Because of Her
Director: Wong Tin-lam/
Evan Yang
Year: 1963
Rating: 6.5
A Grace Chang musical! Cause for celebration
in some parts of the world. At least in my apartment. She was a huge star
for Cathay in the early 1960's with a series of musicals, comedies and a
few dramas. She was Hong Kong's sweetheart. Mambo Girl. That was the title
of her first film for Cathay (MPGI) in 1957 and it turned her into an overnight
sensation. And me into a gigantic fan. It is a wonderful family film with
equal doses of pathos, joy and music. She dances the Mambo. She is a delight
with this huge toothy smile that radiates and a great voice which still shows
up on the soundtrack of films like Crazy Rich Asians, The Wayward Cloud and
The Hole.
For those who are not familiar with Cathay,
it was a Chinese film company located in Singapore as was Shaw and like Shaw
they also made films for the local Malay market. Both Shaw and Cathay made
their Chinese films in Mandarin and together they dominated the SE Asia market
from the 50's through the 60's. Cathay's target audience in Hong Kong was
the growing middle class and nearly all their contemporary films centered
on middle class families. They produced very few period films and practically
no action oriented films. Which ended up leading partly to their demise.
When the Shaws began making martial arts films, Cathay had no response.
They were very much driven by their female
stars and most of the male actors tended to be effete and inoffensive. Shaw
had Jimmy Wang-yu. These were the type of males that Chang Cheh - who had
been a writer at Cathay - rebelled against with his heroic male bonding films.
Cathay jumped into the martials arts films late in the game but they just
didn't have the actors to pull it off. Also contributing to their demise
was that by the mid-60s Cathay began losing their big female stars - to retirement
(Chang retired in 1964), suicide or going over to Shaws. But before that
they made some terrific films usually revolving around the family.
This revels in Grace Chang. Some stunning
close-ups but mainly a landslide of musical numbers and a symphony of ever-changing
outfits. I have no idea how many songs were performed - I would have needed
an abacus to keep up. They aren't great songs but most are pleasant and well-presented
in lovely color and a few are quite lively. There are two set-pieces in which
they musically jump from country to country with a different song and different
costumes. My favorite song though is when Grace goes to audition for a troupe
and begins singing a sweet ballad but after the first verse she turns it
into a twist song leaving the piano player baffled and everyone joining in.
She emits such joy when she sings as if she could do it forever. But the
film is oddly bland outside the music. It had all the makings of a tear-jerking
melodrama. Lost love, new love, a baby. They just don't go there until the
very end and that ending was the worst ending ever put to film.
She is a singer in a small club and madly
in love with one of musicians played by Kelly Lai-chen who is the drabbest
of actors. As effete and dull as they come - which back then must have been
what women wanted. In real life he was the brother of Betty Loh Ti - a great
actress at Shaw - and he was married to Angela Mao! So, he had something
going for him. It just doesn't make it to the screen. Anyway, Grace is in
love with him and when he gives her a ring, she thinks it is an engagement
ring. No, a goodbye ring. He is off to Japan to study music for three years.
Grace then joins a traveling troupe that performs all over Asia under the
directorship of Roy Chiao - one of Cathay's few masculine male actors and
one of Hong Kong's greatest actors. She becomes a big hit. Everyone wants a piece
of her. But oops - she is pregnant - from Kelly - I guess he had more mojo
than I thought. So Roy marries her, they are very happy, it is a little girl
but you know that little shit is going to come back. And he does. The music
is composed by Hattori Ryoichi from Japan who also composed the music in
Hong Kong Rhapsody, Hong Kong Nocturne and King Drummer. And nearly a 100
films in Japan.
