Soft Film 軟性電影

Barbara Yung: Legend of Burlesque

2011-07-04T18:11:00.000-07:00

Belated congratulations to Barbara Yung on her recent induction into the Burlesque Hall of Fame. During the late 1940s, Barbara was one of the reigning queens of the Bay Area's Chinese nightclub scene. Last month in Las Vegas she graced the stage once again to accept the 2011 Legend of Burlesque Award.

I've been unable to discover much about her career, but evidently Barbara started dancing in San Francisco in the early 40s. By 1949 she was headlining the "Chinese Girls-a-Peekin'" Revue at Fong Wan's Club Oakland and the "China Darlings of 1950" Revue the following year at Fong's Club Shanghai across the bay. In 1952, she was back in Oakland at the legendary El Rey, where she starred in "Chinatown after Midnite". And according to IMDB, Barbara even made an appearance, along with Chinese Skyroom owner Andy Wong, in the Frank Sinatra film Pal Joey (1957). Unfortunately, when I watched the film on DVD, both of them were nowhere to be seen.

I did manage to find a couple of choice tidbits about Barbara in the Oakland Tribune's nightlife gossip column "Going Places" that at least give us a little taste of what her performances were like.

"Barbara looks very much like something you might see in Terry and the Pirates. Tall, shapely as a Varga girl, and dances beautifully to music like "Rhapsody in Blue" and other intricate symphonic arrangements." (June 11, 1949)

"Barbara Yung is one of the cleverest tall, willowy dancers in show business today. Quite rare to see a Chinese girl with her elevation. Her routines these eves at Fong Wan's Club Oakland are sophisticated yet quite artistic." (June 25, 1949)

It was also noted in "Going Places" that Barbara made her own costumes and was "something of an outstanding couturier when it comes to sequin needlework" (October 15, 1949). Go ahead and click on her glamor shot at the top of this post for a closer look at how amazing she was with a needle.

It's heartening to see Barbara honored in her lifetime as one of burlesque's trailblazers, alongside such luminaries as Josephine Baker, Sally Rand, Gypsy Rose Lee, and Tempest Storm. At the age of 92 Barbara Yung still bedazzles (that's her in the photo on the right with contemporary burlesquer Shanghai Pearl) and reminds us to forge our own paths with courage, passion, and style!

A great big thanks to Shanghai Pearl for the photos. The Club Oakland ad comes from the August 20, 1949 edition of the Oakland Tribune.

Diana Chang: Flaming Doll

2011-06-25T16:38:00.000-07:00

Movie flyer courtesy of HKMDB

Da jia hao! I just stumbled on the following compilation of scenes from Diana Chang's 1959 movie Flaming Doll (噴火女郎) — aka The Blazing Charmer aka She Sets My Heart on Fire — and I couldn't in good conscience keep it selfishly to myself. If you're only familiar with Diana from the Shaw films released by Celestial, then you are in for a real surprise. Just press play and see for yourself why she was called "The Most Beautiful Creature in Free China". Warning: Diana Chang is extremely hot and may cause spontaneous eyeball combustion.

P.S. There are lots more Chinese movie clips — some quite rare — at the hosting site.

Soft Film Transmigrates to Tumblr

2011-04-15T20:38:00.000-07:00

As I slooooowly wind down my blog, I still get the urge to post a piece of ephemera — a recent acquisition or an old favorite — but sans the clumsy words that always seem to take so long to wrestle from my indolent brain. Since by nature I'm more inclined towards images, starting a tumblr seems the best way for me to continue sharing what I love without the pain of writing about it.

I'm happy to announce the birth of Soft Tofu 豆腐花, the beautiful deaf mute child of Soft Film.

Behind the Scenes at a Chinese Motion Picture Studio

2011-04-12T22:47:00.000-07:00

From the Moving Image Research Collections at the University of South Carolina comes an extraordinary piece of Chinese movie history: rare newsreel outtakes shot in January 1934 showing the production of a film at what is believed to be the Tianyi studio. Founded in Shanghai in 1925 by four brothers named Shaw (you may have heard of them), the Tianyi Film Company (天一影片公司) was a pillar of Chinese moviemaking during the 1920s and 30s (just like the family's Shaw Brothers studio some 30 years later). You can read more about the studio at The Chinese Mirror, my top one-stop shop for information about early Chinese cinema. But let me just point out that, as far as I know, none of the approximately 120 films made by Tianyi between 1925 and 1939 have survived, which makes this newsreel footage very precious indeed.

I've not had any luck in positively identifying the film or its stars. But I'm going to hazard a guess — even though I always fall on my ass whenever I go out on a limb — that the leading lady seen in the footage might be Fan Xuepeng (范雪朋), 1920s wuxia queen and star of Red Heroine / 红侠 (1929), one of the earliest surviving Chinese martial-arts movies. She worked at Tianyi from 1934 to 1937 and made a half-dozen or so films for the studio. One of them, Spring Dreams in the Dance Hall / 舞宫春梦 (1934), seems likes a possible match for the production shown in these outtakes.

Needless to say, I'm seeking the help of anyone who might be able to shed some light on this mystery film. Okay, enough talking. Click HERE to watch the clip.

Soft Film Video Jukebox: Wonfu Jr.

2011-04-10T23:56:00.000-07:00

I totally missed the news last December about my favorite Taiwan band Wonfu's reincarnation as Wonfu Jr. (not to mention their appearance at SXSW last month). Inspired by their 2009 visit to the Rock ’n’ Roll Camp for Girls in Portland, Oregon, Wonfu decided to append a "Jr." to their name and make an album geared towards children — which I think is pretty cool. They sound as bright and fabulous as ever. And I'm very much looking forward to hearing their new album. Here's the title track, guaranteed to make you hit replay!

"Flying to You, Flying to Me"

Coming Soon: Pearl Chang Ling

2011-03-30T23:29:00.000-07:00

Wuxia Sweethearts 2

2011-03-27T10:23:00.000-07:00

Li Ching (courtesy of penangantiques)

Pearl Chang Ling (stay tuned!)

Anna May Wong: In Her Own Words

2011-03-13T23:44:00.000-07:00

Earlier today I saw Yunah Hong's new documentary Anna May Wong: In Her Own Words (2010) at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. I deliberately went in with modest expectations after my tepid response a few years ago to Elaine Mae Woo's documentary, Anna May Wong: Frosted Yellow Willows (2007). Woo's documentary struck me as being a little too reverent for such a groundbreaking individual as Anna May. Besides some rare footage, there wasn't much to recommend for those already familiar with her work.

Hong's documentary also features similarly rare footage: a young Anna May doing the Charleston; her 1936 trip to China, including a shot with Shanghai movie queen Hu Die; and scenes from the rarely screened Song (1928), her first European film. There are lots of great still photos as well. My favorite — and one I've never seen before — shows Anna May in boxing gloves, shorts, and a tank top with the initials HR, which must have been taken when she was working for the Hal Roach Studio in 1927.

The talking heads include actor James Hong, biographers Graham Hodges and Karen Leong, and cinematographer Jack Cardiff. Most surprising were Conrad Doerr (who rented an apartment from Anna May during the 1950s) and Susan Ahn Cuddy (who, along with her brother, actor Philip Ahn, grew up in the same Los Angeles neighborhood as Anna May).

But the heart of Hong's film — although most reviewers so far emphatically regard it as a glaring distraction — is the reenactment of Anna May by actress Doan Ly. She performs, in interview fashion, excerpts from Anna May's voluminous correspondence (evidently, much of it taken from letters to her dear friend, the noted photographer Carl Van Vechten), as well as songs from her European stage shows (the Chinese folk song "Jasmine Flower", "Parlez-moi d'amour", and Noel Coward's "Half-Caste Woman"). At first, Doan Ly's lack of resemblance to Anna May proved a stumbling block for me, but as soon as I let go of that unrealistic expectation, I began to appreciate her sensitive performance and Hong's use of this technique.

Anna May Wong is such an icon that it's often difficult to get a sense of her as a flesh-and-blood person. The performance of her letters and songs gives Hong's documentary an emotional depth that is quite touching. Incidents that I'd read about, such as Wong's absence from her mother's funeral because of her decision to keep working during the Broadway run of On the Spot (1930-31), are brought to life with great poignancy.

Yunah Hong's Anna May Wong: In Her Own Words paints a remarkably vivid portrait of one of the 20th century's most fascinating icons and is highly recommended to fans and strangers alike. It is screening one last time at the SFIAFF this coming Wednesday evening and will undoubtedly be making the festival rounds. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a not-too-distant DVD release (with lots of extras, please!).

Wuxia Sweethearts

2011-03-06T18:55:00.000-08:00

Polly Shang Kuan Ling Feng

Connie Chan Po Chu

Soft Film Valentine: Zhuang Xue Fang

2011-02-14T12:33:00.000-08:00

Ever since I first laid eyes on Singapore songstress and Hokkien movie queen Zhuang Xue Fang (aka Chong Sit Fong), I was instantly mesmerized by her pixie charm. My buddy Dev Yang has already written an excellent overview of her career on his much missed blog The Golden Age of Chinese Language Cinema, so let me instead simply offer you a small assortment of treats: a pair of photos that exemplify Miss Zhuang's irresistible allure; a rare clip from one of her films; and a trio of 7-inch EPs. Enjoy!

* * * * *

The following clip shows Zhuang Xue Fang singing her hit song "Making a Mark" (出人頭地) from the self-produced 1962 film Romance at Lung Shan Temple (龍山寺之戀). The film was shot in Taiwan and co-stars Tang Ching and Ling Yun, both of whom would later leave the Taiwan film industry to work for Shaw Brothers in Hong Kong. "Making a Mark" was adapted from the Indonesian song "Ayo Mama" with the lyrics changed to an inspirational (and typically Chinese) appeal to strive hard for success.

The film is available on DVD (sans English subtitles) at YesAsia.

* * * * *

Last but not least, here are three 4-song EPs that Zhuang Xue Fang recorded for Ruby Records in (I believe) 1967. You can download the complete collection here.

sample track:
小小寃家 / "Devil Woman" ((LISTEN))
Original by Marty Robbins (1962)

sample track:
昨夜夢見你 / "Send Someone to Love Me" ((LISTEN))
Original by Steve Lawrence (1962)

sample track:
二十里 / "20 Miles" ((LISTEN))
Original by Chubby Checker (1962)

Happy Chinese New Year!

2011-02-02T16:57:00.000-08:00

Shaw star Pat Ting Hung on the cover of The Young Companion (Feb. 1958)

Gong Xi Fa Cai! Best wishes for a happy, healthy, and prosperous Year of the Rabbit! I mentioned before that I had some unfinished blog business to wrap up before I finally call it quits. And so, later this month you can look forward to some vinyl delight from Singapore songstress Zhuang Xue Fang and a post about one of Anna May Wong's lost films. In the meantime, why don't you check out the latest episode of Lucky Cat's always entertaining radio podcast or the ear-opening new installment at Antique Shanghai Pop Music devoted to "The Gentleman Singers of Shanghai". See you again soon!

Give Me One More Piece of Cake

2011-01-05T21:41:00.000-08:00

Thanks again everybody for the huge outpouring of love and support! It's enough to make me feel all soft and chewy on the inside. Well, as fate would have it, my retro-buddy Dev Yang just posted a truly rare — and tasty — piece of Chinese movie history on his YouTube channel. It inspired me to come back on stage for an encore post. (And remember, good things come to those who click!)

The following clip is from On With the Show (万紫千红, also known as Myriad of Colors), a Chinese film made in Shanghai in 1943 during the period of total Japanese occupation. I talk a lot about lost films on this blog, but it is no exaggeration to say that On With the Show comes from the darkest of Chinese cinema's "lost continents". Those film workers who chose to remain and continue making movies in Shanghai during the occupation era (1941-45) were accused of treason by both the Communists and the Nationalists. Such was the shame and fear of retribution that many of them would never admit — even many years later — of ever taking part. I don't have the time right now to elaborate further, but for those who are interested, let me recommend Poshek Fu's Between Shanghai and Hong Kong: The Politics of Chinese Cinemas, a meticulously researched study that rescues this fascinating period from historical amnesia.

And now, On With the Show. This Hollywood-style musical was directed by Fang Peilin, who rose to fame with the box-office hit Girl in Disguise (1936), a cross-dressing gender-bender that spawned three sequels and can rightly be considered the spiritual ancestor of Hong Kong's He's a Woman, She's a Man (1994). And the leading lady of On With the Show is none other than the magnificent Li Lihua — only 19 years old at the time but already one of Shanghai's top stars.

As an extra treat, I've also transcribed a contemporaneous — and deliciously wry — review of the film written in English by renowned Chinese writer Eileen Chang for The XXth Century, a monthly journal published by the cosmopolitan Klaus Mehnert (and financed by the German Foreign Office) from 1941 to 1945.

Without further ado, here is Li Lihua performing "The Cake Song" with the Takarazuka dancers...

ON THE SCREEN

On With the Show. In the leading parts: Li Li-hwa, Yen Djuen, and Wang Tan-feng.

Much of the box-office appeal of On With the Show depends on its promises of sophisticated sensuality; yet the film is curiously naïve. Li Li-hwa (her photograph appeared in Vol. IV, p. 141, of this magazine) takes the part of a beautiful and oratorical waitress in a restaurant picturesquely old-fashioned in the European style. Making her first appearance on a cart loaded with hay and farm produce, Li Li-hwa sings and recklessly throws apples to street children. With her songs, her charms, and the aid of the Takarazuka dancers, she finally raises enough funds to found an orphanage.

Justifying the entertainment by the worthy cause of charity is one of those usual attempts to assuage the demand for an immediate purpose in art. However, On With the Show fails to please everybody all round. Mosquito papers, by far the most favored reading matter among certain urban sets, have contributors who suspect that they do not like On With the Show because of its moralizing. They cannot help complaining that Li Li-hwa shows her famous legs only once, and then half buried in furs.

In Chinese eyes, the Takarazuka dances are expressive only of the splendor of youth, health and intelligent discipline. To the average Chinese, the fascination of ballet lies chiefly in its difficulty. They also find the traditional Japanese dances hard to understand on the screen without the help of the symphonic colors of costumes and background. But on the other hand the audience laughs heartily at the practical jokes the hero and heroine play on each other — Li Li-hwa fries some bad eggs for her admirer and he sends her an empty cup of ice cream. Also well received are the Chinese Laurel and Hardy who mess about in the restaurant kitchen. On With the Show is a success with the public in spite of its banal situations, its structural weakness, and its apparent clashing of adult and infantile interests. The last-mentioned shortcoming may be disregarded, because modern Chinese of all ages are like children in their fondness for birthday cakes, with or without dancers swirling around one as in the charity performance in On With the Show. The whole picture is modeled on the Hollywood series of Gold Diggers and The Big Broadcast and is meant to "feed the eyes with ice cream and seat the heart in a sofa" [NOTE] — to quote the phrase a Chinese critic once applied to these American extravaganzas.

— Eileen Chang, from The XXth Century, Vol. V, No. 4 (October 1943). Original scan available here.

The Eileen Chang review is courtesy of the Hamilton Library, University of Hawaii at Manoa, which has generously scanned and made available on their website PDFs of the entire run of The XXth Century. Fans of Eileen Chang will want to root around the site for her other English-language essays and film reviews. A great big thanks to the Hamilton Library! Open access = cultural preservation.

That's All Folks — Zai Jian!

2011-01-02T13:53:00.000-08:00

From the 1968 Cathay film Song of Our Family (extant but not available on DVD)

It's not without teary eyes that I announce the end of this blog. The past two and a half years have been full of discovery and gratification. But it's time for me to move on to other domains.

