HK Cinema - 1981
In 1980 Angela Mao retired from kung-fu films
after finishing Dance of Death, but another female action actress stepped
up to perform in one of the very best and one of my favorite films – My
Young Auntie. This was Kara Hui Ying-Hung. She was born in 1960 to a family
of Peking Opera performers, but unlike her brothers and sisters, she was
not allowed to enlist in a school. So she taught herself and became a street
performer. She was spotted by a Shaw Brothers employee and signed up.
After more training, she began getting roles in
some of the Shaw classics such as Dirty Ho, Chinatown Kid, and the first
two Brave Archer films. With Young Auntie though she created a classic
character in a wonderful film and has gained the nickname of Auntie ever
since. In the film KHYH plays a traditional young woman who is introduced
to modern ways that leads to some wonderful comic bits, but it is the stunningly
intricate kung-fu routines that are amazing. The director was Lar Kar-Leung.
KHYH was able to make the transition from kung-fu
to the “girls with guns genre” and has gone on to perform in many more
action films right up to the mid-nineties. She seems to be ageless. Some
of her other films to look for are The Inspector Wears a Skirt I – 4, Rosa,
Widow Warriors, Roar of the Vietnamese and Brave Young Girls. Often the
films that she appeared in were low budget action films, but KHYH always
looks great.