Edison Chen and the Poo Patrol
Disgraced Sex Scandal survivor (and former Hong Kong star) Edison Chen got another honor this week – someone threw a bucket of poo at him! Throwing poo seems to be the weapon of choice in China, as long ago Vicki Zhao Wei had poo thrown at her for wearing clothes made out of the Japanese flag. But all Edison Chen did was bang a lot of Hong Kong celebrities and “accidentally” have the pictures leak all over the internet. I guess this guy was an obsessed Twins fan. Or maybe and obsessed Cecilia Cheung fan. Or he was upset because there should have been more photos. In any event, expect Hong Kong celebrities to be packing umbrellas for a while until the rain of poo comes to an end.More info on Edison Chen scandals
This is not poo. Or is it Rainbow Brite's poo? Edison Chen, you sex maniac!
Categories: Misc News, Movie News Tags: Edison Chen, Hong Kong
Edison Chen Death Threat!
The latest twist in the Edison Chan controversy arrives as someone sends a death threat for Edison to a cable station! A cable station? Regardless, Chen had received two death threats last year when the controversy first broke, but this new one is being treated more seriously for reasons unknown.Firesheepy on Asian Fanatics has translated one of the articles:
Just when the ‘in bed incident’ male lead Edison Chen announced that he was to have a comeback, he received a warning stating that he was ‘chased and killed worldwide’ yesterday! Somebody warn him that if he did not quit the entertainment circle before April 1st, he would be chased and killed worldwide! This incident caused his plans to face mortality, actually he already received death phone threats a year ago, as for the female leads of the in-bed incident, they chose not to answer!
The ‘in-bed incident’ was actually getting to the point of exposure, and there was a big progress in the plot yesterday, Edison received a warning that he would be ‘chased and killed worldwide’! Cable Tv received a warning letter addressed to Edison Chen yesterday afternoon, and warned that he would be dealt with if he did not stop all his function by April! Edison, who just announced his big plans, not only had obstacles to his comeback, but his personal safety was also threatened.
Asiaone is claiming he was threatened with a gold bullet!
Edison Chen threatened with bullet
Hong Kong sex scandal star Edison Chen has been threatened with a gold-coloured bullet, 13 days after making a public appearance in Singapore.
The bullet, accompanied by a warning letter written in English, was sent earlier today to Hong Kong television station, Cable TV.
It specifically warned Edison not to take part in any promotional activities after April 4, reported Shin Min Daily News.
The sender also wanted him to disappear forever.
People take their Hong Kong celebrities seriously!
Categories: Misc News, Movie News Tags: Edison Chen, Hong Kong
Gillian Cheung tv interview snippits
Gillian Cheung did an interview this week that will air Saturday about the photo scandal. We have to wait until the weekend to get the whole interview, but little bits have been leaked out. Clips posted online keep getting taken down due to copyright claims, so it is hard to find anything still up. There is some video of the pre-interview stuff up here (in Cantonese) Thus, we have these stories of what she supposedly says!HONG KONG – HONG Kong pop star Gillian Chung contemplated suicide after explicit photos of her with another famous singer were plastered on the Internet last year, a report said on Friday.
Chung, half of Canto-pop duo Twins, said she was devastated when photos of her with actor Edison Chen appeared on the Web, the South China Morning Post reported.
Chung said the idea of killing herself was only fleeting, the newspaper said. ‘If I died, all my problems will be passed on to the people around me, the people who care about me,’ she said in a television interview due to be screened on Saturday, according to the Post.
Chung was one of several starlets pictured in compromising positions with Chen, who has told a court the images were posted on the Web after his computer was stolen.
Chung said she lost all her dignity when the photos were released. ‘There’s no privacy any more,’ she was quoted as saying.
‘I showed everything to everyone, and no matter what I do I’ll get the blame. But dignity is the most important.’ Images from Chung’s tearful interview were plastered across the front pages of Friday’s newspapers in celebrity-obsessed but conservative Hong Kong, where the photos caused a storm when they appeared in February last year.
….