I'd like to give a big thanks to all of my friends and readers. Your comments and messages definitely kept me going during my moments of fatigue.

I have several unfinished posts that I'm determined to complete before I totally exit the Web, so keep an eye out for them sometime in the coming months of 2011.

Best wishes to all of you for a fruitful new year — whatever that might be!

Now let me bid adieu with a lilting island tune by Chang Loo from the 1956 film Who Isn't Romantic, directed by the late Wong Tin Lam and starring Soft Film favorita Chung Ching and veteran actor Kenneth Tsang in one of his first roles.

"Hu-La-La-Yi" ((LISTEN))

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-21T19:52:00.000-08:00

My buddy Oldflames and I would like to send our warmest wishes to you and your loved ones this holiday season. Joy and peace to one and all!

If you're craving some jingle bell rock, then how about a yuletide prance with the enchanting Diana Chang.

from Oldflames

But if the holiday hustle and bustle is causing your tender nerves to fray, why not spend a silent night with gentle Grace Ting.

from Duriandave

Hong Kong Fashionistas: The Singers

2010-12-19T20:59:00.000-08:00

I couldn't resist these two stylish young ladies, whose photos are currently going for auction on eBay right now.

The first is Lee Bo Ying (李寶瑩), a Cantonese opera singer who made some 40 films between 1954 and 1965. She was dubbed "Little Fong Yim Fun" (小芳艷芬) after renowned "Queen of Cantonese Opera" Fong Yim Fun. This YouTube clip shows Lee singing "Sorrows of the Autumn Boudoir" from her film debut, It's Fun Getting Together (1954).

And this is Fong Tsin Ying (方靜音), who also had a diminutive nickname: "Little Chang Loo" (小張露). Like Chang Loo, Fong was known for her vivacious singing and stage presence. Sadly, her life was cut short in 1959 by a deadly traffic accident. Check out her fabulous version of Georgia Gibb's 1955 hit "Kiss Me Another".

Missing Shaw Films Found in Creative's ZiiEagle Movie Box

2010-12-15T21:27:00.000-08:00

FOUND: Poison Rose with Julie Yeh Feng

Earlier this year I was bemoaning the fact that there were many titles from Celestial Picture's acquisition of the Shaw Brothers film library that still remained unavailable on DVD. Well, imagine my excitement when I discovered today (via the ever reliable Roast Pork Sliced from a Rusty Cleaver) that all 15 of the missing films I had mentioned — and many more — are now available in HD format, preloaded on a digital player.

Singapore multimedia company Creative has released the ZiiEagle Movie Box (天鹰宝盒), which contains a "complete" (I'll explain the quotation marks later) collection of 668 Shaw Brothers films, among which are a good many that never made it to DVD. I haven't yet done a complete count of the previously unreleased titles (although it's definitely not "around 200" as cited in this article). What I can tell you is that there are a good two dozen that I'd love to see, such as Poison Rose (1966), pictured above. Conspicuously absent from the collection, however, is Operation Lipstick (1967) and The Brain-Stealers (1968), two spy thrillers by Inoue Umetsugu starring, respectively, Cheng Pei-pei and Lily Ho. (Is that because there are plans to release those titles on DVD?)

The ZiiEagle is priced at S$1,070 (US$813) but is currently selling on promotion for S$888 (US$675). I'm not going to lie — that's a lot of dough. But considering how much I've spent on Shaw DVDs over the past eight years, I'd exchange in a flash all of my DVDs for this handsome little box. It's a moot point for me, however, since the ZiiEagle cannot be ordered outside of Singapore. Nonetheless, I'm quite excited about the arrival of this product, because it gives me hope that I may yet see these "no longer missing" (in Singapore, at least) Shaw films.

Of course, there still remain the truly missing titles: Shaw's black-and-white films (melodramas and comedies mostly) from the late 50s and early 60s and the entirety of the studio's Cantonese productions. Speaking of which, next month the Hong Kong Film Archive will be hosting a rare screening of Sweet Girl in Terror (1958), starring the "Jewel of Shaw", Patricia Lam Fung. This seminal movie is just one of the many treasures you won't find in the ZiiEagle Movie Box.

Still, if Santa could smuggle a ZiiEagle out of Singapore for me, it would make this Shaw fan *very* happy.

Anna May Wong: La Malinche

2010-12-14T20:52:00.000-08:00

Currently up for auction on eBay is this fabulous portrait by Armando Drechsler of Anna May Wong as the controversial "Mother of Modern Mexico", La Malinche. It's not as odd as first seems. During her early career, Anna May played a variety of "exotic" ethnicities besides her own: for example, the Arab girl Zira in The 40th Door (1924) and the Inuit girl Keok in The Alaskan (1924). Such ethnic transformations were commonplace in Hollywood at the time, not to mention the institutionalized practice of yellowface.

Drechsler's choice of Anna May Wong as his model for La Malinche is especially provocative because many of the charges leveled against La Malinche — even still today — were also leveled against Anna May: harlot, race traitor, miscegenist.

But it seems plausible to me that Drechsler, who was originally from Germany and likely familiar with Anna May's European sojourns, instead regarded both women as boundary-crossing pioneers.

Whatever the inspiration, with this painting he created a stunning testament to Anna May Wong's global appeal and world-class beauty.

* For more examples of Armando Drechsler's work, see Mexican Calendar Girls by Angela Villalba.

Let's Go Lin Dai! Spring Is in the Air (1954)

2010-12-10T22:55:00.000-08:00

There is one song inextricably associated with Lin Dai — played so often that you either weep with sympathy or grimace in pain — and that song is Carrie Ku Mei's evergreen hit "Love without End" from the 1961 movie of the same name. Carrie wasn't the only singer who provided the vocals for Lin Dai in her films. Tsin Ting famously sang for Linda in the huang mei opera films Diau Charn (1958) and The Kingdom and the Beauty (1959).

It may come as a surprise then, as it did to me a few years ago, that Lin Dai was herself a singer of great note, if not great skill, and was a popular Pathé recording artist during the 1950s. However, as my buddy Dev Yang has written on his blog The Golden Age of Chinese Language Cinema, although Linda's singing lacks skill and sophistication, there is a genuine sincerity that is quite endearing.

Linda did not sing the songs in her debut film, Singing under the Moon (1953), however, in an odd turn of events, she ended up recording them for Pathé. The albums were a big hit. In fact, Linda's version of the song "The Hot Blazing Sun" broke record sales set by renowned professional singers such as Yao Lee and Chang Loo.

Keen to continue Linda's success as a songstress, her mentor and lover Yan Jun made sure to include songs in the subsequent films they made together. Her second movie Humiliation for Sale (released in Singapore in 1954 but not in Hong Kong until 1958) included three songs. And her third, Spring Is in the Air (1954), incorporated the plot device of students preparing for a musical. It was a device that would be recycled in her later films, such as Merry-Go-Round (1956), a color extravaganza shot in Japan that includes a whopping ten songs and fantasy musical sequences with the all-girl Shochiku Revue.

While Spring Is in the Air is apparently unavailable (not even on YouTube), we can at least still hum along with the songs from the film, such as this delightful number, "Lovely Springtime". ((LISTEN))

The innocent Lin Dai we hear in this song would eventually lose her voice during her intensive commodification at Shaw Brothers — as they strove to create the ultimate and perfect movie queen.

Call me unsophisticated, but I'll take the thin-voiced Lin Dai of Spring Is in the Air over the ventriloquized Lin Dai of Love without End any day of the week!

* A very special thanks to Gilbert Jong for providing the above image from the movie booklet for Spring Is in the Air. Check out his fabulous collection of Lin Dai photos at his Flickr stream Enjoy Yourself Tonight.

References

The Age of Shanghainese Pops (2001) by Wong Kee Chee
"The Legend and the Beauty: Exhibition on Lin Dai" by Tong Kim-hung, Hong Kong Film Archive Newsletter, Issue 50 (November 2009)

Let's Go Lin Dai! The Queen and Her Mambo Girl

2010-12-08T20:47:00.000-08:00

Here's a cheeky photo of Linda and Grace Chang courtesy of Oldflames (who happens to be a big Lin Dai fan). Linda looks like she's playing big sister, but in fact she was one and a half years younger than Grace. Cheeky, indeed!

Don't forget that Lin Dai week continues at Glenn's blog A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed with his reviews of Love Without End (1961) and Madam White Snake (1962).

Let's Go Lin Dai! Singing under the Moon (1953)

2010-12-08T00:00:00.000-08:00

Four months after her suicide on July 17, 1964, Shaw Brothers released Beyond the Great Wall, Lin Dai's final collaboration with director Li Han-hsiang. Production on the film had actually begun as early as 1960 (see the February issue of Southern Screen) and by the end of the year an advertising poster had even appeared on the back of Southern Screen (November), but because of interruptions from other Shaw productions, Beyond the Great Wall took a long time to complete and wasn't publicly shown until November 1964. By that time, Linda was dead and Li had already left Shaw to establish his own film company in Taiwan. It was eleven years earlier that the both of them had made their respective debuts as actress and director with Singing under the Moon (1953).

In 1951 Linda — just 16 years old — was discovered and offered a contract by Yuen Yang-an, co-founder of the progressive film company Great Wall. Unfortunately, she soon found herself in the midst of the political divide afflicting Hong Kong's movie industry. When it became known that Linda's father had been a big player in the recently defeated Nationalist government, she was blacklisted by Great Wall's communist faction. Although she was already estranged from her father (Linda's parents had divorced when she was a child), she was compelled to write a confession denouncing him. Even so, the studio's directors were still afraid to offer her a role in their films. When Linda subsequently refused to renew her contract, the hardliners threatened her with a large debt, citing the money already spent on her wardrobe and publicity photographs. She protested by taking an overdose of sleeping pills. Linda was discovered in time, and ironically her attempted suicide might have helped catapult her to stardom. Her name was splashed all over the papers and magazines, alerting the public and the government to the revolutionary activism breeding in Hong Kong's film studios.

As a result of this incident, nearly a dozen leftist film workers were expelled from the colony in January 1952 and Linda was released from her obligation to the studio, as was fellow Great Wall star Yan Jun, who had recently begun an affair with her.

Yan Jun was determined to make Linda a star, and when he joined the Yung Hwa film company later that year he insisted on bringing her with him. Their first collaboration — and Linda's screen debut — was Singing under the Moon (1953), an adaptation of Shen Congwen's novel Border Town, a tragic coming-of-age story about an orphaned teenage girl and her elderly grandfather. Linda stars as the main character Cui Cui and Yan Jun plays dual roles as the grandfather and the younger of two brothers who both fall in love with her.

Although Yan Jun was ostensibly the director of the film, the novice screenwriter Li Han-hsiang, who had been hired as deputy director, ended up directing the film because Yan was so busy in front of the camera. In this way, Singing under the Moon also became Li's debut. The film proved to be a huge success and launched the career of one of Hong Kong's greatest actresses as well as one of its greatest directors.

Although Singing under the Moon is cited as no longer available by the Hong Kong Film Archive in the notes for their 2009 retrospective (The Legend & The Beauty — The Films of Lin Dai), clips from the film have miraculously shown up on YouTube, affording us a rare glimpse of the humble beginnings of Hong Kong's movie queen. Linda's performance in the scene below shows that her popularity was due not only to her natural charm but also to Chinese audiences' perennial love for the sassy girl-next-door type. Hopefully we will one day be able to see the entire film in a manner befitting its landmark status.

References

An Age of Idealism: Great Wall & Feng Huang Days (2001) by Hong Kong Film Archive
The Age of Shanghainese Pops (2001) by Wong Kee Chee
Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: The Twentieth Century (2003) by Lily Xiao Hong Lee
Li Han-hsiang, Storyteller (2007) by Hong Kong Film Archive

Let's Go Lin Dai! Fisherman's Daughter on a Motorbike

2010-12-06T12:13:00.000-08:00

Here's un petit apéritif before I publish my post about Lin Dai's first film, Singing under the Moon (1953). I found this unique magazine cover while searching through my eBay archive for Lin Dai materials. This issue appeared on newsstands shortly before Linda made her silver screen debut. Very cool, don't you think? Not quite what you'd expect, especially during the beginning of her career, a period of which she is usually remembered as a pig-tailed village lass not a short-haired urban tomboy. It just goes to show that the legend of Lin Dai that's been passed down to us is an incomplete picture, even more so when we consider that the first half of her movie output is currently unavailable on home video. It's my hope that this week's exploration of Lin Dai's early films will broaden the perception of modern fans about Hong Kong's beloved movie queen.

Meanwhile, Glenn over at A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed has just posted his review of Beyond the Great Wall (1964).

Let's Go Lin Dai!

2010-12-05T14:28:00.000-08:00

Lin Dai and Soo Fung showing off for International Screen (October 1956)

I can't think of a more perfect picture to announce that starting tomorrow my blog buddy Glenn (A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed) and I will be celebrating the films of Hong Kong movie queen Lin Dai.

Glenn will review Beyond the Great Wall (1960/64), Love without End (1961), Madam White Snake (1962), The Love Parade (1963), and The Last Woman of Shang (1964) — all thankfully available on DVD. As for me, I'll be blogging about some of her early films that are either lost or languishing in home video limbo.

To bring you up to speed, check out Glenn's previous Lin Dai reviews: Diau Charn (1958), which garnered Linda her second Best Actress award at the 5th Asian Film Festival; Les Belles (1961), for which she received — not without some controversy — her third Best Actress award; and The Lotus Lamp (1965), posthumously completed with a stand-in and released a year after her suicide.

Whether you adore her or consider her overrated, Lin Dai is unquestionably a great actress and one of the top icons of Chinese cinema.

Soft Film Holiday Gift Guide

2010-12-01T23:58:00.000-08:00

Well, it's that time of the year again. Let me take a moment to offer a few special gift suggestions that can't be found at your local Walmart — or even Amazon for that matter.

This new DVD box set from Arthur Dong is a must-have for those of you interested in the rich history of Chinese American performers. The set includes a special 2-disc edition of his most recent documentary, Hollywood Chinese (2007), which won Best Documentary at the Golden Horse Awards. It also includes A Toisan Trilogy, comprising three of his early short films. Last and definitely not least is the hard-to-find Forbidden City U.S.A. (1989), an entertaining and groundbreaking work of scholarship that is a major inspiration for this blog. At $98.95, the set is not cheap, but believe me — it's worth every penny. Perhaps the most compelling reason to buy this collection is to get your hands on one of the few remaining copies of Forbidden City, which will soon be out of print and unlikely reissued because of expiring music rights. This is the last chance for individuals to acquire the DVD (which is now only available as a single disc to institutional buyers). You — or the ones who love you — can order the set here. Free holiday shipping is available until December 13th. Don't miss this window of opportunity. Regrets are no fun.

Vous ne parlez pas français? That's no excuse not to buy this book. Only 22 euros (18 if you pre-order before December 13th), the 148-page Les actrices chinoises is bursting at the binding with gorgeous portraits of Chinese film stars, from Ruan Lingyu to Gong Li. It includes rare photographs from the films of Wong Kar-wai and the personal collection of Paul Fonoroff, as well as a few choice pieces from yours truly. Click here for detailed information in English about Les actrices chinoises and how to order it. To see a slideshow of some of the images from the book, check out the original page. I can't wait for my copy!

There's nothing cooler than a cool t-shirt. Best of all is a cool Hong Kong movie t-shirt, which is exactly what you'll find at Shelf Life Clothing. Their truly unique designs are guaranteed to please even the most jaded of HK cinephiles (may I recommend the Category III shirt).

As for me, I'm partial to the Girls with Guns shirt, featuring "classic beauty" Betty Loh Tih toting a semi-automatic and the Mauser-armed heroine from The Red Detachment of Women.

