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.