‘I blame myself for doing such a foolish thing,’ said Chung, who has kept a low profile over the past year but is hoping to make a comeback in a high-profile ad campaign next week, the report said.
cri.cn
Gillian Cheung was all tears and full of remorse when she first spoke out about the sex photo scandal publicly during an exclusive interview with TVB host Stephan Chan in Hong Kong on Thursday night.
Snippets of the recording and script from the hour long interview were soon circulated via various media outlets and caused a big splash by early this morning.
…..
As much as she has endured, the actress says she harbours no ill feeling for her ex, Edison Chan, but can not figure out why he did not apologize to her in person after the scandal broke. That’s also what Cecilia Cheung, another victim of the scandal, pointed out in a recent interview.
The actress also confessed she was deeply in love with Edison Chan and “didn’t want to lose it”. That answers why she took such intimate photos with him. However, Cheung bluntly says she does not want to see him again, adding “it is over”.
The actress stressed dignity is the most important thing for her.
During the interview, they also touched upon her favourite film making experience. That is ‘Beyond Our Ken’, a 2004 Hong Kong film starring Gillian Cheung and Daniel Wu.
The story centres on Ching (Gillian Chung), who is dumped by her playboy boyfriend Ken (Daniel Wu). After dumping her, Ken allegedly uploads nude photos of Ching to a website. Ken apparently has a hobby of taking nude pictures of his girlfriends.
Cheung finds it has so many similarities with her real life.
…..
Charlene Choi, the ‘Twins’ partner, also said in response to the scandal that she was quite happy to see Gillian now stand up to face herself and the public.
Source: The title and content are directly translated from The Sun
Translated by travelbug @ http://asianfanatics.netBlindly in love to have pictures taken, Gillian Chung thought of committing suicide
More ripples from artists sex photo scandal, after Cecilia Cheung’s i-CABLE interview, in which she denounced Edison Chen as ‘shedding crocodile tears’, another participant Gillian Chung (Ah Gil), appeared yesterday for an exclusive interview with TVB to talk about her true feelings. Ah Gil with tears streaming down her face, admitted that she agreed to the pictures because she was afraid of losing Edison and loved him blindly. She revealed that after the pictures were taken she was in a constant state of anxiety, the exposed pictures were ‘hastening her death’, because she felt desperate about her future, she thought about committing suicide. Because she did not want to leave her problems and pain to loved ones and friends, she finally managed to pull herself back from brink of death. About her old lover Edison, Ah Gil complained that he did not even call to apologize and outrightly said she never wants to see him again.
Categories: Movie News Tags: Edison Chen, Gillian Chung, Hong Kong
Part 2 of Cecilia Cheung’s interview pulled mysteriousy, Gillian Chung to be interviewed Saturday
So after the first part of Cecilia Cheung’s interview aired, i-CABLE mysteriously decided to pull part 2! What in the world is going on there? No one is commenting, leading to speculation by the bucket full.
i-CABLE calls off broadcast of Cecilia Cheung’s part two interview
Hong Kong i-Cable Entertainment News Channel sent out a press release on Mar 2 to all media, stating that the second part of Cecilia Cheung’s interview will not be broadcasted.
The Channel said, “As some media resorted to different methods and tricks to probe, dig into and even speculate on the content of the second half of the interview, bringing inconvenience to interviewee Cecilia Cheung and the Channel’s staff, we have decided not to broadcast the second half of the interview.”
Their excuse is one of the lamest I have ever seen. So I guess the Edison Chan scandal will continue with more strange things going on.
Meanwhile in Ah Gil land, Gillian Chung will appear on Stephen Chan’s Be My Guest this weekend to discuss the photo scandal. I guess she feels she can due interviews now that Cecilia has started the ball rolling. This one might be interesting as well, because Gillian got the blunt of the blame on the girls’ side due to her company’s horrible mismanagement of the issue. Her “young and naive” speech has been mocked mercilessly for over a year.
Source- AsianFanatics.net
Gillian Chung during a new photoshoot that will hopefully help relaunch her career
Categories: Movie News Tags: Cecilia Cheung Pak-Chi, Edison Chen, Gillian Chung, Hong Kong
More fun Edison Chen stories!
