Madam Slender Plum (1967: Lo Wei: Hong Kong)

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

"So I have no choice but to stab him."

This is an uncredited remake of Mildred Pierce with some key differences that hurt the film more than help.* Mildred Pierce is an important film noir and a must watch for film buffs. I feel that most can avoid this mediocre Shaw Brothers melodrama. I do not see any individual style from Lo Wei that separates himself from other directors, though I am curious on his other non-action Shaw Brothers films. He is competent, but too bland with the characters and the story (though the script writer might be at fault as well) as much of the flavor of the original is removed without adding anything of his own. Yes he directed early films by Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan (probably doing more damage to Jackies career than helping), but so far from his oeuvre I have not been enthusiastic. But to be fair his directed films were successful in Hong Kong.

Witness Wang Xiu-mei (Diana Chang Chung-wen who would retire from acting later that year) kill a man who appears to be an attempted rapist. The man is Chen Shang-yung (Paul Chang Chung) who we later find out is an old schoolmate of hers. Wang readily admits to the crime but the detective too easily gets her to tell a long and winding story flashback first starting with her husband. Her overly lucky husband Xue-bin (played by the director Lo Wei) sold off his cotton mill two years ago and put all of his money into a commercial real estate venture. Never trust a movie character that states he or she is always right, especially in the first act. In Hong Kong there was a collapse of the real estate market in 1964 followed by bank runs in 1965 which this movie shows a headline. Soon their bourgeois life is going to be in turmoil.

Wang has two daughters: Yu-lan a sickly one (Yip Ching; I think we know what is going to happen to her soon though you might be slightly surprised on how) and an elder one Lilian (Jenny Hu Yan-ni) who is a spoilt but otherwise a decent kid -- until. Forced to live in a smaller apartment (not bad by Hong Kong standards) with her eldest daughter and maid sans husband who has taken off. She accepts a waitress position to help pay for his remaining kids tuition while avoiding grouping gweilos. Seriously too much melodrama is made of this position which really was not that bad for the mother. Plus it leads to her opening up her own nightclub the Plums Bar (this story arc is paralled in Mildred Pierce and strangely enough in a novel I read recently Jeffrey Archers Only Time Will Tell) where you can see the latest dance craze the epileptic monkey or the mashed potato.

Enter in Shang-yung the antagonist playboy. A former classmate she has not seen in 20 years (a weird mention of the daughter being 19 possibly hints at something) happens to know she is separated from her who-knows-where husband. He is a man who does not take no for an answer. He is a creep, a pretty big one if you get through watching the film where his creepiness seems to expound exponentially. Xiu-mei is a little at fault because she puts herself in situations she could have more easily avoided. But Xiu-mei constantly says no, so the next best thing for Shang-yung is the eldest daughter. The main question remains is did Xiu-mei kill him or at least why not earlier?

Unless you are a Shaw Brothers and/or Hong Kong completest or want to see a pre-Bruce Lee non-actioner from Lo Wei than there is no real reason to see this movie unless you have already bought it. The sets are nice looking as well as the costume design where Diana Chang is dressed in an assortment of lovely cheongsams and other attire (though you may wonder what they were thinking about some of the daughters outfits), but especially if you have seen Mildred Pierce you will view this as an inferior remake that fails to capture what made that film noir a classic. There is very little ambivalence with the characters here and the movie suffers for it. Though if you have not seen the original than you might enjoy this movie more.

Do not look at the back cover. First there is a picture that gives away a spoiler to the film (and even more useless trivia, if you look hard at the picture it is different than in the film, it is one of the stills.) Second the synopsis is wrong about the film about several key points including describing this as a murder-mystery in the vein of an old Alfred Hitchcock movie as well as giving away a spoiler and being completely being wrong about what could have potentially be a spoiler. Of course this description is copied on many places on the web including HKFA and HK Cinemagic. The R3 DVD is interlaced though anamorphic. There is a mono Mandarin track with Traditional Chinese, English and Bahasa Malaysian subtitles. Mine came with a slipcover. The extras are Movie Stills, Original Poster (Jenny Hu does not look right in the poster), Production Notes (this also has the wrong information about the film; did IVL even watch this movie) and Biography & Selected Filmography. The non-original trailers are of Madam Slender Plum, The Golden Buddha, Guess Who Killed My Twelve Lovers? [was it a STD?], A Cause to Kill and Torrent of Desire.

* Spoilers for Mildred Pierce: the older daughter is nicer here than in Mildred Pierce. The younger daughter dies by pneumonia which you would think would happen in this movie, but she dies differently. The husband is not a cheater here though he comes across as too annoying for leaving his whole family for losing the money and the house. However, the ending is the same where the estranged husband and the mother get back together after the daughter is found to be the killer. However, it is much bleaker ending for the daughter and the viewer in Mildred Pierce. With the vast amount of similarities Madam Slender Plum can easily be considered a remake.

Notes/Questions:
Check out the funny reuse of what appears to be the same phallic-looking phone.
What is it with the door knob in the middle of the door?
If you recognize any of the music please post.
If you find any books or magazines that mention of this in any detail please post here. I have found very little information on this movie.

