Edison Chen is the gift that keeps on giving if you like crazy dramas. We got three more stories, including more information on what he said at his hearing, and some news of two of the affected girls, Cecilia Cheung and Gillian Chung:
The Hong Kong pop star at the centre of a sex photos scandal says some of those photos were taken by the women who had sex with him.
Edison Chen was in court today in Vancouver, testifying in a case in which computer technician Sze Ho-chun, 23, was accused of distributing the photos of Chen performing sex acts with well-known starlets.
While Chen admitted that most of the 328 photos submitted in court today were taken by him, he claimed 40 of them were taken by the women in the photos.
Chen was ordered by the judge to answer a question raised by the defendent’s lawyer to identify the four women in the string of sex photos. The four names are: Cecilia Pak-Chi Cheung, Gillian Yan-Tung Chung, Bo Bo Man-Wun Chan and Rachel Sze-Wing Ngan.
In the court today, Chen once refused to identify the women, saying they have suffered enough. But the judge insisted that he must answer the question.
The fact that the women took some of the photos is apparently a big deal for some reason, probably due to the fact many people still believe women can’t do anything sexual and are always the victims of evil men. Whatever. These girls knew what was going on and was cool with it. It should not be a career destroying event, and you would think a country with 1.4 billion people would be aware of sex. Still, things are better than if this happened in India!
Source: The title and content are directly translated from Oriental Daily
Translated by travelbug @ http://asianfanatics.net
Confirmed as one of the victims involved in a sex photos scandal, yesterday Cecilia Cheung accepted an interview for the first time since the incident. According to sources, after a year of silence, Cecilia made a declaration of love to her husband; when she talked about her family, her emotions stirred and she cried.
Since the sex photos scandal happened, Cecilia has never spoken in response to this incident. However, yesterday evening in a low profile manner, Cecilia went to Tsuen Wan for an exclusive interview with i-CABLE Entertainment News anchorman and good friend Au Wing Kyun, she stayed there for a long time before leaving quietly.
A year of self punishment
It was learned that during the interview Cecilia poured out her feelings, she even replied when asked sensitive topics. Besides talking about her career, family, father-in-law Tse Yin, mother-in-law Deborah Lai and husband Nicholas Tse, she also mentioned her love connection with Edison Chen. When Cecilia talked about her love relationships, she said someone was dishonest, unreliable, pretended to be a good person, caused the female artists a lot of distress, she also pointed out that someone lied, the content was shocking.
Referring to the sex photos incident, Cecilia said: “I accepted this mistake, I self imprisoned, this year I haven’t seen anyone.” About her family’s support, she wanted to thank her father and mother-in-law, and also gave special thanks to her husband Nicholas for his support, she said: “A good husband like him is impossible to find!” Immediately she couldn’t help crying.
It was understood that during the interview, Cecilia thanked Tse Yin and Deborah for their love and also praised them as ‘over 100 points’ good father and mother-in-law. In addition, Cecilia made a declaration of love to her husband, showing her deep feelings; about her career, she said if there is a good script, she will make a comeback to film. But if she becomes pregnant, then the baby is first priority. When she mentioned her family, Cecilia couldn’t suppress her emotions and started crying.
In fact, Cecilia was interviewed secretly and i-CABLE was very low-key because it was during the sensitive period of Edison’s court hearing. It was known that i-CABLE invited a team of lawyers to filter out the content before airing, also the company was very nervous about this interview and only a few people knew of it.
Nicholas casually said no comment
As for Cecilia’s husband Nicholas, yesterday he appeared relaxed in Chai Wan. Around 3pm, Nicholas and his assistant left his home and went by car to Chai Wan for work. When Nicholas got off his car, he was relaxed, when asked about Edison confirming Cecilia as one of the victims, he put his hand on the reporter’s shoulder and said smilingly: “(We’ll) talk about this later.” Then he went with his assistant to the photo studio. Nicholas stayed for an hour before leaving, when he left he put one hand in his pocket, in this cool pose he let the reporters take as many pictures as they wanted, then he waved goodbye to the media, he appeared friendly and not affected by the incident. Asked how Cecilia is feeling at the moment, Nicholas did not respond, then left in his manager Mani Fok’s car and headed for EEG in Wanchai.
About Edison hoping the victims can lead a normal life as soon as possible, yesterday when Eric Tsang attended an event, he said: “I can see he thinks for the good of the women involved, I will support him, if there is a suitable role I’ll ask him.”
Crienglish has more news of Gillian Chung pretty much committed to having a comeback:
Unaffected Gillian Chung Plans Comeback after Edison’s Hearing
Hong Kong singer-actress Gillian Chung insists on work resumption beginning this March, despite the daunting news that she was confirmed as one of the victims implicated in the Edison Chan’s sex-photo scandal.
When Gillian Chung finally pulled herself together for a promising comeback this March, the confirmation news would actually be so intimidating, however, the actress, courageous enough, decides to face the music and move on along the way.