Edison Chen is the gift that keeps on giving if you like crazy dramas. We got three more stories, including more information on what he said at his hearing, and some news of two of the affected girls, Cecilia Cheung and Gillian Chung:
The Hong Kong pop star at the centre of a sex photos scandal says some of those photos were taken by the women who had sex with him.
Edison Chen was in court today in Vancouver, testifying in a case in which computer technician Sze Ho-chun, 23, was accused of distributing the photos of Chen performing sex acts with well-known starlets.
While Chen admitted that most of the 328 photos submitted in court today were taken by him, he claimed 40 of them were taken by the women in the photos.
Chen was ordered by the judge to answer a question raised by the defendent’s lawyer to identify the four women in the string of sex photos. The four names are: Cecilia Pak-Chi Cheung, Gillian Yan-Tung Chung, Bo Bo Man-Wun Chan and Rachel Sze-Wing Ngan.
In the court today, Chen once refused to identify the women, saying they have suffered enough. But the judge insisted that he must answer the question.
The fact that the women took some of the photos is apparently a big deal for some reason, probably due to the fact many people still believe women can’t do anything sexual and are always the victims of evil men. Whatever. These girls knew what was going on and was cool with it. It should not be a career destroying event, and you would think a country with 1.4 billion people would be aware of sex. Still, things are better than if this happened in India!
Cecilia Cheung breaks down and reveals inside story of Edison Chen
Source: The title and content are directly translated from Oriental Daily
Translated by travelbug @ http://asianfanatics.netConfirmed as one of the victims involved in a sex photos scandal, yesterday Cecilia Cheung accepted an interview for the first time since the incident. According to sources, after a year of silence, Cecilia made a declaration of love to her husband; when she talked about her family, her emotions stirred and she cried.
Since the sex photos scandal happened, Cecilia has never spoken in response to this incident. However, yesterday evening in a low profile manner, Cecilia went to Tsuen Wan for an exclusive interview with i-CABLE Entertainment News anchorman and good friend Au Wing Kyun, she stayed there for a long time before leaving quietly.
A year of self punishment
It was learned that during the interview Cecilia poured out her feelings, she even replied when asked sensitive topics. Besides talking about her career, family, father-in-law Tse Yin, mother-in-law Deborah Lai and husband Nicholas Tse, she also mentioned her love connection with Edison Chen. When Cecilia talked about her love relationships, she said someone was dishonest, unreliable, pretended to be a good person, caused the female artists a lot of distress, she also pointed out that someone lied, the content was shocking.Referring to the sex photos incident, Cecilia said: “I accepted this mistake, I self imprisoned, this year I haven’t seen anyone.” About her family’s support, she wanted to thank her father and mother-in-law, and also gave special thanks to her husband Nicholas for his support, she said: “A good husband like him is impossible to find!” Immediately she couldn’t help crying.
It was understood that during the interview, Cecilia thanked Tse Yin and Deborah for their love and also praised them as ‘over 100 points’ good father and mother-in-law. In addition, Cecilia made a declaration of love to her husband, showing her deep feelings; about her career, she said if there is a good script, she will make a comeback to film. But if she becomes pregnant, then the baby is first priority. When she mentioned her family, Cecilia couldn’t suppress her emotions and started crying.
In fact, Cecilia was interviewed secretly and i-CABLE was very low-key because it was during the sensitive period of Edison’s court hearing. It was known that i-CABLE invited a team of lawyers to filter out the content before airing, also the company was very nervous about this interview and only a few people knew of it.
Nicholas casually said no comment
As for Cecilia’s husband Nicholas, yesterday he appeared relaxed in Chai Wan. Around 3pm, Nicholas and his assistant left his home and went by car to Chai Wan for work. When Nicholas got off his car, he was relaxed, when asked about Edison confirming Cecilia as one of the victims, he put his hand on the reporter’s shoulder and said smilingly: “(We’ll) talk about this later.” Then he went with his assistant to the photo studio. Nicholas stayed for an hour before leaving, when he left he put one hand in his pocket, in this cool pose he let the reporters take as many pictures as they wanted, then he waved goodbye to the media, he appeared friendly and not affected by the incident. Asked how Cecilia is feeling at the moment, Nicholas did not respond, then left in his manager Mani Fok’s car and headed for EEG in Wanchai.About Edison hoping the victims can lead a normal life as soon as possible, yesterday when Eric Tsang attended an event, he said: “I can see he thinks for the good of the women involved, I will support him, if there is a suitable role I’ll ask him.”
