Sexy Playgirls
Directed: Lu Chi
1973
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 Thirty years later most of these films seem hopelessly out of
date with a shock and titillation value that is negligible.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!
Lu Chi 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.
My rating for this: 6.0