The singer, reeling from the nude photo scandal since the beginning last year, largely remained out of the public attention since the scandal broke.
But don’t call it a comeback, she’s been here for years! Sorry, I love that joke.
More Edison here, here, here, here, here, and here
There is a lot of old Chinese cinema. Many films were made in the post-war period based on plays, operas, folk tales, and old novels. There was also a bunch of original content created. These old films have handpainted backgrounds, origins in operas and classical tales, and were produced quickly and cheaply. That doesn’t stop many of them from being interesting. I am fond of old-style effects, goofy plots, and stylized action as long as the film remains interesting. And in between all the older love/opera/drama type stories, there is a large pocket of wuxia/swordplay movies just waiting to be discovered. Although the audience for these films was large long ago, nowadays few people are even aware of them. Older Chinese people know of the films, but most of them don’t watch them regularly anymore, and even fewer have websites on the internet. So any specific film backgrounds I can find is few and far between (or in the case of this film, almost non-existent!) Heck, there is no IMDB entry for this film (no surprise there), and even the often reliable Hong Kong Movie Database has the wrong English name for the film.
Tribute is paid to these classic movies in the film Kung Fu vs. Acrobatic, which even co-stars Walter Tso Tat-Wah, one of the stars here and dozens of other classic films. How the Ape Girl Stole the Lotus Lamp is a lucky pick grabbed from a Chinatown movie store based solely on the pictures on the back of the VCD, which included some kids dressed up like monkeys. I am happy to report there are crazy monkey children in the film, but there are also lots of other cool retro effects. Even if I didn’t have my wife there to translate the film for me I would have been entertained (although slightly more confused.) The VCDs for these old films have no subtitles (why would they? I am one of the few non-native Cantonese speakers who would watch these) so the best to hope for is lots of fun stuff happening on the screen.
The VCD case makes the presence of Josephine Siao Fong-Fong well known, though at the time this movie was released (1962) she hadn’t taken off into super-stardom (where her major competitor would be the other, bigger 1960’s Cantonese sweetheart Connie Chan – seen here in Lady Black Cat) so Josephine has a supporting role in this film. Josephine Siao would later become a major leading lady, and participate in many of the Jane Bond films of the late 1960s and even do many films with her “rival” Connie Chan. She first appeared in 1954 and two years later won the Best Child Actor award for Orphan Girl. Like Connie Chan, she also had an impressive output in the 1960s, but in 1969 she slowed down her acting to focus on education and marriage (to actor Charlie Chin, which lasted three months – she later remarried and had children) She later appeared on TV as the bumbling plain Jane character Lam Ah Shun in 1977, followed by three films (one of them was Plain Jane to the Rescue, directed by a young John Woo). She is probably best known to fans from the 1990s for her parts as Fong Sai Yuk’s mother in the Fong Sai Yuk films. See the Jane Bond article for more of her films.
Sek Kin is another major Hong Kong actor making a supporting role here. Usually Sek Kin played villains and evil men in his movie roles. He was the ultimate Hong Kong villain character actor for decades. Oddly enough, although his character is a jerk in several scenes in How the Ape Girl Stole the Lotus Lamp, he isn’t the villain, and ends up doing some pretty noble things near the end. It was sort of weird seeing Sek Kin as a non-bad guy, I have only seen him in a few films but he was always over the top evil. Bruce Lee chose him as the villain in Enter the Dragon. At the time of this writing Sek Kin was still alive and kicking at age 95! He is also in Lady Black Cat where he plays a more common evil villain role.
Fitting with Chinese films, the cast is enormous, so here are the major players listed out (that way we can get shoutouts to all the more obscure Chinese actors and actresses that probably have next to nothing written about them in English.)
Mo Kwun-tin (Walter Tso Tat-wah) – Strong fighter and student of the White-haired Nun, Mo Kwun-tin defends people being harassed and wants to marry Wong Kam-fung. His heroic nature gets him into trouble. Walter Tso Tat-wah began as extra and then a director in the beginnings of the Hong Kong film industry. He soon starred in front of the camera, and by 1941 he had appeared in over 80 films, but then Japan invaded and the industry ground to a halt. After making a fortune on the black market, he returned to films in 1946 and was part of the Wong Fei Hong series of films. He had his own production company, but he was also a heavy gambler and lost a lot. He starred in wuxia ad detective films in the 1960s and eventually wound up on television after returning from retirement.
Wong Kam-fung (Yu So-chau) – Daughter of Wong Yut-pao and training with the White-haired Nun. Wants to marry Mo Kwun-tin, though her cousin Lam Kim-sing is conspiring to marry her instead. Is a knife expert. Yu So-chau (or Yu So-chow) is the daughter of Master Yu Jim Yuen who ran the China Drama Academy. She started her stage career at age 8 in 1938 and began her film career in 1948, eventually making over 240 films. She was the Queen of the wuxia films and no actress has come close to appearing in as many as her (over 170). After her marriage in 1966 she retired a few years later, her last appearance was a cameo in 1970. Since she supposedly lives in San Francisco now I may have run into her on the street without having any idea who she was! I’ll just pretend I did because it sounds more impressive. More information on some of Yu So-chau’s films can be found at our blog entry and this SoftFilm blog tag, and don’t forget this Electric Shadows piece.
