Mad Fire, Mad Love (1949)
The lost films of Esther Eng, the pioneering Chinese American female director, are as tantalizing as the above advertisement for her last movie, Mad Fire, Mad Love, a color feature set and shot in Hawaii.
A couple of weeks ago Frank Bren, co-author of Hong Kong Cinema: A Cross-Cultural View, wrote a wonderful tribute to Esther Eng in memory of her passing 40 years ago. Hers is a fascinating story that deserves to be better known. Unfortunately, none of the nine films she directed have survived. Frank and Hong Kong movie historian Law Kar have been trying to restore Esther to her proper place in film history. They've written about her in their book (mentioned above) and have created a website (that is, sorry to say, sorely in need of a redesign). Evidently, they are also developing a feature film about her life. All of which is a roundabout way of excusing myself from duplicating their research and encouraging you to read Frank's article, look for Hong Kong Cinema: A Cross-Cultural View at your local library, and visit the Esther Eng website.
Let me instead present some primary source materials that I've been able to dig up. First is a full page ad for Esther's first film project, Heartaches (1936). The ad comes from the January 31, 1936 issue of Chinese Digest, an English-language Chinese American news magazine published in San Francisco.
Heartaches (1936)
The production of the film was chronicled in Chinese Digest in the months leading up to its release. On December 6, 1935 it was reported that scenes were shot in San Francisco Chinatown before the crew left for Hollywood to finish filming the story. On December 13, 1935 it was revealed that Heartaches would include scenes shot in Technicolor, still a new process at that time (the first feature shot in Technicolor, Becky Sharp had just been released the previous summer). On December 20, 1935 it was reported that production had been completed and that the film would be released shortly. On December 27, 1935 it was announced that Heartaches would debut at the Mandarin Theatre in San Francisco Chinatown on New Year's Day. I've been unable to confirm if the premiere happened as planned, but the following news item from February 14, 1936 suggests that the screening may been postponed.
"Heartaches" to Be Shown This Week
Cathay Pictures' super singing and talking picture, "Heartaches", will be shown at the local Mandarin Theater this Saturday and Sunday, with Wei Kim Fong, stage star, in the leading role.
"Heartaches" is financed by Quon Yi Lum, and produced by Esther Eng and Bruce Wong, with Paul Ivano, formerly Gloria Swanson's best cameraman, doing the camera work. Story and direction are by Frank Tong and Henry Tung.
[NOTE: Frank Tong (Tang) worked in Hollywood as an actor and technical advisor for more than twenty years. He also provided the calligraphy for the the signs and banners in The Good Earth.]
The story concerns an aviation student in America, Ching, played by Beal Wong, who falls in love with an opera star, played by Wei Kim Fong. The manager of the opera company, jealous of Fong's constant rendezvous with Ching, threatens to discharge her and send her back to China.
[NOTE: Beal Wong was a bit player in Hollywood for some 30 years, appearing in nearly 50 films.]
Ching finishes his training, goes to war in China, and is separated from his loved one. While in China, he marries and Fong, hearing about it, is heartbroken.
Capacity audience is expected to witness this stirring film. All of the players in the cast, with the exception of the star, are American-Chinese. Miss Eng with Miss Fong, will journey shortly to China to seek prospective film stars for their coming productions. They will stay in China for two months.
The present picture will also be shown in Singapore in the near future.
In May 1936 Esther Eng and Wai Kim Fong did indeed sail to Hong Kong, where they screened Heartaches. Wai Kim Fong would star in Esther's next two films, her first as director: National Heroine (1937), a patriotic movie about a woman who joins the Chinese army to prove that the "weaker" sex is vital to the defense of China; and Ten Thousand Lovers (1938), a Grandview film produced by Joseph Sunn Jue.
Esther would return to the U.S. and work again with Grandview on several pictures, including Golden Gate Girl (1941), starring a young Bruce Lee, just three months old; and A Fair Lady by the Blue Lagoon (1947), a love story set in rural California.
A Fair Lady by the Blue Lagoon (1947), aka The Blue Jade
Esther Eng's final film was Mad Fire, Mad Love (1949). Later that year she moved to New York City and opened a Chinese restaurant: an inconspicuous ending to the story of a forgotten movie pioneer.
Let me leave you with one last interesting item about Esther from the May 8, 1936 issue of Chinese Digest, on the eve of her career as film director. In a column called "Lien Fa Saw You" talking about the latest hairstyles being worn in Chinatown, Esther — quite a fetching tomboy — is among the ladies mentioned (and, I might add, so is Li Tei Ming, future wife of Charlie Low and featured singer at Forbidden City).
As Miss Esther Eng favors sports clothes, her hair is fashioned "in tune". A sleeky boyish bob is worn with one very slight wave at the left side, which breaks the straightness. When attending a formal affair, more waves may be seen, a clever idea, and most charming on Miss Eng.
Thanks to The Chinese Mirror and Roast Pork Sliced From A Rusty Cleaver for the heads-up about Frank Bren's article!
* NOTE: the image of Mad Fire, Mad Love at the top of this post is not an actual artifact but a composite that I created from identical, but differently colored, versions of an ad that appeared in a Chinese movie magazine.
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