Coming soon and available for pre-order is the hilarious Gambling Vampire shirt. A mash-up of God of Gamblers and Mr. Vampire, this design epitomizes what some of us love most about Hong Kong cinema. Is it too much to hope that Wong Jing will see this shirt and steal the concept for his next movie?!

Noel Toy: Our Lady of Feathers

2010-11-29T00:44:00.000-08:00

Fandancer Toy was christened Noel because she was born on Christmas Day 21 years ago. Competitors Sally Rand and Faith Bacon are frequent visitors at Leon and Eddie's, follow Noel's graceful movements with appraising eyes.

Here's another fab spread showcasing Noel Toy and her terpsichorean art that appeared in the cheesecake tabloid CO-EDS (May 1942). The photos are accompanied by their original captions.

U. OF C.'S NOEL TOY
NOBODY'S PLAYTHING
CHINA GIRL CAN DISH IT OUT

Broadway's most publicized Chinese (American-born) glamor girl is appropriately named California Co-ed Noel Toy. Tinytot Toy (five feet tall) was a sophomore language major at University of California when she received her first assignment in the chorus of a San Francisco World's Fair midway attraction. There she was discovered, signed up at Fair's close by Frisco's famed Forbidden City hotspot.

Less than a year later, with but five month's experience as a fandancer behind her, she arrived in New York, became Leon and Eddie's headliner.

A growing reputation for biting repartee and devastating treatment of Fifty-second Street wolves earned introduction to Dramaticritic George Jean Nathan, upon whose elegant arm she often attends First Nights. Lee Mortimer, too, finds her a dynamic supper companion, and, it is rumored, she once received a proposal of marriage from Tommy Manville, who explained wistfully that he "had never been married to a Chinese girl."

It must be noted that Noel detests chop suey, is highly allergic to rice.

Start of fandancer Toy's table routine resembles Tahitian grass hut.

She slowly straightens up, pokes head out.

Above, fans cover all but head and feet.

Her fans flash into action with Sally Rand–like skill.

West Coast's Forbidden City nightclub gave Noel start. Now, after 5-month apprenticeship, she ranks with best.

Having made her bow, she continues routine on floor. Noel attended University of California. A language major, she did right well by French, Spanish, German and Latin, flunked Chinese, paradoxically. She speaks English perfectly.

Noel has keen, thoroughly American, sense of humor. Her Christmas card contained tiny V-shaped G-string.

Finally, for a taste of Noel's sharp wit and hearty laugh check out this 2001 interview, taped when she was a spry 80-something-year-old!

Anna May Wong: Style Goddess

2010-11-27T23:51:00.000-08:00

The always fashionable Anna May Wong on the cover of Spanish movie magazine Cinegramas (March 1935). Find the real deal here.

Shanghai Fashionistas: The Thirties

2010-11-21T19:02:00.000-08:00

I just discovered these fabulous vintage Shanghai fashion illustrations on eBay, my favorite hunting ground for ephemeral treasures. They're allegedly from a 1930 magazine. To see the illustrations on the backside of these prints or to buy them for yourself, click here and here.

And while we're on the subject of Chinese fashion, let me recommend two items I recently enjoyed: Antonia Finnane's book Changing Clothes in China: Fashion, History, Nation (2008); and Mao's New Suit (1997), Sally Ingleton's documentary about pioneering designers Sun Jian and Guo Pei.

Going Places with HK In The 60s

2010-11-17T21:14:00.000-08:00

Soft Film fave Hong Kong In The 60s are generously serving their new EP Places — an intoxicating cocktail to whet the appetite for their upcoming debut album — on the house. That's right. You heard me. It's totally free. Download it here for a limited time only.

Inspired by such diversities as vintage sci-fi surrealist LP and paperback covers and old cassettes of 70s Taiwan pop, Hong Kong In The 60s create amazing sonic landscapes that unfold from the same well of wonder as animated films like Forbidden Planet (1973) and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984). Check out "Garma", which in less than 3 minutes takes you from funky forest terrain to abysmal inner space and back again. The band also concocts some damn fine pop, as demonstrated by the catchy yet ephemeral "Disintegration".

What are you waiting for?! All aboard for Places...

Lin Dai: A Tale of Two Covers

2010-11-14T23:42:00.000-08:00

There's nothing out of the ordinary about Lin Dai being featured on the cover of two different Chinese movie magazines during the same month. After all, she was the biggest star of her time. But her simultaneous appearance in December 1957 as cover girl for both Shaw and Cathay highlights the war over talent waged between the rival studios.

Lin Dai sits comfortably for the inaugural issue of Shaw's new magazine

Lin Dai became an instant star with her 1953 debut, Singing under the Moon. Her popularity continued the following year with Spring Is in the Air. Both films were hits for Yonghua Studio but couldn't save the debt-ridden company from closure in 1955. Lin Dai subsequently signed a three-year contract with Shaw and Sons for three films a year. However, the contract failed to include an exclusivity clause. This enabled her to enter a secret agreement with Cathay chief Loke Wan Tho. He also offered her three films a year but at a higher pay. When Shaw found out, they immediately matched Cathay's rate. Lin Dai suddenly became Hong Kong's highest-paid movie star.

Superstar Lin Dai strikes a pose for Cathay's International Screen

Lin Dai's consecutive Best Actress wins at the Asian Film Festival — in 1957 for Cathay's Golden Lotus and in 1958 for Shaw's Diau Charn — consolidated her position as movie queen. She continued to make films for both studios up until 1960, after which she worked exclusively for Shaw Brothers until her sudden death in 1964. For more than 10 years, Lin Dai commanded the box office and ruled the silver screen. She is justifiably remembered today as one of Chinese cinema's brightest stars.

References
Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: The Twentieth Century (2003)

Shanghai Girl Goes to India

2010-11-07T20:46:00.000-08:00

I was flipping through the Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema last night and spotted something unexpected in this still from director V. Shantaram's 1939 film Manoos. The glamorous beauty in the foreground is Marathi actress Shanta Hublikar, but look closer and you'll notice a qipao-clad calendar girl behind her. Those Shanghai ladies sure got around!

Larry and Trudy Leung: Cantonese Capers

2010-11-03T21:57:00.000-07:00

"Cantonese Capers" — that's how the comedy song-and-dance duo Larry and Trudy Leung were billed when they toured the U.S. during 1950 in the vaudeville show "Stars on Parade". Earlier that year, the couple had appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. That performance, filmed during the early days of live television, lies at the heart of Long Story Short (2008), Christine Choy's documentary about actress Jodi Long and her parents Larry and Trudy. After tracking down a tape of the performance, Jodi screens it for her mother and father — more than 50 years after the event. It's a poignant occasion. Larry claims he doesn't remember any of it, yet mouths all the words of his act. Trudy is equally touched. "It's the first time I ever saw myself on stage... I never saw myself before." As her words sank in, I keenly realized the importance of remembrance and felt gratitude for those who've documented the pioneering Asian American performers of yesteryear.

Long Story Short can be watched or downloaded for a very modest price at Amazon Video on Demand. Check out the free preview which includes a clip from their Sullivan Show appearance. Highly recommended!

* A big thanks to Eddy for the reminder about this film.

Jade Girl Smokes a Cigarette

2010-10-20T00:30:00.000-07:00

I'm always a little surprised whenever I see this picture of "jade girl" Patricia Lam Fung, uncharacteristically shown smoking a cigarette. Smoking was de rigueur for bad girls and femme fatales like Bai Guang, but "jade girls" like Pat had to carefully protect their pure image. Even more surprising is the fact that this pinup appeared in the same issue of Southern Screen (No. 10, November 1958) as an article about Shaw's newly formed Jade Girl Fan Club, which targeted its membership to teenage girls. Hmmm... I wonder how many of Pat's young fans were inspired to imitate their idol.

Ting Hung's Film Crush

2010-10-17T23:20:00.000-07:00

Hollywood star James Shigeta and Hong Kong star Pat Ting Hung

I was happy to find this little surprise in the May 1962 issue of Screenland. A scan of the original article is available here.

Pat Ting Hung Admits Admiration for American-Japanese Star

Pat Ting Hung, who doesn't have an intimate boyfriend yet, declares that she has found her ideal man. "But", she says, "it is a pity that I don't have the chance to meet him. I will try to find the chance."

Who is this man?

If you are a patron of American movies you may have seen "Bridge to the Sun", starring Carol Baker and James Shigeta. And James is the man Pat talks about. And he will appear on the Hollywood screen again in "Flower Drum Song".

Pat has seen "Bridge to the Sun" three times just to see James, and she says that she will do the same with "Flower Drum Song".

She also has learned, from different sources, that James is only twenty-five, unmarried, and doesn't even have an intimate girl friend. She herself is only twenty and doesn't have a boyfriend too.

But, the only thing is, does James know that he has such an admirer in Hong Kong?

To see why Ting Hung took such a fancy to James Shigeta, check out this video tribute which screened at the 2006 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival.

Young Rock in the PRC

2010-10-15T00:39:00.000-07:00

In the same year that Hong Kong's Young Rock (青春樂 / Qingchun le) seduced Chinese youth with the spectacle of hula hoops and rock and roll, Red China's The Song of Youth (青春之歌 / Qingchun zhige) offered an equally intoxicating tale of personal transformation and national salvation. Adapted from the bestselling novel by Yang Mo, it was one of eighteen films released in 1959 to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Unlike Lam Fung in Young Rock, the heroine of The Song of Youth (played by the radiant Xie Fang) would rather study Karl Marx than sing and dance. Nonetheless, the film's finale rocks loud and hard — even if it might have also served to drown out the grumbling of the starving masses.

Lam Fung: Young Rock

2010-10-09T20:38:00.000-07:00

Teddy boy Mak Kay and rich girl Lam Fung in Young Rock (1959)

In my previous post I highlighted teen idols Connie Chan and Josephine Siao and the rise of the youth film during the late 1960s. The spirit of youth, however, had been simmering in Hong Kong cinema since the late 50s. In 1959, during the Chinese New Year holidays, studio rivals Shaw Brothers and MP&GI went head to head at the box office with a pair of films that were targeted squarely at the younger generation. In fact, both movies incorporated in their titles that watchword I mentioned last time: 青春 / qingchun ("youth").

In one corner was MP&GI's Spring Song (青春兒女 / Qingchun ernu), featuring "Mambo Girl" Grace Chang and "Students' Sweetheart" Jeanette Lin Tsui. In the other was Shaw's Young Rock (青春樂 / Qingchun le), starring Patricia Lam Fung, the "Jewel of Shaw". We are fortunate that Spring Song is available on video, but I'm sorry to report that Young Rock is, as far as I can ascertain, a lost film. It's a shame to think it might never be seen again. Synopses of the film suggest that Young Rock wasn't just a carbon copy of Spring Song. It was evidently somewhat edgier fare than MP&GI's lighthearted tale of personal and romantic rivalry. In the February 1959 issue of Southern Screen, Young Rock was introduced as a film about juvenile delinquency:

"What are the problems of the youth of today? What turns them into teddy-boys and teddy-girls? Shaw's latest production 'The Joy of Youth' answers these questions boldly and unreservedly. It gives a frank and penetrating analysis of the problems of the younger generation."

But while Young Rock included triads, dance hostesses, knife fights, and abductions, it also featured singing, dancing, and hula hooping — which were the main attractions. The film's songs are especially noteworthy because they mark the beginnings of Cantopop, which blended the influences of Mandarin shi dai qu, American and British pop, and Cantonese opera and folk songs into an exciting new sound.

Ad for Lam Fung's song albums

Lam Fung's 1957 debut at Shaw Brothers was a Cantonese opera film; her second film was a Republican-era ghost tale based on Pu Songling's Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio. It wasn't until her third film, A Pretty Girl's Love Affair (1958), that Shaw decided to cast her as a modern-day teen in a bid to copy the success of Grace Chang, whose breakout film Mambo Girl (1957) had been a big moneymaker for rival studio MP&GI. Like Mambo Girl, A Pretty Girl's Love Affair featured catchy songs about dancing the cha cha. The film was a huge hit, and the formula was repeated in Lam Fung's subsequent Shaw films. Her songs proved so popular that LP compilations were released by Ruby Records (寶石). I believe there were a total of five albums, copies of which nowadays fetch a hefty price on the collectors market. The advertisement to your left appeared on the back cover of Southern Screen (January 1961) and gives you a sense of Lam Fung's important place in Hong Kong's music culture at the time. Notice that the other LPs are soundtracks for Shaw's blockbuster huangmei opera films starring movie queen Lin Dai.

Sadly, like her early Shaw films, none of Lam Fung's songs are currently available to the public. Lucky for us then that a dear friend of mine recently gifted me with a homemade recording of her second song album, which includes six songs from Young Rock. In this way we can at least get a taste of what the film was like.

Let me relate a few bits of trivia before you listen to the songs below. The lead singer of the first tune is Mak Kay, who plays Lam Fung's dangerous teddy boy attraction. In case you're wondering, in the opening lines he proclaims, "Ngo hai, ngo hai... ngo hai dongfang gei... shhhh... Maaaau Wong", which translates roughly as "I am, I am.... I am both the East... and the King of Cats". "King of Cats" (Mau Wong / 貓王) is the Chinese nickname for Elvis Presley (derived from his early American nickname "The Hillbilly Cat"). The American influence continues in the next song, "Who Doesn't Love Spring?", an adaptation of Debbie Reynold's 1957 hit "Tammy". And then there's "I Love Singing and Dancing", which takes its cue from Deanna Durbin singing "I Love to Whistle" in Mad about Music (1938). By the way, the scene of Deanna and her classmates cycling through the countryside served as a template for similar scenes in Lam Fung's Sweet Girl in Terror (1958) and Connie Chan's The Sweetest Moment (1967).

Without further ado, let's sing and dance with Lam Fung! As you listen to the songs, take a peek at the tantalizing stills from Young Rock in this souvenir booklet which was sold at theaters showing the film.

青春樂 ("Young Rock") with Mak Kay
(play song)

誰不愛春天 ("Who Doesn't Love Spring?")
(play song)

青春偶像 ("Teen Idol")
(play song)

我愛歌舞 ("I Love Singing and Dancing")
(play song)

大家來跳 Cha Cha Cha ("Let's Dance Cha Cha Cha") with Mak Kay
(play song)

應為人類作先鋒 ("To Be Pioneers for Humanity")
(play song)

* Thanks to Muzikland for the identification of the original American songs. For more information about Lam Fung and the birth of Cantopop, see Yung Sai-shing's "The Joy of Youth, Made in Hong Kong: Patricia Lam Fung and Shaws' Cantonese Films" in The Shaw Screen: A Preliminary Study (Hong Kong Film Archive, 2003).

Lam Fung demonstrates the "young rock"

Connie Chan: Precious Youth

2010-10-06T19:29:00.000-07:00

As it was elsewhere in the world, "youth" (青春 / qingchun) was the watchword of the times in 1960s Hong Kong, and during that era nobody epitomized the spirit of youth better than Connie Chan and Josephine Siao. In 1966 they starred together in the teen musical Colourful Youth (彩色青春 / Caise qingchun), which broke box office records and helped set the trend for youth movies in Hong Kong cinema. Later that year, Shaw Brothers also jumped on the bandwagon with The Joy of Spring (歡樂青春 / Huanle qingchun). Throughout the remainder of the decade, the near-magical word qingchun was used frequently in film titles and song lyrics, including Connie's 1967 melodrama Waste Not Our Youth (莫負青春 / Mofu qingchun). Although the film is ultimately a cautionary tale for wayward teens, the irrepressible spirit of youth comes across loud and clear in its songs.

