Au Kar-Wai "Monopolized" by Cary Grant

In a previous post about Shaw star Pearl Au Kar-wai's sojourn in the United States, I mentioned that she had attracted the attention of Cary Grant at a party thrown by Otto Preminger (who had invited Pearl to star in the never completed The Other Side of the Coin). The encounter was reported by New York gossip columnist Dorothy Kilgallen in her March 10, 1959 column. I was happy to find this photograph in the June 1959 issue of Southern Screen. It must have been taken on that occasion. Pearl looks pretty stoked!

Au Kar-Wai in the U.S.A., Part 2

Shaw star Pearl Au Kar-wai sightseeing in Hollywood

The May 1959 issue of Southern Screen just arrived in the mail today (via my "time capsule subscription"), and I was happy to discover this photo and accompanying article about Pearl's stay in the U.S.A. It makes for a fortuitous conclusion to my previous entry.

Pearl's Homecoming

Pearl Au Kar-wai, Hongkong's pretty little mermaid is back in town.

She was away for only four months in the United States, but it had seemed such a long time, and she was badly missed.

It was for this reason that the Shaw Organisation decided to cut short her stay in the United States and ask her to come back to Hongkong. She hopes to go back to the States again six months later to continue her dramatic studies there.



Kai Tak Airport on March 22 saw a warm homecoming for the petite star, as a large crowd of friends and relatives were on hand to welcome her back.

While in the United States, Hollywood producer Otto Preminger took her under his wing. It was Otto Preminger who spotted the pretty star while he was in Hongkong about a year ago, and decided that she had the talents to make a top actress.

He invited her to go to the United States, and to give her a chance to study drama there. Pearl's time was well-spent in the United States, and she utilized most of her time to learn, with very little time to enjoy herself.

Now back in Hongkong, she is going to take a little rest before she starts working again. Shaw Studio has big plans for its bright young star, but is keeping mum on them just yet.

The Arabian Nights of Au Kar-Wai

Swashbuckling Shaw star Pearl Au Kar-wai

After returning from her sojourn in New York, Pearl Au Kar-wai starred in two films that I am dying to see: The Talking Bird (1959) and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1960). Both movies were directed by Luk Bong, who was following in the footsteps of his 1958 two-part hit, Prince of Thieves, a Cantonese opera based on The Arabian Nights.

Here's an article about The Talking Bird from Southern Screen No. 21 (November, 1959).

THE TALKING BIRD
A Tale from the Arabian Nights

There is nothing like a fairy tale to delight both young and old.

The delight is all the greater when it revolves around the adventures of a pretty young girl.

In Shaw's latest production "The Talking Bird" you have all that. And what is more! Hongkong's lovely mermaid Pearl Au Kar-wai is in the starring role.

Adapted from the ever popular "Arabian Nights", the story is about Pearl's search for the Talking Bird to save her country from the tyrannical rule of a cunning and scheming prime minister.

She braves untold hazards and overcomes them one after another. In the end she finds the Talking Bird and with its aid carries the other treasures "The Singing Tree" and "The Magic Waters" back to save her brothers who had been turned into stones.

Sharing star billing with Hongkong's lovely Pearl is "teddy boy" Mak Kay who is in a different role.

Others seen in the film include Kong Yat-fan, Lam Yim, Ko Leung, Pan Pang and many others.

And here's an article about Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves from Southern Screen No. 27 (May, 1960).

Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves

Following on the success of "Glass Slipper" and "The Talking Bird" which were box-office hits with Cantonese-speaking audiences, Shaw Studio is bringing two more famous fairy tales to the screen.

Filming of one — "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" — has been completed, while shooting of the other — "Sleeping Beauty" — is scheduled to start soon.

"Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" stars Pearl Au Kar-wai, Cheung Ying-choy, Lam Yim, Shek Kin, Pang Pang, and Ngai Tung-kwa.

The film is produced by Chow See-look and is directed by Luk Pong.