Tags: flashbacks, Jaguar, Kowloon, remake, split-screen, teddy bear dancing solo.

Sources:
DVD Beaver Review: A little tacky with the review, but is correct in the mention of Mildred Pierce, though I would argue that this film can be considered a remake. You can tell the reviewer only thinks of Shaw Brothers as action oriented calling this an odd duck when it really is not. This also mentions that the film is non-progressive.
Brns.com Review: This review also notices that Mildred Pierce aspects but the writing here is more salient though I will let you decide what to think about the comment make her chest look like its ready for takeoff into space exploration. While does mention the difference between the daughter on both films, does not write about the difference between the husbands. The images on this site are faded.
Book: The Dragon and The Crown: Hong Kong Memoirs (2009) by Stanley S.K. Kwan, Nicole Kwan. This mentions the housing and bank run crisis.
New Trailer

[RetroRobot]

Not a big Lo Wei fan either, but if you haven't already, Check out Raw Courage and The Comet Strikes. Both solid and interesting flicks, and probably his two best in my book (not willing to give him full credit for the BL flicks, well, at least not FOF).

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

Not a big Lo Wei fan either, but if you haven't already, Check out Raw Courage and The Comet Strikes. Both solid and interesting flicks, and probably his two best in my book (not willing to give him full credit for the BL flicks, well, at least not FOF).

I definitely will check out those two. I would not give him full credit for the BL films either. By the time he was filming Jackie I know from JC's comments that he would be paying more attention to gambling sheets than the direction (also farming a lot of work to second directors.) Of course one has to always wonder how much a particular director's influence is on the set, at least I wonder this with Lo Wei. I need to read more accounts on what earlier actors thought of him.

[RetroRobot]

Yeah, we've talked about director influence before, and HK directors, Lo Wei in particular, is probably the ones where I wonder the most.

[Markgway]

On Fist of Fury Bruce Lee would direct action scenes whilst Lo Wei was sleeping in his chair.

I've seen MSP, RC, and TCS -- can't say I was impressed by any of them.

[RetroRobot]

Well, if you were ever impressed by anything, I would be impressed..... that would be a lot of impression.

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

Though to be fair I am not surprised that one would not be impressed by this film. I am a little surprised that Mark watched it though .

Lo Wei sleeping in his chair is well known by the seventies. I do wonder how he was on the Shaw Brothers lot. He looks healthier in this film than he does several years later .

[Markgway]

I am a little surprised that Mark watched it though .

How come? I've watched plenty of dramas and musicals.

I've seen most of the films Lo Wei made after 1965.

Dragon Swamp and Vengeance of a Snow-Girl are probably his best for Shaw.

Bruce Lee aside, his best for Golden Harvest was The Invincible Eight.

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

I am a little surprised that Mark watched it though .

How come? I've watched plenty of dramas and musicals.
.

No real reason. Just a feeling I suppose.

[RetroRobot]

Invincible Eight, Dragon Swamp and VOASG are also good, true. And while Shadow Whip is not Cheng Pei Pei's strongest vehicle, I still like that quite a bit. I don't think i've ever watched the Lo Wei JC movies more than once, except for NFOF and Dragon Fist. I seem to remember enjoying the Angel flicks and some of those other 60's spy movies for their Bondish cheesiness. His contempo set GH films never did that much for me. Looking back at it, I guess he helmed more films I enjoy than I originally thought. I would never call him a GREAT director, but I suppose he could bang out a decent flick now and again.

[Markgway]

Back Alley Princess I liked, in a New year comedy sort of way.
Not much action until the end, which is probably why it's not oft mentioned.

I haven't seen the Jackie movies for about 15 years. Might have to revisit some of them... at some point in the future. I recall Dragon Fist being the best; Fearless Hyena the worst (although Lo Wei didn't direct that one, Jackie did).

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

I liked Shadow Whip as well (have the R1 Image release). Now out of the earlier Jackie Chan films I like Fearless Hyena and thought the worst ones were the Lo Wei directed ones like New Fist of Fury and Spiritual Kung Fu. Now those two are better than say The Cub Tiger from Kwangtung (1973), All in the Family (1975) and some of the earliest JC in small role films or the non-JC Fearless Hyena II (I think I have a long review of that).

[RetroRobot]

To be honest, if I watch the early JC fu flicks (which is almost never), I sorta have to block out that it's Jackie Chan im watching, and just enjoy it as regular old school fu (even DM and SITES) since A) I don't think he found his own style until Young Master, and B) for that very reason, I find them all very underwhelming.

Why some people have flicks like Shaolin Wooden Men or Magnificent Bodyguards in their JC top ten is mindboggling to me, considering his impressive output. Maybe it's something im missing. I just think the JC/Lo Wei collabo was a marriage made in uninspired, lacklustre hell.

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

...
Why some people have flicks like Shaolin Wooden Men or Magnificent Bodyguards in their JC top ten is mindboggling to me, considering his impressive output. Maybe it's something im missing. I just think the JC/Lo Wei collabo was a marriage made in uninspired, lacklustre hell.