Leung Yin-yuk (Chan Wai-yu) – Sister who is training away, saves her brother who runs the restaurant. Is attracted to Mo Kwun-tin, but he doesn’t share her affection. Teams with Lam Kim-sing to steal the Lotus Lamp, but is betrayed.
Leung Yin Bing (Josephine Siao Fong-Fong) – The second Leung sister, instead of training under the White-haired Nun she guards the magic plant for Taoist Priest White Ape. Is called White Ape Girl, but is primarily called Yin Bing by her family. Steals the Lotus Lamp after overhearing her sister’s plans, disobeys her sifu, and generally causes a lot of trouble while not being evil or anything. I gave Josephine Siao a biography earlier, you better have read it!
Cousin Lam Kim-sing (Lam Kau Hei-ho) –He is trying to marry Wong Kam-fung, so he is against Mo Kwun-tin. Steals the Lotus Lamp, a lamp so lotus-y all other lamps are jealous. Eventually dies and is White skull driven reincarnated. You read that right! Lam Kau has acted for 50 years, from 1950 until his last film appearance in 2000. He was in many of the Wong Fei-Hung films. Lam Kau started his own drama school in the 1960’s and later became Sir Lam Kau Hei-ho.
Wong Yut-pao (Sek Kin) – Protector of the lantern and a jerk, but turns into less of a jerk after the lamp is stolen and when his future son-in-law Mo Kwun-tin is sick. Sek Kin got a mini-biography up top so I ain’t repeating it here. Yes, laziness. Deal with it!
Leung brother (Sai Gwa-Pau) – He runs the hundreds of restaurants the Leung family is supposed to own, has buck teeth and a stutter. He is called Ah Goh because that means brother. Sai Gwa-Pau (Sai Kwa-Pau) made films from 1947 until 1995! Sai Gwa Pau was famous for the role of Ah So in the Wong Fei Hung films. Sai was born on October 7, 1918 in Guangdong, China, and died in Hong Kong on March 21, 2001. His nickname was “watermelon scoop!”
Mo Kwun-tin’s father (Cheung Sing-fei) – Father of Mo Kwun-tin, hence his name! I don’t know his character’s name, they didn’t bother to mention it in the film. One of the two guardians of the Lotus Lamp along with Wong Yut-pao.
Beast King (???) – A great ape. Actually, a captive of White-haired Nun and pitted in gladiatorial combat against her students! Where is the ASPCA? This poor gorilla. I don’t know who is in the suit. Maybe it was a real gorilla in the gorilla suit. Because that would be cool.
White-haired Nun (???) – The female sifu! She trains the original four in the ways of swordfighting, knife-throwing, and gorilla destroying. Because they will run into plenty of gorillas in ancient China. I am not sure who played her.
Taoist Priest White Ape (Cheung Sing-Fei ?) – Trains Leung Yin Bing, master of the ape kids, and collector of cool artifacts. He can fly, teleport, hire apes, command apes, command ninjas, and make invading parties go through a bunch of challenges. Being a sifu must be boring if he has to mess with so many people like that. I think he was played by Cheung Sing-Fei (Cheung Seng-Fei) but I am not certain.
aka Haak Ye Maau aka 女賊黑野貓 1966HKMDB Link Directed by Cheung Wai-Gwong
One genre from older Chinese films which is barely known today despite how awesome some of the films are is the Jane Bond genre, which are films with tough female leads who are either spies or thieves or super-heroines who beat the tar out of evil dudes. Women as central figures has a long history in Chinese opera/film, and some of the earliest surviving Chinese films have female fighters as leads. The popularity of James Bond translated to female leads wearing slinky outfits, disguises, and beating up lots of dudes. There was a whole ton of these films produced in the 1960’s, many starring Connie Chan Po-Chu and/or Josephine Siao Fong-Fong. Sadly, many are lost today.
The Jane Bond films were proceeded by films based on the Oriole, the Heroine (Wong Ang) stories, a series of books which were first shown on film in the 1950s. Even those came from the Nuxia (swordswoman) genre, which dates back to at least 1928’s The Burning of Red Lotus Temple, the first martial arts blockbuster and which spawned 18 films total in the series. Here is some more information. There is also an article I wrote on Jane Bond films here, which references several other good articles written on the subject. The most famous of the Jane Bond films is probably the Black Rose films (also starring Connie Chan Po-Chu), which produced a complicated string of pseudo sequels after the one official sequel, which eventually lead to the Protege de la Rose Noire film. Michele Yeoh’s Silver Hawk is also a modern update of the old source stories. The two classic Black Rose films are only available on old VHS tapes, thus we don’t have them.
