Lady Whirlwind (Tie Zhang Xuan Feng Tui, 1972)

We've got another film here for you kung-fu fanatics! Next up is an early Angela Mao Ying vehicle, Lady Whirlwind. This flick from Golden Harvest studios also earned her the nickname taken from the film's title. The movie also stars studio regulars Chang Yi, Pai Ying, Sammo Hung Kam-Bo and Liu Ah-Na.

The flim begins in a rough stretch of Chinese back country. Ling Shih-hua (Yi) is getting his ass royally kicked by Japanese mobsters led by Pai Ying's character. They leave him for dead by the river, where he is then found and rescued by Xua Xua(June Wu). Ling vows to take revenge as he's nursed back to health, and he and Xua Xua fall in love. Meanwhile, the mobsters' casino in town has a visitor with more on her mind than gambling. Tien Li-Chun(Mao Ying) is dead set on finding Ling and winds up busting up the casino and its boss (Sammo) in the process. She reveals that Ling abandoned her sister three years ago after she became pregnant with his child. That loss led her to commit suicide. Miss Tien swore revenge. Her pursuit of justice for her sister reaches a fever pitch and lands her in the middle of a conflict between Ling and the mobsters. Ling begs her to spare him until he can take revenge, to which she agrees. And then Ling gets beaten nearly to death AGAIN, being rescued by Miss Tien. He manages to come across an older man in the forest who teaches him Tai Chi and thus armed, goes out to settle things once and for all with everyone.

Lady Whirlwind is a cool flick. It is fast-paced, clocking in under ninety minutes and that does impact the film. You may get confused a bit by the plot merges. And Ling getting repeatedly rescued like that does make you scratch your head. Still, Angela Mao is the one that makes this film lively. You get to see her style in a semi-raw phase, arms flailing wildly but still powerful enough to lay the beatdown on any contenders. There are a few bloody scenes here and there, mostly within the final half-hour of the film. If you can, catch the original Mandarin version of the film as released by Fortune Star. It's not that the dubbed version is bad, but there are some odious moments(the scene where Ling repeats Xua Xua's name over and over for 5 minutes? UGH). All in all, Lady Whirlwind is an okay actioner made entertaining by the great Angela Mao.(Side note: the alternate title of the film? Deep Thrust. Which made for a bit of confusion when shown in grindhouse theaters in the States.)

Josephine Siao "Cantonese Princess"

Josephine Siao Fung-Fung is not as widely known in the West as an actress of high visibility, but she should be. You may remember her mainly from her role as the mother to Jet Li in both of his Fong Sai Yuk movies in the early 1990's. But her career is a rich one, and her personal life is a fair match for it.

Born near Shanghai in 1947, Josephine and her mother soon moved to Hong Kong for better prospects. That and Josephine developing deafness of the right ear when she was two years old led her mother to accept offers for her to be a child extra in films. Side note: though she would go on to be an established star of Cantonese films, Josephine got her start in Mandarin pictures. This led to a slew of roles since family dramas became all the rage in the 1950's, and it even got her an award for Best Child actor in 1956 for The Orphan Girl. Josephine would parlay this into a successful transition into a full-fledged career that saw her become a teen star in the late 60's with Connie Chan. It was during this time that she got to be renowned for her roles in wuxia as well as romance flicks and musicals. (The image below is from Half A Sword Part 2 from 1963.

With all this, Josephine's one real wish was to get herself a formal education since her career gave her no real time to pursue it. So she left Hong Kong and attended Seton Hall University, getting her degree in 1970. Her return to Hong Kong and the silver screen came three years later after being unsuccessful in trying to get her mother to relocate stateside. She picked up almost where she left off, acting both in Hong Kong and Taiwan which was the norm. During this period she became a wife(although her first marriage was a publicized disaster) and a mother to two children. She also took a great interest in screenwriting, and from this came two popular efforts. The first was her character of Lam Ah-Shun, better known as Plain Jane. Plain Jane got big enough to be a central point in three films. (By the way, the last of the three films, Plain Jane To The Rescue was directed by none other than John Woo.)With this comedic heroine under her belt, Siao went on to direct, and star in Jumping Ash in 1976, a film that is regarded as one of the origin films of the Hong Kong New Wave movement.

Josephine was out of the acting limelight after these successes, but was soon lured back to the screen in Stephen Chow's smash parodies of Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury in 1991 and 1992. These appearances paved the way for her roles with Jet Li. After a few more films(and high acclaim for her star turn in Summer Snow in 1996, she left the screen for good. This was due to the deafness that had overtaken her, making her fully deaf in her left ear by this point. But it was also due to her dedication to the salvation of children. Josephine not only became a well-known child psychologist after getting her Masters in the field, but she founded an organization dedicated to ending child abuse. Her deafness, although publicized, never once showed through in any of her roles. Truly amazing. As a further testament to her life, Siao has received both the honor of being a member of the Most Excellent Order of The British Empire and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hong Kong Film Awards. Josephine Siao, a cinema princess turned film queen.

Josephine Siao in 'Sword Of Ermei' (1969

Josephine Siao in 'The Professionals' (1967) - no English subs in this, sorry!!

'Fong Sai Yuk 2' (1993)