An innocuous light comedy from the Shaw Brothers starring Peter Chen and
Pat Ting-hung. It has the Peter Chen touch. Frivolous but mildly entertaining.
The Shaw's really had no one else like Chen on their roster. Decent looking
but in a non-threatening non-masculine way, classy, a decent dancer, charming
and breezy. Most of the Shaw musicals and comedies during this period had
Chen in them. He had done the same for Cathay before joining Shaw in 1960.
He and Pat Ting-hung were matched up a number of times and they have an easy
chemistry about them. Shaw never tried to make an action star out of him
fortunately. He looks so fragile and thin that one throw would break him
into pieces. He tragically died at 40 from cancer.
This is directed by Wu Chia-hsiang who interestingly began as the director
of The Big Boss before he was replaced by Lo Wei. It was an odd choice because
Wu's resume is nearly all comedies or straight dramas. Hopefully, that wasn't
Golden Harvest's plan for Bruce Lee. He gives The Mating Season a sparkling
look full of color and attractive women and has a few of the scenes take
place in night clubs and discos as well as some location shooting around
the city. It is always enjoyable seeing Hong Kong in the 1960s. The story
itself is a paper thin romantic comedy that would be blown away in a wind
but to modern audiences it also has a touch of cruelty and misogamy that
contemporary audiences probably overlooked. It was the same with a lot of
the romantic comedies in Hollywood at the time. This sort of has the feel
of a Hollywood comedy - a Doris Day-Rock Hudson vehicle though as far as
I know it wasn't borrowed from Hollywood.
There are two competing advertising agencies going for the same business.
One is run by Chen who has a reputation as a playboy and a bit of a scoundrel.
The other one is managed by Pat who was educated in the states and is a serious
professional with her horn-rimmed glasses and impeccable clothes intact.
A potential customer flies in from Malaysia and they have very different
approaches. She puts together an advertising plan while Peter has his associates
find out the important things - what kind of women does he like, what does
he drink, what kind clubs does he frequent and where does he come from. He
brings in Fanny Fan-lai for insurance. A scrumptious slice of cheesecake
with all her body parts in fine operating condition. She is delightful
here with enough sex appeal for a pack of wolves.
He gets the deal, she gets upset with his methods and tries having him kicked
out by the Advertising Council - fails and then he seeks revenge. This is
where it gets a bit cruel - comedic but still - he impersonates a Japanese
business man looking for an advertiser - to imitate a Japanese all he needs
to do is wear glasses and put on one of those funny little moustaches. I
am sure the Japanese appreciated that. And he makes her act subserviently
for days to get the make-believe business - massaging him, taking off his
shoes and dressing up as a Japanese geisha to perform a song. After a while
it gets a bit uncomfortable. And of course they begin to fall in love. Nothing
like a man treating you like a servant to get those heart strings going.
Still it was all low key humor with some music thrown in - in the beginning
Ivy Ling-po makes a guest appearance in a dance number.
