Stage Door Johnny (1990)

Stage Door Johnny (1990)
Chinese Title: 舞台姊妹
Translation: Stage Sisters

Starring: Kara Hui Ying-Hung, Ann Mui Oi-Fong, Eva Lai Yin-Shan, Ida Chan Yuk-Lin, Pauline Wong Yuk-Wan, Wu Ma, Waise Lee, Lam Ching-Ying, Lau Siu-Ming, Chung Fat, Mars, Ken Lo, Lee Jun-Git
Director: Wu Ma
Action Director: Jackie Chan’s Stuntman Association

Stage Door Johnny is an interesting film from director Wu Ma. Apparently filmed on sets leftover from Mr. Canton and Lady Rose, it is a melodramatic tale of sisterhood among female Peking Opera performers set around the 1920s. It demonstrates a lot of Wu Ma’s strengths as a filmmaker, but it ultimately held back from being “Very Good,” let alone “Great,” by a tad too much melodrama and a needlessly bleak finale.

The movie opens at a train station in China where Peking Opera star Tsui Yen-Hsieh (Kara Hui, of Burning Ambition and Widow Warriors) is waiting for her lover. Unfortunately, the man is too attached to his rich family to be willing to elope, thus leaving her and their unborn child to their own devices. Watch for a great scene of a depressed Tsui approaching a group of reporters with her head bowed in shame, only to lift it up and reveal a million-dollar smile for the cameras. Great acting from Kara Hui.

Somewhere in Shanghai, there is an all-female Peking Opera company led by Pops (Wu Ma, of Mr. Canton and Lady Rose and Kung Fu of 8 Drunkards) and Boss Shen (Ann Mui, older sister of Anita, who had a small role in Police Story 2). This troupe is going through hard times, mainly because of a mixture of Shen’s insistence on performing pure dramas (as opposed to stories with martial arts in them) and the general chaste representation of the same—were there China Operas that revealed a bit of skin back in the 1920s?

At this point, Pops is so desperate for money that he’s pawning his own old costumes just to keep the troupe paid. The company has four star players: Shen; Boss Ching (Ida Chan, of Shaolin and Wu Tang and On the Run), who is resigned to see the company go out of business; Boss Hsiao (Pauline Wong, but not the pretty one from Mr. Vampire, but the evil one from Mr. Vampire Part 3), who is “dating” a mid-level Triad named Pin San (Lee Jun-Git, of A Better Tomorrow II and Police Story 2); and Boss Sai (Eva Lai, who played the evil demon girl in Burning Sensation). There is also the troupe musician, Mr. Liu, played by Lam Ching-Ying (of The Prodigal Son and Eastern Condors).

Boss Sai becomes the object of affection of Pin San’s boss, Chang (Lau Siu-Ming, of Royal Warriors and A Chinese Ghost Story). Chang really wants to get into her trousers, but before that happens, we have to meet some more characters. While out making purchases one day, Sai witnesses a gunfight between Chang’s gang another a group of gunman led by “benevolent” crime boss Lu (Waise Lee, of Wing Chun and Bullet in the Head). It’s suggested that Lu is one of those good crime bosses who doesn’t have a problem with extortion and prostitution, but drugs are a complete no-no. Lu and Sai sorta become enamored with each other during the fire fight.

While that’s going on, Pops decides to hire Tsui Yen-Hsieh to boost sales and direct the troupe’s repertoire to more action-oriented stories. That creates a lot of tension between the girls, especially when the gamble pays off and Pops pays Tsui a higher share of the profits than the other girls—these scenes definitely feel like the Peking Opera equivalent of the Caitlyn Clark controversy: all-girl’s association is just eking out a living, a new girl shows up and starts filling seats, the other girls feel jealous that their hard work had gone unnoticed until then, the same girls are equally angry that the person who is making them profitable for once is making more money than they are…

So, there is this conflict between the girls, plus each girl has her own issues (eg., Tsui is still pregnant and is considering an abortion; Hsiao is seriously considering marrying the scuzzy Pin San), some moments of unrequited love (like the rickshaw puller Kui, played by Mars, who is secretly in love with Boss Shen), and there’s the external conflict of the bad blood between Chang and Lu coming to a boil within the walls of the opera hall.

Stage Door Johnny is a very melodramatic film. There are lots of overwrought emotions, especially in the second half as the film reaches its emotional crescendo. It gets so over-the-top near the end that I was wishing it kept the subtlety of that opening scene with Kara Hui. Probably the worst example is the scene where Mars’s rickshaw puller character breaks curfew in order to fetch a doctor for Boss Shen, who has lost her voice for some reason. He basically gets himself shot to death by the police in order get her medical attention, but she refuses to take the medicine. But in the same scene, Tsui is about to take a medicine that would induce abortion. The scene ends with Shen overcoming her severe laryngitis by screaming, “Mommy, don’t do it,” which causes Tsui to reject her medicine. What the heck? It completely invalidates Mars’s sacrifice. That said, the film benefits from strong performances around the board.

