Hong Kong Hula Hoopers: Lin Tsui and Lam Fung

Here's a charming photo set from Southern Screen No. 12 (February, 1959). First up on the hoop is Jeanette Lin Tsui:








Up next is Patricia Lam Fung:








And, for her skill and artistic interpretation, the winner is... drum roll, please... Patricia... Lam... Fung!

Jeanette Lin Tsui: Beloved Tomboy and Girljock Extraordinaire

Lin Tsui sporting her MP&GI Studio team gear

Last week I posted about some of Lin Tsui's uncharacteristically sexy film appearances in the late 60s (as a bikini-clad spy and an undercover bellydancer). Some may find it a little pathetic to see her resorting to sexpot routines, but I think she was just having a little fun. I'm reminded of an astute observation from the Hong Kong Film Archive's publication The Cathay Story: "Lin Cui, nicknamed 'Student Lover', was frequently given athletic, tomboyish roles. Yet there seems to be a sexuality yearning to burst out." Hmm... I wonder if Lin's affair with macho man Jimmy Wang Yu was what brought out the "woman" in her...

Although I was eagerly curious to see a sexy Lin Tsui, I must say I prefer her beloved tomboy persona, which I first fell in love with in Our Sister Hedy (1957), Spring Song (1959), and Sister Long Legs (1960) — all highly recommended and all available on DVD.

Anyway, here a few choice items showcasing Jeanette in classic tomboy mode...

Lin Tsui and Sports

Lin Tsui who will star in "Spring Girl" [Spring Song] together with Grace Chang is probably the best athlete among all the actresses. Ever since she was a child she has been fond of sports more than anything else. At the age of five she had accomplished the art of roller skating. In school she was one of the top scorers of her basketball team. Today she is a polished athlete [who] excels in horseback riding, swimming, archery, golf and fishing.

—from International Screen No. 26 (December, 1957)
Original article available as PDF

Young Vagabond (1958)


Darling Daughter (1959)


Lin Tsui waterskiing in Spring Song (1959)

Further Reading
Lin Tsui biography by Paul Fonoroff

I Dream of Jeannette (Lin Tsui)

In my last post I mentioned that I never expected to see Jeanette Lin Tsui in a bikini. Well, the surprises never cease around here. SHUESIK has just posted a clip of Lin Tsui belly dancing! She's no Fanny Fan — that's for sure — nonetheless it's fun to see her step outside of her "Students' Sweetheart" image. Partly played for laughs, the scene comes from No Time for Love (1968), a Cathay production starring Peter Chen Ho and Tina Ti, the genuine sexbomb of the movie. As far as I can tell, Lin Tsui plays a reporter who's trying to get the scoop on performer Tina Ti. In the following clip, Lin (under cover as a dancer) is mistaken for Tina and dragged on stage by the nightclub manager.

Who's That Sexy Lady...

Wow! I never thought that I'd see my favorite tomboy Jeanette Lin Tsui sporting a bikini. She's always been more spunky than sexy (although no less attractive for it), but I was a little surprised — and disappointed — by her goody good girl performance in The Golden Buddha (1966), the first of Shaw Brothers' several James Bond clones. Not only did she not display even a hint of sexiness, she didn't get to kick any butt either!

Come on... Lin Tsui was *the* girl jock of Hong Kong cinema. MP&GI's campus comedy Spring Song (1959) was tailor made to showcase her athletic talents and featured her water skiing, hunting, and competing in archery. What a disappointment then to see Jeanette do so little in The Golden Buddha (especially compared to Lily Ho's role a year later in Angel with the Iron Fists). Instead, we get stuck with the Paul Chang Chung doing his best Sean Connery — and not quite pulling it off. (Thank goodness Fanny Fan is there to provide some genuine Bond-style excitement!)

So what's up with this film?... Secret Agent 101 (also known as Magic Fire 101), a Shochiku production shot in Hong Kong with the help of MP&GI and released the same year as The Golden Buddha.


How come Japanese audiences (and movie fans in Yugoslavia, which is where this poster comes from) were the lucky ones to see Lin Tsui looking sexy in a bikini and armed with a gun?! And more importantly, where can I find this film?

Treasures from the People's Republic of YouTube

Here are some truly rare treasures that I recently discovered on YouTube. None of these films are available on VCD or DVD, and it's very likely that they never will be.


Grace Chang in Girl with a Thousand Guises (1959)
As this clip delightfully shows, Girl with a Thousand Guises was a vehicle for the singing and dancing talents of Grace Chang. In the film she plays two roles, one of which is an aspiring actress. Evidently, the story features many parallels with Grace's real life, like auditioning for the movies behind her family's back.


Chung Ching in Songs of the Peach Blossom River (1956)
This is the film that established Chung Ching as a major star and set the trend for Hong Kong musicals in the late 50s. "Silver Voice" Yao Lee provides Chung Ching's singing voice, as she would do in many subsequent films.


Jeanette Lin Tsui in Girl in Disguise (1956)
This remake of a popular 1936 Shanghai film was Lin Tsui's third film. She plays a young lady forced to disguise herself as a man because her father, ashamed of not producing a male heir, has been lying been to gramps about her sex ever since she was born.


Grace Ting Ning in Mischievous Girl (1959)
This is Ting Ning's third film. With this one exception, she worked exclusively with Shaw Brothers from 1958 until her retirement in 1963. Her singing voice is provided here by the ubiquitous Yao Lee.