Back with a Bang, Better than Bond

Howdy, folks! It's good to be back. Here's a little bang bang to get us started again: two clips from Josephine Siao's 1967 action film The Professionals (金鷗).

First up are the opening credits — featuring Josephine dressed à la mode in a pirate's blouse and cravat and psychedelic print pants with white belt — followed by a scene in which she proves that she's way cooler than that British bloke... what was his name...



* Thanks to Todd at 4DK for the loaner! Available on VCD from YesAsia.com

Josephine Siao: Deadlier Than a Man

Here's one final Fong Fong EP for you. This one's from her 1967 film Blood Stains the Iron Fist / 血染鐵魔掌 (aka Deadlier Than a Man). Just click on the link and the song should play automatically in your browser.

Coming up next time: Connie Chan!

沉醉春宵 ("Tonight is a Wonderful Night") (play song)

等待 ("Waiting") (play song)

* Here's the back cover of the EP with Chinese lyrics.

Josephine Siao: The Golden Cat

Here's the soundtrack EP for Josephine Siao's 1967 film The Golden Cat (飛賊金絲貓), another one of her sadly unavailable "Jane Bond" movies. The embedded mp3 players I was using before suddenly stopped working, so just click on the link and the song should play automatically in your browser.

Enjoy!

花嬌不似玉人媚 ("Love Potion No. 9") (play song)

結伴遊春 ("Summer Holiday") (play song)

狂歡舞曲 ("La La La Song") (play song)

* Here's the back cover of the EP with Chinese lyrics

Josephine Siao: Cantopop Gunslinger

I was a little surprised at the enthusiastic response to my recent post about Josephine Siao, but I really shouldn't — after all, Fong Fong is pretty cool, isn't she!

Here's the soundtrack EP for her 1967 film The Lady Killer (玉面女殺星), also known as Bat Girl. It's a real shame that this and Fong Fong's other "Jane Bond" films — the title given to Hong Kong's female action movies of the late 60s by critic Sam Ho — are not available on DVD. To give you a taste of what we're missing, check out this awesome flyer (front, back).

Well, at least we can listen to the soundtrack and imagine what the movie is like. First up is the killer B-side, followed by Cantonese variations of "The Wedding (La Novia)" and another well-known Western pop song, the name of which escapes me at the moment (help me out folks!). The English titles are my own unqualified translations. If I got them wrong, please let me know.

Finally, the gentleman singing with Fong Fong is supposedly Lui Kei, who stars with her in the film, but I can't say for sure that it's really him who is singing.

Happy listening!

夜總會之歌 ("Song of the Nightclub") (play song)

我愛蝙蝠女 ("I Love Batgirl") (play song)

蝙蝠俠影 ("Batgirl's Shadow") (play song)

*Here's the back cover of the EP with Chinese lyrics

Hong Kong Cowgirl: Josephine Siao

I'm very excited to announce that — thanks to my buddy Ral — I can start sharing some of my vintage Hong Kong vinyl here at Soft Film. First up is the soundtrack EP for Josephine Siao's 1967 "Jane Bond" thriller Lady in Pink (紅粉金剛), also known as The Female Agents.

Hope you like it!

"Gold Finger" (脂粉神鎗) (play song)

"For a Few Dollars More" (歡舞今宵) (play song)

*Here's the back cover of the EP with Chinese lyrics

Hold That Pose, Josephine!

If you think holding a smile for the camera is hard, try holding one of the poses in this lobby photo for Ma Yongzhen from Shandong (1965). Yep, that's a teenage Josephine Siao in the background, grappling with martial-arts choreographer Han Yingjie — 28 years before she played Jet Li's kung-fu fighting mom in Fong Sai Yuk!

Josephine Siao at 16

Cover of movie booklet for Red Thread Steals a Precious Box (1963)

I still remember the first time I saw Josephine Siao. Her hilarious performance as Jet Li's kung-fu fighting mom in Fong Sai Yuk (1993) made a huge impression on me. Little did I know then that Josephine was one of Hong Kong cinema's top teen idols during the 1960s and that at the age of 16 she was already a martial-arts star.

Check out this cool opening credit sequence from Red Thread Steals a Precious Box.

Bat Girl: Hong Kong-style Part 2

If you were wondering why Josephine Siao's The Lady Killer was also known as Bat Girl, just check out her crime-fighting outfit in this detail from the movie flyer. Here are the entire front and back of the flyer. BTW, the film's director was Wong Fung, who was screenwriter for the prolific 1950s Wong Fei Hung film series. Besides Bat Girl and the previously mentioned Blue Falcon, he made one other "Jane Bond" film with Josephine, called Golden Skeleton (1967), which I'm happy to report has survived and is viewable at the Hong Kong Film Archive. But if you're not planning on going to Hong Kong any time soon, then do yourself a favor and watch a fun film he made in 1962 with a young Connie Chan, called The Blonde Hair Monster.

Bat Girl: Hong Kong-style Part 1

For my inaugural post, I thought I'd do a tie-in with Todd Stadtman's latest posting of some of my Blue Falcon lobby cards. Here is the EP cover for another one of Josephine Siao's "Jane Bond" films: The Lady Killer (1967), also known as Bat Girl. I love Josephine's flamenco six-shooter look and the blood squib graphic! Sadly, this film, like Blue Falcon, is missing in action.