Fairy, Ghost, Vixen
Director: Tang Huang
Year: 1965
Rating: 6.0
Cathay Studio from the mid-1950s to the early
1960s focused primarily on the newly created middle-class of Hong Kong in
their comedies and dramas - set in contemporary times and shot in black and
white. But their Mandarin language rival the Shaw Brothers had begun producing
these glorious color period films that were very popular. Shaw also began
making martial arts films in 1965 which Cathay could not emulate. Cathay's
strength had always been its popular actresses and they had no male actors
who could realistically perform martial arts. Here they attempt to get a
foothold into the period styled market with three stories from the collection
of supernatural tales - or is it tails - by author Pu Songling. Songling
had lived during the 1600s and his book, Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio,
has been the basis for multiple films. This is made in stunningly painterly
colors and period detail that is just eye-popping. They brought over Tang
Ching from Taiwan as the male protagonist in all three stories, but he was
shortly to move over to Shaws where he became a regular in their films for
the next few years. The film also stars three fairly new actresses who had
not done much up to that point and that Cathay was hoping to promote..
The theme of all three stories is similar.
A befuddled and horny scholar falls in love with a supernatural being and
just doesn't mind when he finds out. Neither really do the other people in
the film. It is a world where the supernatural is taken for granted and accepted.
In the first story, the scholar has just moved into a dusty ramshackle home
in which his landlord (Liu Enjai) and his friends joke that there are ghosts
about and that the last caretaker, Mr. Chen, fell in love with one and it
was the cause of his death. Being the jokers they are, they send over Ms.
Yingning (Mai Ling) from the Full Moon House to seduce him and pretend to
be a vixen with a tail. Instead, he runs for cover until the joke is revealed.
The next night another woman (Regina Pai-ping) appears and he assumes she
too is a present and he sleeps with her - only to find out that she is in
fact a vixen - but a very nice one. He invites her to stay and like any woman,
the first thing she does is rearrange the furniture. She also makes him wealthy
with crates of gold and silver but eventually he tires of her.
In the second story, the scholar is wandering
the countryside when he comes upon a lovely home and introduces himself to
the mother of the household (Wang Lai) who turns out to be the elder sister
of his mother. She has a beautiful daughter (Annette Chang) and the scholar
immediately tries to seduce her, cousin or no cousin. She comes back with
him to his home and he introduces her to his mother. The mother whispers
"my sister died ten years ago". Oops. A ghost and she freely admits it. He
doesn't mind. She has a painting of herself and if she performs a good deed
every day, she will become human again. I think one of those good deeds is
sleeping with him.
In the third and final story, he is once
again wandering the country where he saves a rabbit from a weasel and follows
it to a small, thatched cottage where an older man (Hao Li-jen) invites him
in when a sudden rainstorm appears. He too has a beautiful daughter (Chen
Fang) and once again the scholar tries to seduce her. He fails and gets sick
and she comes to him to make him better and ends up sleeping with him. She
is a fairy. They could have called this film Fairy, Ghost, Vixen and Hormones.
I think there are lessons here about not jumping into bed with every woman
you meet, but all three are very cute. None of it is particularly dramatic
or tragic but it looks gorgeous and has a fine score. It is very formal with
poetic dialogue and occasional snatches of song. Cathay was to make two follow-up
films of supernatural tales, The Haunted in 1967 and The Spirits in 1969.
I don't believe either are available on DVD. This is directed by Tang Huang
who had directed a number of Cathay's popular films, Her Tender Heart, The
June Bride, Sister Long Legs.
