3.0 stars (20) 089 Bachelors Beware 11/17/60
[22] 2.5 stars (38) 199 Spring Time Affairs 11/28/68
[23] 2.5 stars (23) 096 Beauty Parade 03/30/61
[24] 5.0 stars (22) 094 The Greatest Civil War on Earth 02/14/61
[25] 3.0 stars (29) 122 The Greatest Wedding on Earth 10/11/62
[26] 2.5 stars (28) 117 Ladies First 08/02/62
[27] 3.5 stars (04) 030 The Splendour of Youth 12/11/57
[28] 2.5 stars (17) 084 Dreams Come True 08/27/60
[29] 2.5 stars (39) 215 Mad, Mad, Mad Swords 09/10/69
[30] 3.0 stars (31) 133 Father Takes a Bride 10/02/63
[31] 4.5 stars (37) 183 Darling Stay At Home 01/28/68
[32] 3.5 stars (02) 025 My Kingdom for a Husband
[33] 4.0 stars (10) 063 Cinderella and Her Little Angels 12/31/59
[34] 3.5 stars (35) 154 Fairy, Ghost, Vixen 05/27/65
[35] 4.5 stars (15) 077 Happily Ever After 06/16/60
[36] 3.0 stars (33) 139 A Story of Three Loves Pt. 1 02/12/64
[37] 4.0 stars (34) 140 A Story of Three Loves pt. 2 02/26/64
[38] 2.5 stars (24) 101 Education of Love 08/03/61
[39] 2.5 stars (16) 078 The Bedside Story 06/23/60
[40] 3.5 stars (12) 068 Sister Long Legs 02/06/1960 [2nd viewing]
THE CREAM OF THE CROP
[01] 4.0 stars (27) 111 It's Always Spring 02/21/62
[02] 5.0 stars (03) 028 Our Sister Hedy 11/14/57
[03] 5.0 stars (01) 017 Mambo Girl 03/06/57
[05] 5.0 stars (18) 087 The Wild, Wild Rose 10/04/60
[07] 5.0 stars (06) 049 Her Tender Heart 05/21/59
[10] 4.5 stars (13) 073 Forever Yours 04/07/60
[12] 4.0 stars (25) 107 Sun, Moon and Star (Part 1) 12/08/61
[14] 4.0 stars (09) 055 For Better, For Worse 08/20/59
[20] 5.0 stars (14) 074 Devotion 04/21/60
[24] 5.0 stars (22) 094 The Greatest Civil War on Earth 02/14/61
[31] 4.5 stars (37) 183 Darling Stay At Home 01/28/68
[33] 4.0 stars (10) 063 Cinderella and Her Little Angels 12/31/59
[35] 4.5 stars (15) 077 Happily Ever After 06/16/60
[37] 4.0 stars (34) 140 A Story of Three Loves pt. 2 02/26/64
oooo http://www.brns.com/pages/cathayrevs.html has reviews of twenty
Cathay films, and at http://www.coffeecoffeeandmorecoffee.com/ there
are reviews of Because of Her, Death Traps, Forever Yours, The June
Bride, Mambo Girl, and Spring Song. Ten Cathay reviews can be found at
http://web.archive.org/web/20080529180021/http://www.illuminatedlantern.com/cinema/review/archives/cathaympgi.php
o
oo+---- indicates the chronological order of films available on disc
oo|
oo|ooo+---- indicates the chronological order of a film's theatrical release
oo|ooo|
oo|ooo|oooooooooooooooo+---- indicates a film's actual date of theatrical release
oo|ooo|oooooooooooooooo|
oo|ooo|oooooooooooooooo|
oo|ooo|oooooooooooooooo|
(01) 017 Mambo Girl 03/06/57 [Grace Chang]
(02) 025 My Kingdom for a Husband (aka Romance of Jade Hall, The) 09/12/57
(03) 028 Our Sister Hedy 11/14/57 [Jeanette Lin Cui and Julie Yeh Feng]
(04) 030 Tender Age, The (aka Splendour of Youth) 12/11/57
(05) 044 Spring Song 02/14/59 [Grace Chang and Jeanette Lin Cui]
(06) 049 Her Tender Heart 05/21/59 [Lucilla You Min]
(07) 050 Air Hostess 06/04/59 [Grace Chang, Julie Yeh Feng and Roy Chiao]
(08) 052 Our Dream Car 07/09/59 [Grace Chang]
(09) 055 For Better, For Worse 08/20/59 [Helen Li Mei]
(10) 063 Cinderella and Her Little Angels 12/31/59 [Linda Lin Dai]
(11) 066 June Bride 01/27/60 [Grace Chang and Roy Chiao]
(12) 068 Sister Long Legs 02/06/1960 [Jeanette Lin Cui, Julie Yeh Feng, and Roy Chiao]
(13) 073 Forever Yours 04/07/60 [Grace Chang]
(14) 074 Devotion 04/21/60 [Kitty Ting Hao, Ou-Yang Sha-Fei, and Zhang Yang]
(15) 077 Happily Ever After 06/16/60 [Lucilla You Min and Roy Chiao]
(16) 078 Bedside Story, The 06/23/60 [Helen Li Mei]
(17) 084 Dreams Come True 08/27/60 [Kitty Ting Hao]
(18) 087 Wild, Wild Rose, The 10/04/60 [Grace Chang]
(19) 088 Between Tears and Laughter 11/10/60 [Helen Li Mei]
(20) 089 Bachelors Beware 11/17/60 [Linda Lin Dai]
(21) 091 Death Traps 12/08/60 [Helen Li Mei and Roy Chiao]
(22) 094 Greatest Civil War on Earth, The 02/14/61 [Kitty Ting Hao, Christine Pai Lu-ming]
(23) 096 Beauty Parade 03/30/61 [Kitty Ting Hao]
(24) 101 Education of Love 08/03/61 [Jeanette Lin Cui]
(25) 107 Sun, Moon and Star (Part 1) 12/08/61 [Grace Chang, Lucilla You Min, Julie Yeh Feng]
(26) 108 Sun, Moon and Star (Part 2) 12/30/61 [Grace Chang, Lucilla You Min, Julie Yeh Feng]
(27) 111 It's Always Spring 02/21/62 [Julie Yeh Feng, Helen Li Mei, Annette Chang Hui-Hsien]
(28) 117 Ladies First 08/02/62 [Jeanette Lin Cui, Christine Pai Lu-ming, and Roy Chiao]
(29) 122 Greatest Wedding on Earth, The 10/11/62 [Kitty Ting Hao, Christine Pai Lu-ming]
(30) 130 Because of Her 07/31/63 [Grace Chang and Roy Chiao]
(31) 133 Father Takes a Bride 10/02/63 [Lucilla You Min]
(32) 138 Magic Lamp, The 01/23/64 [Grace Chang, Lucilla You Min, Jeannete Lin Cui]
(33) 139 Story of Three Loves, A 02/12/64 [Grace Chang, Jeanette Lin Cui, Roy Chiao]
(34) 140 Story of Three Loves (Sequel), A 02/26/64 [Grace Chang, Jeanette Lin Cui, Roy Chiao]
(35) 154 Fairy, Ghost, Vixen 05/27/65 [Annette Chang Hui-Hsien]
(36) 181 First Sword, The 12/28/67
(37) 183 Darling Stay At Home 01/28/68 [Betty Loh Tih]
(38) 199 Spring Time Affairs 11/28/68 [Annette Chang Hui-Hsien]
(39) 215 Mad, Mad, Mad Sword, A 09/10/69
INTRODUCTION
oooooI came to Cathay films quite indirectly.
oooooI started out collecting Hong Kong films chiefly for Chang
Cheh's cycle of Venoms films and Jet Li's Hong Kong New Wave 1990's
films, then collected all of Cheng Pei-pei's films, then decided
that I liked Li Ching after seeing The Lotus Lamp, and started to
collect her stuff, then found that I liked Chang Cheh's 1966-1972
swordfighting films more than his Venoms films, then endeavored to
collect swordswoman films with an emphasis towards those with Lily
Ho because of her role in All Men Are Brothers, Shih Szu because
of The Lady Hermit, and Chin Ping because of her role in the Temple
of the Red Lotus trilogy and her appearance as one of the three
sisters in Hong Kong Nocturne.
oooooThen I decided to obtain all the Chang Cheh films the director
scripted before he was a director, and thus wound up watching the
Cathay film It's Always Spring. It's Always Spring starred Julie
Yeh Feng, Helen Li Mei, Roy Chiao, and Kelly Lai Chen. I liked it
and ordered what are considered to be perhaps the five key Cathay
films on the Panorama label: Our Sister Hedy, Mambo Girl, Sister
Long Legs, The Wild Wild Rose, and Air Hostess (not counting The
Greatest Civil War on Earth, which sounded too culture-specific).
oooooThen, I wound up collecting Hong Kong James Bond-esque films
like Angel with the Iron Fists, The Angel Strikes Again, The Golden
Buddha, The Lady Professional, Summons to Death, and Temptress of a
Thousand Faces, after finding web pages on Hong Kong secret agent
films. Then I started to collect Lily Ho and Jenny Hu (love her!)
romances, and anything with Fanny Fan Lai in it after having seen
her bare derriere in Angel with the Iron Fists. Meanwhile, I was
amassing more and more Cathay films.
oooooAs it stands, the Chang Cheh-directed films I have on VCD that
I have yet to watch are generally considered to be lesser films in
his oeuvre: Delightful Forest, Man of Iron, Four Riders, Young
People, Friends, The Delinquent (aka Street Gangs of Hong Kong),
Police Force, The Generation Gap, The Pirate, The Bloody Escape,
The Savage 5, and 7-man Army. I also have Death Ring on DVD that I
have yet to watch. I've seen everything else Chang Cheh ever
(co-)wrote or (co-)directed. No, really; I have. And I actually
like The Butterfly Chalice and The Nine Demons.
