Yu hai qing mo

MADAME SLENDER PLUM is a slow-moving slice of drama from the Shaw Brothers studio, directed by Lo Wei who was better known for his later work with Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. He was always one of the more workmanlike directors with the studio and this misfire is even more drawn out than his Bond variant ANGEL WITH THE IRON FISTS. The story is essentially a remake of an old Hollywood movie, focusing on a mother and daughter and their volatile relationship. The material about the mother becoming a nightclub singer and getting ostracised as a result has dated quite badly in the intervening years, and not much else is going on of note despite the attractiveness of the locales.

This film from the Shaw Brothers stars the sexy Diana Chang as Xiumei, a lady who makes good as a nightclub owner after her husband leaves her and her daughter Lilian (the Eurasian beauty Jenny Hu) in disgrace. Her husband left because he made bad investments and their younger daughter tragically died in a fall. Xiumei pulls herself up by her bootstraps and becomes successful and re-meets an old school friend who wants to be with her. He eventually has designs, since Xiumei still pines for her husband, for Lilian, who is interested, since he pays the attention to her her busy, successful mom can't. You already know what happens to the guy, the first scene has him being killed in a struggle with Xiumei. But, is that how it really happened? You may be surprised. I've seen one other Jenny Hu film, "Love Without End" and that was as dramatic as this one. She was only about 20 when she did this role, and she is a pretty good actress. Diana Chang is as good, she is likable in her role. If you like melodrama with a splash of murder mystery, this is good viewing. One caution to you, though: If you buy the DVD, please stop yourself from looking at the picture on the back of the case. Inexplicably, they're giving away the mystery! Don't look at it if you want to see the whole film. Its a good old fashioned mystery which moves along fairly well. I think you'll like it.