I'm going to agree with you there. Who would have either of those in their JC top 10? Not mine.

[RetroRobot]

Saw that plenty on KFC. People are totally entitled to their opinion... it just baffles me. And I suspect that sometimes people do that just to seem interesting and out-of-the-box hipsterish.

[Killer Meteor]

I'm very fond of the Jackie Chan/Lo Wei movies, mainly due to nostalgia. I do rank Shaolin Wooden Men Snake & Crane Arts of Shaolin in my top 10 Jackie flicks, although Lo Wei didn't actually direct those. I feel the Kung Fu Cinema crowd like them because Jackied busts out the "shapes", never the best criteria for judging a movie's greatness.

I've enjoyed Lo's early swordplay flicks for Shaws and Golden Harvest, some of which are very good. His Bruce Lee films are awesome, and let's be fair, Way of the Dragon isn't that different in terms of direction to the two Lo flicks - lots of crowded supporting players standing in proscenium arches , and absurdly corny melodrama (not least Wang Chung Hsin going totally bonkers in the final reel, with "mwa ha ha"s and the perviest smile in history.).

However, Lo's 1973 bashers A Man Called Tiger, None but the Brave and Seaman No.7 all suffer from awful pacing and dull productions. All the spark of his previous work totally gone. I do feel that he got his groove back in time for Dragon Fist, which is very well directed. Maybe he had a good horse that day.

Chang Cheh slept a lot on set too. Poor fellows should have retired and took it easy, but I don't imagine HK cinema carries a good pension scheme.

[Masterofoneinchpunch]

I believe Chang started sleeping more on set as he got older (his 1980s output) than his earlier films. The same with Lo Wei (though this would be in the 1970s.) Though I can't imagine 1960s and 1970s Shaw Brothers films allowing the director to sleep on the set (but please if you have any quotes on this please post them.)

I just do not think of the Bruce Lee films as Lo Wei's but as more of a collaboration with The Big Boss and more of Bruce Lee's with the second. But yeah I agree you can easily find some similarties between those two and Way of the Dragon. I think some people like it more because of Bruce Lee's name and what he added to it -- though I think overall critically Fist of Fury (aka The Chinese Connection) is liked much more (Golden Horse 100 Greatest Chinese Films, HKFA's The Best 100 Chinese Movies, critics like Stephen Teo etc...)

[RetroRobot]

Was never the biggest BL fan, as most of you know, but I fucking love WOTD. Most def my fave of his, and an overall fave as well. I love the lame comedy, the stilted line-up scenes, the non threatening goofball gangsters, the sluggish pace, the travelogue sequences etc. Most of which are things I usually hate, but here I love it, and I can't say why... I just do. Childhood nostalgia factors in for sure, so it has the comfort blanket effect, but there's more to it than that.... though I don't know what that is. There's stuff I don't like as well, like how bad he makes Whang In Sik look, the uncle twist and few more minor things. But I definitely feel like it has a totally different vibe than the two previous Lo Wei efforts.

[Killer Meteor]

Yes, I love Way too. I remember reading a quote from the British magazines MFB in which the critic (possibly Tony Rayns) called it "at once deeply flawed, and yet the most personal film yet to come out of Hong Kong."

It's such a strange blend of chop-socky, spagetti western and Jacques Tati style comedy, that it has few equal. Fist of Fury isn't the powerhouse I used to think it was (too many scenes of the Ching Wu students fretting slow down the pace) but The Big Boss is a very effective and down-to-earth flick that stands up well and packs an emotional punch.

Sometimes, I do wonder of an alternate universe where Bob Baker became the big star and not Chuck Norris...

[RetroRobot]

Always thought Baker somewhat resembled George Lazenby... only with a whitey fro and moustache. He could probably have been a decent action actor. A bit stiff in his movements, but most western MA stars were, sans a select few.

[Killer Meteor]

I'm surprised Baker wasn't used by Bruce again. He does seem more convincing on screen then Bob Wall, but Wall was, like Whang in-Sik, there to be clobbered by Bruce in 2 seconds flat.

[RetroRobot]

Well, im no BL expert, but im sure that with Baker being a student and personal friend of Bruce, he was not subjected to the same punching bag depiction like Wall, Whang and others.

[grim_tales]

Yeah that's what I thought too, I read Baker was one of Bruce's 'best' students wasn't he? Maybe he always seemed to make his own students/friends look better I cant remember but wasnt Kareem Abdul Jabbar (GoD) one of Bruce's students? Same with Dan Inosanto?
Too bad he never let Whang In-Sik or Bob Wall really show off their skills, though there are a few moments in the WOTD climax where you can see Chuck visibly winning

[Killer Meteor]

I'm astonished Joe Lewis was the first choice to play Colt. Anyone who has seen Death Cage can safely say we had a lucky escape there!

[Markgway]

Maybe there's something to the suggestion that Bruce allowed only his JKD students to look good.

Ji Han-Jae was a Hapkido grandmaster but you wouldn't know it from GOD.