oooooWhat would my fave Chang Cheh films include? Let's see: It's
Always Spring (co-writer), The Mermaid (writer), The Butterfly
Chalice (co-director), The Magnificent Trio (a remake of the 1964
Japanese movie Three Outlaw Samurai, directed by Hideo Gosha), The
Trail of the Broken Blade, Have Sword Will Travel, Return of the
One-Armed Swordsman, The Deadly Duo, The Anonymous Heroes, The New
One-Armed Swordsman, The Iron Bodyguard, The Blood Brothers, Marco
Polo, Boxer Rebellion, Crippled Avengers, Shaolin Rescuers, The
Rebel Intruders, Masked Avengers, Five Element Ninjas, The Nine
Demons, and Great Shanghai 1937, at any rate.
oooooAfter seeing The Teahouse and its sequels Big Brother Cheng
and Big Bad Sis, I wound up collecting Chen Ping films because of
her searing starring role in Big Bad Sis. I have since seen her in
The Drug Connection (aka The Sexy Killer) and The Kiss of Death,
having not realized that I'd encountered her previously in Killer
Clans, The Oily Maniac (I have been a Swamp Thing fan since 1972,
and this film did not disappoint), and The Call Girls (which I saw
because Chang Cheh has a cameo as himself in it). Early on, I
confused Li Ching with Ching Li, and Chen Ping with Chin Ping!
oooooOf the Cathay actresses, I at first liked Julie Yeh Feng
(because of her role in It's Always Spring), Grace Chang, and Dolly
So Fung the most, but eventually came to appreciate Lucilla You Min,
Grace Chang, and Helen Li Mei the most, even though I have a soft
spot for Kitty Ting Hao, now, too. I am conflicted over Jeanette Lin
Cui, whom I respect as an actress but don't really like especially,
and my view of Julie Yeh Feng has changed after watching the 5 Shaw
Brothers films she appeared in that are on disc (The Shepherd Girl,
The Warlord and the Actress [scripted by Chang Cheh!], Pink Tears,
Unfinished Melody; and Farewell, My Love -- the last of which pairs
her with Jenny Hu for a tearjerk bonanza that has to be seen to be
believed), because they showcase her acting ability more than her
hotness. I also like Wang Li, whom I recognize as being one Cathay's
most capable actresses.
oooooAfter seeing Betty Loh Tih play a blind swordswoman in the
independent wuxia pian Duel at the Supreme Gate (on Rarescope DVD)
and viewing the one Cathay disc that she stars in (Darling, Stay at
Home), I liked her enough that I obtained the Shaw Brothers musical
The Dancing Millionairess because I thought it was the only disc
released pairing her with her husband Peter Chen Ho, whom I already
liked after having seen him in Hong Kong Nocturne as part of my Cheng
Pei-pei viewing spree. I then bought the rest of her Shaw Brothers
output available on disc (The Bride Napping, The Dream of The Red
Chamber, The Enchanting Shadow, The Love Eterne, Sons of Good Earth,
and The Story of Sue San), not having known at the time that Sons of
Good Earth co-starred Peter Chen Ho. Acquiring this small batch of
discs took some doing; since most of Betty Loh Tih's VCDs are
out-of-print, I had to obtain three of the films on Thai Celestial
DVD (because they're Region 0), and they're going out of print, too.
oooooHow is it that I came from collecting Jet Li and Venoms films
to collecting Cathay and Betty Loh Tih films? One of my
longest-running interests has been in the dozen-plus Shaw Brothers
kung fu movies directed by Chang Cheh between 1977 and 1981 which
starred the largely-Peking Opera-trained ensemble known to fans as
The Five Venoms (Kuo Chui, Chiang Sheng, Lu Feng, Lo Meng and Sun
Chien). I saw at least five of these films (The Kid with the Golden
Arm, Shaolin Rescuers, Ten Tigers of Kuangtung, Flag of Iron, and
Masked Avengers) first-run in neighborhood American movie theatres.
What I am about to relate now may not sound relevant at first, but it
is, as you'll see. Twenty years later, I learned that I was androgyne,
i.e. psychologically androgynous (someone with the gender identity of
both a man and a woman, or a gender identity in between that of a man
and a woman, if you prefer), and since most people aren't familiar
with the concept nor the term, I researched diligently and made a
website to explain it. It's at http://androgyne.0catch.com. Two years
later, Celestial began releasing their Shaw library to disc, and one
year after that, Panorama began releasing their Cathay library to disc.
oooooIntricately-choreographed asian-made martial arts films appeal to
my androgyne sensibilities in that they are combative on the one hand
and balletic on the other. Not a few people, including Chang Cheh
himself, have observed that Venoms films look as much like dancing as
fighting, and that's often why contemporary martial arts movie fans
don't like "old school" kung fu movies: because their moviegoing
history (except for Jackie Chan) usually doesn't have elements of
Chinese opera in it. The following is a quote from pages 126-127 of
the book Chang Cheh: A Memoir: "Many years ago when I was making
martial arts films in Shaws, Run Run Shaw once remarked, 'How come the
fighting looks so much like dancing?' Not so long ago, [the renowned
film critic] Sek Kei [aka Shi Qi] made a similar observation in his
column, remarking that Chinese martial arts is quite akin to dance
choreography. In fact, it is. Northern style kung fu has long been
affiliated with stage performance. The wu (martial) repertoire
in traditional kunqu, Peking Opera and Sichuan opera, in many
ways, resembles narrative dance in ballet or modern dance."
oooooOne year after Panorama began their release of Cathay films, I
learned that I have Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism marked by
social impairments such as missed social cues and a highly-lacking
understanding of subtle eye movements and body language, and
perfectionistic perseverence in narrow areas of interest, so my guess
is that one reason I wound up liking romances starring Betty Loh Tih,
Li Ching, Lily Ho, Jenny Hu, and the Cathay players is that they all
take place in a non-peer milieu, i.e. in another culture and another
time, since I am a Jewish-American of European descent. The subject
matter of these films operate in very different contexts than mine,
and therefore the broad strokes are more easily understood and less
threatening to me. They also appeal to my feminine side (since
androgynes are in between men and women, psychologically).
oooooAlrighty, then! Now that all that's out of the way . . .
oooooI watched eleven Cathay films before determining to review them
all, so the observations I made for the first 11 reviews are not as
fresh as the other twenty-eight. Has anyone else online reviewed all
39 of Panorama's Cathay releases? Not in English, at any rate; no.
Well, I'm not sure I have either, actually, since my contribution
here seems to constitute a commentary moreso than a body of reviews,
but I thought I'd share, just the same. I watched all 39 Panorama
releases in an 11-month timeframe, from March 2010 to January 2011.
oooooCathay Studios released 250+ films from 1955 to around 1972,
and Panorama released 39 of them to VCD and DVD between 2003 and
2006, with A Story of Three Loves and Sun, Moon and Star both
re-issued as 4-disc VCD sets in 2009. All of Panorama's Cathay VCDs
and DVDs are subtitled in Chinese and English, and all of their DVDs
are Region 0 even though they are marked as Region 3.
oooooHoker Records of Taiwan issued nine Cathay titles, and they are
all Region 0 and subitled in Chinese and English, even though they
are marked as being subtitled only in Chinese. The Hoker Records
titles are Mambo Girl, Air Hostess, Forever Yours, The Greatest Civil
War on Earth, The Greatest Wedding on Earth; Sun, Moon and Star
(issued on one disc as one long film); Spring-time Affairs, Because
of Her; Fairy, Ghost, Vixen; and The [sic] Story of Three Loves
(issued on one disc as one long film). I recommend all these films to
one degree or another except for Spring-time Affairs and Because of
Her. The sole source of Hoker Records Cathay DVDs that I have found
online is YesAsia. Note that they had some Hoker Records Cathay VCDs
(Mambo Girl, Air Hostess, The Greatest Civil War On Earth; Sun, Moon
And Star [on 4 discs]; and Fairy, Ghost, Vixen), as well, but they're
all sold out (or out-of-print?) right now.
oooooThe Greatest Civil War on Earth is out-of-print on Panorama DVD,
so grab it on Taiwanese Hoker Records DVD while you can. A Story of
Three Loves Pts. 1 and 2 are both out-of-print on Panorama DVD, and
Sun, Moon and Star Pts. 1 and 2 are getting scarce, but A Story of
Three Loves Pts. 1 and 2 can both still be obtained on DVD as part of
the five-disc The Films of Wong Tin Lam boxset, which consists of The
Story Of Three Loves I, The Story Of Three Loves II, Because Of Her,
Death Traps, and Mad, Mad, Mad Swords, or together as one long film
on Taiwan DVD. Also out-of-print on Panorama DVD are Our Dream Car and
Spring Song.
oooooThe June Bride DVD stops and skips during its last minute, and
The Education of Love DVD has mastering problems including stopping
and skipping during its first 30 minutes and last 2 minutes, so
getting the VCD of these films is recommended to ensure playability,
despite the fact that the June Bride VCD is scarce and now available
only as part of the five-disc The Films of Grace Chang boxset, which
consists of Mambo Girl, Spring Song, Because Of Her, Forever Yours,
and June Bride.
oooooCinderella and Her Little Angels is out-of-print on both DVD and
VCD, and Beauty Parade is scarce on both DVD and VCD. Our Sister Hedy
and The Wild, Wild Rose are getting scarce, and Mambo Girl might be
the next title to go the scarcity route, although there is a Hoker
Records DVD version of Mambo Girl still available.
oooooOne more thing: Cathay/MP&GI films prior to 1963 are Academy
ratio. Cathay Scope began in 1963 around the time of the release of
Because of Her (07/31/63). All films issued on Panorama and Hoker
Records disc are academy ratio and therefore pan and scan or cropped
at the left and right. None are widescreen/letterboxed. C'est la vie.
KEY: [00] = indicates the order in which I watched the thirty-nine films
ooooo0.0 stars = indicates my own rating of a film on a five-point scale
ooooo(00) = indicates the chronological order of films available on disc
ooooo000 = indicates the chronological order of a film's theatrical release
ooooo00/00/00 = indicates a film's actual date of theatrical release
DEMONSTRATION
o+---- indicates the order in which I watched the thirty-nine films
o|
o|oooooooo+---- indicates my own rating of a film on a five-point scale
o|oooooooo|
o|oooooooo|oooooo+---- indicates the chronological order of films available on disc
o|oooooooo|oooooo|
o|oooooooo|oooooo|ooo+---- indicates the chronological order of a film's theatrical release
o|oooooooo|oooooo|ooo|
o|oooooooo|oooooo|ooo|oooooooooooooooo+---- indicates a film's actual date of theatrical release
o|oooooooo|oooooo|ooo|oooooooooooooooo|
o|oooooooo|oooooo|ooo|oooooooooooooooo|
o|oooooooo|oooooo|ooo|oooooooooooooooo|
[03] 5.0 stars (01) 017 Mambo Girl 03/06/57
COMMENTS ON THE 39 CATHAY FILMS RELEASED ON PANORAMA VCD AND DVD
[01] 4.0 stars (27) 111 It's Always Spring 02/21/62
oooooThe 1962 film It's Always Spring was my first experience
with the Cathay Studio because I am a Chang Cheh collector and
he wrote the script with some help from the film's director.
(This is the only Cathay film with a Chang Cheh script available
on disc, by the way, because he provided only script doctoring
for Death Traps.) I was immediately smitten by its star, Julie
Yeh Feng, who is apparently considered to be Hong Kong's answer
to Kim Novak, and intrigued by her co-star, the reserved yet
smoldering Helen Li Mei, who had worked with Chang Cheh on His
Cruel Heart in 1956 and Wild Fire in 1957. This was my first
time seeing Roy Chiao other than in Enter the Dragon, Enter the
Fat Dragon, and Tower of Death (aka Game of Death II), and my
first encounter with Kelly Lai Chen, who is the brother of Betty
Loh Tih (who co-starred with Ivy Ling Po in The Love Eterne). The
story involves a rivalry between two singers, and it is really
quite entertaining, with memorable tunes and performances. There
is a pair of dogged, mostly one-sided romances woven through the
proceedings. Annette Chang plays a spunky go-getter who is an
understudy of sorts to Julie Yeh Feng. Highly recommended.
[02] 5.0 stars (03) 028 Our Sister Hedy 11/14/57
oooooI went into Our Sister Hedy prepared to drool over Julie Yeh
Feng, who I liked in It's Always Spring, and who I'd heard played
a temptress to a T in this film, but I was not prepared for the
wonderful ensemble acting and involving storytelling. The plot
details the romantic efforts of three sisters, played by Muk Hung,
Julie Yeh Feng, and Dolly So Fung, and a fourth sister, the title
Hedy, played by Jeanette Lin Cui, who is ostensibly content to stay
at home and be daddy's little girl while smoothing things out behind
the scenes. Maybe I'm a sap for liking this so much, but I really
did. This is the first time I'd seen Jeanette Lin Cui (whose only
Shaw Bros film was The Golden Buddha), and I instantly liked the
long-faced Dolly So Fung. I was really surprised to encounter Tin
Ching playing an affable, wholesome guy, after having first seen
him as a backstabbing weasel in The Boxer from Shantung, and Peter
Chen Ho playing a dour architect, after having previously seen him
only in Hong Kong Nocturne, opposite Cheng Pei-pei and Lily Ho.
[03] 5.0 stars (01) 017 Mambo Girl 03/06/57
oooooMambo Girl introduced me to the ebullient and talented Grace
Chang, who plays the most talented singer and dancer in her school.
It co-stars Peter Chen Ho, who'd I'd encountered in Our Sister Hedy
and as the male lead in the Cheng Pei-pei musical Hong Kong Nocturne,
and it's a mostly upbeat tale save the plot thread of the title girl
searching for her adoptive mother. Shaw Brothers apparently more or
less remade the film with Li Ching as A Place to Call Home, but minus
the musical stylings. The music in Mambo Girl is organic to the plot
and is infectious. Kitty Ting Hao makes an early appearance (she was
only 18), as does future wife of Run Run Shaw, Mona Fong (under the
name Fang Yihua), who we see sing an entire song in a nightclub. Fong
is prettier here than she is in the 1965 Shaw Brothers film The Lark.
This is a good, solid dramatic film, which is something you might not
expect since it is in large part a musical. See it.
[04] 3.0 stars (12) 068 Sister Long Legs 02/06/1960
oooooI went into Sister Long Legs with high hopes, since Julie Yeh
Feng wears glasses in this film and looks cute in them, but I was
not prepared for what it was: a screwball comedy of manners between
two classes: urban and suburban Chinese. The performances are all
endearing, and Roy Chiao shines as a shy automobile mechanic who
attracts Yeh Feng, but I found much of the proceedings overwrought.
Yeh Feng and Jeanette Lin Cui, who have very different personalites,
play off each other well and are both great in this, and Ting Ching
is fun as a bumbling suitor, but I was not taken with the material.
After having watched the entirety of Panorama's output of Cathay
discs, I returned to re-watch this film (the new review is at [40]),
thinking that I might have been unfair. As it turns out, I liked it
a lot more the second time, since I was more familiar with the stars,
bit players, genres, and genre conventions of the Cathay studio.
[05] 5.0 stars (18) 087 The Wild, Wild Rose 10/04/60
oooooThe Wild, Wild Rose is probably the most polished and classic
MP&GI film in the Hollywood sense. Grace Chang plays extremely
against type as a wily, man-eating nightclub singer, and this film
details her lusty power and her decline after falling for the wrong
man. A must-see, but only after seeing at least one other Grace
Chang film in order to put the magnitude of her performance into
perspective. Grace is a great singer and a singular persona, and
everything she does here is mesmerizing. A noirish-flavored film,
worthy of being considered a classic in every way. The story has
several key elements from Carmen and Sternberg's Der Blau Angel.
A handsome fellow named Zhang Yang plays the doomed smitten
character reminiscent of the one in Der Blau Angel, Ting Ching
plays a bandmate who is jealous of him, and Dolly So Fung is a
standout as his long-suffering erstwhile fiance. Originally,
Grace turned down doing this film. She suggested that Julie Yeh
Feng play the role, instead.
[06] 3.5 stars (07) 050 Air Hostess 06/04/59
oooooAir Hostess stars three of my MP&GI favorites, Grace Chang,
Julie Yeh Feng, and So Fung, and was my second dose of the era's
performances by Roy Chiao. He plays an overly serious flight pilot
here, and his co-pilot is played by his MP&GI antithesis, Kelly Lai
Chen. This is a color film, bright and earnest, with rich hues. I
thought it was okay, but I'm surprised to find that it's regarded
highly. Maybe it's because it's a memorable time capsule for those
who saw it in its first release, as it reflects the appeal of the
commercial air travel of its day. The bulk of the film is comprised
of women in stewardess school, and Grace Chang is radiant in it, so
there's that, too. While in school, an instructor makes a comment
about the way Yeh Feng walks, asking her to rein in it a little,
as the audience is treated to a rear view of Yeh Feng's wide hips
swinging. Hee hee. Air Hostess is really Grace Chang's show, though,
and the camera adores her. Trivia: Yeh Feng's second husband was
Zhang Yang. Her third was the Shaw Brothers leading man Ling Yun,
who I've seen in Hong Kong Nocturne, the Jenny Hu version of Love
Without End (in which he co-starred), and Clans of Intrigue.
[07] 5.0 stars (06) 049 Her Tender Heart 05/21/59
oooooHer Tender Heart was my introduction to Lucilla You Min, and
she is really quite affecting. It would be easy to say that it's
because of her saucer-sized eyes, but it's more than that. She has
a quiet, controlled inner beauty and she underplays what could have
been an overdramatized part to great affect as she essays the role
of a relatively naive young girl. This film deals with a child's
relationship with a single parent, and also a conflict between an
adoptive parent and a birth parent, and as an adoptee myself, I
found the choices she makes to be quite refreshing. Zhang Yang plays
an altogether different and nicer man here than he did in The Wild,
Wild Rose. Wang Lai adds great nuance as the birth parent who is torn
between her old relationship with the birth father and her new one
with the daughter who doesn't realize who she is, while Wang Yin
works wonders as the adoptive father who only wants the best for his
daughter, who in turn is caught in the middle without understanding
the nature of their relationship. I thought this film was moving and
memorable, with wonderful performances, and I recommend it highly.
[08] 3.0 stars (08) 052 Our Dream Car 07/09/59
oooooOur Dream Car is the story of a highly attractive young couple,
played by Grace Chang and Zhang Yang, who undertake financing a car
even though they really can't afford it, and the strain it puts on
their marriage. Grace buys the after being cajoled by car salesman
Kelly Lai Chen, who is the boyfriend she had right before meeting
Zhang Yang, so both Kelly Lai Chen and the car itself are the impetus
for strife. Much has been said about this film being a paean to
consumerism, and indeed at one point, Grace Chang sings a song about
the car that has a section that sounds like a communist work song,
but it works more as a time capsule, when buying a car was a true pop
culture event. Grace is really a knockout in this film, and she wears
several ornate, modern, highly flattering cheongsams. Zhang Yang plays
her husband very naturalistically, and he is shown both in a good and
a bad light, as the situation and story dictates. Close-ups of the two
actutely photogenic stars appear in the film frequently, so this is a
real glamor parade. The movie itself is only so-so, though, and works
best as a vehicle for matinee idol worship of Grace. Very cool is the
fact that the menu page of the Our Dream Car DVD plays the entirety of
the Car song before beginning the film.