Crienglish has more news of Gillian Chung pretty much committed to having a comeback:
Unaffected Gillian Chung Plans Comeback after Edison’s Hearing
Hong Kong singer-actress Gillian Chung insists on work resumption beginning this March, despite the daunting news that she was confirmed as one of the victims implicated in the Edison Chan’s sex-photo scandal.
When Gillian Chung finally pulled herself together for a promising comeback this March, the confirmation news would actually be so intimidating, however, the actress, courageous enough, decides to face the music and move on along the way.
The singer, reeling from the nude photo scandal since the beginning last year, largely remained out of the public attention since the scandal broke.
But don’t call it a comeback, she’s been here for years! Sorry, I love that joke.
More Edison here, here, here, here, here, and here
Categories: Misc News, Movie News Tags: Bobo Chan Man-Yu, Cecilia Cheung Pak-Chi, Edison Chen, Gillian Chung, Hong Kong
Jane Bond Films – Hong Kong Cinema That Rules!
The best part of the internet is running across films you never knew existed and suddenly have to have. So in a change of pace, we’ll be naming a bunch of films, some of which I have, some of which I am in search of, and some of which no longer exist or are just interesting to look at their poster art. To start with, we are going to go over some Jane Bond films, which is a subgenre from Cantonese cinema which mixes spies with costumed women who kick lots of men’s butts. All of these films look very interesting. The Jane Bond films are a product of the times, when female roles dominated Chinese cinema. There was a period when it was thought that men couldn’t lead movies because most of the theater audience was women. As James Bond influences came in, the Jane Bond films became the Eurospy of Asia. They were also the precursors to the Girls with Guns films that ran rampant in the late 80s and early 90s. As there now seems to be a mini-resurgence across Asia for female action (Chocolate, High Kick Girl, Coweb) maybe Jane Bond will become a grandmother!
There are two main actresses you have to know if you want to watch Jane Bond films: Connie Chan Po-Chu and Josephine Siao Fong-Fong
Connie Chan Po-Chu is the daughter of two Cantonese Opera stars – Chan Fei Nung and Kung Fan Hung. She learned Cantonese Opera from her parents Peking Opera under master Fen Ju Hua and Cantonese Superstar Yam Kim Fai. This made her adept at both the Southern and Northern styles of martial arts and operas. She was one of the most popular actresses in the sixties with an impressive output, 32 films in 1967 alone. One of her nicknames was Movie Princess. She later retired from films in 1974. Go to the fan site Connie Chan Movie Fan Princess for more information than you can shake
Connie Chan’s main contemporary (the only other to approach her in star power) Josephine Siao Fong-Fong. She first appeared in 1954 and two years later won the Best Child Actor award for Orphan Girl. Like Connie Chan, she also had an impressive output in the 1960s, but in 1969 she slowed down her acting to focus on education and marriage (to actor Charlie Chin, which lasted three months – she later remarried and had children) She later appeared on TV as the bumbling plain Jane character Lam Ah Shun in 1977, followed by three films (one of them was Plain Jane to the Rescue, directed by a young John Woo). She is probably best known to fans from the 1990s for her parts as Fong Sai Yuk’s mother in the Fong Sai Yuk films.
More information on some of these films (and others) can be found in the Why SoftFilm Drives Me Crazy post and the SoftFilm blog.
