Spring-Time Affairs
Director: Evan Yang
Year: 1968
Rating: 4.0
I have
had a pile of unseen Cathay DVDs for ages now that have taken on a look of
mournful apathy due to neglect. I have already seen most of their most highly
regarded films that came out on DVD. So, with a few exceptions the ones sitting
in the pile are not rated that highly and I have avoided them like I do a
Trump rally. But Cathay was a big deal in its time - perhaps even bigger
than Shaw in the 1950s, so I have wanted to eventually get to them. When
Celestial began releasing the Shaw films in 2002, so did Cathay soon after.
Neither sold nearly as well as expected and both stopped releasing them well-short
of their entire catalogue. The Shaw Brothers produced about 750 films during
their history of which over 500 were released on DVD (many now out of print).
Cathay did not fare nearly as well - they produced per one source about 300
films and as best as I can tell they released about 50 of them on DVD before
they stopped. Which is a great shame because they are an important part of
Hong Kong cinema history with some well-loved actresses and many of the titles
sound like they could be good fun.
This one wasn't. I was right to leave it
in the pile like a chunk of coal. It has to be the most tiresome tedious
love affair ever. It had the excitement of a drowned rat. At the end I asked
myself the profound question, what was the point of this film. By 1968 Cathay
was taking on water - nearly all of their wonderful actresses in the early
part of the decade were gone - Grace Chang, Julie Yeh Feng, Lucilla You Min,
Jeanette Lin, Linda Lin Dai, Kitty Ting Hao and Betty Loh Ti. All enormous
stars in their time but now Cathay was trying to develop a new crop of actresses
but none of them reached the popularity of the earlier ones. In this one
there is Annette Chang and Lily Chen Ching. They are ok but probably best
suited for supporting roles. Not leads like here.
Zidan (Chang Yang) is a famous violinist
and in a very happy marriage with Meijin (Lily) - or so it seems. They are
a cute couple and their affection for one another feels real. But as we all
know men are dogs. He meets a singer at a nightclub (Annette) and can't get
her out of his mind. His wife leaves to visit family in Taiwan and Zidan
fights temptation for as long as he can. About three hours. The two of them
begin a very public romance and are madly in love. After two days. Is he
fourteen? When the wife returns, his "friend" tells her about it but adds
"well you were traveling - what can you expect". For a week. Like I said,
men are dogs. And the whole thing just kind of sags into nothingness at the
end like a dust ball.