The Sing Ga Ban—aka Jackie Chan’s Stuntman Association—handled the action, which pops up sporadically throughout the movie. There are three major set pieces and two smaller action scenes. There is a short gunfight early on when Lu’s Men (including Ken Lo) are trying to stop Chang’s men (led by Chung Fat) from smuggling opium. Near the end, there is a fight scene between Ken Lo and Pin San’s men, which has some of his kicking (although it is a bit over-edited). The first big sequence is a fight during a performance at Chang’s house, where Lu’s men team up with the Opera performers to fight Chang’s men when he tries to kidnap Boss Sai. Later on, some rude men at a restaurant (including former Jet Li doubles Xiong Xin-Xin and Mak Wai-Cheung) start picking on Pops until the five leading ladies step up and beat the hell out of them. Then you get the big finale, in which five women in full Peking Opera regalia take on an entire Triad—spears and pole-arms versus choppers and hatchets. It’s a really well-staged fight sequence and should satisfy most fans of the genre.

I would recommend that most Hong Kong cinephiles and fight fans at least check out Stage Door Johnny. There is a nice pristine copy of the film uploaded to YouTube via the Cinema No.8 - HK Movie channel. It’s one of Wu Ma’s better movies, all things considered.

Fighting Female February 2026

A lot of things happened in my life last year, especially with regards to my personal life. I was suddenly left with one less LARGE responsibility (or burden, if you want to be cynical) and I was promptly planning on spending the next five years of my life watching nothing but movies after my work shift had ended. I even had a planned schedule of: Day 1 - Vintage Sci-Fi Movie; Day 2 - Movie for the Site; and Day 3 - Movie for my Fanzine.

But life likes to throw curve balls, many of which are blessings. I have enjoyed that. As a result, I don't quite have the same movie-watching time that I'd had for much of last year. Nonetheless, I enjoy a level of love and companionship that I had not enjoyed in a very long time. I'm still trying to update the site regularly, but it's a bit complicated as I try to organize my life. Horrible, awful DOOM SCROLLING also gets into the way of my productivity as an amateur movie critic. Curse you, Facebook Reels and YouTube Shorts!!! CURSE YOU!!!

This year's Fighting Female February may very well be my last update for full-length reviews for a while. I'm still doing the fanzine. I have another book project I'm working on. And I have a blossoming part of my personal life to attend to, whose dividends are certainly better than "dozens of views" for a single movie review. But, there will be some sporadic updates here and there, so stay tuned.


Movies Reviewed:

Stage Door Johnny (1990)

Taoism Drunkard (1984) - R.I.P. Yuen Cheung-Yan (1947 - 2026)

Taoism Drunkard (1984)
Aka: Drunken Wu Tang; Miracle Fighters 3
Chinese Title: 鬼馬天師
Translation: The Cat and the Moon Monster

Starring: Yuen Yat-Choh, Yuen Cheung-Yan, Yuen Shun-Yi, Zhu Hai-Ling, Lo Pi-Ling, Yuen Shun-Yi, Hilda Liu Hao-Yi, Yen Shi-Kwan, Mandy Chan Chi-Man, Tsui Oi-Sam, Tai Bo
Director: Yuen Cheung-Yan
Action Director: The Yuen Clan

On January 1^st of this year (2026), Yuen Cheung-Yan passed away. He was best known as “Yuen Woo-Ping’s brother,” although he was a talented action director in his own right. He was also an established character actor, often playing small-but-memorable roles in a lot of movies, especially those that were connected to his brother in one way or another. He even made it to Hollywood, staging the fight sequences for the first two Charlie’s Angels films (not the reboot with Kristen Stewart) and the Ben Affleck Daredevil.

His career as an action director goes all the way back to 1968, at which point he would have been 21 years old. That was alongside Chan Siu-Pang on the wuxia film The Flying Dragon Dagger. He went back and forth between work at the Shaw Brothers and indy films, ranging from the classic Vengeance! (1970) to In Eagle’s Shadow Fist (1973), an early role for Jackie Chan. In fact, it may have been Yuen Cheung-Yan’s working with Jackie in that role that ultimately helped Yuen Woo-Ping convince Ng See-Yuen to cast Jackie in Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow. It was Yuen Cheung-Yan who wore the monster suit for the Shaw Brothers classic The Mighty Peking Man. By the time of his passing, he had amassed about 111 credits as an action director or fight choreographer.

