Dvd cover for the English version of the film Mambo Girl (1957).
In the 1950s, post-war Hong Kong youth culture rose rapidly. Hong Kong's first Chinese song and dance film "Peach Blossom River" (1956), which sang in the country minor key, was quickly rejected by young people, and in 1957, International Film Mao Industry Co., Ltd., which had a large source of funds, stopped using music and folk songs with a rural background, in order to make Chinese song and dance films into a fashionable film with youth orientation.
Like Shanghai in the Republic of China, Hong Kong already had flexible cultural connections and access to the mainland and Southeast Asia – all advantages of the multinational entertainment industry to flourish.
Stills from the movie Mambo Girl (1957), from left to right: Ding Hao, Liu Enjia, Andran
By the end of the 1950s, Hong Kong's film industry had begun to steadily produce various types of films to the surrounding areas.
At that time, International Film Mao Co., Ltd. was an important contributor to the prosperity of Hong Kong's film industry, and most of the filmmakers in the company were young and powerful Chinese with Western-style education.
In addition to reflecting the emerging post-war youth culture, these filmmakers also strive to maintain the tradition of Chinese films.
From left to right: Parts of the posters for the American version of the film Sweet Sister Funicy Face (1957), The Prince and the Showgirl (1957), and The Way to Success Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957).
Looking at Hollywood in 1957, light-hearted comedies and cabaret films remained popular: Stanley Donen's (1924-04-2019) Sweet Sister Funi Face (1957), Lawrence Oliver Laurence Olivier's (1907–1989) The Prince and the Showgirl (1957), Vincent Olivier's (1907–1989) The Prince and the Showgirl (1957). Minnelly Vine Minnelli's (1903–1986) The WindrushIng Woman (1957), Frank Tashlin Frank Tashlin 's (1913–1972) Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) and George Cook George Cukor (1899–07–07 to). 1983-01-24) "Beauty Dress/ Paris Love Les Girls" (1957) and other films.
Gülen's image in the film Mambo Girl (1957).
Although some of these films are not necessarily very popular, the proportion of young people in the film market is still very high.
After returning to the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Shanghai became an isolated island; a large number of Shanghai filmmakers and musicians went south, causing the Chinese film and Chinese times to move south, which had a great impact on the Hong Kong film and music scene, which was very culturally underdeveloped at that time.
In the 1940s and 1960s, most studios in Hong Kong shot a large number of Chinese song and dance films, which not only followed a set of production methods in Shanghai, but also inherited the tradition of Central Plains culture even with themes and consciousness.
Although Hong Kong's Chinese song and dance films are also deeply influenced by Hollywood, they are marked by the era and the nation.
Promotional leaflet for the Hong Kong version of the film "Mambo Girl" (1957).
"Mambo Girl" (1957) of "Denmao", as a representative work of this period, of course, also has the above characteristics.
"Mambo Girl" choreographer Yi Wen (1920-1978) the impulse to shoot this film came from Gülen, when Gülen went to the Taiwan Labor Army, his performance of song and dance was welcomed, was called "Mambo Girl" by the three armies, the film got its name, after the release of the film sold well, Gülen's film career turned upside down.
"Mambo Girl" can be called a song and dance film tailored for her by "Electric Mao", and also created a precedent for the youth school to sing and dance films.
Images from the film Mambo Girl (1957).
The film tells the story of a girl named Li Kailing (played by Glen) who discovers that she is the adopted daughter of the family on her 20th birthday, and although her wealthy adoptive parents regard her as her own, she has an inferiority complex and is determined to find her birth mother.
However, her birth mother (played by Tang Ruoqing) refused to recognize her for the sake of her daughter's happiness.
The adopted daughter played by Gülen, with an apologetic bitter smile in front of her birth mother, exudes disappointment and sorrow, which is heartbreaking.
After disappointment, the adopted daughter indulged in singing and dancing with a group of young men and women, and was deeply moved by the sincere love of her adoptive parents, and finally returned home.
Stills from the movie "Mambo Girl" (1957), with Glen on the left and Tang Ruoqing on the right
The film shows the tradition and conservatism of Hong Kong society in the 1950s, fully reflecting that the residents of this small colonial island ruled by the British at that time were completely Chinese in terms of ethics and morality.