There was even a film festival in Hong Kong featuring the Jane Bond genre, and that is where we will start out journey…
The Story of Wong Ang the Heroine
Director : Yam Pang-nin
Scr: Cheng Kang
Cast: Yu So-chau, Wu Lai-chu, Yam Yin
1960 B&W D Beta Cantonese 84mins
The pulp fiction series Oriole, the Flying Heroine, which originated in Shanghai in the 1940s and remained popular in Hong Kong in the 1960s, was a major influence on the Jane Bond films, its titled heroine a precursor of the quick-witted, fast-fisted, and good-hearted Jane. The Story of Wong Ang the Heroine, adapted from the series before Hollywood’s James Bond tidal wave, provides interesting study on the impact of the 007 craze on Hong Kong popular culture.
The modern film Silver Hawk (with Michelle Yeoh) also has an origin with these stories, based on the 1940′s comics of masked heroine Huang Ying (Wong Ngang)
Black Rose
Dir: Chor Yuen
Scr: Ho Pik-kin
Cast: Nam Hung, Connie Chan Po-chu, Patrick Tse Yin
1965 B&W Beta SP Cantonese 94min
Director Chor Yuen had always been eager and also skillful in incorporating Western influence in his work, and his introduction of James Bond elements into Black Rose likely kickstarted the Jane Bond genre. This was in turn thrown into the mix with the Cantonese cinema’s penchant for combining the relatively new Jade Girl phenomenon of Chinese cinema with the longtime tradition of xia dao, a Robin Hood-like figure who steals from the rich and gives to the poor. The film was a box-office success, spurning imitators that quickly materialized into a genre.
Reviewed on TarsTarkas.NET here
The classic of the genre, which had only one true sequel, Spy with My Face. There were many spinoffs involving the character that came along much later. A great retrospective of Black Rose and its sequels/spinoffs at The Illuminated Lantern
Spy with My Face
Dir: Chor Yuen
Scr: Poon Fan
Cast: Nam Hung, Patrick Tse Yin, Connie Chan Po-chu
1966 B&W + Colour D Beta Cantonese 102min
This sequel to Black Rose further sets the Jane Bond genre on its course. Director Chor Yuen, emboldened by the success of the original, takes the Bond influence up a notch. The arch villain is not just a crooked businessman, but the head of a powerful crime syndicate, lording over an army of thugs while headquartered in a secret hideout equipped with an endless array of high/low-tech devices. And Connie Chan Po-chu, with her embodiment of both the fairy Jade Girl and the fierce fighting woman, eclipses Nam Hung as the film’s true star, establishing herself as the Jane Bond prototype.
Reviewed on TarsTarkas.NET here
92 the Legendary la Rose Noire
Dir / Scr: Jeff Lau
Cast: Wong Wan-sze, Fung Bo-bo, Leung Ka-fai, Maggie Siu, Teresa Mo
1992 Colour 35mm Cantonese Chi&Eng Subtitles 95min
92 the Legendary la Rose Noire is not only a surprise hit when it was released in 1992 but also a phenomenon that defined its time. The film’s irreverent drama and director Jeff Lau’s genius in taking audience imagination through time and space captured the spirit of early 1990s Hong Kong and the then colony’s awkward awareness of its own history. And the way the film invests its dramatic capital on and draws mythical power from the character Black Rose is an illustration of how much the Jane Bond figure embodies the unique qualities that make Hong Kong what it was and what it is.
Three entries in the saga: 92 the Legendary la Rose Noire; Rose, Rose, I Love You; and Legendary La Rose Noire II (AKA Black Rose II) And the Twins movie Protege de la Rose Noire is another attempt to add on to the Black Rose mythos.
Overview in the Illuminated Lantern Entry listed above. I have recently gotten a copy of this for review, so hopefully it will show up here sometime this year.
The Dark Heroine Muk Lan-fa
Dir: Law Chi
Scr: Lau Ling-fung
Cast: Suet Nei, Kenneth Tsang Kong, Sek Kin
1966 B&W D.Beta Cantonese 105min
The Dark Heroine Muk Lan-fa is a popular series of pulp fiction in the 1960s. Written by the prolific martial arts author Ni Kuang, it is in many ways an update of the Shanghai originated Oriole, the Flying Heroine, more suited for the emerging metropolis that was Hong Kong. This cinematic update infuses Ni’s colourful plots with again Bond elements, from spy characters to secret hideouts to death-ray watches. The casting of Suet Nei instead of the obligatory Connie Chan Po-chu and Josephine Siao as the action woman in black tights represents a validation of the Jane Bond formula, which is proven to work here without the iconic superstars.
