What would happen if you took an AIP beach movie and moved it to Japan and cast Hong Kong film stars in it? You'd probably get something like this quirky little movie. You get everything from girls in bikinis to fast motion action scenes to cheesy songs every ten seconds. What's not to love?

The plot is so thin that one can pretty much deduce each and every plot turn before it happens. Much of the film is just an excuse for the main stars to lip-sync (rather poorly) to pop songs that are relevant to the plot. Lame attempts at comedy may get a smirk but at times many elements were overdone. It's obvious that the only reason to watch this film is for the eye and ear candy.

Lin Chong plays Chao Ke-jan, the leader of a pop band in Hong Kong. He dresses like Sergeant Pepper and seems to win over girls wherever he goes. He and the band go to Japan to work for his uncle's hotel as well as to find their boss's daughter and bring her back home. What he does find is a lot of trouble and mishaps that would make Frankie and Annette proud. I half expected to have Eric Von Zipper crash the party. Of course all's well that ends well and you know that's where this is headed before the film even starts.

Honestly, these films are a bit of an acquired taste so unless you love 60's fashion, Shaw Brothers female actions and Inoue Umetsugu musicals I would stay away from this one. The only exception would be for the really curious. Luckily I fit all of the above but I realize that I'm probably alone in my opinion.

Perhaps tomorrow I'll try something more "mainstream."

Labels: 31 days of film, Hong Kong, Musical, Shaw Brothers

I know, my blog has been neglected quite a bit lately. The reason for this is that, quite frankly, I haven't been watching any DVDs lately. I have however, been catching up on my fansubs as well as getting a little bit of a social life again.

Anyway ...

The Story of Sue San is a one of the classic Huangmei opera and as such it's a sort of folky simple Chinese tale. It's adapted from the 15th century story "The Miserable Yu Tang Chun Meets Her Husband" and, quite frankly, can be downright depressing at times yet still pleasant to watch and listen to.

I think what makes Huangmei so fascinating to me is just how culturally different it is from western style stories. I don't know if it's related to the Buddhist belief that life is suffering but the film seemed to show people really down on their luck a lot. All the while the system of brothels is never challenged seriously by the characters (which based on my scant knowledge of Chinese history and culture may in fact be entirely accurate) but yet to me it seems appalling how such a system of buying your wife would lead to happiness. Still, it seems nice and the two really must have loved each other so who can argue with that?

The Story of Sue San is an interesting opera and for those curious of Chinese opera or those who want to see Shaw Brothers outside of Chang Cheh bloodbaths, give this one a look!

Labels: Hong Kong, Huang-Mei, Musical

Tropicana Interlude:

The Shaw Brothers studio is known worldwide for its martial arts movies. For me, however, I tend to think of their musicals as the prime output of the studio. Tropicana Interlude is one of those delightful musicals made in the 60s and early 70s, long after Hollywood abandoned the format.

Although this movie has quite a lot of Hollywood touches to it. In fact, the film is somewhat of a remake of my favorite Elvis movie, Blue Hawaii. Our hero (in the form of Jimmy Lin Chong) refuses to go into his father's business and instead decides to go work as a tour guide to a group of young girls. If you've seen Blue Hawaii you know what's coming but it was all fun with lots of music and footage of many historic and beautiful sites around Malaysia and Singapore.

All in all, a very enjoyable film.

Labels: Hong Kong, Musical, Shaw Brothers

June Bride: The stars of Cathay are out in full force in this upbeat musical drama which shows in a muted way some of the ways that Western culture mixed with Chinese to create something quite different.

The very lovely and talented Grace Cheng plays Wang Tanlin who has traveled with her father for many years. She has in her travels picked up a suitor and dance partner much to her refusal. Her only love is Tung Chifang, a man she hasn't seen in over two years. However traditional she seems, she resents that her father seems to be using the marriage as nothing but a business proposal and when a third suitor, a salior played by the always wonderful Roy Chaio, comes into play Tanlin is so confused she leaves the groom in the lurch. Of course being a Cathay film you are guaranteed a happy ending.

