| "Three Smiles" (1969, alias "San Xiao") was one entertaining adaptation of a Huangmei Opera. Even though my knowledge of Huangmei Opera is painfully limited, I still didn't have much of a problem enjoying "Three Smiles". Actress Ivy Ling Po portrays a male (!) named Tang Bohu, a famous scholar who develops a major infatuation for a maiden called Autumn Fragrance (the slightly- rotound and ultra-lovely Li Ching). As in real life, once one has seen Li Ching/Autumn Fragrance smile at least three times, one can get hooked to her like a bee to a flower or pasta sauce stuck to a wall! Through most of the film, Autumn Fragrance has no interest in Tang Bohu, but Tang is desperate to woo her and earn her hand in marriage.
I have to commend actress Ivy Ling Po for her performance in this film; she seemed convincing enough as a male even though she looks like a woman. Then again, as a man, even if I were a woman, I' d still have the hots for Li Ching (as she was born in 1948, she's about the same age as my mother. Boy, I wonder if there are any Gen-Y Raquel Welch fanboys? How do they cope with finding the image of a starlet, from the 1960's and 1970's , alluring in this day and age of 2004?)! Li Ching is still super-sweet looking and she does a good job acting, singing, and dancing in the film. I also have to commend director Griffin Yueh Feng and the filmmakers for putting a lot of emphasis on developing the romantic subplot between Tang Bohu and Autumn Fragrance; for the sake of taste, we don't get to see Tang Bohu and Autumn Fragrance smooching or "getting it on"!
The musical numbers are fun to watch and, for a commercial film, the film maintains an aesthetic mood; the film has good pacing and the film is less than two hours. This flick avoids wearing out its welcome. Also, Autumn Fragrance has some layers to her character and she's not merely window dressing. A lord's two sons also have the jones for Autumn Fragrance, but they don't act with the same kind of gallant attitude that Tang Bohu maintains. There's a scene where Autumn Fragrance asks herself in a monolouge, "Why do they always hit on me?"
There's a scene where a fisherman (Li Kun) takes Tang Bohu by boat to see Autumn Fragrance as she stays at a house near a riverbed. From the boat, Tang looks at Autumn in that "stare". Autumn, still not interested in Tang Bohu, splashes stagnant water from a bowl on his ("her") face. Tang doesn't even blink or respond as he maintains the "stare". The fisherman jokingly tells Tang, "It's raining."
Tang snaps out of the phase and he asks, "It's raining?" This film wins points for the light, feel-good tone it leaves behind. This film isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea. Some may find a female as the male lead and a female as the female lead in a romantic, Huangmei opera comedy, well, "dirty". Oh, well. If one can tolerate opera and operatic tradition, then "Three Smiles" is highly recommended! |
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