Cary Grant in Hong Kong

Cary Grant with Shaw stars Au Kar-wai and Ting Ning (ca. January 1960)

Recently, in a post about Pearl Au Kar-wai's U.S. sojourn, I mentioned that Cary Grant had been seen "monopolizing" her at a party thrown by director Otto Preminger. A year later, after Pearl had returned to Hong Kong, Cary Grant met with her again, as seen in the above photo from Southern Screen No. 24 (February, 1960).

Was Cary in Hong Kong "just to see his tailor", as gossip columnist Dorothy Kilgallen related? Or was he there "to look over facilities for filming of his production of 'One Arabian Night' here next year", as another U.S. paper reported?

Maybe it's just a coincidence, but Pearl's Arabian Nights–inspired film, The Talking Bird (1959), had just been released on December 30th, and a similarly themed follow-up, Ali Baba and the 40 Robbers (1960) was released just six months later.

Hmm... what did Cary have in mind? As far as I can tell, his One Arabian Night project never materialized, but I wonder if he'd wanted Pearl to play a part in it...

Au Kar-Wai in the U.S.A., Part 1

Au Kar-wai a few days after her arrival in New York

On November 6, 1958 Shaw Brothers' Cantonese star Pearl Au Kar Wai arrived in New York City to prepare for her role in Otto Preminger's never completed The Other Side of the Coin. The director of such classics as Laura (1944), The Man with the Golden Arm (1956), Anatomy of a Murder (1959), and Exodus (1960), Preminger was known for tackling controversial subjects and challenging film censorship, and The Other Side of the Coin fit squarely with his penchant for presenting topical, polarizing issues in an objective manner that precluded easy judgments about right and wrong.

The film was going to be an adaptation of the just published novel by Pierre Boulle, author of The Bridge Over the River Kwai and Planet of the Apes. Set in British Malaya during the Malayan Emergency (the guerrilla war for independence waged by the Malayan Communist Party), The Other Side of the Coin is a terse satire of colonialism and Cold War politics. The book condescendingly observes what happens when the Pollyanna-ish American wife of a French rubber plantation manager decides to adopt and reform a young female Chinese rebel.

Preminger was quite serious about the project — and had even traveled to Kuala Lumpur in May 1958 to get permission from the Malaysian government and to scout for locations — but for a variety of reasons the production never got off the ground. It was probably a good thing that Au Kar-wai never made her Hollywood debut. Playing a communist rebel very likely could have ended her career in Hong Kong. Still, it would have been great to see her appear in a film by Otto Preminger.

Au Kar-wai appears to have stayed in New York until at least March, 1959 before returning to Hong Kong to continue her work at Shaw Brothers. Here are a few items concerning her U.S. sojourn, starting off with this article from the New York Times.

Au Kar Wai, who is obviously thousands of miles from her Hong Kong home, is quite at home in New York, too. The dark-haired, lissome 19-year-old Chinese actress, who was brought here the other day by director Otto Preminger to learn colloquial English for her role in the adaptation of Pierre Boulle's "The Other Side of the Coin," also could play the lead in a hypothetical film titled "A Chinese Girl in New York."

There was a wealth of movie material in her description of her first bewildering day at the Berlitz School for Languages. "I was the only Chinese girl," she said. There was also her first view of the Manhattan skyline — "nothing so beautiful, so much colors!" Her first, and last, subway excursion — "not good. Many people, coming and going at once." And, some homey fare when she was reunited with "auntie," a former Hong Kong actress, and other relatives who have settled in Chinatown.

How did Au Kar Wai get involved? Mr. Preminger had seen footage from six Chinese films she had made and "he called me and ask if I can help him make picture but I tell him sadly I know no English. He said, 'never mind, I will find someone to teach you.'" So, Miss Au Kar Wai will be here until she masters the language, undoubtedly adding "scenes" to "A Chinese Girl in New York."