We do have this old film that made it to DVD, thanks to Chinatown DVD shops and the cheap prices there-in. Lady Black Cat is a heist film starring a thief who is a girl dressed as a cat who steals from the evil rich guy and beats up his goons single-handedly. It has an unrelated sequel, Lady Black Cat Strikes Back, starring essentially the same cast with the same plot (except instead of a diamond being stolen it is a role of microtape.) Director Cheung Wai-Gwong is also credited as Jiang Weiguang depending on your translation methods, he directed the sequel and many many other films from the mid-1940’s until the 1970s. He was also a prolific writer for films during that period.
The internet is helping shed light on this forgotten classic films. Good links in addition to the ones above include Connie Chan – Movie Fan Princess, The Lucha Diaries, Teleport City, Electric Shadows, SoftFilm Blog, Illuminated Lantern, and probably many more unsung sites that I don’t have links to at the moment. There is not much written about this genre, it has much to discover and reviews are much needed. Do your duty and locate films today, write up reviews tomorrow, and sign up for the Mobile Infantry. Service guarantees citizenship!
There are no subtitles on the DVD, wife translated some of the names and some of the plot, so I have some of the character’s names (but not the main two) My Cantonese is sub-elementary school, but I am slowly but surely catching on to a bit. At TarsTarkas.NET, we don’t need no stinking subtitles, but will accept help from out lovely wife!
Lady Black Cat (Connie Chan Po-Chu) – Lady Black Cat robs from the rich and helps the poor, she’s like Robin Hood except a girl, dressed as a cat lady, and doesn’t lead a band of outlaws in fighting a corrupt government. Besides helping a nice family in this film I am not even sure she gives to the poor that much. But she does stand up to Tong Long, who is somehow considered a respectable businessman despite being a corrupt lecherous theif and killer.
Girl Friday (Connie Chan Po-Chu) – Connie Chan Po-Chu’s name is sometimes written as Chen Baozhu. She starred in a bajillion films and was one of the reigning Hong Kong cinema queens in the 1960s (the other was Josephine Siao Fong-Fong.)
Detective (Bowie Wu Fung) – Bumbling detective who is as sharp as a Jello basketball. Bowie Wu Fung was a constant onscreen partner of Connie Chan Po-Chu, they were in too many movies together for me to count, because I am lazy.
Tong Long (Sek Kin) – The movie’s bad guy. He is a rich evil guy, I don’t know how he got so much money, why everyone in the city seems unemployed except by him, and why no one seems to punish him for being evil except Lady Black Cat. Sek Kin’s name is sometime written as Shi Jian or Shih Kien. He also costarred with Connie Chan in dozens and dozens of films. He usually played the villain character, or people with evil intents. We will give a better biography of him in another review where there is more room in the introduction. As of this writing he was still alive at the age of 95.
Lisa (Yu Mei-Wa) – Mistress of Tong Long who does some of his evil doings, and seems oblivious to his hound dog ways. Or she doesn’t care. Or it excites her. Who knows? Manages to get kidnapped at some point.
Lam Suk-Ying and husband (Fong Sam and Do Ping) – Lam Suk-Ying is in trouble, she and her husband are awash with money troubles. Lam has a sick mom and her father, Ah Cheung, is framed for theft and later killed by Tong Long. And you think you had a bad day!
The best part of the internet is running across films you never knew existed and suddenly have to have. So in a change of pace, we’ll be naming a bunch of films, some of which I have, some of which I am in search of, and some of which no longer exist or are just interesting to look at their poster art. To start with, we are going to go over some Jane Bond films, which is a subgenre from Cantonese cinema which mixes spies with costumed women who kick lots of men’s butts. All of these films look very interesting. The Jane Bond films are a product of the times, when female roles dominated Chinese cinema. There was a period when it was thought that men couldn’t lead movies because most of the theater audience was women. As James Bond influences came in, the Jane Bond films became the Eurospy of Asia. They were also the precursors to the Girls with Guns films that ran rampant in the late 80s and early 90s. As there now seems to be a mini-resurgence across Asia for female action (Chocolate, High Kick Girl, Coweb) maybe Jane Bond will become a grandmother!
There are two main actresses you have to know if you want to watch Jane Bond films: Connie Chan Po-Chu and Josephine Siao Fong-Fong
Connie Chan Po-Chu is the daughter of two Cantonese Opera stars – Chan Fei Nung and Kung Fan Hung. She learned Cantonese Opera from her parents Peking Opera under master Fen Ju Hua and Cantonese Superstar Yam Kim Fai. This made her adept at both the Southern and Northern styles of martial arts and operas. She was one of the most popular actresses in the sixties with an impressive output, 32 films in 1967 alone. One of her nicknames was Movie Princess. She later retired from films in 1974. Go to the fan site Connie Chan Movie Fan Princess for more information than you can shake
Connie Chan’s main contemporary (the only other to approach her in star power) Josephine Siao Fong-Fong. She first appeared in 1954 and two years later won the Best Child Actor award for Orphan Girl. Like Connie Chan, she also had an impressive output in the 1960s, but in 1969 she slowed down her acting to focus on education and marriage (to actor Charlie Chin, which lasted three months – she later remarried and had children) She later appeared on TV as the bumbling plain Jane character Lam Ah Shun in 1977, followed by three films (one of them was Plain Jane to the Rescue, directed by a young John Woo). She is probably best known to fans from the 1990s for her parts as Fong Sai Yuk’s mother in the Fong Sai Yuk films.
