The year is 1985 and the
legendary Shaw Brothers studio was winding down its film production to focus
more on television. It had been quite the run of wonderful films since the
early 1960s. Just as the studio system was coming to an end in the United
States, the Shaw Brothers set up a system that emulated the ones that had
been in America. Actors, directors and others were signed up to contracts
that brought them into the Shaw System where they were tested, taught and
presented to the public with a publicity department behind them. It made
stars of many of them. But changes around them had made this day inevitable.
The Cantonese films of rivals had become
popular while Shaw continued to primarily make their films in Mandarin. The
great stars of the 1960s and 70s had retired or died or had left Shaw for
more independence, forming their own production companies or becoming free
agents. Taste was changing as well and directors like Michael Hui, Tsui Hark,
Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Wong Jing had a better sense of what a newly
vibrant Hong Kong with a new generation of young people wanted. Many of the
Shaw Brothers films were set in historical times around royalty in their
ornate gilded palaces. The Shaw Brothers and the huge migration from the
Mainland had a sense of loyalty and nostalgia for those times - but the new
generation was free of that. They wanted movies set in Hong Kong showing
the energy, the streets, the people that made up their city.
This film is probably not what the public
was looking for. A sweet mildly amusing romantic comedy set in the time of
the Empress Dowager. Among the Top Ten films that year were My Lucky Stars,
Police Story, Mr. Vampire, Mr. Boo Meets Pom Pom, Working Class and Happy
Ghost II. As far from the classical period Shaw films as you can get. This
was the new Hong Kong. Now of course we look back with nostalgia at those
days. Shaw to its credit was still signing up a few new actresses. Maggie
Cheung had her debut in 1984 in the Shaw film Prince Charming and this was
for all intents the debut of Joey Wong. I understand they both did ok after
Shaw closed. Joey is beyond adorable here - that fabulous ethereal face that
was soon to be famous. Along with Joey, there are many veteran Shaw actors
- Derek Yee, Lo Lieh, Chen Kuan-tai, Ku Feng, Tanny Tien, Ai Ti and Ching
Miao. They could still put together a good cast. The director Tony Lou was
soon to be directing a number of Girls with Guns films - Killer Angels, Devil
Hunters, Angel Terminators II.
It's a cute film mainly because it has Joey
pretending to be a man. She is as adorable as a male as a female and totally
unbelievable as one. The Empress Dowager (Tanny) is trying to find a bride
for her son the Emperor Kangxi (Derek) without much success as they are not
exactly the pick of the litter. The daughter of one of the noblemen (Lo Lieh)
refuses to go and runs away dressed as a man. Meanwhile, the Emperor is bored
with his life and he and his two servants (Wong Yu and Bill Tung) decide
to go traveling incognito. And wouldn't you know it, the first person he
runs into is Joey as a man - and is clearly attracted. What a handsome man.
Bill Tung of course was to go on to be a beloved actor in Cantonese films.
They invite Joey to travel with them which
she happily accepts. Little adventures happen along the way - like taking
her/him into a bordello and she saving him from a meeting of revolutionaries.
The film oddly goes off on tangents of other characters who add nothing.
All we really want to see is Joey. A romantic happy ending is guaranteed.
A nice turn by Ai Ti desperately looking for a husband and decides Joey is
the one. Joey was to make one more film for Shaw, Let's Make Laugh II, before
she went off to make other films - A Chinese Ghost Story was two years away.