及時行樂 ("Happy Together")
(play song)

年青的一代 ("The Young Generation")
(play song)

莫負青春 ("Precious Youth")
(play song)

月下情歌 ("Duet under the Moon")
(play song)

* Back cover of the EP with Chinese lyrics

Let me end this post by sharing one of my favorite scenes from the movie. Here's the setup. Traumatized by an attempted rape, Connie has lost her marbles. Her parents and childhood boyfriend are trying to coax her back to sanity. See what happens when Connie's attacker comes to visit her at the hospital.

Antique Shanghai Pop Music

2010-09-29T21:00:00.000-07:00

I'm quite remiss in not pointing this out sooner — since I first discovered it about a month ago — but better late than never. Launched in January this year, Antique Shanghai Pop Music is a wonderful new podcast devoted to the golden age of Mandarin pop, hosted with ardor and wit by the charming Ling. Whether you are a total stranger to these classic songs, an already avid but linguistically impaired fan, or a native-speaking aficionado, you will find Ling a most endearing and knowledgeable guide.

So far he has created five installments, starting with an overview of Shanghai-era shi dai qu (literally, "songs of the times") followed by episodes devoted to pairs of individual singers, such as Zhou Xuan & Yao Li and Li Xianglan & Bai Guang. Ling hopes to complete a dozen installments, after which he plans to enhance the contents of his site with singer and composer profiles and English lyrics for all of the songs featured in his podcasts.

This last feature, which he's already started, is a godsend for folks like me who love shi dai qu but haven't yet attempted the daunting task of learning Mandarin. Thanks to Ling's show I'm finally able to understand the words of some of my favorite songs. And let me tell you, it's like falling in love all over again.

So please check out Antique Shanghai Pop Music. It earns my highest recommendation. You can download the shows directly from Ling's site, as well as Apple's iTunes Store.

* The image above comes Chinese Woman and Modernity: Calendar Posters of the 1910s-1930s.

There's Something About Maylia

2010-09-20T21:58:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pics that didn't make it into my previous post about Maylia, the striking beauty that Columbia Pictures was hoping to turn into the next Anna May Wong. The first two photos are publicity shots for her grand debut, To the Ends of the Earth (1948), and the last is from the April 1948 issue of Esquire.

Maylia: "Beautiful" in Cantonese

2010-09-18T16:54:00.000-07:00

"Hollywood's first Chinese starlet since Anna May Wong"

No, Maylia was not the "first Chinese starlet since Anna May Wong", as claimed by Columbia Pictures, but she did join the ranks of earlier Chinese American actresses misused and undervalued by Hollywood: such as Lotus Liu, who was twice promised the featured role in The Good Earth (1937) that eventually went to Austrian dancer Tilly Losch; charming Iris Wong, who provided a bouquet of freshness to Charlie Chan in Reno (1939) and Charlie Chan in Rio (1941) before disappearing into the thin air of uncredited bit parts; and Marianne Quon, who, after showing great promise in China (1943) and Charlie Chan in the Secret Service (1944), moved to Hong Kong, where she became one of the colony's top stars.

Hailing from Detroit, Michigan, Maylia — real name: Gloria Chin — was just a 20-year-old coed vacationing in Hollywood when she was spotted in a restaurant by the wife of writer-producer Sidney Buchman. She was asked to audition for a role in Buchman's big-budget project, To the Ends of the Earth, and voilà! — a star was born. Of course, she would need to change her name to something more befitting the "first Chinese starlet since Anna May Wong", something a little more exotic. According to the studio publicity, "Maylia is her name, and in Cantonese it means beautiful" (The Huntingdon Daily News, March 3, 1947).* Around the same time, Gloria underwent another name change. Within days of signing her contract with Columbia Pictures, she had a fateful meeting with actor Benson Fong (best known at the time as Charlie Chan's "number three son"). It must have been love at first sight, because the two got hitched a few weeks later.

Although shooting for To the Ends of the Earth was completed in early 1947, the film wasn't released until the following year. In the meantime, Maylia played a small part in Universal's Singapore (1947), as Ava Gardner's servant. Unbeknownst to the public, she was also in "preproduction" for a role that would soon take her away from acting. Before her film debut even hit the screens that August, the "first Chinese starlet since Anna May Wong" was already pregnant with her first child and due for delivery in January of 1948 (which could have been why Columbia decided to delay the release of To the Ends of the Earth).

Maylia in Boston Blackie's Chinese Venture

Motherhood definitely threw a wrench in Columbia's plans for the "first Chinese starlet since Anna May Wong", and Maylia quietly rode out her contract with a couple of B-list Chinatown mysteries: Boston Blackie's Chinese Venture (1949) and Chinatown at Midnight (1949). In 1950, Maylia gave birth to her second child, which effectively marked the end of her brief film career (although she evidently made two uncredited appearances in the early 50s).

Luckily for us, we can at least glimpse the star that Maylia might have been in the following clip from To the Ends of the Earth. Let me set up the scene for you: Dick Powell plays an agent from the Federal Bureau of Narcotics who's been engaged in a round-the-world manhunt for the mysterious "Jean Hawks", leader of a global drug ring using opium as a "weapon to keep the world divided and its citizens slaves"; Swedish actress Signe Hasso plays an American philanthropist whom we are led to believe might actually be the nefarious "Jean Hawks"; and Maylia plays the Chinese war orphan who is unknowingly being used by "Jean Hawks" as part of her cover.

Talk about a twist! Who'd have thought that the leader of a global drug ring funding the Japanese war machine is a 19-year-old Chinese girl. I'm alternately wowed and appalled by the proposition. On the one hand, it makes for a pretty cool villain role, which Maylia clearly relished. On the other, such a blatant resurrection of "The Daughter of Fu Manchu" in a movie purporting to be "based on actual incidents from the files of the United States Department of Treasury" is, frankly, quite demented. But hey, that's Hollywood for you.

I must say that I found Dick Powell and his righteous speechifying quite annoying. In my fantasy version of the film, the pistol is loaded with real bullets instead of blanks, and Maylia has the last line. "Don't call me princess, gweilo."

* BTW, "beautiful" in Cantonese is more accurately rendered in English as "mei lai".

Gaga for Bingbing

2010-09-09T23:10:00.000-07:00

Excuse me for gushing over my new favorita, Miss Li Bingbing, who has knocked me over with a one-two punch of recent photo shoots. The picture above comes from a candid series taken at the Piazza San Marco in Venice, where she's been attending the International Film Festival in support of her new movie Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (directed by the once — and hopefully still — visionary Tsui Hark).

At the opposite end of the fashion spectrum are these two stunning photos from a spread in the forthcoming October issue of Harper's Bazaar China. I'm so wowed by them that I'm compelled to break my self-imposed exile in the glamor of yesteryear and celebrate Miss Li's contemporary, yet classic, allure.

* Thanks to fellow fans dleedlee and ewaffle for setting the bait!

Faye Wong: Decadence

2010-09-06T12:59:00.000-07:00

Beatrice Fung Oye: Brooklyn Swing Diva

2010-09-05T23:00:00.000-07:00

I wish I could tell you more about Chinese American singer Beatrice Fung Oye, but I've only found a few scraps of information, mostly from Billboard and some of the New York gossip columns of the day.

I can't confirm when she started to sing professionally, but by June of 1942 Beatrice was performing at Louise's Monte Carlo in New York City. "Fung Oye, Chinese, is a cute, young thing who sings pops in a pleasant enough voice and with vivacity. In her 15th week here, her popularity continues to grow" (Billboard, October 3). Billboard listings indicate that she stayed on at the Monte Carlo through the rest of '42.

The following year she performed for a few months at the Ubangi — where she was "the first non-Negro" to sing at the club (Billboard, February 20) — before moving on to Leon & Eddie's in May. Beatrice was still playing at Leon & Eddie's a year later, although I've found no proof whether she sang there exclusively.

During this time her name popped up occasionally in the New York gossip columns, which were syndicated in newspapers across the country. Walter Winchell mentioned her as "the cute little Chinese girl soliciting funds for China Relief at 57th and 5th" (October 31, 1942), and according to Dorothy Kilgallen, the "chanteuse at Leon & Eddie's is mad about Mexican chili con carne — and what's more, she eats it with chopsticks!" (May 5, 1943).

In 1945 Beatrice got a big break when she was selected as one of the winners of ABC's On Stage Everybody talent contest (The Abilene Reporter-News, April 7). The prize was a role in the Universal musical based on ABC's popular radio show. Here's a photo of her with five of the ten winners. The movie opened in July, and that fall Beatrice toured the country with a vaudeville unit composed of performers from the cast.

Newspaper ad from The Salt Lake Tribune (October 21, 1945)

After her brush with national fame, Beatrice returned to New York City and sang at the China Doll, the East Coast equivalent of San Francisco's Forbidden City. She was evidently still newsworthy enough to appear on the Broadway gossip radar. Columnist Danton Walker revealed this amusing bit of trivia: "When Beatrice Fung Oye, the Brooklyn-born Chinese prima donna, goes to Dodgers games she yells at the umpire in Chinese" (December 1, 1947).

Newspaper ad from The New York Times (April 15, 1947)

In 1951–52, she hit the road with Tom Ball's China Doll Revue, performing alongside "Chop Suey" veterans Ming & Ling and Florence Hin Lowe. And that's the last trace of Beatrice I can find.

Luckily, I was able to track down a copy of On Stage Everybody, so let's end this post with a rare glimpse of Brooklyn swing diva Beatrice Fung Oye!

Koo Mei and Kitten

2010-09-04T10:36:00.000-07:00

from The Milky Way Pictorial (July 1959)

Connie Chan Strikes Again

2010-08-31T18:01:00.000-07:00

Time to bust out the turntable again. The following soundtrack EP for Connie Chan's 1967 film Lady Black Cat Strikes Again (黑野貓霸海揚威) is pretty typical of the eclectic world of early Cantopop, in which an American country & western hit could be casually transformed into the rousing theme song for a crimefighting Hong Kong heroine. Even the seemingly straightforward adaptation of a Spanish waltz reveals the gender-bending influence of Cantonese opera by having Connie sing as both señorita and señor.

If the cool cover art and jaunty songs catch your fancy, then check out my review of the Lady Black Cat movies, both of which are available on DVD.

黑野貓 ("Ghost Riders in the Sky")
(play song)

西班牙舞曲 ("Spanish Dance")
(play song)

真情假意 ("Wine & Tea")
(play song)

銀海風光 ("A Star is Born")
(play song)

* Back cover of the EP with Chinese lyrics

Soft Film Video Jukebox: Billie Tam

2010-08-28T23:52:00.000-07:00

Hong Kong singer Billie Tam (蓓蕾) started off singing traditional ditties and standard shi dai qu but eventually found her success with an image and style more in tune with the times. In 1964 she scored a huge hit with "Enjoy Yourself Tonight", which was subsequently featured in The Joy of Spring (1966). It's one of the "Missing Shaw Films" that I've been dying to see — even more so after getting a glimpse of my favorite tomgirl Allyson Chang Yen in the video below.

Next up is a song from the Cathay film Little Matchmaker (1967). The scene shows an annoyed Zhang Yang stuck on the dance floor with an eager Fanny Fan, but the real attraction is the vivacious and foxy Miss Tam, seen here in a rare on-screen appearance.

The Lady Who Sells Her Shadow

2010-08-28T13:40:00.000-07:00

After reading about my interest in Liu Qi, the "Marilyn Monroe of China", fellow retro blogger Dev Yang sent me the above cover and following article — which he kindly translated — from the Kong Ngee Movie Pictorial (May 1954). It's a fun and fascinating look at an apparently superb actress who's been practically forgotten nowadays.

Liu Qi—The Lady Who Sells Her Shadow
by Xiao Han

I first met Liu Qi in Shanghai. She had just left Chungking and was living with her girlfriend on the fourth floor of the luxurious Paramount Hotel. It was the hotel’s largest suite and comprised several rooms. At the time, I was close to her roommate. Although I had barely made her acquaintance, I was struck by her unique beauty: not very pretty but charming and sexy.

Her roommate once told me, “Back in Chungking, Liu Qi was a notable figure, not only because of her reputation as a stage actress but also for her people skills. But don’t think that she is the kind of socialite who sells her body for money. She’s not like those social butterflies in Shanghai.”

I watched Liu Qi’s screen debut in Shanghai, The Man Who Sells His Shadow (1948), and found both her appearance and acting quite appealing. “Quite appealing” was my pet phrase for her, because I truly believed that she had a bright future in the film industry, especially since there were a lot of mediocre actresses at the time, and she was clearly a cut above them all. However, her girlfriend once told me, “Liu Qi will not remain in the film industry forever. She has a great, beautiful dream she wants to pursue.” I was keen to know more about this dream, but my friend said it was a secret. And because I wasn’t so close to Liu Qi, I decided it would be impolite to “interrogate” my friend further.

I met Liu Qi again after I emigrated to Hong Kong. Both of us were surprised by that feeling of “old friends meeting abroad”. (To avoid any unwanted speculation, I should clarify that it was probably only myself who felt this way.) Since then we’ve had more opportunities to get to know each other. I still fondly remember the time we met on New Year’s Day in 1951 at a party thrown by the Hong Kong Actors Guild at the Nanyang Studio. I danced with her several times and asked her about herself. I adored her witty replies, one of which was: “I guess I’m finally ready to sell my shadow”. I was confused at first, but then I understood her meaning: she was ready to commit herself wholeheartedly to the Eighth Art. Indeed, don’t all actors and actresses sell their shadows?

Since resuming her career in Hong Kong, Liu Qi has played mostly supporting roles, despite the fact that she is an experienced and versatile actress. She was remarkable in several of her movies and often stole the limelight from the leading players. As a result, it’s been rumored that some of the top actresses are jealous of Liu Qi and pray that they won’t have to appear in same film with her. Unfortunately, most Hong Kong directors are only concerned with the leading lady and willingly change the script at her behest, which leaves little room for Liu Qi to demonstrate her chops. Such discrimination isn’t fair, and many people feel sorry for her. When she’s asked why, with her beauty and ability, she still hasn’t gotten the chance to become a lead actress, Liu Qi just replies with a smile. Actually, I think this situation is due to the narrow-minded belief of the industry that the “experienced and mature” type will always be the “experienced and mature” type. But thankfully producer Fung Ming-yuen recognized Liu Qi’s qualities and talent and cast her as the leading lady in his latest project, Night Homecoming, based on Cao Yu’s play "The Wilderness".

Yan Jun, currently the top actor in Hong Kong, agreed to costar with Liu Qi in this project. (Their first film together was in fact The Man Who Sells His Shadow, which was also Yan Jun’s own breakthrough as a leading man). Although I know for a fact that Liu Qi personally asked him to join the production, Yan Jun didn’t do it only as a favor. “Liu Qi is a great actress. She shouldn't be undervalued or ignored. She’s just as good as those ‘leading ladies’ out there and ought to be given more opportunities before she becomes a casualty of the star system. Liu Qi is an old friend from my Shanghai days, and it’s my duty to help her out.”

Night Homecoming is now finished, and Liu Qi's performance is extraordinary. Critically acclaimed, it’s her best since she started “selling her shadow”. Thanks to the film, Liu Qi has been recruited as the leading lady of the newly established Asia Pictures and will soon appear in two upcoming features, The Heroine and Tradition. Her future is now looking very bright indeed.

Compared to the leading ladies of other studios, Liu Qi is taller and more statuesque—and weighing in at 132 pounds, the heaviest among them. But thanks to her even proportions and exquisite curves, she looks balanced and refined, especially on the silver screen. Currently, she is undergoing an intensive exercise regimen to bring down her weight and is aiming for 125 pounds by the end of March.

