| 'Spring Song' (1959) is a fun, lightweight film that depicts college life in the late 1950's, in Hong Kong, and the film stars two of MP&GI/Cathay's most popular screen divas of the time, Grace Chang (Ge Lan) and Jeanette Lin Cui. Li Qingping (Grace Chang) is a young lady from a middle class family and she excels at music and dancing. Sun Jingni (Lin Cui) is a young, tomboy-ish lady (she's straight, not lesbian; "tomboy" can sometimes be used as a slang for "lesbian") from a wealthier family and she excels at sports. In a circle of four friends, Qingping has the hots for well-built jock Buffalo (Roy Chiao), but Qingping is unable to really "click" with Buffalo due to her lack of physical fitness. On the other end of the coin, Jingni has the hots for Monkey (Peter Chen Ho) as he's good at dancing. Jingni is unable to really "click" with Monkey due to her lack of skill in music and dancing. Qingping and Jingni start to envy eachother and they gradually become bitter rivals! Will the two ever accept their own limitations, embrace their abilities, and be friends?
I love that bit in the coffee house where Monkey is waiting for Jingni (or was it Qingping?) and Buffalo is waiting for Qingping. Monkey and Buffalo are sitting on seats next to eachother, but their seats are pointed in opposite directions. I love the way director Evan Yang has Peter Chen Ho and Roy Chiao pour coffee, add lumps of sugar and/or milk, and stir the coffee in an almost synchronized pattern. Man, that was funny! I remember when I was 9 or 10 years old and I saw Roy Chiao as the evil Lao Che in the prolouge of 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom' (1984). I thought to myself, "Wow! He's so dreamy!" Not to sound like a "homo" or anything, I am a straight guy. I 've had friends who were gay, but I just let 'em be. As Bullitt would say, "I 'll work my side of the street and you...work yours. Okay?" I just think the late Roy Chiao was handsome, that's all! Apparently, Qingping thinks so too! I gotta admit, Grace Chang and Lin Cui are both charismatic and I could feel both of their presences. As a gag, during an archery contest, Jingni shoots a guy's hat off with an arrow! She doesn't harm a hair on his head. If I had pulled something like that in high school during archery practice, I could've been expelled! Then again, 'Spring Song' is just a movie. 'Spring Song' also has a cool soundtrack: Grace sings some Mandarin song to the tune to Puccini's 'La Donna e Mobile', there's a Mandarin version of 'Que Sera' (Spanish for 'what will be' in the future tense; sung as a cover by Ned Flanders on 'The Simpsons' and performed in Alfred Hitchcock's 1959 remake of his 1933 film, 'The Man Who Knew Too Much'), Chen Ho and Grace Chang boogie to some rock 'n' roll song, and Grace even sings some Chinese opera. 'Spring Song' is recommended for viewers who are looking for lost gems in Hong Kong cinema's history. |