Happy Birthday, Angela Mao!

[SamuraiDana]

Angela Mao turns 58 today, September 20, and I celebrated by watching THE TOURNAMENT (1974) for the first time, one of a handful of Angela films I hadn’t previously seen. It’s on a Fortune Star Legendary Collection VCD, part of the wave of Golden Harvest films coming out from Joy Sales that is allowing me to see previously unseen Angela films or ones I had only seen in poor bootleg copies. So THE TOURNAMENT comes after seeing, since January 2008, BROKEN OATH, WHEN TAEKWONDO STRIKES, ANGRY RIVER, LADY WHIRLWIND, HAPKIDO, and THE INVINCIBLE EIGHT. (I still have VCDs of THE HIMALAYAN, A QUEEN’S RANSOM, STONER and the unsubtitled THUNDERBOLT to watch.)

So how come no one ever told me how great THE TOURNAMENT is? Angela’s the main star and she takes charge, running the show the whole time. Unlike, say, LADY WHIRLWIND or WHEN TAEKWONDO STRIKES, it’s truly her movie. She fights a lot and it’s some of her most ferocious work. She fights Whang In Sik, Sammo Hung, Wilson Tong, a Thai kickboxer, and some big white guy named George V. Yirikian (who’s he?), among others. She fights in both Hong Kong and Bangkok. As an acting showcase for Angela, THE TOURNAMENT ranks with BROKEN OATH, which also gave her a role as a strong, charismatic, independent, no-nonsense woman.

The VCD is letter-boxed and subtitled, although the subs are not terribly sharp and sometimes seem to fade away. The print is not so great. If a DVD comes out, I’ll upgrade.

[WalkOn]

Happy Birthday Angela Mao! She's my favorite female film fighter! ;) My favorite Angela Mao movie is Two Great Cavaliers. Her sharpest display of bootwork was in that film. I still remember the TV ads from the early 70's of Deadly China Doll! Angela Mao Ying IS the Queen of Kung Fu!

[kingofkungfu2002]

Happy birthday Angela Mao :D

http://i35.tinypic.com/2ex7jm9.gif

[HAZ]

Angela is the best!! I'm going to put on Broken Oath in her honor tonight!

[shukocarl]

George V Yirikian was a Greek Shotokan Sensei....seen also in Bruce Li's Dynamo

[ironfistedmonk]

Happy Birthday Angie!! The Tournament rocks! Also check out 2 Lady Constables, her and Judy Lee are great in this

[lightning hopkins]

Judging from the Youtube footage of her recent appearance in Japan, she looks like she could still kick my ass even at this stage of the game. ;)

On a related note, and of interest to anyone who was eagerly anticipating the big Angela Mao tribute at the NY Asian Film Festival this past summer, I happened across this site (http://subwaycinemanews.com/archives/41), which went a long way toward explaining what went wrong, and raised a number of other issues too.

Kinda surprised to read that they couldn't find any decent affordable celluloid copies of her movies , despite the fact that the promoters loudly touted "newly discovered prints of two of her classic films" in all their initial press releases. Doesn't reflect well on the organizers at all.

The other interesting bit concerns the long-delayed Hapkido DVD from DD. If the aforementioned site is to be believed, sounds like the delay may well be endless -- "We first tried going through Dragon Dynasty, our main sponsorship partner, who own the U.S. home video rights to HAPKIDO. They were very interested in supporting the event, and interviewing Angela for their upcoming DVD, but didn’t have a usable master yet, or a 35mm film print." Huh? No usable master? Still compiling stuff for the DVD after missing the last two advertised release dates for it?? Swell.

Suffice it to say that I'm not overly impressed by the professional practices of both Dragon Dynasty and the New York Asian Film Festival at the moment.

[Chinatown Kid]

Happy Birthday Angela, I'll pop in one of my ole favorites, When Taekwondo Strikes in celebration today.

[The Dragon]

... to my all-time favorite MA film heroine. Such presence, such grace, such skill, and damn cute!;) She was the total package, and no female film star of that era did it better. Happy Birthday Mao Ying.

[Jesse Smooth]

Oh My #&@! I forgot. Happy belated Birthday Angie!:D

Sorry for the huge image, but this is last minute...

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavendar/westside/70/angela1.jpg

[teako170]

Thanks for that link!

I think this really sums up the vexation on trying to do anything regarding these old-school films...

"It’s frustrating that in a world where we can go online and watch a video of a cat dancing to Mexican music on Youtube, we can’t find a screenable print of LADY WHIRLWIND".



On a related note, and of interest to anyone who was eagerly anticipating the big Angela Mao tribute at the NY Asian Film Festival this past summer, I happened across this site (http://subwaycinemanews.com/archives/41), which went a long way toward explaining what went wrong, and raised a number of other issues too.

[Jingangchan]

Happy birthday Angela Mao :D

http://i35.tinypic.com/2ex7jm9.gif

Best wishes to Mao Ying!

While she was not my very favorite HK Femme fatale, she was pretty close. I've been debating for years the number one spot and it's changed hands a good number of times.

I think it's going to come down to my number one being either

A. Hui Ying Hung
B. Li Choi-Fung
C. Chia Ling
D. Yukari Oshima

My criteria involves, martial skill, power, looks, and career success.