[09] 2.5 stars (05) 044 Spring Song 02/14/59
oooooSpring Song details the rivalry between two college girls, one
a singer and the other an athlete, as played by Grace Chang and
Jeanette Lin Cui. It's kind of cool to see Jeanette with long hair in
a ponytail, just like Grace has here, because she usually has short
hair in her roles. Peter Chen, Tin Ching, and Roy Chiao play upper
classmen, and Wang Lai plays the music teacher in charge of the two
girls' hostel (dorm) that they share with two other roommates. The
timid Peter is an old friend of Jeannete's and is buddies with star
athlete Roy, while Tin Ching plays an affable bully (if there is such
a thing). Jeanette likes Roy, but Roy likes Grace. Grace likes Peter,
and that makes Jeanette jealous. Both actresses are charismatic and
riveting here, and the script plays to their strengths, but the roles
are indulgent. Their rivalry becomes too serious, and this leaves a
slightly sour taste as the two feud with each other for almost half
the film's running time over their mutual lack of ability in each
other's areas of strength, and over the men they like. It is indeed
fun, however, to see Roy Chiao play a jock who can't dance. For those
who care, you get to see him shirtless when he benchpresses free
weights and drives a boat while Jeanette Lin Cui waterskis. He was
Cathay's only real beefcake.
[10] 4.5 stars (13) 073 Forever Yours 04/07/60
oooooForever Yours is a devastating weepie about a woman, played by
Grace Chang, who falls in love with an adoring, poetic man, played by
Kelly Lai Chen, who makes bonsai arrangements and has a seemingly
terminal disease. The sacrifices she makes to keep him happy are like
the ones the husband makes in Love Without End (certainly like in the
1961 Linda Lin Dai version, but less so in the 1970 Jenny Hu re-make),
and are heartbreaking. The film is somber and downbeat, with evocative,
nuanced noirish lighting, and features a more-masculine-than-usual
performance by the ordinarily elfin and fey Kelly Lai Chen (who is the
brother of Betty Loh Tih!) as the husband. As others have pointed out,
this is the only film in which Grace Chang does not dance nor sing a
single song. She's a very good actress, though, so her work here is
not a stretch, by any means. Think of the second half of Mambo Girl,
wherein Grace searches for her mother; and the last third of The Wild,
Wild Rose, where she lies low and tries to save her beloved; and
you'll have an idea of the mode she is in in this film. (Later on, I
found that her role in the two-part epic Sun, Moon and Star bears
much in common with her role in Forever Yours, as well.) I thought
this film was great and recommend it highly. Apparently, this is one
of Grace's most underappreciated films. Be sure to bring tissues with
you if you see it, which I suggest you do.
[11] 3.0 stars (11) 066 June Bride 01/27/60
oooooJune Bride concerns three men competing for the attention of
Grace Chang. On a cruise ship, goofy would-be loverboy guitarist
Tin Ching tries to romance singer Grace Chang who is traveling to
Hong Kong to marry Zhang Yang. Zhang Yang is pals with a nightclub
songstress (who looks vaguely like Julie Yeh Feng), even though he
is engaged to Grace. Roy Chiao plays a man who we first see highly
intoxicated who is engaged to a woman who apparently may no longer be
interested in him. Seeing how drunk he is, Chiao takes pity on him
and lets him crash at his place. He then tries to set Chiao up with
his nightclub pal, but accidentally, Chiao doesn't meet the nightclub
songstress, but with Grace the songstress, instead. He gets her
drunk, and it's her first time drinking. The choreography of Grace's
drunk scene is great. It's overstated, but in a good way. Then comes
a musical dream sequence where Grace wears a bridal gown and dances
first with Zhang Yang, then Tin Ching, then Roy Chiao. When Grace
shops for a real wedding dress, her best friend turns out to be Dolly
So Fung. Yay! But then Grace calls off the wedding because she is
conflicted. This film is a combination of musical and screwball
comedy, and really doesn't quite come together, but there are many
memorable moments amid the jumble. My DVD stopped and skipped during
the last minute-and-a-half of the film. Note that this glitch might
exist in all copies of the DVD: I returned mine, and the seller's
distributor replaced it with a disc that did the very same thing.
[12] 4.0 stars (25) 107 Sun, Moon and Star (Part 1) 12/08/61
[13] 3.5 stars (26) 108 Sun, Moon and Star (Part 2) 12/30/61
oooooSun, Moon and Star is an epic love story in two parts, taking
place before, during and after the Sino-Japanese war. Zhang Yang
falls in love with poor neighbor Lucilla You Min, then with his
wealthy cousin Grace Chang, then with Chinese nationalist Julie Yeh
Feng, but it's Julie Yeh Feng that he's really hung up on, leading
him to join the military just to track her down. He's a foolhardy,
smitten sap. Grace eventually learns about Lucilla, takes pity on
her, and virtually adopts her, and both women serve in the war in
one capacity or another. At one point, the destinies of all three
women interlap, but the meeting is brief. Like his character in The
Wild, Wild Rose, Zhang Yang can't get one woman (Julie Yeh Feng, in
this case) out of his head, and makes himself and everyone else
miserable for it. Were it not for his character's over-the-top
thickheadedness, this two-parter would have been a classic. Lucilla
You Min is outstanding in this film, even better than in Her Tender
Heart, and won the Golden Horse Best Actress award for her efforts.
Highly recommended for the three actresses' performances and hours
of quality drama, despite the fact that Zhang Yang's character casts
a pall over much of the film.
[14] 4.0 stars (09) 055 For Better, For Worse 08/20/59
oooooIn For Better, for Worse, the ordinarily opulent and glamorous
Helen Li Mei, who I'd liked in It's Always Spring, plays a put-upon
wife who is browbeaten by her husband's decadent sister after her
husband loses his job. It is really easy to identify with Li Mei in
this film, although the patience she exhibits while supporting her
husband above and beyond the call of duty is often heartbreaking and
exasperating. The trouble starts soon after they are married, when
the husband's sister, a very disagreeable woman -- okay, an outright
asshole -- played by Lau Sin-Mung, refuses to attend the couple's
wedding dinner on the grounds that Li Mei is a widow and that such a
woman brings bad luck to the (extended) family, the irony being that
the only real bad luck brought to the family is the result of the
sister herself, who proceeds to treat Li Mei and her daughter from
her previous marriage like dirt. Zhang Yang plays the husband in an
even more earnest and clueless mode than he displayed in Sun, Moon,
Star, as he is egged on by his awful aunt. He is a handsome man but
tends to have a streak of unlikeability and a penchant for ruining
the lives of the woman characters he plays off of. Prime examples
being The Wild, Wild Rose and Sun, Moon and Star, both of which make
you want to slap him for very different reasons. Dolly So Fung plays
Li Mei's sister, and Tin Ching plays her fiance -- as he did in Our
Sister Hedy -- with a distinct lack of clowning. Child actress Connie
Chan Po-Chu, who plays Li Mei's daughter, is very good. I found this
film to be well acted and memorable, and recommend it.
[15] 3.5 stars (21) 091 Death Traps 12/08/60
oooooDeath Traps is a noir about a woman who in a fit of drunken
jealous pique, puts out a contract on anyone who her erstwhile
beau marries, only to wind up marrying him herself and hence being
the designee of the contract. Tin Ching plays a crooked smoothie,
but one not as harsh as the backstabber he played in Boxer from
Shantung. It has been claimed that Chang Cheh wrote the script,
but he actually only did re-writes (script-doctoring), perhaps as
a favor to star Li Mei, who he had worked with on The Cruel Heart
of My Man in 1956 and Wildfire in 1957. Chang Cheh thought the
script ultimately a failure, but I found the film to be rather
good. It is certainly involving. I thought that Helen Li Mei as
the woman and Roy Chiao as her beau were well suited to the genre,
and I would like to see them again in a noir vein if such films
were to be made available on disc.
[16] 3.0 stars (19) 088 Between Tears and Laughter 11/10/60
oooooThree Cathay stars representing three very different personas
and bodies of work are represented in Between Tears and Laughter.
Wang Lai plays a divorced woman with a young son, Helen Li Mei plays
a novelist scared of new relationships, and Kitty Ting Hao plays a
perky girl anxious to meet her Singaporean penpal, played by Roy
Chiao. Having Li Mei and Ting Hao in the same film is a disorienting
experience, and having Wang Lai play a peer to these two women adds
to the disorientation. This is the first time I'd really gotten a
good taste of Kitty Ting Hao because her role was so small in Mambo
Girl, and I was not too taken with her here because she is way too
snippy with her ardent, ingenuous suitor, Tin Ching (who is also her
boss at work), on account of being hung up on the penpal whom she has
yet to meet. Li Mei's introduction in this film is highly unglamorous
as we first see her asleep in bed with a relative lack of -- or at
least unflattering -- makeup. Wang Li's estranged husband is played
very straight by Shaw Brothers regular Yeung Chi-Hing, whom she
encounters while visiting her young son who has been in the hospital
with polio for a year. While all three women work through anguished
situations by the time the film ends, I felt especially bad for Li
Mei's character, and was gratified when her situation changed for the
better. It's this portion of the film that I enjoyed most, since I
like Li Mei quite a bit.
[17] 2.5 stars (30) 130 Because of Her 07/31/63
oooooBecause of Her has Grace Chang fronting a musical troupe and
performing eloborate dance routines in full color, but many of
the scenes seem rushed and don't always fit in with the plot of
the film. The main plot consists of Grace starting a relationship
with Kelly Lai Chen who takes a job in Japan rather than marrying
her, which results in Grace having a child out of wedlock. Her
manager, played by an avuncular Roy Chiao playing against type
with frosted salt-and-pepper hair, marries her and takes up
responsibility for her child to keep his star attraction from
scandal and from diminished revenue for himself. Alas, Kelly Lai
Chen comes back and joins the musical troupe, and make a mess of
things by constantly making a play for Grace. It is a mystery to
me how she -- and especially Roy -- puts up with it. Kelly is
really an obsessed figure here, almost as tragic as Zhang Yang
was in The Wild, Wild Rose.