If there was ever a film studio so devoted to happy and upbeat "slice of life" films it was the glorious and wonderful Cathay studios otherwise referred to as M.P. & G.I. As I have documented in the past the sheer amiability of everyone in the film from Grace Cheng to Roy Chaio to the portly Liu Enjia, Cathay always seemed to deliver a film worth watching. They seemed to take a topic so simple as buying a car, being a stewardess or just about dancing the Mambo, Cathay could make a 100 minute film about it and make it interesting.

Sad that those days of simple movies are gone but thanks to DVD a whole new generation can see them. I can pretty much guarantee that no one at M.P. & G.I. ever thought their films would be watched 50 years later by a white guy on the East Coast of the US but in this age of DVD, it can be done!



I definitely recommend this one just as I recommend every Cathay film.

Labels: Cathay, Comedy, Hong Kong, Musical, Romance

The Mermaid: Dipping into my Shaw Brothers backlog I picked out this delightful little Huang Mei opera entitled The Mermaid. This is a film which is, quite literally, a fairy tale as a carp of the fairy world falls in love with a young scholar. As he is already engaged to a gold-digger named Mudan the carp disguises herself as his betrothed. This leads to some humorous scenes with not only there being two Mudans but friends of the carp also transform into a local judge and his court.

All in all this opera is quite interesting and kept my interest the whole way through. When I do find the time to go back to a lot of these films (which I suspect will coincide with when I stop buying new films) I can certainly see myself going back to this.

Labels: Hong Kong, Huang-Mei, Musical

Swing Girls: I heard once that there are really only a few stories that you can tell and that just about everything has already been told before. One of those few stories that can be told is the one about the group of ragtag kids who come together as a group and form a band and really rock out. Hollywood has told this story in the form of Sister Act 2, School of Rock and others. In Japan they added a new twist on this tale by bringing a group of girls (and one boy) to form a swing band.

Much of this is quite typical in how the kids act. At first they do it simply to get out of summer classes and then develop a passion for it. Aided by their jazz loving teacher they practice and learn to really swing. Of course this leads to a big music competition which they must enter and play in. Adding to the realism is the fact that none of the actresses could play and yet they really play the music in the film from the amateurish sounds to the polished swing at the end.

What makes this movie so special is, as expected, the music. Big Band Jazz and Swing are two of my favorite styles of music and these girls really know how to swing. The soundtrack contains covers of some of my favorites including the Duke Ellington classic, "Take the A Train" to the Swing standard "In the Mood." Also featured are some recorded tracks of "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong and L. O. V. E. by Nat King Cole.

It's all been done before but it's really a fun ride and did not fail to please. In fact it went above and beyond all expectations. I highly recommend this!

Labels: Japanese, Musical

Blue Skies: If there is one genre that is neglected today more than any other, it's the musical. Back in the days Hollywood was cranking out musical after musical. That slowed down in the late 50s although other countries, such as Hong Kong, kept on producing them. Shaw Brothers, besides being famous for their Huang Mei operas and martial arts films, were also quite the studio for producing musicals like the one I watched tonight.

Blue Skies is an interesting if not completely typical musical of its day. Cheng Pei Pei stars in this lavish musical as a girl who wants to join show business but her father won't let her as he feels her morals will suffer. When she does in fact become a star via being a last minute replacement for a cranky dancer she does indeed go down the path towards self-destruction. Between losing her boyfriend (played by one of my favorite Hong Kong actors, Peter Chen Ho,) and being horribly scarred in a car accident, her life becomes Hell for her and, in typical fashion, she is saved in the end.

The clichés are many and that is to be expected. This isn't really art but it is a lot of fun to watch. Some of the musical numbers are quite fun and one in particular, a dream sequence, really reminded me of the Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse dance number from Singin' in the Rain. So, while it was good, I don't know that I'd recommend it for a first Shaw musical experience; Hong Kong Rhapsody would be a much better choice.

So after watching three dvds today(!) my backlog has been reduced to 195. If I can keep this up, I may be back to normal in a month or two.

Labels: Hong Kong, Musical