In the film, as the male protagonist Wang Danian (played by Chen Hou), he wants to invite his female classmate Li Kailing to go out for a walk, and he wants to get the consent of the woman's parents in advance.
Wang Danian wanted to invite Li Kailing's whole family to his house on her birthday to attend a birthday dance organized by her classmates, and Li Kailing mistakenly thought that he was asking for love, and immediately interrupted him, saying: "This matter will wait at least three or four years, or five or six years." ”
Promotional photo for the movie Mambo Girl (1957), Gülen and Chen Hou
The relationship between the two has always stayed in a pure and innocent friendship.
This tone of the film is consistent with the social situation in Hong Kong in the mid-1950s. At that time, Hong Kong was in an era of optimism, prosperity and stability unprecedented in the post-war period.
Memories of the war have faded, the economy has begun to take off, and the political turmoil of the '60s has yet to come.
Hong Kong is emerging from the crisis caused by the Korean War and the US-British embargo from a re-export trading port with the characteristics of an agrarian society, and is moving toward a modern industrial and commercial society, which is on the rise in the economy and increasingly prosperous.
Stills from the movie "Mambo Girl" (1957), Ding Hao
Therefore, the "Mambo Girl", who is completely urbanized, reflects local life, is full of youth and vitality, and is optimistic and uplifting, came into being as a product of the times.
At the beginning of "Mambo Girl", Gülen combs a ponytail suit, wears a very tastefully designed sweater and a pair of narrow pants, plus a pair of flat pointed shoes, and is surrounded by a group of crazy students in the living room of the house, singing and dancing, singing and dancing for five minutes mambo.
Leaving aside director Yi Wen's rather flexible storyboarding, after more than 60 years, the opening of "Mambo Girl" is still very attractive; Gülen's genius and stardom have not diminished with the passage of time.
Although there are two nightclub song and dance scenes in the film, the dance is only filmed with a panoramic view, and there is no close-up shot.
Dancers also mostly face the audience with their backs to the audience and appear for a short time, while in another nightclub, there is singer Fang Yihua (1931-2017) singing. Typhoon dignified, the film was shot in its entirety, with many close-up shots.
The whole film is singing and dancing one after another, but it can achieve "innocence".
It conveys a strong healthy and lively youthful atmosphere, and has its own optimistic and positive charm.
Stills from the movie "Mambo Girl" (1957), Fang Yihua
In this film, Gülen sings interludes with different styles and charms with different techniques and methods.
Among them, the song "I Love Cha Cha" has long been the most popular in movie interludes.
Gülen's Mambo dance set off a Mambo boom among the Hong Kong and Taiwan youth at that time.
In the movie "Mambo Girl", a total of 8 songs appear, each capital helps to express emotions, atmosphere, environment, or represent the thoughts of the protagonist, of which Gülen sang 7 songs.
Gülen's Mambo Girl CD cover
The opening song "My Paradise" introduces this happy Mambo girl, who is loved by her family and supported by friends, "As you go crazy, as you go crazy, as crazy as you go, let you be crazy, because this is my paradise, my home", "Mambo Girl" is the birthday nickname given to her by Gülen's classmates.
"I Love Cha Cha" shows the two popular youth dance styles of Cha Cha and Mambo.
In another hymn, Oh, Heaven, Gülen imagines her lost birth mother and decides to leave home in search of her.
The last country rock song, "Back," ended her journey to celebrate her reunion with her loved one.
On the set of the movie "Mambo Girl" (1957), Wu Jiajun (left), Glen (second from left) and Chen Hou (right) danced mambo dance together during breaks, causing everyone to laugh
In addition to subtly inserting the song into the story, the uniqueness of "Mambo Girl" lies in the fact that it contains an element that has long been lacking in Chinese song and dance films - dance.
Unlike traditional singing films that simply highlight music, "Mambo Girl" has 4 songs that appear as a soundtrack to a beautiful dance, and compared to the casualness of the early song and dance films towards modern dance, "Mambo Girl" shows a strong interest in various modern dance forms, and the dance is almost expressed here as a series of demonstration performances.
Although "Mambo Girl" is deeply influenced by Hollywood song and dance films, it is clearly different.