The Story of Wong Ang the Heroine
Director : Yam Pang-nin
Scr: Cheng Kang
Cast: Yu So-chau, Wu Lai-chu, Yam Yin
1960 B&W D Beta Cantonese 84mins
The pulp fiction series Oriole, the Flying Heroine, which originated in Shanghai in the 1940s and remained popular in Hong Kong in the 1960s, was a major influence on the Jane Bond films, its titled heroine a precursor of the quick-witted, fast-fisted, and good-hearted Jane. The Story of Wong Ang the Heroine, adapted from the series before Hollywood’s James Bond tidal wave, provides interesting study on the impact of the 007 craze on Hong Kong popular culture.
Black Rose
Dir: Chor Yuen
Scr: Ho Pik-kin
Cast: Nam Hung, Connie Chan Po-chu, Patrick Tse Yin
1965 B&W Beta SP Cantonese 94min
Director Chor Yuen had always been eager and also skillful in incorporating Western influence in his work, and his introduction of James Bond elements into Black Rose likely kickstarted the Jane Bond genre. This was in turn thrown into the mix with the Cantonese cinema’s penchant for combining the relatively new Jade Girl phenomenon of Chinese cinema with the longtime tradition of xia dao, a Robin Hood-like figure who steals from the rich and gives to the poor. The film was a box-office success, spurning imitators that quickly materialized into a genre.
Reviewed on TarsTarkas.NET here
The classic of the genre, which had only one true sequel, Spy with My Face. There were many spinoffs involving the character that came along much later. A great retrospective of Black Rose and its sequels/spinoffs at The Illuminated Lantern
Spy with My Face
Dir: Chor Yuen
Scr: Poon Fan
Cast: Nam Hung, Patrick Tse Yin, Connie Chan Po-chu
1966 B&W + Colour D Beta Cantonese 102min
This sequel to Black Rose further sets the Jane Bond genre on its course. Director Chor Yuen, emboldened by the success of the original, takes the Bond influence up a notch. The arch villain is not just a crooked businessman, but the head of a powerful crime syndicate, lording over an army of thugs while headquartered in a secret hideout equipped with an endless array of high/low-tech devices. And Connie Chan Po-chu, with her embodiment of both the fairy Jade Girl and the fierce fighting woman, eclipses Nam Hung as the film’s true star, establishing herself as the Jane Bond prototype.
92 the Legendary la Rose Noire
Dir / Scr: Jeff Lau
Cast: Wong Wan-sze, Fung Bo-bo, Leung Ka-fai, Maggie Siu, Teresa Mo
1992 Colour 35mm Cantonese Chi&Eng Subtitles 95min
92 the Legendary la Rose Noire is not only a surprise hit when it was released in 1992 but also a phenomenon that defined its time. The film’s irreverent drama and director Jeff Lau’s genius in taking audience imagination through time and space captured the spirit of early 1990s Hong Kong and the then colony’s awkward awareness of its own history. And the way the film invests its dramatic capital on and draws mythical power from the character Black Rose is an illustration of how much the Jane Bond figure embodies the unique qualities that make Hong Kong what it was and what it is.
Three entries in the saga: 92 the Legendary la Rose Noire; Rose, Rose, I Love You; and Legendary La Rose Noire II (AKA Black Rose II) And the Twins movie Protege de la Rose Noire is another attempt to add on to the Black Rose mythos.
Overview in the Illuminated Lantern Entry listed above. I have recently gotten a copy of this for review, so hopefully it will show up here sometime this year.
The Dark Heroine Muk Lan-fa
Dir: Law Chi
Scr: Lau Ling-fung
Cast: Suet Nei, Kenneth Tsang Kong, Sek Kin
1966 B&W D.Beta Cantonese 105min
The Dark Heroine Muk Lan-fa is a popular series of pulp fiction in the 1960s. Written by the prolific martial arts author Ni Kuang, it is in many ways an update of the Shanghai originated Oriole, the Flying Heroine, more suited for the emerging metropolis that was Hong Kong. This cinematic update infuses Ni’s colourful plots with again Bond elements, from spy characters to secret hideouts to death-ray watches. The casting of Suet Nei instead of the obligatory Connie Chan Po-chu and Josephine Siao as the action woman in black tights represents a validation of the Jane Bond formula, which is proven to work here without the iconic superstars.
There are three films in the Dark Heroine series: The Dark Heroine Muk Lan-fa, The Dark Heroine Shattered the Black Dragon Gang, and Lady in Black Cracks the Gate of Hell. All three are available unsubtitled on VCD. A great overview can be found at the Lucha Diaries site.