There are three films in the Dark Heroine series: The Dark Heroine Muk Lan-fa, The Dark Heroine Shattered the Black Dragon Gang, and Lady in Black Cracks the Gate of Hell. All three are available unsubtitled on VCD.
A great overview can be found at the Lucha Diaries site.
The Golden Buddha
Dir: Lo Wei
Scr: Shi Wei
Cast: Jeanette Lin Tsui, Paul Chang Chung, Lo Wei
1966 Colour D Beta Mandarin Chi & Eng Subtitles 102min
The Golden Buddha is a prime example of Shaw Brothers’ action offensive in the mid-1960s, with generous production budgets that allowed for explosive action sequences and locations filming in Thailand to add a touch of international exoticism. Bond influence is evident in every turn, but the film’s unbridled machismo differs greatly from the women-centered sensibilities of Spy with My Face, which was released the same year on the Cantonese front.
A shaw brother entry and an answer to the James Bond films, complete with crazy villains, evil lairs, and gadgets. I got a copy of this one and hopefully will be able to go over it soon.
The Precious Mirror (aka The Maiden Thief)
Dir: Chor Yuen
Scr: Szeto On
Cast: Josephine Siao, Lui Kay, Leung Sing-po, Lee Hong-kum
1967 B&W D Beta Cantonese 94min
Jane Bonds almost always lead comfortable middle-class lifestyles, complete with all the Westernized trimmings. How do they pay for it? The answer is simple: by stealing. Because of Hong Kong cinema’s mandate to avoid politics, the Jane Bond film often takes on the flavour of jewel theft films, its moral ambiguity justified by the heroine’s Robin Hood-like exploits. The Precious Mirror is one of the genre’s better films, largely due to director Chor Yuen’s delicate touch in blending comedy with action and Josephine Siao’s wonderfully natural performance.
The Mysterious Sisters (aka Two Sisters Who Steal)
Dir: Ng Wui
Scr: Man Min
Cast: Suet Nei, Woo Fung, Fung Bo-bo, Sek Kin
1969 Colour 16mm Cantonese 97min
As the Jane Bond films evolved, the genre became less Bond-like, cutting down on the staging of fights and the flaunting of secret weapons. The heroine remained an action figure, complete with quick wits and agile prowess, but the stories increasingly took on the jewel theft plot. The Mysterious Sisters is especially noteworthy, in director Ng Wui rendering of the theft in the classic French film Rififi, with long stretches of action that unfold without dialogue.
Temptress of a Thousand Faces
Dir: Chung Chang-hwa
Scr: Sung Kim
Cast: Tina Chin Fei, Pat Ting Hung, Chen Liang
1969 Colour D Beta Mandarin Chi & Eng Subtitles 77min
The Mandarin cinema’s action offensive in the mid-1960s successfully captured the fancy of male audience and its spy flicks are more male-oriented than their Cantonese counterparts. The Jane Bond figure of Temptress of a Thousand Faces is a cop with all the requisite trimmings, yet she is regularly paraded in situations that highlight actress Tina Chin Fei’s sexuality, the most obvious of which is when she has to climb down the side of a 17-storey high-rise, wearing a revealing miniskirt.
Another film with a great review at Lucha Diaries. I have a copy as well that is on my ever-increasing pile of films to watch.
Other Films:
She Is Our Senior
1967
Director: Chan Lit-ban
Cast: Connie Chan, Kenneth Tsang Kong, Law Oi-seung
Another good review from Todd of the Lucha Diaries, this time at Connie Chan Fan Movie Princess site.
Lady Black Cat (1966) and Lady Black Cat Strikes Again (1967)
Despite being sequels, the films feature different characters even though the plot follows roughly the same progression and most of the actors are the same. Lady Black Cat steals from the rich and helps the poor, all while being a swinging 1960′s Chinese girl.
Hey, let’s link to our review of Lady Black Cat, because I am all about self-pimpage!