[NA] Duel at the Supreme Gate (studio: Gam Ying) 07/25/1968
oooooDuel at the Supreme Gate is not a Cathay film, but one made
by Betty Loh Tih and director Yuen Chau-Fung (the co-director of
Chang Cheh's The Butterfly Chalice) for their short-lived Golden
Eagle Film Company. It stars Loh Tih, and co-stars her brother
Kelly Lai Chen, and Zhang Yang. Playing strongly against type,
the usually effete Lai Chen is almost unrecognizable as the
villain. Loh Tih plays a swordswoman with a storied past who is
blinded and yet is still able to fight. The plot is forced and
stilted, but Loh Tih and Zhang Yang's interplay is affecting and
absorbing. Loh Tih is quite memorable here in this film issued in
the US by Rarescope. Loh Tih made eight films with Cathay, while
Lai Chen and Zhang Yang were Cathay mainstays. See it for Loh Tih.
[18] 1.5 stars (36) 181 The First Sword 12/28/67
oooooFor those used to Shaw Brothers, Cathay's first wuxia pian,
The First Sword, will seem overly restrained. The swordplay is
by-the-numbers, and despite the presence of most of the tropes
of the genre, the film never really convinces you of the hero's
ability. He is a stuffed shirt and clueless as to the nefarious
machinations going on around him. Tin Ching is over-the-top as
a one-note Faustian traitor who hatches plot after plot.
[19] 2.5 stars (32) 138 The Magic Lamp 01/23/64
oooooThe beginning ten minutes of The Magic Lamp are lost and
replaced with a title card. The remainder is a telling of the same
story as Shaw Brothers' The Lotus Lamp. Although it pre-dates The
First Sword, and is more a Huangmei opera than a wuxia pian, the
naturally athletic Jeanette Lin Cui performs impressive swordplay
in one climactic scene. Grace Chang's tearful portrayal is a bit
overplayed, but Lucilla You Min does a good job with the material,
as does Jeanette Lin Cui.
[20] 5.0 stars (14) 074 Devotion 04/21/60
oooooDevotion concerns the devotion a housemaid, played by Ou-Yang
Sha-Fei, has towards her daughter, and marks the first time a HK
actress (Ou-Yang Sha-Fei) won Best Supporting Actress at an
international film festival. The film stars Kitty Ting Hao in two
roles, as well as Roy Chiao, and Zhang Yang in a rare role wherein
he atypically plays someone who is not a selfish, self-involved
git (see The Wild, Wild Rose and Sun, Moon and Star for cases in
point) but a fun guy and fine man. I admit to being shocked seeing
him in a positive role for once. The plot often seems fragmentary,
going off on many tangents, but by film's end, everything comes
together. Kitty Ting Hao proves to be almost as affecting as
Lucilla You Min was in Sun, Moon and Star, which I didn't expect,
but the roles have a bit in common, since they both have the women
playing poor country girls with braids. Several heartwrenching
scenes appear in this film, so you'll need handkerchiefs to view
this one. This is among the best Cathay films I have seen so far,
and it did much to change my perception of Kitty Ting Hao whom I
hadn't really liked in Between Tears and Laughter.
[21] 3.0 stars (20) 089 Bachelors Beware 11/17/60
oooooBachelors Beware is a comedy, and perhaps I was not in the
right mindset, having just recently seen a Cathay melodrama that
was rather wrenching, but there's something about star Linda Lin
Dai that hasn't clicked with me yet. My only previous encounters
with her had been the Shaw Brothers films Love without End (in
which she plays a woman with a terminal disease) and The Lotus
Lamp, in which she plays a fairy, and so her impish role in this
film wasn't something I was prepared for. Zhang Yang plays the
part of a playboy with three girlfriends, and Lin Dai plays his
cousin come to visit and woo him. Straightaway, she sizes up her
competition and sets to derailing all her cousin's relationships
in quick succession. My trouble was in identifying with her rather
than with the put-upon recipients of her machinations. I guess
this is understandable after having seen several Cathay dramas in
which the long-suffering female leads fall victim either to others
or to circumstance. Against type, the wonderful Dolly So Fung plays
a rich socialite, and Zhang Yang is uncharacteristically delightful.
[22] 2.5 stars (38) 199 Spring Time Affairs 11/28/68
oooooIn Spring-time Affairs, a barely-recognizable Zhang Yang, with
hair combed dashingly across his forehead, plays a married violin
virtuoso who becomes smitten with a nightclub singer, played by
Annette Chang, who was Julie Yeh Feng's memorable, spunky sidekick
in It's Always Spring. Being that it's from late 1968, the film is
in color, but it is mood piece just the same, thanks in part to some
woozily-lensed images and extreme close-ups. The plot is slight but
the somber, yearning, slightly bleak tone of the film carries it,
sort of like in the way of a Tarkovsky film like Solaris or Stalker.
And as with a Tarkovsky film, the viewing is a turgid experience
whereas the resultant processing of information and emotions yields
resonant evocation. An odd experience, it could also be compared to
the style of Alain Resnais, I suppose.
[23] 2.5 stars (23) 096 Beauty Parade 03/30/61
oooooBeauty Parade is a fluff piece about country girl Kitty Ting
Hao being accepted in a city high school. She is very cute but
the film isn't even as serious as Spring Song, where Grace Chang
and Jeanette Lin Cui played adversarial college student roommates.
Tin Ching plays a country bumpkin smitten by Kitty, and Kelly Lai
Chen plays Kitty's best friend's brother who likes Kitty, but no
romantic relationship flourishes in this film. Rather, Kitty
excells in sports to the detriment of her studies, and has to try
hard to stay in school. Lo Wei plays her father, and it is
surprising to see him emote with tears in his eyes -- a great
departure from all the pompous roles he had at Shaw Brothers. A
slight, but enjoyable film, but really only recommended for those
who like Kitty Ting Hao, who is undeniably cute.
[24] 5.0 stars (22) 094 The Greatest Civil War on Earth 02/14/61
oooooBeing an American who does not speak Chinese and has never
visited the Asian hemisphere, I went in to seeing The Greatest
Civil War on Earth assuming that this cultural comedy of manners
pitting Northern (Mandarin) against Southern (Cantonese) mores
would go over my head, but surprisingly found few impediments to
enjoying this classic film. Cathay mainstay Liu En-Jia, a jovial,
rotund man who is usually given supporting roles, is here one of
two lead characters, the other being likewise portly. The two men
are tailors and have daughters who fancy suitors from the other
culture. They continually try to one-up each other and make a show
about how their culture is best, while the harried daughters try
to make to best of things. At one point, mismatched couples go to
the movies, and we're treated to three scenes of Grace Chang in
The Wild Wild Rose. Liu En-Jia's character's daughter, a
stewardess with a stylish bob, is played delightfully by Kitty
Ting Hao, and Kelly Lai Chen plays a role that has layers that
are at first not readily apparent. This film breezes by at a fast
clip like an old Hollywood comedy. Highly recommended.
[25] 3.0 stars (29) 122 The Greatest Wedding on Earth 10/11/62
oooooThe Greatest Wedding on Earth is the 1962 follow-up to the
1961 hit The Greatest Civil War on Earth, and features much the
same cast, but where the feuding Northern and Southern men were
tailors in the first film, they are here restaurateurs, and the
comedy is courser and less intricately plotted, despite a script
by esteemed novelist Eileen Chang. Not paricularly recommended
unless you are Chinese or speak both Cantonese and Mandarin. The
charm of this film pales in comparison to its predecessor. Not
even a liking for Kitty Ting Hao is enough to recommend this all
that much, really. The female lead (also of The Greatest Civil
War), Christine Pai Lu-Ming, befuddles me in that she looks a
lot like Jeanette Lin Cui, but acts quite differently.
[26] 2.5 stars (28) 117 Ladies First 08/02/62
oooooLadies First involves two women, played by Jeanette Lin Cui
and Christine Pai Lu-ming, and two men, played by Roy Chiao and
Tin Ching, who meet, yet who are at odds with their chosen ones.
Jeanette likes Roy, while Christine likes Tin, but Roy likes
Christine, while Tin likes Jeanette. Both men try to match with
the woman of their choice despite the women trying to change
their pairing, and both women try to match with the man of their
choice despite the men trying to change their pairing. The four
get pretty devious in the end, to the point of really politically
incorrect bits about trying to get the other pair drunk and in
compromising positions in hotel rooms. One bit even has the two
men in an alleyway fist fight while the two women egg them on,
going as far as shouting, "Keep going!" to the men. Roy Chiao's
shirtless muscular torso is played up when the four people first
meet at a beach. A very young David Chiang, then billed as Yan
Wei, plays Christine's little brother. The two fathers from the
Greatest...on Earth films make cameo appearances. Christine Pai
Lu-Ming, who I'd previously though looks a lot like Jeanette Lin
Cui, looks much less so when paired with her in the same film.
Cathay was a mostly Mandarin production company, but they had a
Cantonese division, and Christine was one of its major stars. I
liked her more than Jeannette in this film. She radiates a quiet
intelligence that, among the Cathay actresses I have seen, is
surpassed only by the regal, willowy Wang Lai -- who here plays
Jeanette's mother -- or by perhaps Li Mei.
[27] 3.5 stars (04) 030 The Splendour of Youth 12/11/57
oooooThe Splendour of Youth (aka The Tender Age), from 1957, is a
sordid melodrama about a schoolgirl misled into depravity by her
best friend's mother. At this point, I had seen 25 of Panorama's
Cathay films, so I was surprised to find not one familiar face in
this film. The acting is quite good, but the plot content, which
concerns decadent aristocratic partiers, is appalling, rife with
unsavory characters manipulating each other for their own ends.
The last ten minutes of the film trots out one heartwrenching
trainwreck after another, to the point where one's credulity is
strained to the maximum and beyond. The overall content of what
transpires would merit an R rating even to this day, even though
there are no curse words nor nudity, so it must have been quite
shocking for 1957. It would have been so for 1967, too, actually.
