Inoue Umetsugu was brought over from Japan in
1967 by the Shaw Brothers who admired the films he had directed there. Over
the next five years, he was to direct and write the scripts for seventeen
films. This was to be his last one before he returned to Japan and continued
directing there. Perhaps his contract ended or perhaps the direction that
the Shaws were going in didn't suit his style. His films were light on their
feet with bright colors, snappy music and were very female oriented. The
actresses were the stars in his films. Shaw was of course focusing on male
action stars with a sideline in soft core.
This is a nice farewell. It isn't Hong Kong
Rhapsody or Hong Kong Nocturne which are considered classics in the musical
genre, but this certainly aspires to be. That it doesn't quite get there
is probably due to a lack of star power in the film - not then and not ever
- and a subdued script. It is hard not to notice the star differential in
the opening scene when the three sisters sneak out to go see Hong Kong Nocturne
and some of it is actually shown on the screen as the sisters tap their feet.
The sisters on the screen were played by Cheng Pei-pei, Lily Ho and Chin
Ping - all big stars at the time. The three sisters in this one are Irene
Chen, Annette Sam and Betty Ting Pei - with only Betty becoming well-known
for the wrong reason. They are all fine but they don't make you stand up
and want to cheer like the other three did.
Umetsugu tosses a lot of musical numbers
into the film. They are very pleasant and well-staged with a few dream numbers,
a few on the nightclub stage, a few for a film they are shooting and a few
drop your hat and sing numbers. That is likely the culprit though in pushing
the film to nearly 110 minutes which made it feel draggy at times. I am never
one to mind music though and a few of them were quite good; as bright as
a Christmas tree, wonderfully tacky outfits and lots of energy. There was
one song that I thought was very clever when the three sisters are introduced
to a group of young people who work at a film studio and the group all introduce
themselves and what they do in song. There was another in the rain that had
to be inspired by Singing in the Rain. Not that any of them are Gene Kelly.
The three sisters are the daughters of a
man who makes his living balancing plates on a stick for a nightclub act.
He (Ku Wen-chung) is getting older and the plates are falling and breaking
more regularly. The three sisters want to perform their song and dance routine
- and after seeing Hong Kong Nocturne they walk back - one in yellow, another
in blue and the last in pink - determined to persuade dear old dad to let
them. His assistant (Paul Chun-pui) wants to help them, but dad is a definite
no way. He goes off to Taiwan with one of the sisters (Annette) and the other
two begin to perform but when the manager asks them to strip, they look for
other opportunities.
They find it at the movies! Crown Cinema
is a small studio and an old friend (Chung Wah) has just come from Japan
where he studied and wants to make a musical. The two sisters get jobs as
extras and doubles but that doesn't go well when one of them is afraid to
jump into the water and they both end up giggling when they are in a sword
fighting scene and forget to die. What little drama there is comes in the
form of the father going blind from cataracts and the studio diva (Ling Ling)
making trouble. Not shockingly it all works out and we end with a song. Which
is kind of the point of films like this. To make you leave the theater with
a smile on your face and humming a tune.