Among her colleagues, Liu Qi is known as “Sister Hussy” because she is outspoken and likes to tell dirty jokes. But at work or on formal occasions, she is always gracious and well mannered. Liu Qi also loves dancing and playing mahjong. These are her only two hobbies. She holds a record for 60 consecutive rounds of mahjong. And when it comes to dancing, she has been described as “The Rival without Equal among All Men”. Once she went to the Happy Palace Club with thirteen men and danced with them nonstop for two hours. She laughed and said, “I played ‘One Woman and Thirteen Men’. What’s the big deal?”

Now, isn’t she witty?

Angela Yu: Hong Kong Beach Bird

2010-08-24T22:57:00.000-07:00

from Hong Kong Movie News (August 1967)

Smoking Diva: Bai Guang

2010-08-22T23:54:00.000-07:00

Bai Guang in A Forgotten Woman (1949)

Let me offer another nicotine-stained post to all of you aficionados out there. My old time buddy Dev Yang "hand-rolled" the following video with choice clips from Miss Bai's classic film A Forgotten Woman (1949) wrapped in a sad song — "The Past is Like Smoke" — from her silver screen farewell, Love's Sad Ending (1959).

Bai Guang: Light My Fire

2010-08-20T22:51:00.000-07:00

If you're not yet familiar with Bai Guang — "China's only torch singer" — here's a nice introduction that appeared in Malaya's English-language Radio Weekly sometime in '53. (Many thanks to Oldflames for hooking me up with this rare piece.)

And because addicts love company, let me tempt you with a hit of Miss White Light's "Mad Love" before we proceed...

BAI KWONG, TOP STAR
by LAO WEI

THERE is little difference in the style of singing of the dozen or so top vocalists in the Chinese recording industry. Their voices sound very much alike and only a practised ear can tell them apart.

But two artistes do stand out. One is the incomparable Yao Lee whose mellow voice, sympathetic performance and unerring good taste put her in a class all her own. The other is Bai Kwong. China's only "torch singer" and without a doubt her most glamorous film star.

Bai Kwong (White Light) retired from the recording and film business after her marriage to an American airline pilot. She now lives in Japan.

*
SHE toured Singapore and the Federation two years ago and was enthusiastically received by her fans.

Her films are popular here.

This popularity, however, was not echoed by one section of the Chinese press which, annoyed by her independent ways, commented so unfavourably about her doings that she returned to Hong Kong earlier than she had intended, somewhat embittered.

Bai Kwong is the Chinese film-goer's equivalent of Jane Russell, Marlene Dietrich and Rita Hayworth, all rolled into one. She has a low, throaty voice which she uses to great effect both in conversation and song.

*
HER discs sell well. Into all of them she transmits her warm, inviting personality.

Her rumbas, tangos and boleros are smooth and sentimental. The titles of her recordings indicate the type of song she specialises in, "Let Us Not Waste Tonight", "Mad Love", "It's Delightful When We Are Together", "I'm a Goddess".

"Let Us Not Waste Tonight" (Pathe 35826), a charming rumba, is coupled with another satisfying piece, "Waiting for My Love".

"Mad Love" is a stirring bolero with an unusually good orchestral accompaniment. On the other side of this disc (Pathe 35841) is a slow, dreamy tango, "Haunting Old Dream".

*
"IT'S Delightful When We Are Together" and "I'm Awaiting Your Return" (Pathe 35739) are two typical Bai Kwong songs in which she makes full use of that throaty, sexy voice.

Then there is a naughty little tune, "I'm a Goddess", in which the singer tells her admirers that if they want to gain her favour they must approach her on bended knee."

A street walker laments her unhappy fate in a sentimental tango, "Street Lamps on a Cold Night" (Pathe 35852). On the reverse, the tempo shifts to a rousing march, "Mountain of Youth", a call to young people to work hard to reach the summit of the mountain of success.

*
THIS is rather an unusual type of song for Bai Kwong to sing. But "morale boosting tunes have always been popular with the Chinese, and marches especially so since the establishment of the republic and the growing surge of national pride.

The Communists make effective use of songs and dances in their propaganda by playing on the Chinese people's love for these two mediums of expression.

The way Bai Kwong renders a song, however, would not please the Reds: She gives it too much personality, and such subtle feminine inflections that the listeners' thoughts are very far, indeed, from such things as Communism.

So... Do you suddenly find yourself craving more of the beguiling Miss Bai? ... Don't sweat it, stick around... I've got your fix.

Liu Qi: Bigger than Marilyn

2010-08-15T10:27:00.000-07:00

Do you remember Liu Qi and her funky knit leotard from a few months ago? Well, I recently stumbled upon some amusing articles about Miss Liu in the American press.

It appears that in 1953 she was being touted via AP's photo wire as "the Marilyn Monroe of China" (Syracuse Herald, October 9, 1953). The caption mentioned her latest film as being Tradition, which was one of the first productions of Asia Pictures, a U.S. government–funded film company founded by Zhang Guoxing, a former correspondent for United Press International. The studio was a part of a larger campaign to counter Communist influence in Hong Kong and overseas Chinese communities through the deployment of soft propaganda. Apparently, a key ingredient of which was good ol' American cheesecake.

Some months later, however, Liu Qi was apparently taking issue with her new nickname. The following articles, however contrived they may be, seem to offer a genuine glimpse of the proud Miss Liu, as well as some insight into the complex situation of being a Chinese film star in the Cold War era.

* * * * *

Buxom Chinese Actress Refutes 'Marilyn' Title
by Albert Yuan

TAIPEH, Formosa, May 23 (UP) — A curvaceous Chinese movie actress from Hongkong bitterly refuted her unofficial title, the "Chinese Marilyn Monroe," today and loudly proclaimed she was being victimized.

"I really don't know why you newspapermen always link my name with her," she said angrily.

"I am Liu Chi," she said, perking her heavily lipsticked mouth.

But a close female associate, in a position to know, quickly muttered, "She has a bigger bust than Marilyn."

Proves Point

Miss Liu Chu has a 37-inch bust to prove her point.

After five days of entertaining National Chinese troops with other charmers from Hongkong, luscious Liu Chi sneaked out for a shampoo.

In a secluded beauty parlor, Miss Liu bitterly exhibited her Oriental pride and features.

"Do I look like Marilyn Monroe?" she asked this correspondent.

"You look better," I replied, numb with admiration for her buxom beauty.

She angrily snorted and returned to her shampoo.

One Inch

The United Press, in a close check, found out that Miss Liu Chi outdid Mrs. Joe DiMaggio by at least one inch.

"If I were in Hollywood," the Hongkong actress said, "I would be more glamorous than she."

Miss Liu Chi appeared exhausted after shaking hands with nearly 3,200 Nationalist soldiers who had waited hours to see her.

Her itinerary had included Tachen Island off the China mainland coast, but her trip to that island was cancelled because of the fighting there.

— Pacific Stars & Stripes, May 23, 1954

* * * * *

Most Women Wriggle Hips, She Says
Chinese Star Sees Nothing Unusual about Monroe Walk
by PETER SUM

HONGKONG — UP — Hongkong's answer to Marilyn Monroe thinks the Hollywood star's celebrated walk is "every woman's walk."

Liu Chi, who has a 36-inch bust, 24-inch waist, a 37-inch hip, and the "Monroe walk," said:

"The Monroe walk is every woman's walk and there's nothing peculiar about it."

The 28-year-old Chinese star is not one to run down the male population.

Plays Other Woman

"A man is just as untrustworthy as a woman," she said. "If a woman complains that her man is untrustworthy, then why permit him to be her man?"

Miss Liu, a native of Peiping, began making movies five years ago. Earlier she acted on the stage in China's wartime capital of Chungking.

She came to Hongkong from Shanghai when the Communists were threatening that city in 1949, and since then she has made six movies. She usually plays the part of "the other woman."

Plans To Visit U.S.

Miss Liu made a trip to Tokyo and Formosa in February this year. She said she went to Tokyo for "recreation" and to Formosa to "boost the morale of Nationalist troops" and "to comfort freed former Chinese prisoners of war from Korea."

Like most other successful Chinese movie actresses who are now in Hongkong, Miss Liu plans to visit America, especially Hollywood.

"I am applying for an entry visa for the United States where I wish to remain as long as my money and the U.S. authorities permit me," she said.

Asked whether she will consider making movies in the United States, the oval-faced beauty said:

"It has to depend on whether American producers have an eye for me."

— Lubbock Evening Journal, June 25, 1954

* * * * *

As far as I know, Liu Qi never did make it to Hollywood. But she most definitely caught the eye of this humble blogger. Stay tuned for more about the lovely Miss Liu.

Bai Guang: Let There Be Light

2010-08-12T22:32:00.000-07:00

Ask and you shall receive. A year ago I asked Oldflames, my trusty hook-up for the soft stuff, if he happened to have a color photo of Bai Guang in a bikini. And lo and behold, look what arrived in my email this week: some potent solar mojo to dispel the gloomy fog that's been blanketing the Bay Area ever since my return from the torrid zone two weeks ago.

Here comes the sun... here comes the sun... and I say... it's all right...

Tripping through HK and KL

2010-08-10T21:36:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are interested, here are photos from both of my trips this year. Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur are definitely not as devoid of people as my pictures might suggest, but I'm not as bold a photographer as I once was. So even though these photos don't capture the urban verve of these two cities, I hope they at least give you a taste of their unique charms.

Hong Kong and Kuala Kumpur, July 2010

Hong Kong, February/March 2010

Soft Film Goes to the Beach

2010-08-06T23:23:00.000-07:00

Here's a trio of treasures that I brought back from my recent trip to Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur. First up is a rare swimsuit photo of Lucilla Yu Ming — right on the cusp of sweet sixteen — gracing the cover of Screen Voice (August 1952). Lucilla made her debut that year at Shaw and Sons with the film Love in Bloom (玉女懷春).

Now we move from sweet to saucy with the following cover of Spotlight (ca. 1956), featuring baby bombshell Man Lei Hung in a delicious cheesecake pose. She signed up with Shaw's Cantonese division in 1956 but eventually switched to the studio's Mandarin division, where she was reborn as the one and only Fanny Fan.

And last but not least, here's lovely tomboy Allyson Chang Yen on the cover of Companion (September 16, 1964). Like Fanny, she was a product of Shaw's Cantonese unit. When it shut down in 1963, Allyson was kept on by the studio but never quite found a place in the spotlight among the new crop of starlets (Li Ching, Chin Ping, Cheng Pei-pei, et al.).

The Art of the Qipao

2010-08-05T15:27:00.000-07:00

During my recent trip to Malaysia I stopped for a few days in Hong Kong, where I was lucky to catch an extraordinary exhibit at the Museum of History: The Evergreen Classic – Transformation of the Qipao. Tracing the evolution of the qipao (or cheongsam, as it's known in Cantonese) from its origins as the gown worn by Manchu women during the Qing dynasty to its golden age in 1930s Shanghai and subsequent efflorescence in post-war Hong Kong, the show features an astonishing 280 qipao as well as more than 400 photographs.

As you can see from my photos below, it's a sight to behold, whether you're a dedicated lover or just a casual fan. I was so overwhelmed by the sheer number and variety on display that I planned to return for a second visit but didn't have the time. Unfortunately, no catalog was published for this exhibit (a colossal missed opportunity that I'm still scratching my head about), so get yourself to Hong Kong by September 13 if you can't bear to miss this rare and precious spectacle.

A PDF of the exhibition pamphlet is available here.

KL Aerosol Addicts

2010-08-01T08:51:00.000-07:00

Although Malaysia is plagued by religious reactionaries (just like my own country) — who, if they had their way, would ban such wonderful things as tomboys and horror movies — the capital city, Kuala Lumpur, is home to a strong and vibrant secular culture, as shown by the lively street art I saw during my wanderings.

According to former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, graffiti is an "alien culture [that] will negate all the efforts of beautifying our cities and towns" (ref). But for me at least, KL's street art was a bright spot in a city more sorely in need of litter cleanup and sidewalk repair than graffiti removal.

BTW, the stencil piece above refers to the Defence Services Asia exhibition, one of the world's top military supermarkets, held in Kuala Lumpur every two years.

Finally, let me leave you with this news story about KL street art that I found on YouTube:

South Sea Greetings

2010-07-31T22:08:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the sudden disappearance! I was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the past two weeks. I'm struggling to get back into my blogging routine but hope to share some of the finds from my trip in the coming days — like this lovely tropical Christmas card featuring Fanny Fan and Patricia Lam Fung.

The Enigma of Olive Young

2010-07-13T23:48:00.000-07:00

Born in St. Joseph, Missouri, Olive Young (杨爱立) went to Shanghai and became one of Chinese cinema's earliest film stars. She died in Bayonne, New Jersey, at the age of 37 after collapsing in the dressing room of the nightclub where she was performing as a blues singer. Stay tuned for my attempt to piece together her mysterious life.

Jue Quon Tai: Pretty and Pantaletted

2010-07-13T23:09:00.000-07:00

SHE'S CHINESE AND PRETTY AND PANTALETTED

The pantalette gown has reached the Pacific Coast. The first person to wear it in Oregon was Jue Quon Tai, the belle of Portland's Chinatown and daughter of a wealthy Chinese merchant. Miss Jue has stage aspirations.

— Evening Public Ledger, March 24, 1915

In August I'll be picking up the threads of Jue Quon Tai's fascinating story, which I started telling nearly a year ago and then left dangling in midair. Since then, I've been contacted by members of her family and have gathered more information and material about her life. In the meantime you can refresh yourself about her 1915 vaudeville debut here.

DVD Spotlight: Wild Rose (1932)

2010-07-11T23:29:00.000-07:00

"Comrades in arms! Tell me that you love your country. Those who love China, raise your hands!"

If you find yourself irresistibly following the command of patriotic charmer Wang Renmei — shown above in a memorable scene from her debut film, Wild Rose (1932) — stop reading right now and order a copy of the recently released DVD of this silent classic. If you still need a little convincing, then read on.

Written and directed by Sun Yu, Wild Rose is an early example of the left-wing film movement that arose in response to Japan's aggression against China during the 1930s. According to the memoirs of Wang Renmei, Sun wrote the script in response to the September 18th Incident (1931) and subsequent occupation of Manchuria. Filming started at the end of the year and finished just as the Japanese army launched its attack on Shanghai on January 28th.

Knowing about these events definitely adds to the viewing of Wild Rose, but the heart of the film — a simple story of love and friendship — has a universal appeal which requires no familiarity with that turbulent era.

Korean Chinese actor Jin Yan plays an idealistic rich-kid artist who finds his muse in sassy village girl Wang Renmei. After she loses her father in a fire, he takes her to Shanghai, where they end up living in a tenement with his two buddies. Their makeshift family is broken apart by the trials of poverty, but they are finally reunited during a demonstration to save China.

Prior to her debut in Wild Rose, Wang Renmei was a member of the famous Ming Yue Song & Dance Troupe (founded by Li Jin-hui, the father of Chinese pop music). In 1931 after the group signed a contract with the Lianhua Film Company, Wang caught the eye of Sun Yu, who'd been scouting the group for new actresses. Sun wrote the script for Wild Rose with Wang in mind, and by her own admission, she essentially played herself in the film.

While Wang's ingenuous charm is enough to make her eminently watchable, she more than proves her acting chops by gracefully handling the film's many shifts from comedy to romance to drama.

She even performs a little slapstick in one of Wild Rose's funniest scenes, in which Jin Yan dresses her up and takes her home to meet his father. Unaccustomed to wearing heels and stockings, Wang makes a hilariously disastrous first impression.

It's easy to see why Sun Yu chose Wang Renmei as his own muse. She's the perfect embodiment of the vitality and optimism that characterized his films.