The Golden Buddha
Dir: Lo Wei
Scr: Shi Wei
Cast: Jeanette Lin Tsui, Paul Chang Chung, Lo Wei
1966 Colour D Beta Mandarin Chi & Eng Subtitles 102min
The Golden Buddha is a prime example of Shaw Brothers’ action offensive in the mid-1960s, with generous production budgets that allowed for explosive action sequences and locations filming in Thailand to add a touch of international exoticism. Bond influence is evident in every turn, but the film’s unbridled machismo differs greatly from the women-centered sensibilities of Spy with My Face, which was released the same year on the Cantonese front.
A shaw brother entry and an answer to the James Bond films, complete with crazy villains, evil lairs, and gadgets. I got a copy of this one and hopefully will be able to go over it soon.
The Precious Mirror (aka The Maiden Thief)
Dir: Chor Yuen
Scr: Szeto On
Cast: Josephine Siao, Lui Kay, Leung Sing-po, Lee Hong-kum
1967 B&W D Beta Cantonese 94min
Jane Bonds almost always lead comfortable middle-class lifestyles, complete with all the Westernized trimmings. How do they pay for it? The answer is simple: by stealing. Because of Hong Kong cinema’s mandate to avoid politics, the Jane Bond film often takes on the flavour of jewel theft films, its moral ambiguity justified by the heroine’s Robin Hood-like exploits. The Precious Mirror is one of the genre’s better films, largely due to director Chor Yuen’s delicate touch in blending comedy with action and Josephine Siao’s wonderfully natural performance.
The Mysterious Sisters (aka Two Sisters Who Steal)
Dir: Ng Wui
Scr: Man Min
Cast: Suet Nei, Woo Fung, Fung Bo-bo, Sek Kin
1969 Colour 16mm Cantonese 97min
As the Jane Bond films evolved, the genre became less Bond-like, cutting down on the staging of fights and the flaunting of secret weapons. The heroine remained an action figure, complete with quick wits and agile prowess, but the stories increasingly took on the jewel theft plot. The Mysterious Sisters is especially noteworthy, in director Ng Wui rendering of the theft in the classic French film Rififi, with long stretches of action that unfold without dialogue.
Temptress of a Thousand Faces
Dir: Chung Chang-hwa
Scr: Sung Kim
Cast: Tina Chin Fei, Pat Ting Hung, Chen Liang
1969 Colour D Beta Mandarin Chi & Eng Subtitles 77min
The Mandarin cinema’s action offensive in the mid-1960s successfully captured the fancy of male audience and its spy flicks are more male-oriented than their Cantonese counterparts. The Jane Bond figure of Temptress of a Thousand Faces is a cop with all the requisite trimmings, yet she is regularly paraded in situations that highlight actress Tina Chin Fei’s sexuality, the most obvious of which is when she has to climb down the side of a 17-storey high-rise, wearing a revealing miniskirt.
Another film with a great review at Lucha Diaries. I have a copy as well that is on my ever-increasing pile of films to watch.
Other Films:
She Is Our Senior
1967
Director: Chan Lit-ban
Cast: Connie Chan, Kenneth Tsang Kong, Law Oi-seung
Another good review from Todd of the Lucha Diaries, this time at Connie Chan Fan Movie Princess site.
Lady Black Cat (1966) and Lady Black Cat Strikes Again (1967)
Despite being sequels, the films feature different characters even though the plot follows roughly the same progression and most of the actors are the same. Lady Black Cat steals from the rich and helps the poor, all while being a swinging 1960’s Chinese girl.
Hey, let’s link to our review of Lady Black Cat, because I am all about self-pimpage!
The Blonde Hair Monster (1962)
Director: Wong Fung
Cast: Connie Chan, Yu So-chow, Tso Tat-wah, Sek Kin
Great review with lots of pictures at Connie Chan: Movie-Fan Princess
The Lady Killer aka The Batgirl
Starring Josephine Siao
Pictures at the Soft Film blog here and here. Unfortunately, this film is believed lost.
Lady Bond aka Chivalrous Girl
1966
starring: Connie Chan
The Lady Bond series is the answer to James Bond. None of the films are available on DVD as of this writing.
There are three followups in this series
The Return of Lady Bond gives us this song:
The Flying Killer
Directed by Mok Hon-si
Starring Connie Chan Po-chu, Lydia Shum Din-ha and Sek Kin
Another entry in the Lady Bond series. Review
Lady in Distress: The Invincible Fighter (1967)
director Mok Hong-See
starring Connie Chan Po-Chu, Lui Kei, Tam Bing-Man, Sek Kin, Yue Ming
Another film in the Lady Bond series
All four films co-starred Cantonese cinema’s all-purpose leading man Wu Fung, Fanny Fan (who had just reignited her sex bomb image in Shaw Brothers’ The Golden Buddha), and Cathay hunk Roy Chiao Hung (who was branching out into Cantonese films).
