|
THE
ASIAN VALUES DVD REVIEW
|
Cinema-goers
would have been forgiven if they thought they had wandered into
the wrong cinema when watching Lui Kei's Sexy Playgirls (1973).
If not for the Mandarin dialogue, the widescreen and colour, the
first 10 minutes of the movie is a throwback to those black-and-white
Cantonese melodramas of the '60s.
As they say,
the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Li Ching promises
on her mother's deathbed to look after younger sister Chen Ping.
Then it was discovered that Chen is suffering from cancer and
requires a costly medical treatment overseas. Steps in Li Ching's
boss who offers to pay for the treatment. As is typical in such
films, there is always a catch behind such generosity, in this
case, he wants Li for himself. Li gets cold feet on the "wedding
night" but discovers that the old lecher not only requires love
potions but is a voyeur who gets his high watching others have
sex. But on this occasion, the old man, who is always wearing
shades, gets chauffeur Lam Wai Tiu to warm up the intoxicated
Li before moving in himself. When Li wakes up in the morning,
a look at her dead boss without his shades - if you are kind,
you'd say he kind of reminds you of a panda; otherwise, it's as
if he had the living daylights knocked out of him - drives her
over the edge.
When Chen
returns to Hongkong, she finds Li on the verge of recovery but
is told that any further aggravation would destabilise Li. Meanwhile,
Chen meets singer Tsung Hua and introduces him to her sister.
In her depressed mood, Li had listened to Tsung Hua's songs and,
through the meeting, fallen for the singer. With her wealth, she
buys out Tsung's contract and practically makes him her boy toy
but his heart is still with younger sister Chen. One night after
an argument with Tsung, Li, in her deranged state, decides to
have an orgy with her driver and four other men. Still not satisfied,
she takes out her anger on her sister by getting the men to rape
Chen.
For a start,
don't be fooled by the film's title. These aren't your usual playgirls
in the traditional sense. This is not a film with a lot of free-and-easy
bed-hopping. In fact, one would hardly call them "playgirls" by
any stretch of the imagination. In a strange twist, sexbomb Chen
Ping is the innocent who gets pawed and groped, but true to form,
she does have a nude scene. Compared to Adultery Chinese Style
and Sexy Girls Of Denmark (all made by Lui Kei in 1973), the one
and only nude scene in Sexy Playgirls is judiciously photographed
and one wonders if Lui was being coy or was he testing the limits.
The film's
biggest tease must have been "Baby Queen" Li Ching starring in
an erotic film. One can say she has a couple of sex scenes, with
an orgy thrown in, and does a fair amount of moaning and groaning.
But all the while, she has her clothes on, and probably her knickers
too. Even a scene in the bathroom where she is being photographed
by her lecher boss isn't revealing at all. On the other hand,
Li does get put through the acting grinder. Demure and innocent
one moment, she turns fiery and deranged the next. Like Chen Ping
in Kiss Of Death, Li gamely goes through the paces and while she
hardly shows the acting range she is capable of in most of her
movies, Sexy Playgirls is a good reminder of what a fine actress
she can be.
Note:
Hongkong's Celestial Pictures, who are behind the current Shaw
reissues, probably feel that the movie doesn't have drawing power
and only reissued it on VCD and not on DVD. The VCD was released
in $ingapore though it is hard to find.
+
+ + + +
Click here for other Asian Values DVD Reviews:
Sexy Career Girls
Toro (Live Show)
That's Adultery
Woman Of Mud
Adultery, Chinese Style
Prosti
Women Of Desire
Tatlo
Hex
Naked Under The Moon
Love Swindler
Virgin People
The Girl With The Long Hair
Tatarin
Sex For Sale
Tatsulok
36 Secrets Of Courtship
Biyaheng Langit
Sexy Girls Of Denmark
Laman
Golden Lotus: Love And Desire
Tuhog (Larger Than Life)
Dreams Of Eroticism
Legends Of Lust
Amorous Woman Of Tang Dynasty
Hong Kong Hong Kong
Kiss Of Death
Crazy Sex
Forbidden Tales Of Two Cities
The Call Girls
