They opened my eye to the beautiful light and showed me

[sovay]

reconditarmonia just reminded me of the existence of Esther Eng, the butch Cantonese-American filmmaker and restaurateur who was the first female director of Chinese-language films in both the U.S. and Hong Kong and may be relevant to some of your interests on grounds of dapper alone.



"Eng dressed in men's attire and was quite open about her several lesbian relationships. The latter was especially closely followed and reported on by the Hong Kong media. Sophisticated magazine editors often referred to her romantic interests as her 'bosom friend' and 'good sister.' Perhaps because all-female opera troupes with male-impersonating actresses were quite popular in the 1930s, Eng's appearance and relationships did not cause much controversy."

That record scratch you are hearing is my complete ignorance of all-female Cantonese opera in 1930's Hong Kong—and beyond; further research is obviously required—followed by the lurching to speed of my surprise that I haven't been recommended the romance novel already.

Two out of Eng's eleven films survive. I have seen neither; I had read of them, but I had never made the connection that her American films of the '40's fill the gap between Dorothy Arzner and Ida Lupino. I shall hope the rest turn up in closets in Argentina or permafrost in Canada. History is more fragile than nitrate.

Comments

[sovay]

I almost watched a hong kong movie about opera last week! i wanted to, but we ran out of time after the first film in our planned Tsui Hark double header.

I just had Peking Opera Blues recommended to me last night because of this photo! I have actually read about it, but it has not turned up anywhere I can watch it yet. What were you double-featuring it with? [edit] And where were you watching it?!

[laura47]

where i was watching it is probably not very useful to you - in an empty seminar room at U Cincinnati, off of DVD. I just assumed i could find it online because... films... should be online? oops, i was just talking to friends tonight about trying to watch it. :-(

the first film was "A Chinese Ghost Story", produced by the producer/director of "peking opera blues". i strongly suspect i would have enjoyed peking opera blues more - but i went in asking to see some foundational/etc works of wuxia film, and it was! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Chinese_Ghost_Story