Film Descriptions
Golden Swallow
Hong Kong (1968), 35mm, 108 minutes, Mandarin with English subtitles
Director: Zhang Che
Cast: Jimmy Wang Yu, Zheng Peipei, Luo Lie, Zhao Xiuyan, Yang Zhiqing
Producer: Runme Shaw
Showtime: 4/19 at 9pm at the Metro State Auditorium
A sequel to King Hu's Come Drink With Me, Golden Swallow takes its title from the heroine of Hu's film but, in line with director Zhang Che's (Chang Cheh's) proclivity for male-centered stories, reorients the plot around a tormented swordsman. The film's true protagonist is Silver Roc, the brooding knight portrayed by Zhang's new male star, Jimmy Wang Yu. A prototype for the conflicted heroes that would dominate virtually all of Zhang's subsequent films, Silver Roc is a psychologically complex figure, drawn to violence and driven by a death wish, while possessed of a poetic sensibility and powerful romantic yearnings.
-Jesse Zigelstein, UCLA Film and Television Archive
Zheng Peipei (Cheng Pei-pei)
This Shanghai-born former ballet student made her screen debut (in male drag) in The Lotus Lamp (1963). She made more than 20 films under contract with the Shaw Brothers, most notably Come Drink With Me (1966), Hong Kong Nocturne (1966), Golden Swallow (1968) and The Lady Hermit (1971). Her many portrayals of the highly skilled "xia nü," or female knight-errant, throughout the 1960s paved the way for such latter-day female action stars as Michelle Yeoh. Later, Zheng returned to prominence as the villainous Jade Fox in Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000).
Jimmy Wang Yu
Along with actors Luo Lie, Yue Hua and Zheng Peipei, Wang Yu emerged as a Shaw Brothers star in the 1960s. Wang was cast in his first Zhang Che film, Tiger Boy, in 1964. His iconic image as a tormented warrior was cemented in subsequent Zhang Che collaborations: One-armed Swordsman (1967), The Assassin (1967) and Golden Swallow (1968). Turning to directing with The Chinese Boxer (1970), Wang helped lead the transition from swordplay to kung fu movies in the 1970s. He continued a career as an actor-director through the 1980s, mainly in Taiwan.
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