I suppose claims could be made for this film's having camp value,
but only of a cynical Andy Warhol or David Lynch sort. I must
admit, however, that the film stayed with and grew on me, on the
strength of the characters and the acting. Powerful stuff.
[28] 2.5 stars (17) 084 Dreams Come True 08/27/60
oooooIn Dreams Come True, Kitty Ting Hao plays a poor orphan girl
who sells flowers and is hassled by two local toughs who extort
her for protection money. Since this is primarily a comedy, she
is saved when at a ship arrival, a wealthy young man, played by
Kelly Lai Chen, mistakes her for a woman due to arrive from San
Francisco and takes her home. The bulk of the film has Kitty
hiding from Kelly's family finding out her true identity, while
trying to evade her extorters. When the real San Francisco woman
arrives, it is Kitty in a tight shimmery cheongsam with coke
bottle glasses and fake protruding upper canine teeth. Looking
for their missing daughter, the orphan girl's parents mistake the
San Francisco woman for their own. To her credit, Kitty plays the
Chinese-American woman with deft body language that makes it hard
to believe that it's really her. In the end, everything works out
well for everyone. Sort of fun despite the undercurrent with the
extorters. Maybe I'm still recovering from The Splendor of Youth.
[29] 2.5 stars (39) 215 Mad, Mad, Mad Swords 09/10/69
oooooMad, Mad, Mad Swords, starring Tin Ching at his goofiest
(moreso than in Beauty Parade, even) and least malevolent (in
contrast to his roles in The First Sword and The Boxer from
Shantung), was not all that great, but not as miserable as some
would have it. Sammo Hung plays two parts. Veteran character
actor Fung Ngai (who played the fat bespectacled karateka in
Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury) appears with a three-sectional staff
which the choreographer doesn't know what to do with. Infamous
Shaw villain Chiang Nan (most memorable as the traitor in The
Iron Bodyguard) has the funniest scene: he is forced to fight Tin
Ching with a full bladder after having eaten eight bowls of
congee. Rascally Tin Ching purposely delayed their competition to
make sure the congee would do what it did. The best fight scene
has Shaw actor Paul Chang in a Zatoichi homage. The One-armed
Swordsman homage is not nearly as successful. Being a Cathay
film, the women hold sway over the men, and it is in ways that
you wouldn't see in a Shaw Brothers or Golden Harvest film. For
example, Tin Ching's betrothed controls the purse strings to his
dead master's fortune, and a subplot with a courtesan is played
out mostly from the woman's perspective. In the end, it's Tin
Ching's pompous, almost-bowlegged strut that makes for the most
indelible image: It's John Wayne by way of Popeye.
[30] 3.0 stars (31) 133 Father Takes a Bride 10/02/63
oooooFather Takes a Bride stars the same main three actors as in
Her Tender Heart -- the doe-eyed Lucilla Yu Ming, the fatherly
Wang Yin, and the tall, regal Wang Lai -- but in place of Zhang
Yang, we have Betty Loh Tih's brother Kelly Lai Chen. And as it
turns out, Lucilla and Kelly make a perfect couple: their looks
match each other handsomely, and they play off each convincingly
(unlike Kelly's match with Kitty Ting Hao in Dreams Come True).
The tone of this film is quite different from that of Her Tender
Heart. Two couples -- one being Lucilla and Kelly, the other
being Lucilla's father Wang Yin and Wang Lai -- are threatened by
jealousy on the part of Lucilla's two younger brothers, aged 8
and 9, who make a fuss about their dead mother and how marriage
by their father would disrespect her memory, while marriage by
their sister would leave them all alone in life. The way things
play out in this Eileen Chang scripted film is rather ingenious,
but until then, you fear for nearly everyone's happiness at one
point or another. I was surprised not to care all that much for
Lucilla's character, here. I preferred her work in Her Tender
Heart and in Sun, Moon and Star.
[31] 4.5 stars (37) 183 Darling Stay At Home 01/28/68
oooooI thought the 1968 color film Darling, Stay at Home, was
great. Betty Loh Tih plays a repressed, resourceful housewife, and
Zhang Yang plays her sexist husband who doesn't allow her to seek
gainful employment. She devises a scheme to trump her husband,
which she does in surprising and delightful ways, not unlike the
way in which Linda Lin Dai operated in Bachelors Beware, but what
stands out is the feminism and its contrast to the conservative
mores of the time. Betty essentially has two roles in this, the
only modern era vehicle she starred in at Cathay. Not having yet
seen The Love Eterne, the only other film I'd seen her in was the
Rarescope release Duel at the Supreme Gate, and I thought she was
great in that, so I was hoping that I'd like her here, too, even
though the genre and era were different, and I did. Zhang Yang's
smug arrogance is utilized exceptionally well for comedic effect
for once, and Tin Ching adds flavor to Zhang Yang's performance
with his more overt comedy. The plot is fairly simple, but plays
out in a highly entertaining manner. I laughed out loud at this
film moreso than with any other Cathay or Shaw Brothers comedy
I've seen. I enjoyed this immensely, and will be getting some Loh
Tih Shaw Brothers discs in order to see more of her.
[32] 3.5 stars (02) 025 My Kingdom for a Husband
oooooI knew that My Kingdom for a Husband was a Cantonese opera
set in the modern era, so I half-expected to be bored, but the
novelty of seeing a film with Cantonese opera instead of Huangmei
(Yellow Plum) Opera was intriguing. So, too, were the lead actors,
Cheung Ying, who played the sparkle-eyed lothario in The Splendor
of Youth, and Leung Sing-Bo, who played the Cantonese tailor in
The Greatest Civil War on Earth and the Cantonese restaurateur in
The Greatest Wedding on Earth. The two men are paired almost like
a Hollywood Golden Age comedy duo, with Cheung Ying as the straight
man and Leung Sing-Bo as a broadly delineated vaudevillian type.
The former seems almost like Dean Martin, with the latter somewhat
akin to Oliver Hardy or Red Skelton. It's ironic that I should have
viewed this film directly after having seen Darling, Stay at Home,
because that title describes this film, too, in many ways. While
Darling dealt with a housewife whose husband endeavors to keep her
at home rather than let her work, My Kingdom has a queen whose
husband The Prince Consort comes to resent having no autonomy once
married. Although the film is overly leisurely at first and is slow
slogging for the first hour, the second half picks up significantly
once most of the plot comes together, and the developments in the
last half hour are riveting. After his relatively one-note role in
The Splendor of Youth, it was surprising to see Cheung Ying display
such an emotional range in this film. Trivia: Cheung Ying appeared
in over 300 films from 1937 to 1988, and he directed the 1969 Shaw
Brothers film The Swordmates, as well as co-directed the 1949 film
Wind and Storm Over Alishan with Chang Cheh (Wind is the first film
that Chang Cheh ever co-directed; the first films he ever directed
on his own were Tiger Boy and The Magnificent Trio, both in 1966).
My Kingdom for a Husband is worth it if you've got the patience for
the first half. Leung Sing-Bo is particularly good in this.
[33] 4.0 stars (10) 063 Cinderella and Her Little Angels 12/31/59
oooooCinderella and Her Little Angels begins on a strange note in
a clothing shop, where two children's mannequins come to life and
sing a song about the lead character, a tailor played by Peter
Chen. There is a woman mannequin in the shop which he kisses
goodnight every evening, and his co-workers (Tin Ching among them)
know about it. What they don't know is that the mannequin is a
dead ringer for a girl he's sweet on, played by Linda Lin Dai, who
works in the orphanage that sews the shop's clothing. The plot
hinges on the foibles of Peter and Linda keeping the orphanage's
prim matron (Wang Li) in the dark about Linda's modeling for the
clothing shop's fashion shows, which Linda assents to in order to
get funding for renovating the orphanage, which is badly in need
of structural repairs. Lots of fun fashion is on view, and Linda's
character is not annoying like it was in Bachelor's Beware. I admit
to dreading this film because of not having liked Bachelor's Beware,
but Linda's character here is much different. Tin Ching's love
interest is played by Dolly So Fung, who I haven't seen in ages,
and she is really cute in glasses and pigtails, although she
doesn't have much of a part. The sewing room in the orphanage is
pretty much a sweatshop, and there is a disconcerting scene where
they sing a jaunty tune about how they work as fast as they can.
Peter Chen, who was married to Betty Loh Tih from 1962-1966 (which
made Kelly Lai Chen his brother-in-law), later re-teamed with Linda
Lin Dai in the 1963 Shaw Brothers film Love Parade. Cinderella and
Her Little Angels (the title refers to Linda's character and to the
youngest orphans in the orphanage; the title's literal translation
is "After the Cloud Clothes Are Colorful," which probably refers to
both the pall over the orphanage cast by the matron and by the
storm that assaults the orphanage near the end) is a predictable
but engaging film, which I enjoyed.
[NA] Les Belles (studio: Shaw Bros.) 02/25/1961
oooooLes Belles, from 1961, is a Shaw Brothers film, but it stars
Linda Lin Dai and Peter Chen Ho, and is said to be one of Shaws'
best musicals, so I figured I'd watch it after Cinderella and Her
Little Angels. The real reason I obtained this VCD is because of
Fanny Fan Lai being in it. Ever since I saw her bare backside
shower scene (yes, you see her fanny) and catfight with Lily Ho
in Angel with the Iron Fists (1967), I've been a Fanny Fan fan
(hoo boy), and have sought out anything she's in. Very few of her
appearances are on disc. Others would include Love Parade, The
Magnificent Trio, The Golden Buddha (featuring Jeanette Lin Cui's
only appearance in a Shaw Bros film), Summons to Death, and Diary
of a Lady-Killer. Anyways, Les Belles has Peter Chen as the
director and lead male dancer in a dance troupe, with Linda Lin
Dai as the talented newcomer who butts heads with him time and
again. The production numbers are indeed among the best I have
seen from Cathay and Shaw Bros, but the story was really lacking.
The main hook of the plot has Peter placing personal ads in the
newspaper with linda answering them, with neither knowing that
it's the other until the very end. Bleh. At least Fanny was fun
as Linda's roommate.