The Blonde Hair Monster (1962)
Director: Wong Fung
Cast: Connie Chan, Yu So-chow, Tso Tat-wah, Sek Kin
Great review with lots of pictures at Connie Chan: Movie-Fan Princess
The Lady Killer aka The Batgirl
Starring Josephine Siao
Pictures at the Soft Film blog here and here. Unfortunately, this film is believed lost.
Blue Falcon
1968
Starring Josephine Siao
Another lost film, pictures from the webmaster of Soft Film are at the Die, Danger Die, Die, Kill blog.
Lady Bond aka Chivalrous Girl
1966
starring: Connie Chan
The Lady Bond series is the answer to James Bond. None of the films are available on DVD as of this writing.
There are three followups in this series
The Return of Lady Bond gives us this song:
The Flying Killer
Directed by Mok Hon-si
Starring Connie Chan Po-chu, Lydia Shum Din-ha and Sek Kin
Another entry in the Lady Bond series. Review
Lady in Distress: The Invincible Fighter (1967)
director Mok Hong-See
starring Connie Chan Po-Chu, Lui Kei, Tam Bing-Man, Sek Kin, Yue Ming
Another film in the Lady Bond series
SoftFilm let’s us know about a few more films starring So Ching
So Ching made four Jane Bond films for Mingxing film company:
Gold Button (1966), The Golden Gun (1966), The White Swan (1967), and Pink Bomb (1967)
All four films co-starred Cantonese cinema’s all-purpose leading man Wu Fung, Fanny Fan (who had just reignited her sex bomb image in Shaw Brothers’ The Golden Buddha), and Cathay hunk Roy Chiao Hung (who was branching out into Cantonese films).
So Ching in Gold Button (1966)
So Ching also starred in the non-Jane Bond films The Golden Bat (1966) and Return of the Golden Bat (1966)
These are not all of the Jane Bond films, just a nice overview. I don’t know if there is a comprehensive guide to them out there. But pieces are being put together here and there, and as more films show up on vcd or DVD a more complete picture of the surviving films can be shown.
Categories: Movie News Tags: 4DK Blog, Connie Chan, Hong Kong, Jane Bond, Josephine Siao, SoftFilm
Why the Soft Film blog drives me crazy…
There is a blog called SoftFilm run by duriandave that posts artifacts from movie days gone by of Chinese cinema. The webmaster has a rather large collection of movie memorabilia and usually pictures and biographical information is posted about various actors and actresses from 50 years ago. The problem that causes the SoftFilm blog to drive me crazy is that every week or two, he will post images or information about some awesome-sounding Chinese film that probably no longer exists! Imagine finding out that there is a Chinese Female Robin Hood movie? Well, there was, but I will probably never get to see it! Gah! Here are some of the treasures that tempt you in their delightfulness, but then punish you with their wickedness of not existing:
The most recent mentioning was of a Shaw Brothers production of Ali Baba and the 40 Robbers. I can find evidence of this film in various databases, but nothing mentioning it exists in some sort of video format. Here is the IMDB.
So what’s up with this film?… Secret Agent 101 (also known as Magic Fire 101), a Shochiku production shot in Hong Kong with the help of MP&GI and released the same year as The Golden Buddha.
The poster for this one is listed in a lot of internet poster dealers, but the film itself is not.
imdb
Oriole, the Heroine (also known as Miss Nightingale, the Flying Fencer), a Cantonese crime thriller starring Pearl Au Kar-wai as the titular heroine and Fanny as the trusty sidekick.
——————
The character of Oriole (or Wong Ang) the Flying Heroine first appeared as the protagonist of a popular series of pulp novels in 1940s Shanghai. Written by Siu Ping, an intelligence worker during the Sino-Japanese War, these stories depicted the social injustice and inequities of the era and gave the people a hero who fought on their behalf. In 1950s Hong Kong, the Wong Ang novels remained as popular as ever.
