Crime-Fighting Ku Mei and Her Spicy Thai Kiss

Here's an intriguing piece that I found in The Happiness Movieland No. 19 (May, 1959):

Ku Mei in Thailand

Ku Mei, the little "Skylark", becomes very popular in Thailand as she leads the cast of the Siamese picture "The Steel-Arm Girl Knight-Errant". She speaks now fluent Siamese and has adapted herself to the customs of the land. Her kiss scene in the picture boasts to be the longest, the hottest, the wildest and the most tempting kiss in the history of Siamese movies.

I never expected to see Carrie Ku Mei — best remembered for providing Lin Dai's singing voice in Love Without End (1961) — show up in a 1950s Thai film as a pistol-packing masked crusader. Even more surprising was her kissing scene ("the longest, hottest, wildest and most tempting in the history of Siamese movies"!) with who appears to be Thai movie legend Mitr Chaibancha.


Mitr Chaibancha (?) and Ku Mei making Thai movie history.

How did Ku Mei end up making movies in Thailand? Well, she visited the country in 1956 during a promotional tour for her film A Thousand Flowers Bloom and was invited to stay and star in Thai movies. The Steel-Arm Girl Knight-Errant is evidently one of the films she made. That's about all I can tell you. Unfortunately, I can't find any more information about this or any other Thai films she might have made.

But there is a tantalizing reference to Ku Mei's Thai sojourn in the 1965 Shaw Brothers film The Lark, which is loosely based on her life. Peter Chen Ho plays a reporter who poses as a wealthy music promoter in order to get closer to Ku Mei and scoop the juicy details of the scandal that has prompted her return to Hong Kong. As Ku Mei starts falling for Chen Ho, she opens up about her life and shows him her photo album, which includes pictures from her tour in Thailand. Peter asks about a man in one of the photos. Ku Mei hesitantly replies, "He's the man in the so-called 'scandal', which everyone referred to.... It wasn't as complicated as everyone thought. Two men vying for my affection which resulted in murder". Hmmm... I guess that is pretty straight forward... however I'd love to know if it's true and, if so, who exactly were the two men?!