Known in his heyday as the "Poet Director" (and recognized nowadays as Chinese cinema's first auteur), Sun was also a meticulous craftsman who strove to raise the technical quality of Chinese filmmmaking to Hollywood standards. Wild Rose features the first crane shots to appear in a Chinese film. Wang Renmei recalls that Sun commissioned the construction of a "steel-framed, hand-operated camera crane over 13 metres high" to help him portray the crowded spaces of Shanghai's tenement buildings.

"Those kind of people don't know anything about art. They have no idea what you've achieved!"

All of these elements combine to make Wild Rose an indisputable classic of Chinese cinema. Until now the film has only been available on a poor quality VCD with untranslated intertitles and no music. But thanks to the efforts of Richard Meyer (Board President Emeritus of The San Francisco Silent Film Festival), Wild Rose can finally be seen in the manner it deserves.

Expertly translated English intertitles are presented alongside the original Chinese titles, and the film is accompanied by a beautiful score composed by pianist Donald Sosin, who has worked his music magic on such films as Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Donald's playing exhibits an extraordinary sensitivity that's perfectly attuned to the nuances and depths of Sun Yu's lyrical cinema.

The Wild Rose DVD can be ordered directly from The San Francisco Silent Film Festival. It's a must-buy not only for Chinese movie fans but also for connoisseurs of world cinema.

What... you're still not convinced? Then take a look — and listen — at the following clip.

Note: Translated excerpts from Wang Renmei's memoirs were published in Griffithiana 60/61 (October, 1997), which also includes several articles by and about Sun Yu.

Connie Chan: The Girl with Long Hair

2010-07-10T13:46:00.000-07:00

OK, folks! It's time to bring on Hong Kong's beloved ass-kicking, cross-dressing, opera-singing teen idol of the 1960s: the one and only Connie Chan.

Here's the soundtrack EP for Connie's 1967 film The Girl with Long Hair (長髮姑娘), in which she plays a cop assigned to capture the "Filial Thief", a righteous Robin Hood who steals from the rich who treat their parents poorly. The "Filial Thief" is played by opera star Lam Kar-sing.

You'll notice right away that these songs are more traditional than you might expect from the modish EP cover. Drawing on Cantonese opera and folk music rather than Western pop, they are an example of the grassroots influence in the early development of Cantopop.

Lam Kar-sing and Connie Chan, heroes on opposite sides of the law
* Photo comes from the Yau Leung collection 昨夜星光 (1940s-1960s)

雌雄鬥口曲
(play song)

掃蕩羣魔 ["Root out the Demons"]
(play song)

長髮姑娘賊孝子 ["The Girl with Long Hair and the Filial Thief"]
(play song)

Back cover of the EP with Chinese lyrics, plus another picture of Connie as she appears during the scene featuring the first song presented above:

When the King of Hollywood Met the Empress of Chinese Filmdom

2010-07-05T00:02:00.000-07:00

Trust Clark Gable to find a stunner even in far-away Hong Kong. That girl behind the Hollywood-like dark glasses is Li Li-hwa, top glamour girl of the Chinese movie world. The stars took a cruise together around Hong Kong island, where Gable is starring in "Soldier of Fortune". — Associated Press, December 3, 1954

I really wish I could have been a fly on the wall during this historic meeting between Clark Gable and Li Lihua.

According to gossip columnist Walter Winchell, "Clark Gable left a Large Torch burning in Hong Kong. She is Li Li Hwa... Translation: Plum Blossom" (Syracuse Herald-Journal, January 3, 1955). Was there any truth to the rumor?

A previous news item suggests otherwise, reporting that "his press agents had started a story that he may marry Li Li-Hwa" (Fergus Falls Daily Journal, December 15, 1954). Evidently, it was one of many engagement rumors prior to Clark's marriage (his fifth) to actress Kay Williams in 1955.

Then again, Clark was a notorious ladies man. Were there actual sparks — and even flames — when the King of Hollywood met the Empress of Chinese Filmdom? Only the fly on the wall knows...

Chen Man: Better than Andy on Adam

2010-07-02T22:33:00.000-07:00

A big thanks to dleedlee for turning me on to photographer Chen Man. I'd already seen, and dug, a lot of her fashion photography — especially her recent shoot for Esquire featuring actress Fan Bingbing as Che Guevara, Bruce Lee, Superman, and Elvis Presley — but never knew who it was behind the camera. After googling some of her other work, I'm really blown away by her trippy avant-pop sensibility.

Chen Man just had a show in Hong Kong, which I'm bummed about missing. But the good news is that a book of her photographs, Chen Man: Works 2003-2010, was recently published. I ordered a copy yesterday, and it's already on its way — hurray! I'll report back as soon as it arrives.

* The photos above were taken from Chen Man's blog. She also has a website.

Back with a Bang, Better than Bond

2010-06-30T22:00:00.000-07:00

Howdy, folks! It's good to be back. Here's a little bang bang to get us started again: two clips from Josephine Siao's 1967 action film The Professionals (金鷗).

First up are the opening credits — featuring Josephine dressed à la mode in a pirate's blouse and cravat and psychedelic print pants with white belt — followed by a scene in which she proves that she's way cooler than that British bloke... what was his name...

* Thanks to Todd at 4DK for the loaner! Available on VCD from YesAsia.com

Soft Film Summer Holiday

2010-06-06T11:30:00.000-07:00

I just want to let you all know that I'll be taking a break from my blog this month. I'm feeling a little burned out and need some downtime to recharge.

Also, Fanny Fan invited me to cruise the Maldives in her private yacht for the next three weeks. And there's no way I was going to tell her, "Sorry, I'd love to join you, but I'm busy blogging."

Have a great June!

* Photo courtesy of the always dependable Oldflames

Stardolls: The Fun Continues

2010-06-02T23:29:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I've been on a Stardoll bender the past ten days. Whew... talk about a lost weekend!

Here are a few more looks that I received in my inbox...

GoldenPigsy braved the ridicule of his friends to make these outfits for Fan Bingbing and Faye Wong. When he's not playing Stardoll, our porcine pal dishes out "brain slop" (which includes great reviews of bizarre Taiwanese wuxia movies) at his blog GoldenPigsy's Gilded Trough.

Here's Gong Li and Jay Chou, courtesy of Lucky Cat Zoë. Besides whiling away her time figuring out every possible combination of Jay Chou's impressive accessory collection, Zoë throws together a tasty chop suey of reggae, blues, and vintage Asian pop for her fabulous online radio show, Lucky Cat. If you've never had the pleasure of listening to one of her programs, get your ears over to Zoë's podcast archive. And then follow her on Blogger or Facebook, so you don't miss out on her next series of shows.

Finally, let me conclude this post with a double dose of cute and a solemn promise that I will never play with nor post a Stardoll ever again! ;p

eBay Find of the Week: Li Ching at Seventeen

2010-05-24T22:51:00.000-07:00

Li Ching fans will be tempted by this photo currently up for auction on eBay. It was probably taken in 1965, when the seventeen-year-old newcomer was awarded Best Actress at the 12th Asian Film Festival for her role in The Mermaid and subsequently dubbed the "Baby Queen" of Shaw Brothers.

Let's Play Stardolls!

2010-05-20T20:35:00.000-07:00

A few readers were game enough to submit some of their creations after wasting precious moments of their lives at Stardoll. First up are Maggie Cheung and Zhang Ziyi, dressed up courtesy of ewaffle, who specializes in observant and amusing fashion commentary at his blog Favorite Hong Kong Actresses. He's dressed Maggie (one of his "favorites") much as she might look in real life; while for Zhang Ziyi, he's imagined an outfit she might have worn if Zhang Yimou had made a Category III wuxia film — House of the Naked Killers, anyone?

Next on the runway are Faye Wong and Maggie, both dressed in a funky mix-and-match mode by sbk and dleedlee (respectively). sbk is an Asian movie fan and Holga mistress who loves to double expose at her blog Pictures, Thoughts and Comments. dleedlee is the unsung hero who trawls the World Wide Web for all the latest Chinese movie news and gossip, which he presents fresh daily on his blog Roast Pork Sliced from a Rusty Cleaver.

Finally, here's Bai Ling dressed by me. Although she is much maligned for her nip slips and funky outfits, I have a soft spot for kooky individualists like Miss Bai. I'm not exactly a fan (although I loved her in Dumplings), but I will always stand in her defense.

Anyway, many thanks to dleedlee, ewaffle, and sbk for sharing their outfits! If anyone else wants to join the fun, send me your looks and I'll post them next week.

Hong Kong Fashionistas: Sweet and Sour

2010-05-17T21:35:00.000-07:00

Don't you just love Wong Gam Oi's sweet bobby-soxer look, with silk jacket in lieu of a sweater.

Holy mother of funk! Liu Qi's knit leotard struts that fine line between sexy and nappy. Looking at it makes my eyes pucker with pleasure!

Hong Kong Fashionista: Patricia Lam Fung

2010-05-17T20:39:00.000-07:00

After dressing up Maggie Cheung, I feel inspired to post a few more fashion-related items. Here are three photos of the always stylish Patricia Lam Fung. I believe they originally appeared as glossy cardstock inserts in local newspapers. The cards could be cut out, and of course collected. They're not as fabulous as her color "Teen Fashion" cards but still quite nice.

Dressing up Maggie Cheung

2010-05-17T19:50:00.000-07:00

Don't ask me to explain, but somehow I ended up at this website called Stardoll, where you can dress up your favorite celebrities, including — to my surprise — Maggie Cheung. (Sorry, guys! Lo Lieh is not available for dressing up.)

To the left is my first attempt ever at this kind of thing. (Don't laugh!) If anyone else wants to play... lol... just email me your outfits and I'll post them. I'm certainly not advocating that any of you join Stardoll. Just use your computer's "print screen" function and then crop the resulting screen capture with whatever image editing software you happen to have.

If no one wants to join me, that's fine. I'm just as happy playing by myself!

Josephine Siao: Deadlier Than a Man

2010-05-15T21:02:00.000-07:00

Here's one final Fong Fong EP for you. This one's from her 1967 film Blood Stains the Iron Fist / 血染鐵魔掌 (aka Deadlier Than a Man). Just click on the link and the song should play automatically in your browser.

Coming up next time: Connie Chan!

沉醉春宵 ("Tonight is a Wonderful Night") (play song)

等待 ("Waiting") (play song)

* Here's the back cover of the EP with Chinese lyrics.

Lo Lieh: The Black Whirlwind

2010-05-14T23:20:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while I feel the need to inject a little testosterone into this blog before it becomes too soft. Hence, this fabulous pinup of Lo Lieh, my favorite of Shaw's mid-60s crop of young male stars.

I was first introduced to Lo in more recent fare such as Jackie Chan's Mr. Canton and Lady Rose (1989) and Glass Tears (2001), which I believe was his final film. He had the effortlessly commanding look of a veteran actor, and indeed he was: Lo starred in more than 70 films during his twenty-plus years at Shaw Brothers and was fairly active onscreen for the following 15 years, until his death in 2002.

Don't throw eggs at me if I confess that I've not yet seen some of his most signature films, like King Boxer (1972), Kidnap (1973), and Human Lanterns (1982). But I've always enjoyed him in the countless — and addictively watchable — wuxia films he made for Shaws.

Here's a piece about Lo from Southern Screen no. 131 (January 1969). You can view the original article here. The pinup comes from the same issue.

"Black Whirlwind" Lo Lieh

Perhaps the best Shaw actor around these days is Lo Lieh. Among his recent and current films are "Twelve Deadly Coins", "Dragon Swamp", "Swordswomen Three", and "The Singing Thief".

Not the debonair type, he nevertheless exudes masculinity with his rugged good looks and fine physique. Equally adept as hero or villain, he has established a strong screen image. Lo is nicknamed "The Black Whirlwind", a sobriquet as much due to his black costume and dark complexion as to his fiery temperament.

An Indonesian Chinese, Lo came to Hong Kong six years ago and joined the Southern Drama Group on completion of his studies. On graduation, he was signed up by Shaws. His debut took place in "The Butterfly Chalice", followed by "Tiger Boy". Since then he's made some 15 films, among them "Temple of the Red Lotus", "The Sword and the Lute", "The Golden Swallow" and "Trapeze Girl".

Noel Toy: Caught in the Act

2010-05-13T06:50:00.000-07:00

By chance I came across a fabulous series of photos of Noel Toy at Google's LIFE image archive. They were taken by Nina Leen, one of the magazine's first female photographers. The February 9th, 1942 issue of LIFE featured an article about the flourishing wartime nightclub scene in New York City. Noel Toy, who was fan dancing at Leon & Eddie's at the time, appeared in the piece, and these photos look like they might be outtakes from the assignment.

In the fall of 1941 Noel left San Francisco, where she had got her start at the Forbidden City, for a gig at Leon & Eddie's, which according to the LIFE article was the place to go for "sly ditties, fan dancers, smoky jokes and a general old-style, hot-spot atmosphere". She was so popular that she stayed at the club for half a year. Noel once told a reporter, "If I'd stayed there any longer, they would have had to reverse the name 'Leon' and made it 'Noel and Eddie's'."

Ad from Billboard (February 21, 1942)

Here's the caption about Noel that appeared in the LIFE article:

Chinese Fan Dancer
Noel Toy provides a traditional dash of nudity to Leon & Eddie's floor show. Miss Toy majored in French in college, never drinks, goes out with New York dramatic critics. She is named Noel because she was born on Christmas.

The mention of "New York dramatic critics" refers to George Jean Nathan, who was Noel's "little pet monkey" for a time (according to columnist Dorothy Kilgallen). I don't know how long the romance lasted, but Noel soon settled down with actor Carleton Young in 1945. They were together for nearly 50 years, until his death in 1994.

* Photographs courtesy of LIFE.com

One World under a Groove: Help Keep 60s Malaysian Pop Alive

2010-05-11T23:06:00.000-07:00

I have a soft spot for working artists and independent scholars, so when I read about Carl Hamm's project to document the "Pop Yeh-Yeh" movement of 1960s Malaysia, I couldn't help but open my heart (and wallet) to his labor of love. In a nutshell, Carl is raising money for a trip to Malaysia to interview the Malaysian pop stars of yesteryear and obtain permission to publish their songs in a CD compilation. You can learn more about this worthwhile venture in the video below and at his Kickstarter page, where you can pledge your support of as little as 5 bucks and as much as 100 dollars (or more).

I don't know Carl personally, but I'm impressed with his sincerity and determination — and most of all, his evident love and respect for this music and the artists who made it. All investment is a risk, but this project is one that I feel good about supporting. If you like the music in the video below and want to hear more, then consider making a donation to Carl Hamm's Pop Yeh Yeh Research Trip.

But do it soon: there are just three more days for Carl to reach his all-or-nothing goal!

Josephine Siao: The Golden Cat

2010-05-07T22:49:00.000-07:00

Here's the soundtrack EP for Josephine Siao's 1967 film The Golden Cat (飛賊金絲貓), another one of her sadly unavailable "Jane Bond" movies. The embedded mp3 players I was using before suddenly stopped working, so just click on the link and the song should play automatically in your browser.

Enjoy!

花嬌不似玉人媚 ("Love Potion No. 9") (play song)

結伴遊春 ("Summer Holiday") (play song)

狂歡舞曲 ("La La La Song") (play song)

* Here's the back cover of the EP with Chinese lyrics

Anna May Wong's Painted Knees

2010-05-06T23:59:00.000-07:00

Ever hear of painted knees? Nope? Me neither. Evidently it was quite the fashion accessory for flappers back in '25. Reminds me of the body painting of the sixties. I guess the flappers were the original mod girls.

