Sexy Playgirls
Director: Lui Kei aka Lu Chi
Year: 1973
Rating: 6.0
It always feels more than a bit incongruous
when the majestic Shaw Brother’s logo appears on the screen accompanied by
the heralding trumpet blare only to be followed by scenes of frolicking women
in the nude, but that was often the case beginning in the early 1970’s. Rules
regarding on screen female nudity were eased considerably soon after the
turn of the decade and the Shaw Brother’s happily jumped into the melee with
a number of productions that were marketed as “mature content”. Interestingly,
in Japan a similar trend was taking place with the growing popularity of the
“pinku” genre, but the adult genre in Hong Kong never approached that of
Japan’s in either imagination or excess and for the most part was very mild
in comparison (even though full frontal nudity was allowed while in Japan
it was not).
Many of Hong Kong’s films that fell into this category were puerile comedies
or bland moral lessons and only a few had the hard edged gritty realism (i.e.
“Kiss of Death”, “The Sexy Killer”) or simple audacity (i.e. “Intimate Confessions
of a Chinese Courtesan”, “The Bamboo House of Dolls”) that has allowed them
to withstand the test of time. Thirty years later most of these films seem
hopelessly out of date with a shock and titillation value that is negligible.
At the time though they were very popular and helped keep the Shaw Brothers
afloat for a number of years. The films were not underground fare by any
means and many of the actresses who dared to bare their assets became very
popular starlets and the films sometimes had top directors such as Chor Yuen
and Li Han Hsiang at the helm, but unfortunately most often it seems that
Lu Chi was running the show. A popular actor in the 1960’s who was often
teamed up with Connie Chan, he switched over to directing and made a boatload
of adult films during the 1970’s into the early 80’s. Obviously, these must
have made money but I can’t for the life of me understand why. He is in love
with odd camera angles, has no sense of narrative and perhaps most damning
makes sex and nudity seem boring, silly and claustrophobic.
If this almost southern gothic drama had been under a competent director
it could either have been a terrific grungy exploitation film or a tense
Hitchcockian suspense thriller, but in the hands of Lu Chi it misses all
the potential opportunities and plays it dutifully by the numbers. It stars
two of Hong Kong’s better known actresses though they come at the film from
two very different directions. Li Ching was a Hong Kong sweetheart during
the 1960’s in many of the top films of the time, but her popularity was ebbing
by now and she was to play in a number of these slightly tainted films in
the 70’s – though never displaying anything beyond a bare shoulder or a bit
of leg as far as I know. Chen Ping on the other hand was just beginning to
establish her credentials as the toughest broad around in a series of exploitation
films like “Kiss of Death”, “Big Bad Sis” and “The Sexy Killer” in which
she displayed a hard right as well as her charming endowments. Oddly, in
this film though it is the Li Ching character that gets to go ballistic with
a pick axe while Chen Ping’s character is the good girl who wouldn’t dream
of knocking a few heads together. She does thankfully have a very brief topless
moment – a Chen Ping film without her breasts on display is like a slice
of pecan pie without the whip cream. This though is the only nudity in the
film giving some lie to the “sexy” or the “playgirls” in the title. I would
imagine a few male customers were demanding their money back after seeing
the show!
Lui Kei rushes through the initial set up like he has a train to catch –
within five minutes we learn that Pei Pei (Li Ching) and her sister Shanshan
(Chen Ping) are now orphans after mom died. Her dying wish was to have Pei
Pei look after her younger sister and so when Shanshan comes down with leukemia
Pei Pei has to raise the money to send her sister to the U.S.A. for treatment
by marrying her older boss who remains encased behind thick sunglasses. But
anything to keep her promise to mom and for her little sis. On her wedding
night though she begins to suspect that her husband is just a bit off – he
photographs her in the bath, forces her to drink “wine of ecstasy” and then
has the chauffer attempt to rape her – before he steps in to finish the job.
When she wakes in the morning she sees his now uncovered deformed eyes and
also notices that he is dead – causing her to go nuts and be put into an
asylum. In the asylum she slowly recovers by listening to the music of Tao
Sha and his song “Golden Bird in a Cage” and when Shanshan returns all recovered
they move into the dead husband’s house – but strangely she keeps the chauffer
on – they must have tough labor laws in Hong Kong. We are now about five
minutes into the film!
Pei Pei becomes a recluse though and is only brought out of her shell when
Shanshan brings her new found love home – none other than Tao Sha (Chung
Wa). But behind Pei Pei’s big brown limpid eyes and sweet appearance lies
a raging psycho and she is determined to steal away her sister’s boyfriend
(thankfully there is still plenty of that “wine of ecstasy” around for purposes
such as this). Shanshan discovers that Tao ended up in bed with Pei Pei and
so leaves – but this isn’t enough for the corroding mind of Pei Pei and she
is filled with jealousy and hate for her sister – and first stomps on a pillow
with no mercy that reminds her of her sister’s face, then fixes the car breaks
to try and kill her and then hires four men to rape her (but not before trying
them out herself as all four jump on top of her simultaneously like linemen
going after a fumble) – and then picks up the pick axe. What would mom say?
It should have been so much better with all this going on and Li Ching gives
it her acting best, but it never really generates much excitement though
it is certainly passable entertainment and much better than any other Lu
Chi films I have come across.