So Ching in Gold Button (1966)
So Ching also starred in the non-Jane Bond films The Golden Bat (1966) and Return of the Golden Bat (1966)
These are not all of the Jane Bond films, just a nice overview. I don’t know if there is a comprehensive guide to them out there. But pieces are being put together here and there, and as more films show up on vcd or DVD a more complete picture of the surviving films can be shown.
aka Liao zhai yan tan 1987 Directed by Ngai Kai Lam
Written by Chang Kwan
Erotic Ghost Story is a classic Hong Kong Cat III film, it is the second most popular with only Sex and Zen being a greater influence to Cat III erotic films. Part of what made Sex and Zen so classic was previewed here, including one of the stars.
The film has its origins as a tale from Liaozhai Zhiyi aka Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio aka Strange Tales of Liaozhai, written by Pu Songling (1640-1715) during the early Qing Dynasty. This is a collection of 431 stories written in classical Chinese (not the usual form for the time.) The earliest existing printed version dates to 1766, but it may have been published earlier. Pu Songling was a former scholar himself, which may explain why a scholar becomes the central figure of some many of his tales. Stories from Liao zhai Zhiyi have inspired countless Chinese films and television shows. Painted Skin, Tsui Hark’s A Chinese Ghost Story, and several TV shows with fox spirits. You can read many of the translated tales here. Many stories are short, as what was important was the emotional response, not the details.
The three main characters are fox spirits who are trying to become human. This can be accomplished by meditation and prayer, but takes hundreds of years. If they deviate from their path, they will revert back into animals.
Erotic Ghost Story‘s Chinese title is Liao zhai yan tan, which betrays its origin as coming from the Liao Zhai stories. It is a highly eroticized version of the tales, and many other movies and shows reference the work by having Liao zhai or liu chai or liu jai in their Chinese titles. The Witches of Eastwick is largely listed as another inspiration of Erotic Ghost Story, and it got another lucky strike as A Chinese Ghost Story was released the same year. A Chinese Ghost Story had made ghost lover stories incredibly popular. Add that to the fact that Erotic Ghost Story is very well made despite its role as an exploitation film, and you have a recipe for success that made Erotic Ghost Story a classic film that has several sequels and imitators. Maybe we will get to a few of them someday.
Another important factor in the success of Erotic Ghost Story was the presence of Amy Yip Ji-Mei. Amy Yip (aka The Yipster) was at one point the most popular sex symbol in Hong Kong cinema, and pretty much any book you read on Hong Kong cinema written from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s will have at least one chapter dedicated to her. Some authors were disturbingly obsessed with her, but creepy movie books is a subject for another article. She was propelled to stardom with this film, and to super-stardom after Sex and Zen. Amy Yip’s claim to fame was her gigantic rack, and her ability to keep from showing the essential elements of said rack. This was called her “Yip tease”. She revealed things only once, in Sex and Zen, and this was rumored to be because one of the producers was a triad gangster who threatened her. Like most Chinese actresses, she retired and dropped off the face of the Earth after a few years. So let’s meet her and the rest of the cast:
Hua-Hua (Amy Yip Ji-Mei) – Her name is Hua-Hua in subtitles, but Fa-Fa is what is spoken in the Cantonese version. I will be using the subtitle names for everyone, which I believe is derived from the Mandarin names. Oh, well. Played by Amy Yip, Hua-Hua is the middle sister, and her color of choice is purple.
Pai So-So (Man Siu) – So-So is the average one. Okay, now we go the obvious joke out of the way, let’s then reveal that So-So is the oldest sister. She helps guide her two younger sisters in their quest to evolve from fox spirits to human beings. At age 50, foxes can choose to become human or spirits. I bet you didn’t know that. Well, Chinese mythology knows it, so you better buy the Cliff Notes! Her color of choice is pink.
Fei-Fei (Kudo Hitomi) – The youngest of the three sisters and the most easily given to temptation. Sister number three is also the most exposed of the three. Kudo Hitomi seemed to vanish after this role, but I suspect she was a Japanese AV star that I just can’t find any information on because everything focuses on newer actresses. Her color of choice is Lime Green.
Scholar Wu Ming (Tan Lap-Man) – A shy scholar who is also a ladies man and lothario. He gets chased by bandits at one point, and has a terrible, terrible secret….
Wutung (Tan Lap-Man) – This demon is the true form of Wu Ming. Let that be a less to you: All scholars are secretly demonic monsters. The next time you see a scholar beat him upside the head with his books. Wutung is the God of Carnal Desire. He has no clan as far as I know.
Hsuan Kuei (Lam Chung) – A taoist priest who recognize the girls for what they are, and helps them defeat wutung. Lam Chung usually plays sleazy characters in films, so this turn as a Taoist priest is a departure. He will fill the role of Lam Ching Ying for this film.