[NA] The Dancing Millionnairess (studio: Shaw Bros.) 02/12/1964
oooooI obtained 1964's The Dancing Millionnairess because it is
one of the only two films on disc (the other being the King Hu
film Sons of Good Earth) featuring the husband and wife team of
Peter Chen and Betty Loh Tih. It is a Shaw Brothers film, but it
turns out to have been directed by Tao Qin, aka Doe Chin, who
also directed Our Sister Hedy and the original Love Without End
(with Linda Lin Dai), both of which I liked. Then again, he also
directed Les Belles. Oh well. I found The Dancing Millionnairess
to be quite involving. It concerns a floundering dance troupe,
including King Hu in a comedic role as a set designer, and the
way they manage to involve an heiress in their company in a very
convoluted manner. Loh Tih goes from imperious to endearing, and
the film ends with a well-done, almost-20-minute extravanganza.
Peter Chen is usually pretty unflappable in everything I've seen
him in, but there are two scenes in this film where Loh Tih
psyches him out, causing him to get very agitated and evasive.
It's quite amusing, as well as delightfully squirm-inducing for
the audience. Doe Chin also directed the 1967 Lily Ho/Essie Lin
Chia/Ching Li Shaws vehicle, My Dreamboat, which I have on VCD but
haven't seen yet, and the 1963 Shaws film Love Parade, starring
Peter Chen and Linda Lin Dai, featuring King Hu and Fanny Fan Lai,
which I don't have. He also directed the sequel to Our Sister Hedy,
Wedding Bells for Hedy, which is not on disc, and Linda Lin Dai's
final film, the two-part The Blue and the Black, which is on disc.
[34] 3.5 stars (35) 154 Fairy, Ghost, Vixen 05/27/65
oooooFairy, Ghost, Vixen (1965) stars Tang Ching as a weak-willed
scholar who becomes romantically involved first with a fox vixen
spirit, then a ghost girl, and then a fairy -- at least it seemed
to be the case when I was watching the film. It is really a
trilogy of separate supernatural fables, but since all three star
Tang Ching playing almost the same character, it is easy to view
the three tales as installments in a hapless man's journey through
lack-of-self-discovery. After a slow start, the film becomes rather
engrossing, but there is a pall over the proceedings because of
the melancholy situations the ungrateful and self-involved scholar
creates for himself and his beloved in each story. I tend to feel
sorry for and identify with the ghost women in most of the asian
ghost stories I've seen, and this extends to the vixen and the
fairy here. Annette Chang Hui-Hsien, who played Julie Yeh Feng's
sister in It's Always Spring, and who played the lounge singer in
Spring-time Affairs, is especially fetching as the ghost, and Wang
Lai does a great job as her mother. Tang Ching stands out in my
memory for the especially impotent character (the husband) he
played in Deaf and Mute Heroine (1971), but he was considerably
more likable in the 1968 Shaws Brothers Cheng Pei-pei vehicle The
Jade Raksha, and in Vengeance is a Golden Blade (1969). I also
knew him from his suave, courageous pompadour-coifed roles in the
modern era Shaws films, Summons to Death (1967), Angel with the
Iron Fists (1967), and The Angel Strikes Again (1968), so I know
he has a fair range as an actor, but his weaselly portrayals, such
as that in Fairy, Ghost, Vixen make me feel like slapping him,
sometimes. In this film, the foxes' faces look more like those
of North American skunks than those of foxes, because they are
striped. I was not aware that asian foxes aren't all orange from
snout to tail. I suspect I will eventually be moved to watch this
film again, if only to revisit the sad love stories from the
perspective of the supernatural women. If and when I see this
film the next time, I will view Tang Ching as a catalyst moreso
than (a) discrete character(s).
[35] 4.5 stars (15) 077 Happily Ever After 06/16/60
oooooHappily Ever After has a woman masquerading as someone she's
not, like in Dreams Come True; and there is fiancee rivalry, like
in June Bride; and modeling for an agency figures in as a pretext
for plot development, like a Cinderella and Her Little Angels; but
I liked this film more than those others. Maybe it's because I'm
a sap for the lead, Lucilla You Min. The only time she's been
lovelier is in Sun, Moon and Star. Here, Lucilla has to pretend
to be commercial advertising artist Roy Chiao's fiancee when his
estranged wealthy father falls deathly ill and Roy's real fiancee
can't be located in time to visit the old man. Trouble ensues when
his father, who loathes Roy's golddigging real fiancee, develops
an instant liking for the unassuming, guileless Lucilla, and
regains his health. Keeping the old man happy while simultaneously
keeping him in the dark as to Lucilla's true identity makes up the
bulk of the film. The masquerade works much better here than it
did in Dreams Come True (which starred Kitty Ting Hao). Although I
liked Her Tender Heart (which starred Lucilla You Min) more because
it was a straight-ahead drama, I liked this Lucilla You Min vehicle
second-best, which means I prefer it to Father Takes a Bride. If
I had to choose between Devotion (starring Kitty Ting Hao) and
Happily Ever After, though, I would choose Devotion. Amazingly,
Devotion (04/21/60), Happily Ever After (06/16/60), and Dreams
Come True (08/27/60) were theatrically released within four months
of each other, and the great noirish Grace Chang weepie, Forever
Yours (04/07/60), predates Devotion by just two weeks!
[36] 3.0 stars (33) 139 A Story of Three Loves Pt. 1 02/12/64
oooooWatching the 1964 film A Story of Three Loves Pt. 1 was an
odd experience. It stars Zhao Lei (the lead actor in The First
Sword) as a rich student and kindhearted philanthropist of sorts who
takes to helping two poor women, a street performer (played by
Jeanette Lin Cui) and a teahouse songstress (played by Grace Chang)
get ahead. I just recently saw Zhao Lei as a skittish scholar in the
1960 Shaw Brothers Betty Loh Tih vehicle Enchanting Shadow. He seems
to always play mannered good guy roles. In this film, both Jeanette
and Grace are in love with him, and he gets engaged to Grace, much
to the chagrin of Jeanette. Complicating matters is a sophisticate,
who looks just like the poor Grace, who is also in love with Zhao
Lei. A further complication comes with the introduction of a barely
recognizable Roy Chiao as a lascivious general who is after the
poor Grace, whereupon the story starts to share elements with the
contemporaneous 1964 Shaw Brothers film The Warlord and the Actress,
wherein a general schemes to make a woman (played by Julie Yeh Feng)
his concubine. It is indeed fun to see Grace Chang play two roles,
but they are so diametrically opposed that the aristocratic character
that Grace plays hazards caricature. I was shocked by a scene where
the poor Grace shrieks in hysterics when she momentarily mistakenly
thinks that Zhao Lei has been untrue to her. It is not the sort of
scene I ever expected to see Grace Chang in.
[37] 4.0 stars (34) 140 A Story of Three Loves pt. 2 A 02/26/64
oooooIn comparison to the rather leisurely first installment, the
melodrama escalates exponentially in A Story of Three Loves Pt. 2.
Street performer Jeanette, who is indebted to Zhao Lei after he
saved her father's life by paying for him to be treated by Western
medicine in Pt. 1, infiltrates the general's mansion under the guise
of the poor Grace's maid in order to secretly help Zhao Lei, and is
forced to sublimate her love for Zhao Lei by helping the poor Grace.
So, too, does the aristocratic woman who looks like the poor Grace
sublimate her love for Zhao Lei by trying to help him despite
learning of his betrothal to the poor Grace and despite wanting to
marry Zhao Lei herself. Trapped by the general and forced to disavow
Zhao Lei, the poor Grace is eventually driven to the point of madness,
and her portrayal goes beyond the shrieking hysterics she displayed
in Pt. 1. Jeanette's role expands as she becomes the new focal point
of the general's attentions. I ultimately found this two-part film
more enjoyable than the two-part Sun, Moon and Star because I found
Zhao Lei's character easier to identify with than Zhang Yang's drippy,
clueless character in Sun, Moon and Star. Both two-parters are epic
love stories about three women in love with the same man, and both are
memorable, but Zhang Yang taints Sun, Moon and Star with his character.
I thought he did much the same to the ending of The Wild, Wild Rose,
actually. Anyways, the one-note performance Zhao Wei gave in the first
half of A Story of Three Loves gives way to a wider range of emotion
as things come to a boil, and he becomes much more engaging. Between
Tears And Smiles is Shaw Brothers' version of this two-part epic.
[38] 2.5 stars (24) 101 Education of Love 08/03/61
oooooWang Yin is a primary school teacher but is not teaching because
of an illness, so his daughter, Jeanette Lin Cui, who's only a high
school graduate, fills in for him. Her boyfriend, Kelly Lai Chen, is
interning for medical school and arranges for her father to see a
doctor. At first, Lin Cui doesn't like teaching, but it grows on her
after her father demonstrates that the students teach the teacher as
much as the reverse. Sammo Hung, under the name Zhu Yuanlong, plays an
underfed, skinny(!) student, and has a decent amount of screen time
throughout the picture in what is actually his film debut(!). Wang Yin
played Lin Cui's father in A Story of Three Loves, and played Lucilla
You Min's father in both Her Tender Heart and Father Takes a Bride. He
directed 41 films and acted in 63. He's a solid actor. I had seen Zhu
Mu, who plays Sammo's father, as the lead thug in Dreams Come True, as
the army commander in Sun, Moon and Star, and as the fur trapper Tiger
Zeng who wants to marry Julie Yeh Feng in the Shaw Brothers film The
Shepherd Girl. Lin Cui isn't one of my favorite Cathay actresses, and
this is not among my favorite Cathay films, but she is particularly
good in this. Maybe it's because the role is so atypical: she gets to
display a completely different set of emotions than she does in
virtually all her other films. Spunky, perky, and athletic are not
the adjectives that describe her here. Instead, conciliatory, tearful,
and empathetic are words that come to mind. The film is rather
schematic and preachy with regards to education, but some good
melodrama is to be had in the last half hour. The first copy of this
DVD I got would not play at all. The second was hard to cue up, and
stopped and jumped about 15 times during the first 30 minutes and
stopped repeatedly during the last 2 minutes. I had to get a VCD
copy of the film to view the last 2 minutes. Yep, I'm dedicated.
