The Devil and Her Magic Needles, Part One

Dir/Scr: Yeung Kung-leong
Orig Story: Chin Fung
Prod Co: Fong Ming
Co-starring: Lam Kar-sing, Yu So-chow, Lee Hung, Tang Ruoqing, Sek Kin
1964 | B&W | Digital File | Cantonese | 91min

A highly entertaining movie released for Chinese New Year in 1964, The Devil and her Magic Needles, Part One is an entry in the amazing and once-popular genre that blends martial arts with fantasy.

Spectacular swordplay is complemented with hand-drawn special effects, double exposures and image collages, enhanced by the eerie makeup that realises the mystical ‘white-bone’ condition caused by the villain’s wicked power. Adapted from a novel originally serialised in newspaper and later span-off for radio broadcast, the film follows the exploits of Fan (film and Cantonese opera star Lam Kar-sing) seeking revenge on Ghostly Madam Blue Flower (Tang Ruoqing), who has killed his father and his newly-wedded wife with Magic Needles. He comes across Mui (Yu So-chow), a young maiden who is about to have a duel with Ghostly Madam.

Connie Chan Po-chu crosses gender boundaries to play a young swordsman, Mui’s junior disciple under the same master. Chan has graduated to second lead, radiating the kind of gentle virility that is the ideal of Confucian manhood. She deftly tackles the myriad requirements of her role, from the martial to the chivalrous to the comic, demonstrating the width and depth of her thespian range. The film also features the great Simon Yuen Siu-tin, accomplished Peking opera acrobat and father of action maestro Yuen Woo-ping, who shot to stardom in late-1970s kung fu flicks but started his film career in low-budget Cantonese cinema.

The Devil and Her Magic Needles, Part Two

Dir/Scr: Yeung Kung-leong
Orig Story: Chin Fung
Prod Co: Fong Ming
Co-starring: Lam Kar-sing, Yu So-chow, Lee Hung, Tang Ruoqing, Sek Kin
1964 | B&W | DCP | Cantonese | 98min

Continuing the storyline from Part One, The Devil and Her Magic Needles, Part Two begins with the heroine Mui (Yu So-chow) being poisoned by Magic Needles and becoming a puppet of the evil Ghostly Madam Blue Flower (Tang Ruoqing). She even disguises herself as another swordsman, Fan (Lam Kar-sing), and kills the father of her fellow martial-arts disciple, Heung (Lee Hung). Without knowing the truth, Heung takes revenge on Fan’s family, but soon she discovers the truth and joins forces with Fan, Mui and Bo (Connie Chan Po-chu) to eradicate Ghostly Madam.

Director-scriptwriter Yeung Kung-leong adds an exotic touch to this sequel of The Devil and Her Magic Needles, featuring the culture of the ethnic Miao tribe. Tracking Ghostly Madam, Mui, Bo and their comrades venture into the mountain region inhabited by the Miao people, immersing the 1960s audiences into a novel and refreshing experience of festive folk costumes and passionate ethnic dances. Chan’s Bo disguises himself as a Miao girl, a double cross-dressing turn not uncommon in films and operas of the time but likely coming across as delightfully fascinating today. Precious Pearl Connie rises to the occasion, delivering her performance with flowing gender fluidity.

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