—"By Way of Report" by A.H. Weiler, New York Times, November 30, 1958

Here is a picture (from the March, 1959 issue of International Screen) that shows Au Kar-wai standing besides Helen Li Mei, who was in the U.S. at the time on a four-month tour. Sitting next to Li Mei is veteran Cantonese actress Siu Yin Fei, who had recently retired and moved to New York. Hmm... was Siu the "auntie" referred to in the New York Times article? A few years later Siu produced and starred in Murder Case in Chinatown (1961), a true-crime story set and partially shot in New York Chinatown. The director of the American scenes was none other than Esther Eng, the pioneering Chinese American filmmaker who owned and managed a restaurant in New York at the time this photo was taken. She often played host to visiting Chinese actors.

Finally, let me end on a Hollywood note by quoting New York gossip columnist Dorothy Kilgallen's March 10, 1959 report that "Cary Grant captured most of the attention at Otto Preminger's recent party by monopolizing an adorable little Chinese girl, Au Kar Wai, who just arrived in Hollywood for 'The Other Side of the Coin.'" I'll have a little more to share about the two of them later...

Fanny Fan: Oriole, the Heroine (ca. 1957-58?)

Au Kar-wai and Fanny Fan as pioneering female action heroes

According to available data, the next film starring Fanny to be released after The Pink Murder (1959) was not Les Belles — which, although completed, was being held for a 1961 Chinese New Year's release — but Oriole, the Heroine (also known as Miss Nightingale, the Flying Fencer), a Cantonese crime thriller starring Pearl Au Kar-wai as the titular heroine and Fanny as the trusty sidekick.

Although the release date is given as June 19, 1960, the film must have been made some time before Fanny joined Shaw's Mandarin division the previous year. The back cover of a program (printed in Singapore) for Oriole, the Heroine advertises Patricia Lam Fung's 1957 debut, The Fairy Sleeves; furthermore, the older Shaws and Sons logo appears in the program rather than the newer Shaw Brothers logo. This seems to indicate that Oriole was released — in Singapore at least — sometime in 1957-58. This article from the July, 1958 issue of Universal Screen offers further evidence of an earlier release date.

The character of Oriole (or Wong Ang) the Flying Heroine first appeared as the protagonist of a popular series of pulp novels in 1940s Shanghai. Written by Siu Ping, an intelligence worker during the Sino-Japanese War, these stories depicted the social injustice and inequities of the era and gave the people a hero who fought on their behalf. In 1950s Hong Kong, the Wong Ang novels remained as popular as ever.

Previously, I had assumed that the first film adaptation of Wong Ang was How Oriole the Heroine Solved the Case of the Three Dead Bodies (1959), which featured reigning martial-arts queen Yu So Chow in the title role. Yu played the crime-fighting heroine seven more times in the next few years. Her final Oriole film was The Blonde Hair Monster (1962), which also starred a 15-year-old Connie Chan as the sidekick Heung At. Naturally, I thought that Shaw Brothers was just cashing in on the popularity of these films with their own version. But the evidence seems to indicate that it was in fact Shaws that first brought the beloved pulp hero to the silver screen.

Yu So Chow's Wong Ang films are rightfully acknowledged as the precursor to "Jane Bond" films of the late 60s, but it is indeed unfortunate that the Shaw Brothers' Oriole, the Heroine — very likely the first film adaptation — is in danger of being forgotten.

Obviously, as a fan of Miss Fanny Fan, I would love to see one of her pre-bombshell films, especially one where she plays a fighting heroine. Further stoking my interest in Shaws' Oriole is a tasty bit of information from the Hong Kong Film Archive's online catalog: leading lady Au Kar-wai was allegedly coached in sparring for three months by none other than Lau Cham — real-life kung fu master, pioneering martial-arts choreographer, and father of Lau Kar-leung!

Stay tuned for more about Pearl Au Kar-wai and for my ongoing exploration of Fanny Fan's colorful career...


Chiang Feng, Au Kar-wai, and Fanny Fan in Oriole, the Heroine

(As always, I welcome further information and correction of errors on my part.)