Films of Fury by Ric Meyers

Author:Ric Meyers [Meyers, Ric]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯)
ISBN: 9780979998942
Publisher: Emery Books
Published: 2011-03-22T00:00:00+00:00

Picture identifications (clockwise from upper left):

Michelle Yeoh in Wing Chun; Brigitte Lin in The Bride With White Hair; Anita Mui, Michelle Yeoh, and Maggie Cheung in The Heroic Trio; Brigitte Lin in Swordsman 2; Early Swords(wo)man; Michelle Yeoh in Project S: Once a Cop.

Back when action films began to captivate Chinese audiences, the aforementioned accepted adage was that movies were, literally, just for women. Men were too busy bringing home the barbeque pork to waste their time watching films, so only housewives went to theaters. And since no wage-earner wanted his pregnant, barefoot cook swooning over handsome heroes, every major hero on screen was played by a woman.

Some of the pioneers included Chin Tsi-ang, whose unique skills (including trick horse riding) were well utilized in 1920s movies. Her first starring role was in The Lady Swordfighter of Jiangnan (1925), made in mainland China, but she went on to establish herself in Hong Kong — becoming so respected that she instituted her own studio.

Suet Nei was responsible for creating some of the most lasting images of him/her heroes, including the “cool, unbending hero” of The Deadly Dragon Sword (1968) and the “Mad Diva” of The One-Armed Magic Nun (1969)! “I was a girl then and didn’t know fear,” she was quoted. She did trampoline jumps, leaps from rooftops, and wire work. She drew the line, however, at somersaults for some reason. For that, in came stuntmen, such as Tsui Chung-hok, who was known as the “king of the doubles for female leads.”

An even more popular kung fu contemporary was Connie Chan Po-chu, who became so skilled in playing men that, when she played a woman, she didn’t recognize herself. “My movements were hard and rough,” she said. “I was like a man playing a woman.” Although never quite credible to Western eyes, she more than sufficed for her Asian audience in such films as The Six-Fingered Lord of the Lute (1965), Paragon of Sword and Knife, and The Virgin Sword (1969), among others.

But for kung fu fans, she was best loved as on-screen partner to the iconic Josephine Siao. Born in China, but moved to Hong Kong at the age of two, she first appeared in movies at the age of six. Like Connie, she was a teen idol, but unlike Connie, she got to play a woman most often. In fact, in several of the films they made together, Josephine played Connie’s lady love. Always a pioneer, Siao co-directed a ground-breaking independent kung fu film, Jumping Ash, in 1976.

Her contemporary, Hsu (aka Xu) Feng was notable for starring in many of legendary director King Hu’s films, including The Valiant Ones (1974) and Raining in the Mountains (1979), even though, as she put it; “I am a martial arts star who hardly knows any martial arts.” It helped when she had people like Sammo Hung to instruct her, but she also had a valuable point of view. “Whenever I’m making a movie, I think of it as my last, so I really try my best.

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