The Best Secret Agent
 

Director:  Chang Ying
Year: 1964
Rating: 6.5

Aka - Secret Agent Heaven No 1

Here is another Taiwanese film from the 1960's that had a little bit more spark than Six Suspects did. It is a mix of melodrama and an old fashioned spy film. Though made in 1964 when Bond was a world craze, it really has nothing in common with those gadget heavy big action set piece payoff films. This takes place in China during the Japanese occupation with the Chinese spies and resistance fighting back against the Japanese and Chinese collaborators. It is to a large degree a one woman show by actress Bai Hong aka Pai Hung who bedazzles whether disguised as a shoe shine boy, an old beggar man or dressed in In The Mood for Love Maggie Cheung cheongsams. I can't find out too much about her but she was to star in three more Best Secret Agent films as well as Secret Agent Bai Mu-dan, International Female Spy and Secret Agent 001. Who knows, maybe some of those will become available some sunny day. 








It takes a while to unfold but it leads up to a very satisfying ending. The story begins early in the Japanese invasion and Tsui-ying and her father are on the run from the Japanese bombing. They are performers who make enough money singing on the street to eat and then move on looking for a more secure place. In one incident she meets Ling-yun played by Ko Chun-hsiung. Ko was to be a familiar face later on in Hong Kong films - often as a business man or a triad head. Here he is a patriot. After her father is killed in a bombing raid, Tsui-ying makes her way to Shanghai where her singing brings her to the attention of a top Chinese collaborator - and she also bumps into Ling-yun again and they fall in love. But she gets orders from a shadowy figure to drop Ling-yun and marry the collaborator. It turns out our girl is a Chinese Mata Hari.






Her father's last words to her were "avenge me" and we know what that means in Chinese films. A few years later while still married to the collaborator and pretending to be a high society dragon lady she again runs into her past love - who just happens to be the collaborator's cousin. He moves in. He is also a spy. So is she. So is the servant. And none of them know about the others.