[39] 2.5 stars (16) 078 The Bedside Story 06/23/60
oooooThe Bedside Story is a strange film. While it has broad comedic
aspects, it's mostly the story of a crafty actress, played by Li Mei,
who seduces her star director, played by Kelly Lai Chen, into marrying
her despite the protestations of the director's newspaper reporter
brother, played by Zhang Yang. Zhang Yang tries to explain to his
lovestruck brother that his fiance is not in love with him and only
using him to further her career, but Kelly Lai Chen is smitten and
willfully deluding himself. Zhang Yang tells his secretary, Wang
Lai, who is in love with him, that he'll expose the actress's sordid
past if she doesn't do right by her brother. She threatens to leave
him if he does such a thing before Li Mei actually deserves it. This
is the only time I've ever seen Wang Li play a young woman instead of
some variety of matriarch, and the two-piece business dresses she
wears are very flattering. She's not really convincing as a youthful
woman, though; she is no Kitty Ting Hao, and no Lucilla You Min,
either. Anyways, Li Mei turns out to be an even more horrid wife than
Zhang Yang suspected: she lives in a room separate from Kelly Lai
Chen and parties night after night with her producer, played by Wu
Jia-Xiang (who usually plays sycophants in Shaw Brother films), who
is in love with her and still chasing her despite the fact that she
is married. Eventually, Zhang Yang gets wind of it, and he gives Li
Mei a list of ultimatums, threatening to ruin her with a newspaper
expose. I really like Li Mei, so I was uncomfortable watching this
film, because she mostly plays a self-centered jerk even worse than
Zhang Yang was in Sun, Moon and Star. While not nearly the tyrant that
Roy Chiao was in A Story of Three Loves, she is quite imperious and
makes life a living hell for the house servants and her husband with
her complete lack of empathy. In a way, The Bedside Story is like
Bachelors Beware turned inside out: instead of a chipper and outgoing
Linda Lin Dai manipulating a clueless Zhang Yang, we get a protective
Zhang Yang manipulating a self-serving Li Mei, who in turn manipulates
the clueless Kelly Lai Chen. I didn't like it when Zhang Yang's sister
treated Li Mei and her daughter like dirt in For Better, For Worse,
and I didn't like it when Li Mei treated her husband and servants like
dirt in The Bedside Story, either. Strangely, in this film, Kelly Lai
Chen is not the fey wet noodle he often plays, despite his being a
pushover for whatever his wife tells him to do, so when he finally
gets fired up and gets some gumption, it is entirely believable. Why
the film is named The Bedside Story, I don't know.
[40] 3.5 stars (12) 068 Sister Long Legs 02/06/1960 [2nd viewing]
oooooAfter having watched the entirety of Panorama's output of
Cathay discs, I returned to re-watch this film (my original review
is at [04]), thinking that I might have been unfair. As it turns out,
I liked it a lot more the second time, since I was more familiar with
the stars, bit players, genres, and genre conventions of the Cathay
studio. (I am now tempted to re-watch Bachelors Beware [20], which I
suspect I might have misjudged, as well.) Insurance salesman Liu
En-Jia and his wife Wang Lai are the working class parents of
schoolteacher Julie Yeh Feng and younger sister Jeanette Lin Cui.
Wang Lai runs into a rotund old school chum, Kao Tsiang, now
wealthy, who comes to visit. She invites Wang Lai's family to her fat
daughter's birthday party. Her husband is Cheung Kwong-Chiu, who
played the part of the magician father of the three woman leads in
Hong Kong Nocturne, and was also in the original Love without End
(1961). Kao Tsiang introduces millionaire's son Tin Ching to Julie,
but right away, Tin Ching takes a shine to Jeanette, instead. Kao
Tsiang wants her daughter to snag Tin Ching for a husband, though.
There's a funny bit when a short guy swing dances with Julie and has
to jump for the over-her-head moves. Roy Chiao, who works across the
street at a car repair shop, is also at the party, and to her mother
Wang Lai's dismay, he hits it off with Julie. Tin Ching's character's
last name is the same as that of Roy Chiao's, but instead of fixing
cars, Tin Ching raises dogs as a hobby. Twice, we see him imitate
dogs in Julie's presence, and it's jawdropping to see her not be
appalled. Kao Tsiang takes advantage of the two men's last names
being the same and purposely confuses Wang Lai, causing Wang Lai to
accidentally invite Roy Chiao to visit rather than Tin Ching,
because Kao Tsiang wants Tin Ching to spend time with her own
daughter rather than go to Wang Lai's house. Wang Lai, meanwhile,
wants Julie to marry Tin Ching, but she only has eyes for Roy Chiao.
And much as Jeanette Lin Cui has fun with Tin Ching, she makes a
play for Roy Chiao at one point. Everything reaches a crescendo at a
mountaintop picnic. I give this film one more half-star, now.
AT A GLANCE
[01] 4.0 stars (27) 111 It's Always Spring 02/21/62
[02] 5.0 stars (03) 028 Our Sister Hedy 11/14/57
[03] 5.0 stars (01) 017 Mambo Girl 03/06/57
[04] 3.0 stars (12) 068 Sister Long Legs 02/06/1960 [1st viewing]
[05] 5.0 stars (18) 087 The Wild, Wild Rose 10/04/60
[06] 3.5 stars (07) 050 Air Hostess 06/04/59
[07] 5.0 stars (06) 049 Her Tender Heart 05/21/59
[08] 3.0 stars (08) 052 Our Dream Car 07/09/59
[09] 2.5 stars (05) 044 Spring Song 02/14/59
[10] 4.5 stars (13) 073 Forever Yours 04/07/60
[11] 3.0 stars (11) 066 June Bride 01/27/60
[12] 4.0 stars (25) 107 Sun, Moon and Star (Part 1) 12/08/61
[13] 3.5 stars (26) 108 Sun, Moon and Star (Part 2) 12/30/61
[14] 4.0 stars (09) 055 For Better, For Worse 08/20/59
[15] 3.5 stars (21) 091 Death Traps 12/08/60
[16] 3.0 stars (19) 088 Between Tears and Laughter 11/10/60
[17] 2.5 stars (30) 130 Because of Her 07/31/63
[18] 1.5 stars (36) 181 The First Sword 12/28/67
[19] 2.5 stars (32) 138 The Magic Lamp 01/23/64
[20] 5.0 stars (14) 074 Devotion 04/21/60
[21] 3.0 stars (20) 089 Bachelors Beware 11/17/60
[22] 2.5 stars (38) 199 Spring Time Affairs 11/28/68
[23] 2.5 stars (23) 096 Beauty Parade 03/30/61
[24] 5.0 stars (22) 094 The Greatest Civil War on Earth 02/14/61
[25] 3.0 stars (29) 122 The Greatest Wedding on Earth 10/11/62
[26] 2.5 stars (28) 117 Ladies First 08/02/62
[27] 3.5 stars (04) 030 The Splendour of Youth 12/11/57
[28] 2.5 stars (17) 084 Dreams Come True 08/27/60
[29] 2.5 stars (39) 215 Mad, Mad, Mad Swords 09/10/69
[30] 3.0 stars (31) 133 Father Takes a Bride 10/02/63
[31] 4.5 stars (37) 183 Darling Stay At Home 01/28/68
[32] 3.5 stars (02) 025 My Kingdom for a Husband
[33] 4.0 stars (10) 063 Cinderella and Her Little Angels 12/31/59
[34] 3.5 stars (35) 154 Fairy, Ghost, Vixen 05/27/65
[35] 4.5 stars (15) 077 Happily Ever After 06/16/60
[36] 3.0 stars (33) 139 A Story of Three Loves Pt. 1 02/12/64
[37] 4.0 stars (34) 140 A Story of Three Loves pt. 2 02/26/64
[38] 2.5 stars (24) 101 Education of Love 08/03/61
[39] 2.5 stars (16) 078 The Bedside Story 06/23/60
[40] 3.5 stars (12) 068 Sister Long Legs 02/06/1960 [2nd viewing]
THE CREAM OF THE CROP
[01] 4.0 stars (27) 111 It's Always Spring 02/21/62
[02] 5.0 stars (03) 028 Our Sister Hedy 11/14/57
[03] 5.0 stars (01) 017 Mambo Girl 03/06/57
[05] 5.0 stars (18) 087 The Wild, Wild Rose 10/04/60
[07] 5.0 stars (06) 049 Her Tender Heart 05/21/59
[10] 4.5 stars (13) 073 Forever Yours 04/07/60
[12] 4.0 stars (25) 107 Sun, Moon and Star (Part 1) 12/08/61
[14] 4.0 stars (09) 055 For Better, For Worse 08/20/59
[20] 5.0 stars (14) 074 Devotion 04/21/60
[24] 5.0 stars (22) 094 The Greatest Civil War on Earth 02/14/61
[31] 4.5 stars (37) 183 Darling Stay At Home 01/28/68
[33] 4.0 stars (10) 063 Cinderella and Her Little Angels 12/31/59
[35] 4.5 stars (15) 077 Happily Ever After 06/16/60
[37] 4.0 stars (34) 140 A Story of Three Loves pt. 2 02/26/64
oooo http://www.brns.com/pages/cathayrevs.html has reviews of twenty
Cathay films, and at http://www.coffeecoffeeandmorecoffee.com/ there
are reviews of Because of Her, Death Traps, Forever Yours, The June
Bride, Mambo Girl, and Spring Song. Ten Cathay reviews can be found at
http://web.archive.org/web/20080529180021/http://www.illuminatedlantern.com/cinema/review/archives/cathaympgi.php
o