The Girl with a Thousand Faces

Young girl Koo Ling-sau (Grace Chang) applied to become an actress without telling her family. A director recognises her talent and offers her a film, but Ling-sau’s grandmother (Ouyang Shafei) voices her strong objection. At Ling-sau’s insistence, her grandmother finally reveals the shattered love affair that Ling-sau’s father (Chang Yang) shared with an actress (also Grace Chang) during his youth. 

Tao Yuen released only two Mandarin-language films: This film and Rivals in Love (1959). Originally a major star of MP & GI, Grace Chang takes a rare outside role, playing both a young girl who is obsessed with the arts and an affectionate actress who is in love with a university student. She has an extraordinary audition scene in which she plays a flower girl, an elderly, a rich married woman, a seductive lady and a dancer. She also performs several dances in the opening that give her the chance to act both affectionate and flirty, as well as Peking and kunqu opera songs, living up to the titular ‘girl with a thousand faces’. When watched together with Mambo Girl (1957) and The Wild, Wild Rose (1960), one will be utterly dazzled by Chang’s multifaceted talent. In the end, Ling-sau receives her family’s blessings to become an actress, unleash her talent and pursue her true self, fitting perfectly with Tao Yuen’s commitment to making films that are both entertaining and educational.

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