Taoism Drunkard was Yuen Cheung-Yan’s first foray into directing. The film is part of the Yuen Clan “Sorcery Cycle,” which started in 1982 with Miracle Fighters. Cheung Yan’s more famous brother Woo-Ping had directed the first two entries: Miracle Fighters and Shaolin Drunkard. This third entry was produced by Lo Wei and Yuen Cheung-Yan took up the directorial reigns—Yuen Woo-Ping might have been busy on Drunken Tai Chi at the time. It certainly a B-movie classic for people who just like completely random films.

The film opens with a palm reader being approached by Master Ruthless (Yuen Shun-Yi, of Shaolin Drunkard and Drunken Tai Chi), also known as “Old Devil”. Ruthless asks for his fortune, only to surprise the palm reader by having no lines on his palms—we later learn that he had been captured by the Taoist sect and sentenced to placed on a metal roller coaster and having his hands run across metal plates covered with acid as punishment for his evil deeds. He kills the fortune teller and reveals the hiding spot of his senior brother (Yen Shi-Kwan, of The Master Strikes and Once Upon a Time in China), who had betrayed him and turned him in to the Taoists. The two have a fight and Ruthless kills his brother.

Back at the Taoist Sect’s headquarters, the Drunken Taoist (Yuen Cheung-Yan—whom we’ll call Bucktooth) is driving around in his wicker Ratmobile, terrorizing the monks and just making a general nuisance out of himself. He goes to far when he breaks the arm on one of the god’s statues and his older brother, the head priest (Hsiao Hou-Tou, The Evil Karate and The Vampire Dominator), tasks him with finding a virgin born on a specific date in order to perform a ceremony to placate the god whose statue he destroyed. Otherwise he’ll be kicked out of the temple.

It ultimately turns out that the young man in question is Cha Lee (Yuen Yat-Chor, of Young Taoism Fighter and Miracle Fighters), the grandson of an old witch (also Cheung-Yan) who had helped the Taoists to defeat Master Ruthless back in the day. She is training her grandson to be a powerful kung fu sorcerer and kung fu master, and is in possession of a special sacred text that Ruthless is after. Ruthless shows up to try to steal the text, which is protected by the Watermelon Monster (a giant bowling ball with teeth who talks like Gonzo from “The Muppet Babies”).

Lots of shenanigans ensue, largely revolving around the horny widowed sister (Lo Pi-Ling, of Calamity of Snakes) of Cha Lee’s girlfriend, Shiu Fang (Zhu Hai-Ling, of The Shanghai 13 and The Thunderbolt Commander). She’s anxious to get back in the dating game with her lover (Tai Bo, of Project A II and Ninja in the Dragon’s Den), although a practical joke involving séance and Shiu Fang leads her to believe that Bucktooth is her soul mate. There is also a subplot involving a sorceress/extortionist, Starry Devil (Hilda Liu, of A Fist Full of Talons and Golden Queen Commando), and her entourage. She is ultimately blackmailed into helping Master Ruthless after he douses her with a potion that will age her to death in a few minutes.

Taoism Drunkard is the same style of film as its predecessors, although a bit more scattershot in the plot territory. I mean, all of these play fast and loose with the plot, but this one spins its wheels for much of the first two-thirds of the running time. Eventually, this one starts to focus itself when Starry Devil is blackmailed into helping Master Ruthless after he douses her with a potion that will age her to death in a few minutes. At that point, we have a running series of battles between Master Ruthless, Starry Devil and our two heroes (Cha Lee and Bucktooth) over the aforementioned text.

But there is plenty of Komedy to keep viewers interested until then, provided that they can ignore the lack of direction in the story. There are kung fu fights involving Giant Bongs and Komically-Oversized Swords. There is a séance played for laughs. There is a scene in which the sister’s lover tries to kill Bucktooth for taking his place as the paramour. And of course, there is the famous Watermelon Monster, which sounds screwy on paper, but is even nuttier when you actually watch the film.

The fight scenes were staged by the Yuen Clan, who would include: Yuen Woo-Ping, Yuen Cheung-Yan, Yuen Shun-Yi, Yuen Yat-Chor, and Brandy Yuen. I’m not sure if all five of them were on hand for the film, but there is a good chance that such was the case. The fights are generally wired-up and filled with gimmicks. When Ruthless fights his senior brother, the latter wears a vest of spikes which makes him throw himself backward in an attempt to skewer his enemy. Later fights are bit more standard. Starry Devil fights with long silk sashes that work like a lash, although they have razor sharp coins on them that can slice through human flesh. There is some pure kung fu in Cha Lee’s earlier fights with Ruthless, or when Cha Lee goes buck wild on Starry Devil’s entourage. It all climaxes with a big fight involving flying explosives that leave their victims wearing pig masks and a heat-seeking bowling ball. Personally, I prefer all the fights in Shaolin Drunkard to the ones in this one, but it’s all goofy enough to merit a watch with like-minded friends