Last month in my blog entry "Shaw's Bathing Beauties", I posted a picture of seven actresses being groomed for stardom by the Shaw Brothers studio in 1964. One of the young ladies stood out for me, simply by being the only one standing (and not lounging like the others). She was also conspicuous because she was the only one wearing a swimming cap (and holding goggles!), which made me think that she was more a sporty girl than a glamor girl. All of this piqued my curiosity, especially since she never became a big star like some of the other actresses.
It appears that Allyson Chang Yen was a child actor in both Cantonese and Mandarin films throughout the 1950s. She joined Shaw Brothers in 1961 and started acting right away in their Cantonese division in such films as Teenage Beat (1961) and The Four Sisters (1963). Because of her outgoing personality and talent for swimming and water-skiing, she was dubbed "Little Wildcat" and "Little Mermaid". After Shaw Brothers stopped making Cantonese films in 1963, Chang Yen was sent to Japan (along with fellow Shaw girls Chin Ping and Margaret Hsing Hui) to study drama and dancing at the Toho Academy of Performing Arts. Back at Shaw Brothers, she appeared in secondary roles supporting Li Ching and Chin Ping, who had become big stars at the studio. She evidently retired in 1968 after the release of her last film for Shaws, Hong Kong Rhapsody.
From the little that I've seen of her, Chang Yen possessed a buoyant charm and fresh contemporary look. But it seems she never found her place in the Hong Kong movie industry. She was a little too girl-next-door to succeed at Shaw Brothers and not girl-next-door enough for Cantonese audiences at that time. Thankfully, she did have one opportunity to take center stage and strut her stuff before she vanished from the silver screen, here in this memorable scene from a Cantonese film she made in 1967 with Nam Hung and Lui Kei, They All Fall in Love.
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