The following headline and blurb accompanied this cute photo of Anna May, which appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle on August 1, 1925:

Painted Monkey Graces Knee of Almond-Eyed Film Star
Anna May Wong, Chinese screen actress, who has adopted the fad of having her knees painted. The much-discussed evolution monkey adorns Anna May's limbs.

Pretty cool, huh! However, I'm of the opinion that it's not Scopes' monkey who's climbing Anna May's calf — but mischievous Sun Wukong, the Monkey King!

Anna May and Her Automobiles

2010-05-03T23:38:00.000-07:00

Anna May Wong and her Moon "6-60" coupe (1926)

Anna May sure loved her cars. One of her first was a six-cylinder Willys-Knight, which she wrecked on a bridge trying to evade a motorcycle cop. Below is a little piece about a Buick she bought in 1924 — perhaps as a replacement for that Willys-Knight!

CLEVER LITTLE CHINESE MOVIE STAR
JOINS FAMILY OF BUICK OWNERS

Anna May Wong, the little Oriental film star who is taking a prominent part in the support of Douglas Fairbanks in "A Thief of Bagdad", spends her leisure hours in motoring.

The above picture of little Miss Wong was caught by the photographer while she was taking a "constitutional" in her favorite car, a Buick.

— San Antonio Express, June 22, 1924

P.S. I just found the following driving-related item about Anna May from The Oxnard Daily Courier (February 3, 1925). Seems like she was a bit of a daredevil!

Anna May Wong, a well known Chinese actress of Los Angeles, was arrested in Ventura Saturday night. She was driving at the rate of 35 miles an hour and will appear before Judge Meilandt tomorrow.

Scooter Girls: Essie Lin Chia and Shu Pei-Pei

2010-05-02T09:35:00.000-07:00

December calendar girls Essie Lin Chia (at the handlebars) and Shu Pei-Pei from Southern Screen's 1967 annual special, the extra thick issue that Shaw Brothers published every January to promote its talent and the year's coming attractions. These two bright young actresses would star together in Spring Blossoms (1968) and A Taste of Cold Steel (1970).

Movie Stars in the Cartoonist's Eye

2010-04-30T22:17:00.000-07:00

Check out these delightful caricatures by cartoonist P. L. Chang from the May 1934 issue of the Shanghai pictorial magazine Young Companion. For those of you who read Chinese, here are the captions. For those who can't (and that includes myself), I'll attempt to conjecture about some of the situations depicted.

Chen Yumei
Remember Chen Yumei, who battled Hu Die for the title of China's movie queen? Supposedly when rising star Hu Die left the Tianyi Film Company in 1928 and signed on with rival Mingxing, Tianyi boss Runje Shaw (the eldest of the Shaw Brothers) decided to take Chen Yumei — one of his actresses — as his second wife and make her the studio's new top star. In this way, it was rumored, the notoriously stingy Shaw wouldn't have to pay a high salary to his leading lady. Poor Chen Yumei... all she could do was dream of getting that crown, while sleeping with rats on a patched mattress.

Wang Renmei
"Wildcat" Wang Renmei had married Korean hunk (and Shanghai's "Emperor of Film") Jin Yan at the beginning of 1934. Jin Yan was an avid hunter and outdoorsman, and if this cartoon is accurate, then "Wildcat" Wang also shared his love of rifles and campfires.

Ai Xia
This cartoon shows Death coming to claim the rebellious modern girl Ai Xia, who committed suicide during the Lunar New Year of 1934. She was China's second female scriptwriter and had written and starred in the film A Woman of Today (1933) before her death. In a traqic turn of events, director Cai Chusheng — who was rumored to have had an affair with Ai and who blamed the Shanghai paparazzi for her death — made a film about her life called New Woman (1935), starring Ruan Lingyu as her fictional stand-in. The press responded to Cai's attack by hounding Ruan Lingyu, who ended up taking her own life shortly thereafter on March 15, International Women's Day. It clearly wasn't easy being a "modern woman" in modern Shanghai.

Li Minghui
A singer turned movie star, Li Minghui was the daughter of "Father of Mandopop" Li Jinhui. In 1934 she married one of China's most famous athletes, football star Lu Zhongen. To read more about Li Minghui, check out The Chinese Mirror, your one-stop shop for information (in English!) about early Chinese cinema.

Hu Die
Here's Queen Hu Die looking a little uptight. I don't know what's going on in the cartoon, but I wonder if it's a reference to Hu Die's suit against her fiance for the annulment of their long-standing engagement. She also demanded monetary compensation for being taken out of the marriage market for such a long time (I believe they were engaged for three years). According to one American newspaper account, Hu Die was "never loath to use her affairs of the heart as stepping stones for her career" (Salt Lake Tribune, March 1, 1936).

Hu Ping
All I can tell you about Hu Ping is that she played the mad woman in Song at Midnight (1937), an adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera that was later remade in Hong Kong during the 90s as The Phantom Lover, starring Leslie Cheung. I'm curious to know more about her, so please leave a comment if you have any information.

Xu Lai
My buddy Oldflames helped me identify this one and was kind enough to translate the caption, in which Xu Lai says, "I couldn't live another day if I can't dance." I guess she was known for her terpsichorean passion. And to think, I only knew her as the first Chinese actress to do a bathtub scene.

Ruan Lingyu
And last but not least is our beloved Ruan Lingyu, whose winning smile and lanky beauty is perfectly captured by cartoonist P. L. Chang.

I hope you've enjoyed these as much as I have!

Hong Kong Cowgirl: Connie Chan

2010-04-27T21:34:00.000-07:00

The one and only, pistol-twirling Chan Po Chu!

Buried Treasure: The Missing Shaw Films, Part 3

2010-04-26T23:42:00.000-07:00

Here's a final batch of unreleased Shaw movies that I'd love to see. According to my buddy Glenn, who visited the office of Celestial Pictures yesterday, it's up to IVL, who distributes the Shaw Brothers DVDs in Hong Kong (and around the world for those of us with all-region players), whether the remaining titles will be released. Like I've said before, I'm keeping my fingers crossed but not holding my breath. Now let's take a look at five more missing films:

Double Trouble (1968)
This movie was directed by Sit Kwan, who helmed the delightful Cheng Pei-pei musical Blue Skies (1967), but there's only one reason — and it's a big one — that I want to see this film: my favorite fatty, the irresistible Peng Peng. He gets top billing (after Margaret Hsing-hui) in this comedy about two bumbling fools trying to help a pretty young girl escape an arranged marriage to an old millionaire.

Three Swinging Girls (1968)
Essie Lin Chia (center), Jean Li Chih-an (right), and Irene Chen Yi-ling (left) play the three swinging girls who share an apartment — and more — in this romantic-revenge comedy by veteran director Chun Kim. None of the actresses were big stars, but that makes me all the more curious to see this film. I'm hoping it's one of those overlooked and unexpected gems that I so love.

Dear Murderer (1969)
In a dark twist on his "ladies' man" image, Peter Chen Ho plays a company man bent on moving up the corporate ladder by marrying his boss's daughter (Betty Ting Pei). When he finds out his former sweetheart (Pat Ting Hung), a typist at the firm, is pregnant and demanding that he do the right thing, he knocks her off. But soon after his honeymoon, he becomes haunted by her ghost.

Long Road to Freedom (1970)
A girls-in-prison movie directed by Inoue Umetsugu — need I say more? Essie Lin Chia, who plays the lead, is someone I've always liked whenever I've seen her. According to IMDB, she is of mixed Chinese and Portuguese heritage and was discovered by King Hu. And, are my eyes deceiving me — or does it say in her filmography that she starred with Jim Kelly in Black Samurai (1977)?! Yep, that's Essie in the movie's trailer at the 1:35 mark.

Mini Skirt Gang (1974)
Speaking of 'sploitation, here's one for all you fem doms and male subs. Directed by Lui Kei (who was the screen sweetheart of Cantonese teen idol Connie Chan before he started directing soft-core sex comedies at Shaws) and featuring exploitation queens Birte Tove and Chen Ping, Mini Skirt Gang — much to my surprise — was actually released on DVD last year... in Denmark! Check out the Celestial Pictures logo in the bottom right corner of this DVD cover. Proof positive perhaps that the remaining Shaw films are restored and ready to go for those willing to take a gamble on releasing them.

Scenes from Shanghai's Night Life

2010-04-24T14:04:00.000-07:00

Check out these wonderful postcards that went for auction on eBay recently. I'm not absolutely certain, but I think they're the work of cartoonist Friedrich Schiff, an Austrian Jew who lived in Shanghai during the 1930s and 40s.

Born in 1908 into an artistic family (his father was a painter, his mother an actress), Schiff studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.

In 1930, at the invitation of his cousin, Schiff visited Shanghai and fell in love with the city and its people. He ended up living there for 14 years, until 1947 when he moved to Buenos Aires.

Schiff had worked as a newspaper cartoonist in Vienna and continued this line of work in Shanghai. Soon he became famous for his amusing caricatures of the city's inhabitants, from beggars and expats to sailors and sing-song girls.

In 1934, he began a fruitful collaboration with photojournalist Ellen Thorbecke (who was the wife of the Dutch ambassador to China). Like Schiff, Thorbecke was also a Sinophile. Together they created a series of illustrated travel books about China's major cities: Peking Studies (1934), Shanghai (1938), and Hong Kong (1938). From what I've read (see the link below), the books are quite charming. Unfortunately, I don't know if I'll ever get a chance to peruse them, since they apparently fetch a pretty steep price in the rare book marketplace.

However, there is a compilation of Schiff's Shanghai sketches called Vicissitude of Old Shanghai (老上海浮世绘), which I am dying to get my hands on. I found it for sale at a Chinese online bookseller only to discover, after I had successfully managed (with the help of Google Translate) to set up an account, that the book is currently out of stock. Boo-hoo for me... but I'll track it down. I don't give up easily once I'm on the hunt!

Further Reading

Images from Maskee: A Shanghai Sketchbook by Schiff (ca. 1938)
"Records of Hong Kong: Arthur Hacker profiles two out-of-the-box 1930s Hong Kong artists"

Ketchup: A Boy and His Dog and Guitar

2010-04-20T22:43:00.000-07:00

"Carefree Loser" by Ketchup (play song)

Hong Kong folk singer Ketchup, aka Ken Tsoi, reminds me of a lone hawk quietly soaring above the glitz and schmaltz of the city's Cantopop scene.

I first became aware of Ketchup when I picked up a quirky little gem of an album called Freeplay (2004), featuring him, Chet Lam, and The Pancakes playing each other's songs in various combinations. The next time I came across Ketchup was on Rebecca Pan's My Dream My Way My Indie Music (2009), where he performed a fabulous cover of her 1967 hit "Solid Gold Rickshaw" — it was my favorite song on the album.

Two months ago in Hong Kong, I spotted his most recent CD His Master's Voice — thanks in no small part to the cool cover art, which features him and his dog in a clever reinvention of the iconic HMV logo.

Singing in English, Ketchup crafts a gently psychedelic sound that alternates between joie de vivre and melancholy like the warmth of the sun playing hide and seek on a cloudy day.

Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that His Master's Voice is available online, but you can get two of Ketchup's previous albums at HMV Hong Kong: Old Fashioned Blue Sky (2003) and In Love Again (2005).

*A great big thanks to Ketchup Ken for letting me post a song from his latest CD!

The Mysteries of Ruan Lingyu

2010-04-20T11:21:00.000-07:00

Ruan Lingyu's Puzzling Interlude at Owl Hollow

A couple of weeks ago I stumbled — like a proverbial Alice — across an astonishing series of paintings devoted to silent film star Ruan Lingyu. I was completely surprised and enchanted by these strange tableaux which featured an actress so familiar and beloved to me.

Compelled by Ruan's tragic life and sad beauty, artist Kamala Dolphin-Kingsley created this trinity of works that became the centerpiece of her 2005 exhibit Somnium at Seattle's Bluebottle Art Gallery. In her artist statement she wrote that the paintings are "a tribute of imagined dreams, of a different world free from the torments of humanity, to inhabit Ruan Lingyu's self-imposed sleep."

Ruan Lingyu's Tangible Delectation

Through the alchemy of Dolphin-Kingsley's art, Ruan's suicide becomes a shamanic passage into the underworld. Accompanied by a retinue of animal guides — the wise owl, all-seeing peacock, lucky goldfish, and mercurial octopus and salamander — she travels through the hollow of death to emerge as the eternal Goddess.

Ruan Lingyu and Octopus

To see more of Kamala Dolphin-Kingsley's amazing work, visit her website and Flickr page.

Hong Kong In The 60s: My Fantoms

2010-04-18T21:49:00.000-07:00

I can't help but feel some synchronicity in the arrival of these four new songs by Hong Kong In The 60s in the midst of the fallen stars, lost movies, old vinyl, and deteriorating photographs that have haunted Soft Film in the past few weeks.

The band's melancholy pop and meticulously crafted sonic landscapes are the perfect soundtrack for my mood of late. I'm really looking forward to the release of their nearly finished debut album, My Fantoms. In the meantime, give a listen to the fab tracks below, and go to Amazon or iTunes to download their first EP, Willow Pattern Songs.

Don't Look Back

2010-04-16T22:50:00.000-07:00

Haunted by Ruan Lingyu

2010-04-15T19:52:00.001-07:00

*Image courtesy of heman8

Josephine Siao: Cantopop Gunslinger

2010-04-13T21:03:00.000-07:00

I was a little surprised at the enthusiastic response to my recent post about Josephine Siao, but I really shouldn't — after all, Fong Fong is pretty cool, isn't she!

Here's the soundtrack EP for her 1967 film The Lady Killer (玉面女殺星), also known as Bat Girl. It's a real shame that this and Fong Fong's other "Jane Bond" films — the title given to Hong Kong's female action movies of the late 60s by critic Sam Ho — are not available on DVD. To give you a taste of what we're missing, check out this awesome flyer (front, back).

Well, at least we can listen to the soundtrack and imagine what the movie is like. First up is the killer B-side, followed by Cantonese variations of "The Wedding (La Novia)" and another well-known Western pop song, the name of which escapes me at the moment (help me out folks!). The English titles are my own unqualified translations. If I got them wrong, please let me know.

Finally, the gentleman singing with Fong Fong is supposedly Lui Kei, who stars with her in the film, but I can't say for sure that it's really him who is singing.

Happy listening!

夜總會之歌 ("Song of the Nightclub") (play song)

我愛蝙蝠女 ("I Love Batgirl") (play song)

蝙蝠俠影 ("Batgirl's Shadow") (play song)

*Here's the back cover of the EP with Chinese lyrics

Buried Treasure: The Missing Shaw Films, Part 2

2010-04-12T22:16:00.000-07:00

Here are five more missing Shaw films from the 760 titles that Celestial Pictures acquired from the studio in 2001. During a period of five years some 550 Shaw films were released on DVD at the wallet-emptying rate of 8 to 10 titles per month. Yet, when the releases suddenly stopped at the end of 2007, there were many eagerly awaited films that had not yet appeared. Fans were afraid that Celestial, not making the profit it expected, had decided to cut its losses.

Since then, rumors have occasionally surfaced about the remaining titles. Most recently, an unconfirmed announcement last summer predicted that DVD releases would start up again at the end of 2009. Alas, that never happened. Speculations about future releases are now greeted with the same skepticism as the boy who cried wolf. But the fact that these missing films are listed on the Celestial website, with synopses and sample stills, gives me hope that it's just a matter of time before something is done with them.

The Joy of Spring (1966)
I've always wanted to see this simply because it includes one of my favorite tomboys, Allyson Chang Yen (that's her in the white short shorts). But after recently learning that part of the film involves the characters visiting Shaw Brothers' Movie Town (where they meet Li Lihua, Li Ching, and a host of other Shaw stars playing themselves), I want to see it even more. Although this teen musical melodrama evidently features two suicide attempts, it was hyped in Southern Screen as "the sort of film guaranteed to give you a lift and make you feel great to be alive".