Mao Ying arguably belongs on this list but, I think because her career spans at least 30 years Hui Ying Hung should probably get the top nod. Hui Ying Hung's fighting was not always the best but, it was never bad. I think Li Choi Fung's, Jia Ling's and Oshima's fighting are just as good-if not better than Angela Mao's and, they all seem to have more power-and no one is better at weapons than Jia Ling.

In terms of just looks Angela Mao is one of the elites but, I think Hui Ying Hung may have a slight edge...and Li Choi Fung is right up there too. If looks are the only criteria then the list would look something like this:

A. Hui Ying Hung
B. Cynthia Khan
C. Yang Pan Pan
D. Mao Ying
E. Hsu Feng



Angela Mao is one of everyone's favorites-including mine-but, I think she's like the Dan Marino of HK chicks. In an over-all listing Mao-Ying is probably somewhere in my top 5.

[SamuraiDana]

Best wishes to Mao Ying!

While she was not my very favorite HK Femme fatale, she was pretty close. I've been debating for years the number one spot and it's changed hands a good number of times.

I think it's going to come down to my number one being either

A. Hui Ying Hung
B. Li Choi-Fung


Okay, I'd never heard of Li Choi-Fung and wondered how there could be a prominent fighting female star in HK cinema who was new to me, but a quick check on IMDB reveals that "Li Choi-Fung" is, in fact, someone I have heard of, but only as Moon Lee. I daresay I can't be the only one on this board who was puzzled by that.

[Way of the Dragon]

Oh man! I wish i came on this forum earlier, oh well happy late birthday Angela Mao. I watched Hapkido the other day too, wow she is incredible in that film, she fights amazingly and moves like Bruce Lee.

[Jingangchan]

Okay, I'd never heard of Li Choi-Fung and wondered how there could be a prominent fighting female star in HK cinema who was new to me, but a quick check on IMDB reveals that "Li Choi-Fung" is, in fact, someone I have heard of, but only as Moon Lee. I daresay I can't be the only one on this board who was puzzled by that.

Many people prefer the westernized versions of HK actors'/actresses' names. Whether you prefer Li-Choi Fung or Moon Lee, she's one of the best HK chicks of all time.

[WuxiaFan]

The lovely Angela Mao turned 59 this past Sunday, Sept. 20, 2009. Still my absolute favorite martial arts actress of all time! I just got STONER, so I'm going to watch it tonight! Happy belated birthday, Angela!

[MarsHarmony]

Happy Belated birthday to the wonderful Mao Ying. What a super legacy of films, and I thank her for her work.

[AlbertV]

Happy Belated Birthday Angela Mao!!! Told my supervisor at work about Hap Ki Do and she wants to try to get her hands on a copy of the movie LOL

[KUNG FU BOB]

She was the first woman I ever saw doing any kind of serious fighting, and I must say, I was floored. It was in ENTER THE DRAGON, and though her role was small, boy did she make a big impression. I've been a fan of hers ever since. Happy Birthday Angela. I hope you are living a happy, healthy life. :bigsmile:

[WuxiaFan]

Happy Belated Birthday Angela Mao!!! Told my supervisor at work about Hap Ki Do and she wants to try to get her hands on a copy of the movie LOL

Al - HAPKIDO is my favorite Angela Mao movie! IMO, the HKL version the very best version out there. I have it and the transfer is near perfect, the English subs are very well written and easy to read, and the special features are excellent. It's OOP, but chaos.com (Australia) has it in stock new. It's R4 PAL, so hopefully your boss has a universal player! If not, this DVD would be the reason to get one! :smile:

http://chaos.com/product/hapkido_1668631_676772.html

[The Dragon]

Happy belated birthday, Angela!

Hapkido
Lady Whirlwind
When Tae Kwan Do Strikes
The Opium Trail
The Tournament
The Fate of Lee Khan
The Angry River...

... I could go on...

The love of my Kung Fu flick-life! :bigsmile:

[jrcma]

Happy Birthday

[lillippa328]

found this video on youtube of angela in december of 2007...a little less than 2 years ago...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO8iOyqfje4


still sexy!

[Jesse Smooth]

Happy 60th. I'll scan an article shortly. :yociexp59:

[Fang Shih-yu]

Amazing that Angela Mao is only 60! I saw recent footage of her somewhere (where, I forget:tongue:), and she looks like she can still kick butt!

It would've been nice to have out a selection of her Golden Harvest films in a remastered box set (also sold separately) to celebrate the milestone, but NOOOOO....

At any rate, happy birthday, Angela!:khi8j:

[The Dragon]

My wife and I would like to thank all the well-wishers...

... and to my baby, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

:nerd:

[WuxiaFan]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANGELA MAO!
:khi8j:

The love of my kung fu flick life!
:khi8g:

[jrcma]

Angela is the best!! I'm going to put on Broken Oath in her honor tonight!
I actually watched that for the first today in her honor.
Happy Birthday
Happy 60th Birthday Angela Mao Ying.

[LittleDragon]

Happy birthday Angela...still looks great today..bet she can still kick Sammo's Ass!!!!!!!!!

[HAZ]

Happy B-day Mao Ying!

[Morgoth Bauglir]

5z2mmx56KKs

[Topgun]

Hello gangs,

I just want to drop this off to see if any of you have seen this cliff showing Angela and Sammo in New York, June 2010.

She's 60 but still looking like she can still kick $butt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6vX8myJ6FY&feature=related

Share your thoughts.


Topgun:bigsmile: