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Vengeance of the Phoenix Sisters (Taiwan, 1968)
San feng zhen wu lin
The late-1960s and early-1970s saw a resurgence of swordplay films across Taiwan and Hong Kong, with the most spectacular ones coming from the Shaw Brothers studio in Hong Kong. At the same time, the much lower budget Taiwanese dialect films were tapping into the booming market of Southeast Asia. With its balletic choreography, expressive cinematography and kinetic editing, Vengeance of the Phoenix Sisters rivals the best Shaw Brothers swordplay films of the era. This tale of generational revenge features three of the Taiwanese dialect cinema’s biggest names: opera superstars Yang Li-hua and Liu Ching as the eldest and second sisters, and the goddess of melodrama Chin Mei as the third sister.
DCP, b/w, in Taiwanese with English subtitles, 88 min. Director: Chen Hung-min. Producer: Yu Lu, Chan Hsi-fan. Screenwriter: Chu Ge. Cinematographer: Huang Jui-chang. Editor: Nan Fang Jen. Cast: Yang Li-hua, Liu Ching, Chin Mei.
Moon Fascinating, Bird Sweet (Taiwan, 1978)
Yue meng long niao meng long
By the 1970s the prolific romance novelist Chiung Yao had become a one-woman cultural industry, with her works spanning books, magazines, music, film and television. The biggest movie star to emerge from the Chiung Yao films was the dreamy ingénue Brigitte Lin. She appeared in dozens of melodramas during that decade and helped to brand Taiwanese cinema across East and Southeast Asia. In this film from Chiung Yao’s aptly named Super Star production company registered in Hong Kong, Brigitte Lin plays a headstrong young kindergarten teacher whose next door neighbors are a naughty little girl and her brooding single father, played by another Chiung Yao regular, Charlie Chin.
DCP, color, in Mandarin with English subtitles, 94 min. Director: Chen Yao-chi. Producer: Tung Chin-shu. Screenwriter: Chiao Yeh. Cinematographer: Lin Wen-chin. Editor: Chen Hung-min. Cast: Brigitte Lin, Charlie Chin, Hsieh Ling-ling, Wan Shan, Ma Yung-lin, Chang Lu.
Media provided courtesy of Taiwan Film Institute