The Mating Season (1966)
Fanny Fan is reason enough to want this film. There she is under the hair dryer, along with perennial playboy Peter Chen Ho. This screwball romance stars Peter and Pat Ting Hung as the managers of rival advertising firms, who — no reward given for guessing this outcome — wind up getting married by the final reel.

Kiss and Kill (1967)
I haven't come across anything about this spy thriller, starring veteran bombshell Diana Chang Chung-wen, in my spotty collection of late 60s Southern Screen magazines, but the stills on Celestial's site are quite enough to hook me. Also featured are Shaw's resident "James Bond" — Paul Chang Chung — and sexy modster, Tina Chin Fei.

The Rainbow (1967)
I'm a sucker for melodramas, and if it involves a depressed, crippled girl (played here by Chin Ping) and psychologically revealing mise-en-scène (like that above), then sell me a front row seat (I'll also settle for a DVD, thank you). Directed by Lo Chen, one of my favorite Shaw directors, The Rainbow promises to be just as deliciously overheated as his Torrent of Desire (1969) and My Son (1970), two films that I absolutely love.

That Tender Age (1967)
"The Season of Youngsters 15 to 20 Years Old" — that's an awkwardly literal translation of the film's Chinese title but undoubtedly a precise description of its target audience. "Made for the young and played by the young", this musical melodrama features "uninhibited performances of the Twist, Pachanga, and the A-Go-Go" (SS). The film was directed by Tao Qin, whose superb melodrama My Dreamboat — available on DVD — was released the same year. (BTW, that's Lily Ho leading the youth train in the photo above.)

Hong Kong Cowgirl: Josephine Siao

2010-04-09T23:45:00.000-07:00

I'm very excited to announce that — thanks to my buddy Ral — I can start sharing some of my vintage Hong Kong vinyl here at Soft Film. First up is the soundtrack EP for Josephine Siao's 1967 "Jane Bond" thriller Lady in Pink (紅粉金剛), also known as The Female Agents.

Hope you like it!

"Gold Finger" (脂粉神鎗) (play song)

"For a Few Dollars More" (歡舞今宵) (play song)

*Here's the back cover of the EP with Chinese lyrics

Buried Treasure: The Missing Shaw Films, Part 1

2010-04-07T21:25:00.000-07:00

After I posted that tantalizing still from Dark Rendezvous in my recent entry about Tina Ti, my buddy Eddy sent me a link which reminded me about those last remaining Shaw Brothers films that have yet to be released on DVD. (Unfortunately, these do not include the titles which were not a part of Celestial Pictures' acquisition of the Shaw film library: namely the studio's Cantonese movies and black-and-white Mandarin movies from the late 50s and early 60s.)

Even though I cry in my soup every day about the injustice of not being able to see the early films of Patricia Lam Fung (who was known as the "Jewel of Shaw"), I console myself with the fact that Celestial is still sitting on a treasure chest of titles that are sure to be released sooner or later. It was rumored that they were going to be rolled out at the end of 2009. Obviously that didn't happen, but the release two weeks ago of Ann Hui's Shaw film Starry is the Night (1988) has got me crossing my fingers again.

Here are some of the Shaw movies that I'm hoping will pop out of the oven by year's end:

The Second Spring (1963)
This one was made by Lo Chen, one of Shaw's four "Ace" directors (the other three were Li Han-hsiang, Tao Qin, and Yueh Feng). As you can see, it stars the great Li Lihua. It also features Margaret Tu Chuan, who famously threw a fit at the 1963 Golden Horse Awards when she won Best Supporting Actress for her performance. The petulant Miss M evidently felt that her character was not a supporting role and that she therefore deserved Best Actress. Seems like the princess had her eye on the throne. But as I've mentioned here previously, the tale of little Miss Margaret did not have a happy ending.

The Black Forest (1964)
Shot on location in Taiwan, this big-budget romance between a lumberman and an aboriginal girl put Margaret Tu in the upper echelons of Shaw's galaxy of stars, alongside established movie queens Lin Dai and Betty Loh Tih. Also featured is Fanny Fan and a young Taiwanese star by the name of Chiao Chiao. These three ladies find themselves competing for the love of leading man Paul Chang Chung (who passed away just this last month).

Hong Kong, Manila, Singapore (1965)
This cosmopolitan confection was a co-production between Shaw Brothers and Filipino filmmaker Albert Joseph. Tao Qin, Shaw's master of musicals before Inoue Umetsugu took over the reins in the second half of the 60s, directed the Chinese version (starring Peter Chen Ho as a jet-setting womanizer), and Albert Joseph directed the Filipino version (with Néstor de Villa in the leading role). The three geographically discrete girlfriends were the same in both versions: Landi Chang, Angela Yu Chien, and Filipina actress Maggie dela Riva.

Squadron 77 (1965)
More than 40 years before The Message and Lust, Caution, Shaw Brothers made this spy thriller set in occupied Shanghai. Li Lihua stars as the woman who is thrust into the role of nationalist freedom fighter when she discovers that her husband is a collaborator with the Japanese.

Downhill They Ride (1966)
Filmed on location in the snow-capped mountains of Taiwan, this appears to be an early entry in Shaw's campaign to reboot the wuxia genre. Set in Northeast China during the early Republican Era, it stars Paul Chang Chung as a gun-toting knight-errant who helps defend Pat Ting Hung and her fellow villagers from a gang of bandits. In a contemporary review, it was disparagingly described as a hybrid of "Japanese samurai and American cowboy films... transplanted into the Chinese soil", but that actually sounds pretty good to me.

Stay tuned for more of Shaw's buried treasure!

A Legendary Woman: Tina Ti (1945-2010)

2010-04-05T22:00:00.000-07:00

A legendary woman (奇女子): that's what they called Tina. And lest you think the title was only on account of her magnanimous bosom, check out this article. Did you know that she worked as a spy for the People's Republic of China!

If the stories in the article are true, then Tina Ti indeed lived an extraordinary life. However, I must take task with the statement that she was the first Hong Kong actress to appear nude (in Li Han-hsiang's The Warlord).

To the best of my knowledge, that particular honor goes to the incomparable Fanny Fan. She bared her booty on the silver screen in The Golden Buddha (1966) — a full six years before Tina. Furthermore, in Diary of a Lady-Killer (1969) — which stars both bombshells — while Tina stands around with her arms modestly covering her breasts, it's Fanny who reveals her "points" in a steamy shower scene with Ivy Ling Po's husband Chin Han.

As for Tina's notorious scene in The Warlord (1972), according to her it was unscripted and director Li Han-hsiang filmed more than he promised — sneaking that shot of Tina's backside with a hidden camera. Contrast this with Fanny's scene in The Golden Buddha, where she stands totally naked with her back to the camera and then turns her head and throws a smile to the audience, as if to say: "Look at me, boys!"

Of course, none of this detracts from Tina's status as a sex goddess. But remember: before Tina, there was Fanny.

Even though I obviously don't worship at the Temple of Tina, I'm still a fan, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that, in the wake of her passing, Celestial Pictures will consider releasing the erotic thriller Dark Rendezvous (1969), which features her in a special cameo.

Rest in peace, Tina. Long live your legend!

Tina Ti and Ling Yun in Dark Rendezvous

2 x Wonfu

2010-04-02T21:17:00.000-07:00

OK, here's some infectious bubblegum pop from my new favorite band Wonfu to cleanse your palate after yesterday's death-filled post. The following songs from their 2007 album Dance of Youth are sure to put a smile on your face. Look out for their dog (and bandleader) Ringo, who makes an appearance in both videos.

"Everyday"

"Wei Wu"

Remembering Those Who've Left Us

2010-04-01T22:41:00.000-07:00

My most recent guest post at the Asian Art Museum blog is up now: check it out here. The museum is screening two movies this coming Sunday in tribute to Ruan Lingyu: A Spray of Plum Blossoms (1931) and Stanley Kwan's biopic Center Stage (1992), starring Maggie Cheung (seen above) as the legendary Shanghai film star.

It was the 75th anniversary of Ruan's suicide this past March 8 (which is also International Women's Day). I was meaning to post something in memory of her but was just too burned out after my Hong Kong trip.

Earlier this week, as I was watching the sad — yet beautiful — Center Stage and trying to articulate my thoughts and feelings, I heard the news that Jadin Wong, former Forbidden City dancer, and Tina Ti, Hong Kong movie bombshell, both passed away.

Jadin Wong (1913-2010)

Tina Ti (1945-2010)

I don't have the time right now to write a proper memorial, but they were both smart and savvy ladies who relied on their brains as well as their beauty. After she retired as an entertainer, Jadin Wong started a talent agency for Asian American actors. As for Tina Ti, she also became a businesswoman, establishing aerospace and satellite navigation companies in Mainland China.

The last two months also saw the passing of Shaw star Paul Chang Chung and director Inoue Umetsugu, who rebooted the Mandarin musical for Shaw Brothers in the late 60s.

Paul Chang Chung (1931-2010)

Inoue Umetsugu (1923-2010)

If you've followed the DVD releases of the Shaw film library these past years, then you probably know Paul Chang as one of Shaw's "James Bond"s. He appeared in the The Golden Buddha (1966) and Black Falcon (1967) but actually got his start at Shaw back in the late 50s. One of his early films, The Golden Trumpet (1961) by Tao Qin, was selected for the San Francisco International Film Festival.

Inoue Umetsugu's death didn't seem to get any coverage in the Hong Kong press, but it's undeniable that HK cinema would have been a little less bright without his madcap musicals. My buddy Glenn wrote a nice tribute to him.

Finally, I can't finish this post without paying my respect to the great Leslie Cheung, who took his life seven years ago today. Every time I see one of his films now, I can't help shedding a few tears for him. Rest in peace, Leslie.

Leslie Cheung (1956-2003)

Sorry for so much death in one post! Remember: be thankful and cherish each day.

* Photo of Jadin Wong courtesy of the eBay Archive; photo of Tina Ti courtesy of Oldflames; photo of Inoue Umetsugu courtesy of Frédéric Ambroisine.

The People's Art of Hong Kong

2010-03-26T23:39:00.000-07:00

One of the things I love to photograph when I'm wandering around Hong Kong is its down and dirty street art. Here are some examples I've found in Causeway Bay and Central over the past couple of years. I really love how the pieces — some by premeditation and some by chance — engage with their surroundings. Like unruly urchins, Hong Kong's street art offers a sly and subversive counterpoint to the oversize consumerist canvases that dominate the cityscape.

Hong Kong: City of Desire

2010-03-26T00:22:00.000-07:00

From Sex in the City: HONG KONG (FormAsia Books, 2010)

Some of you have asked how come I haven't posted anything yet about my recent trip to Hong Kong. Bear with me — I'm still working on it, but have been unusually exhausted and distracted since my return.

In the meantime, let me draw your attention a new book that I recently read about (and might pick up on my next trip): Sex in the City: HONG KONG, a coffee-table collection of the bold advertising displays that dominate the city's visual landscape.

Here are a few of my own examples, taken during this past and previous visits:

A 21st-century Shanghai beauty gracing the historic Pedder Building, home of — you guessed it — Shanghai Tang.

I've been told that folks work hard and play hard in this city of unfettered capitalism. Which is one reason (besides the pollution) that I will never live in Hong Kong. Sorry, you can keep your cherries! I like to work soft — and play soft.

What are you waiting for, guys? Delay No More! Sounds like "F*ck your mother" in Cantonese, but it's actually a brand name marketed by G.O.D. (Goods of Desire), a sort of Ikea for Hong Kong hipsters. Just do it — as you gaze upon slender Charlene Choi pimping the "body shaping" services of Marie France Bodyline beneath a fatty fried egg!

The Seven Sisters

2010-03-21T23:13:00.000-07:00

Don't mess with the Seven Daughters of Tsoi!

How's this for an unusual lineup: Patricia Lam Fung, Cantonese jade girl, just after her departure from Shaw Brothers; Amoy actress Xiao Juan, shortly before her reinvention as Ivy Ling Po, Shaw's queen of huangmei opera films; American-born Cantonese star Chow Kwun-ling, in one of her last movies; Ouyang Shafei, veteran actress of the Mandarin screen; and an 11-year-old Nancy Sit, years before she donned her first pair of go-go boots. The 1962 Cantonese film The Seven Sisters (aka The Seven Daughters of Tsoi aka Seven Playful Women) has them all.

The following synopsis appeared in Screenland No. 27 (December 1961). A scan of the original article is available here.

"THE SEVEN SISTERS"

Lap Tat Company's current comedy "The Seven Sisters" is an excellent piece of entertainment. But it also points out, quite seriously, to contemporary parents how to handle the love and marriages of their grown-up daughters.

The seven sisters are all daughters of Au-yang Sha-fei. The eldest Chau Kwan-ling is efficient business-wise. She has been taking care of the family business since her father died, never realizing that she is getting older and older, and not yet married. The second sister Mei Lan is more lucky; she is ready to marry a musician. The third sister Patricia Lam Fung is too shy and modest, trying all the time to match her eldest sister and Soo Siu-tong, who is secretly in love with her. The fourth sister, an expert on love, plays with fire and is almost burned. The fifth sister is not grown-up yet but trying all the time to convince others that she has. The sixth and the seventh, fortunately, are still too young to cause trouble, or the problem would be even more complicated.

Here are seven more lobby cards. I love the pointing motif that runs throughout the set.

I don't know whether to feel envious or sorry for the hapless fellows who marry into this matriarchal clan!

Cruising with Lily

2010-03-14T22:49:00.000-07:00

Va-va-vroom! I wouldn't mind being Lily Ho's back seat rider.

I'm not sure when this was taken. Was it during the filming of Tropicana Interlude? Lily sure looks smart (and sexy) in her nautical get-up.

A very special thanks to Gilbert Jong for letting me post this fab photo — just one of countless treasures from his amazing collection.

eBay Bargain of the Week: Elegant Loh Tih

2010-03-08T20:59:00.000-08:00

I absolutely adore this 1962 World Today magazine cover featuring the lovely Betty Loh Tih. For me, this photo epitomizes her cool beauty and effortless elegance. But since I'm trying to wean myself from my eBay habit, I'm going to pass this bargain along to you, my dear readers. It can be yours (cover only) for a total of ten USD (includes shipping). Buy it now before it's too late! More fab covers for five bucks a pop.

Soft Film Video Jukebox: Wonfu

2010-03-05T22:14:00.000-08:00

One of the shopping highlights of my recent Hong Kong trip was coming across the new CD by Wonfu. I first heard about them several years ago on the sadly defunct Chinese indie music blog, My Randomness, but never got around to buying any of their albums.

However, thanks to the latest issue of Giant Robot, which I brought along to read on the plane, I was reintroduced to this wonderful Taiwanese band. Evidently, they visited the U.S. last October as part of a cultural exchange program sponsored by the government of Taiwan. Needless to say that I'm bummed about missing their shows in Berkeley and San Francisco.

So when I saw their new CD, Wonfu Loves You, at a shop in Hong Kong, I snatched it right up. Their music is pure pop delight and — as they say on their MySpace page — sounds like a smiling face.

Here's one of my favorite songs from the album: "印倫情人" (Indian Lover).

Shanghai: Through a Lens Darkly

2010-03-05T20:43:00.000-08:00

I just got back from Hong Kong a few days ago and will be reporting about my trip soon. But in the meantime, check out my new post over at the Asian Art Museum blog about Zhang Yimou's Shanghai Triad (1995) and Xie Jin's Two Stage Sisters (1964).