This was a precursor to these:
Previously, I had assumed that the first film adaptation of Wong Ang was How Oriole the Heroine Solved the Case of the Three Dead Bodies (1959), which featured reigning martial-arts queen Yu So Chow in the title role. Yu played the crime-fighting heroine seven more times in the next few years. Her final Oriole film was The Blonde Hair Monster (1962)
Eight Yu So Chow Oriole movies, and one Pearl Au Kar-wai entry. Of those, I know The Blonde Hair Monster still exists, it is even on the top ten list of movies I am trying to get and will as soon as I can afford it.
For more information on Yu So Chow, I found a good biography here. Here is the HKMDB
Double Pistol Heroine
Another Yu So Chow (or Yu So-Chau) film is Double Pistol Heroine, of which nothing is known at all. Gah!
The Steel-Arm Girl Knight-Errant
This one is a Thai film, but stars a Chinese actress. Since Thailand has an even worse record of preserving its films than Hong Kong, there is even less of a chance this is still around! =(
[Carrie] Ku Mei, the little “Skylark”, becomes very popular in Thailand as she leads the cast of the Siamese picture “The Steel-Arm Girl Knight-Errant”. She speaks now fluent Siamese and has adapted herself to the customs of the land. Her kiss scene in the picture boasts to be the longest, the hottest, the wildest and the most tempting kiss in the history of Siamese movies.
Red Heroine
Hey, this one actually still exists!
Hound Murder Case (1961)
Another one that exists, yet I don’t have it, thus must get it. We have classic film villain Sek Kin as some sort of were-animal thing.
Bat Girl!!!! Second link (alternate title: The Lady Killer (1967))
Why doesn’t this still exist? Why? Why? WHY???
Blue Falcon (1968)
A Josephine Siao starring that is also no longer among us. I weep for the loss of this awesome film.
Wu Lizhu starred in the Lady Robin Hood movie. She has nicknames Lady Robin Hood and the Oriental Female Fairbanks. Some biographical information is available via Electric Shadows, another blog that drives me bonkers! More info here.
Lady Robin Hood is well known enough to have made it into the Inaccurate movie database. In fact, a print of this might still exist, but who knows? I haven’t run across it yet.
Here is a Movie summary:
Title: Lady Robin Hood
Pinyin: Nu Luo Bin Han
Synopsis:
A sick king instructs his loyal minister Luo Zhengqing to guide and install the crown prince as king after his death. However, the minister of the army, Situ Yangming, makes a grab for power after the King’s death and incarcerates the crown prince. Luo Zhengqing leaves the government, unhappy about Situ’s dictatorship and the heavy taxes levied on the people. Unknown to Luo, his daughter disguises herself as the male bandit Robin Hood, robbing government offices to help the poor. Meanwhile, Situ orders captain of the imperial guards, Zhang Zhonggeng, to kill the crown prince. Zhang is a loyalist and conspires with Lady Robin Hood to save the crown prince. When Situ discovers that the prince has escaped, he falsifies the late King’s will and has himself crowned as king. However, the female Robin Hood has stolen the original will, thus exposing Situ’s false claim to the throne. The female Robin Hood kills Situ and instals the crown prince as the ruler. Only now does Luo Zhengqing discover that the Lady Robin Hood is none other than his own daughter. (Based on viewing the film and the film synopsis.)
Credits:
Director: Yam Pang-nin.
Scriptwriter: Yam Pang-nin
Casts:
Wu Lai-chu (as Lady Robin Hood),
Wang Hao (as Situ Yangming),
Ren Yizhi (as Xiaolan),
Tso Tat-wah (as Zhang Zhonggeng),
Meng Na (as Mrs Situ),
Hu Siao-fung (as Zhang Xiao Er),
Cen Fan (aka Tsen Fan) (as Inspector Chen),
Chen Jian (as Zhao Da),
Jiang Rui (as Luo Zhengqing),
Gao Dian (as tax officer),
Che Xuan (as Brigadier Tang)
The hits keep on coming, so I applaud SoftFilm blog and DurianDave, and tell him to keep up the good work, and keep driving me crazy. Because a little bit of crazy never hurt anyone. The world needs to know about Chinese Batgirl films, lady super heroine flicks, and Jane Bond mania.
Categories: Misc News, Movie News Tags: Hong Kong, SoftFilm