There is a blog called SoftFilm run by duriandave that posts artifacts from movie days gone by of Chinese cinema. The webmaster has a rather large collection of movie memorabilia and usually pictures and biographical information is posted about various actors and actresses from 50 years ago. The problem that causes the SoftFilm blog to drive me crazy is that every week or two, he will post images or information about some awesome-sounding Chinese film that probably no longer exists! Imagine finding out that there is a Chinese Female Robin Hood movie? Well, there was, but I will probably never get to see it! Gah! Here are some of the treasures that tempt you in their delightfulness, but then punish you with their wickedness of not existing:
So what’s up with this film?… Secret Agent 101 (also known as Magic Fire 101), a Shochiku production shot in Hong Kong with the help of MP&GI and released the same year as The Golden Buddha.
The poster for this one is listed in a lot of internet poster dealers, but the film itself is not. imdb
Oriole, the Heroine (also known as Miss Nightingale, the Flying Fencer), a Cantonese crime thriller starring Pearl Au Kar-wai as the titular heroine and Fanny as the trusty sidekick.
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The character of Oriole (or Wong Ang) the Flying Heroine first appeared as the protagonist of a popular series of pulp novels in 1940s Shanghai. Written by Siu Ping, an intelligence worker during the Sino-Japanese War, these stories depicted the social injustice and inequities of the era and gave the people a hero who fought on their behalf. In 1950s Hong Kong, the Wong Ang novels remained as popular as ever.
This was a precursor to these:
Previously, I had assumed that the first film adaptation of Wong Ang was How Oriole the Heroine Solved the Case of the Three Dead Bodies (1959), which featured reigning martial-arts queen Yu So Chow in the title role. Yu played the crime-fighting heroine seven more times in the next few years. Her final Oriole film was The Blonde Hair Monster (1962)
Double Pistol Heroine
Another Yu So Chow (or Yu So-Chau) film is Double Pistol Heroine, of which nothing is known at all. Gah!
The Steel-Arm Girl Knight-Errant
This one is a Thai film, but stars a Chinese actress. Since Thailand has an even worse record of preserving its films than Hong Kong, there is even less of a chance this is still around! =(
[Carrie] Ku Mei, the little “Skylark”, becomes very popular in Thailand as she leads the cast of the Siamese picture “The Steel-Arm Girl Knight-Errant”. She speaks now fluent Siamese and has adapted herself to the customs of the land. Her kiss scene in the picture boasts to be the longest, the hottest, the wildest and the most tempting kiss in the history of Siamese movies.
Hound Murder Case (1961)
Another one that exists, yet I don’t have it, thus must get it. We have classic film villain Sek Kin as some sort of were-animal thing.
Bat Girl!!!! Second link (alternate title: The Lady Killer (1967))
Why doesn’t this still exist? Why? Why? WHY???
Blue Falcon (1968)
A Josephine Siao starring that is also no longer among us. I weep for the loss of this awesome film.
Wu Lizhu starred in the Lady Robin Hood movie. She has nicknames Lady Robin Hood and the Oriental Female Fairbanks. Some biographical information is available via Electric Shadows, another blog that drives me bonkers! More info here.
Lady Robin Hood is well known enough to have made it into the Inaccurate movie database. In fact, a print of this might still exist, but who knows? I haven’t run across it yet. Here is a Movie summary:
Title: Lady Robin Hood
Pinyin: Nu Luo Bin Han
Synopsis:
A sick king instructs his loyal minister Luo Zhengqing to guide and install the crown prince as king after his death. However, the minister of the army, Situ Yangming, makes a grab for power after the King’s death and incarcerates the crown prince. Luo Zhengqing leaves the government, unhappy about Situ’s dictatorship and the heavy taxes levied on the people. Unknown to Luo, his daughter disguises herself as the male bandit Robin Hood, robbing government offices to help the poor. Meanwhile, Situ orders captain of the imperial guards, Zhang Zhonggeng, to kill the crown prince. Zhang is a loyalist and conspires with Lady Robin Hood to save the crown prince. When Situ discovers that the prince has escaped, he falsifies the late King’s will and has himself crowned as king. However, the female Robin Hood has stolen the original will, thus exposing Situ’s false claim to the throne. The female Robin Hood kills Situ and instals the crown prince as the ruler. Only now does Luo Zhengqing discover that the Lady Robin Hood is none other than his own daughter. (Based on viewing the film and the film synopsis.)
Credits:
Director: Yam Pang-nin.
Scriptwriter: Yam Pang-nin
Casts:
Wu Lai-chu (as Lady Robin Hood),
Wang Hao (as Situ Yangming),
Ren Yizhi (as Xiaolan),
Tso Tat-wah (as Zhang Zhonggeng),
Meng Na (as Mrs Situ),
Hu Siao-fung (as Zhang Xiao Er),
Cen Fan (aka Tsen Fan) (as Inspector Chen),
Chen Jian (as Zhao Da),
Jiang Rui (as Luo Zhengqing),
Gao Dian (as tax officer),
Che Xuan (as Brigadier Tang)
The hits keep on coming, so I applaud SoftFilm blog and DurianDave, and tell him to keep up the good work, and keep driving me crazy. Because a little bit of crazy never hurt anyone. The world needs to know about Chinese Batgirl films, lady super heroine flicks, and Jane Bond mania.
