I had been expecting a period martial arts film
but found myself walking into a costumed Huangmei Diao or Chinese Opera film,
I wasn't really in the mood for it but was too lazy to go looking for another
film. And I have enjoyed these opera films more than I expected. I have even
gotten used to the high-pitched singing and appreciate the art of the graceful
movement and stylized structure of the plots. Not to mention the often-used
female actress in a male role. Most famous for this in film is Ivy Ling-po
who became a gigantic star the previous year for her role in The Love Eterne
and in this she once again takes on the male role. Not that it is in any
way realistic - it is very obvious that it is a female playing the male role.
This gender play was common in Chinese opera - often men playing women and
less common but sometimes women playing men. This one feels somewhat slight
compared to the classic Huangmei Diao films - perhaps because it isn't a
tragedy as the great ones tend to be but has a happy ending - it even states
that at the end "And they lived happily ever after".
Ling-po plays Lin Chao-te, a man whose family
has fallen on hard times and is living in poverty but before this occurred,
he was engaged to Wang Chien-chin from a prominent family. Her father now
wants to cancel the engagement and have her marry someone with more status.
She refuses to though and sends her maid Hsueh Chun to tell Lin that she
loves him and that he needs to better himself. Chien-chin is portrayed by
Chin Ping and the maid by Li Ching - both of whom were to become top actresses
in the Shaw world. Their singing is dubbed, but as usual Ling-po does her
own singing.
Ling-po is framed for a murder and the father
bribes the judge to convict his prospective son-in-law and execute him. All
looks dire and he is about to feel the edge of the sharp sword when Judge
Pao (or Bao) shows up and calls a halt to it. Judge Pao is a legendary historical
figure as well as often portrayed in film and TV - here by Ching Miao. Suddenly
the film loses its opera aspects and turns into a mystery as the Judge investigates
and metes out justice. The music from Eddie Wang and Jospeh Koo is fine and
the subs help appreciate them. At 77-minutes it goes by quickly and is easily
digested. Directed by Chen Yu-hsin who had directed the Huangmei, A Maid
from Heaven the year before, also starring Ivy Ling-po, again playing a male.