A promotional photo of Gülen's dance moves for the film Mambo Girl (1957).
First of all, the dramatic conflict of the film, unlike Hollywood song and dance films, often revolves around love or the devotion to the performing arts, but revolves around family and ethical affection, and the main crisis of the plot development is that Gülen knows that he is not the current parent.
Secondly, the film uses Hollywood's provocative dance, but only absorbs its vitality and joy, and excludes the elements of sex and love.
For example, in this film, mambo and cha-cha dances are performed by the toned Glen. But the swing of her body only shows its youthful vitality, and there is no provocation.
A dance image of Gülen and Chen Hou in the film Mambo Girl (1957).
Third, because the Hong Kong Chinese song and dance films in this period focused on family ethics and diluted love, the status of the male protagonist Chen Hou was greatly different from that of Hollywood song and dance films.
The male protagonist was in a secondary position, which made many male actors at that time reluctant to take on the role.
At that time, although there were a large number of song and dance films in Hong Kong, there were no male stars who could sing and dance. Chen Hou, who plays the male protagonist in this film, was the only outstanding male dance star of the year.
The cabaret performances in Mambo Girls define the "electric mao style" as a youth-oriented, free, and convincing cosmopolitan character.
Glen and Chen Hou (right) are funny on the set of the movie Mambo Girls (1957).
Moreover, the film rejects the prejudice that modern dance is a primitive hedonistic one, and repositions it as a healthy, sporty, and charismatic art form.
Mambo Girls seeks to see the pursuit of rock, pop, dance, and sport as a healthy, new hope for postwar revival.
The Mambo girl played by Glen is a carefree, free, full of youth and vitality, enthusiastic "college girl", she is active, cheerful, lively, can sing and dance, catch up with the trend, for fashionable things, proficient in everything, and is a master dancer, just like, Mambo has jumped to a variety of tricks, envy.
On the set of the movie "Mambo Girl" (1957), from left to right: Shao Feng, Ning Wenjing, Ge Lan, Shen Yun, Ding Hao and Yang Qun
She can be said to represent and idealize the new generation of women who grew up in the middle class of Hong Kong after the war and began to accept the influence of Western pop culture.
Director Yi Wen (who is also the screenwriter of the film) has always reduced the virtues of traditional Chinese women, such as gentleness, obedience, forbearance, and virtuousness, from the personality of Gülen's characters to a minimum.
On the other hand, it also strongly emphasizes the Westernized side of this role, trying to show her active, generous, optimistic, bold and informal.
Suddenly, the audience discovers a new continent on the screen - Gülen's place of origin may be Shanghai, Fujian, Sichuan or Northeast China, but her essence is a "Hong Kong" girl, an unprecedented Hong Kong new product. The timely birth of the Mambo girl immediately became the object of recognition, envy, and even secret imitation of the younger generation of women.
"Mambo Girl" is a classic of Hong Kong Chinese song and dance films at its peak, and reached the high level of the time in terms of choreography, photography, art, and music. After its release, it was a great success, leading to a number of follow-up works. As the producer, "Denmao" began to go hand in hand with "Shaw" in Hong Kong.
The movie "Mambo Girl" (1957) domestic DVD version of the cover
Although "Mambo Girl" has been widely praised for its innovation, Chinese song and dance films still adhere to the model of singing sadness and sadness in general
Before "Mambo Girl", Gülen did not have any outstanding masterpieces, she just acted in some ordinary girlish plays.
It wasn't until "Mambo Girl" that she broke the sky and appeared with a new image, which immediately swept all over Southeast Asia.
Gülen's popularity changed the production policy of the film in the next few years, and it can also be said that it officially announced the advent of a new era.
On the set of the film Mambo Girls (1957), Glen and Chen Hou (a white-shirted person) are rehearsing Mambo with the group actors
In addition, the film portrays Gülen as a whole new image that combines Chinese elegance with American innocence.
Gülen was once known as China's Debbie Reynolds (1932-2016), but she herself rejected this analogy.
She represents a youth toward the future: compassionate, talented, non-threatening, wholesome.
This image was continued and updated in "Children of Youth" (1959), "Air Hostess" (1959), and "Sister Flower" (1959) starring Gülen.
Poster of the Hong Kong version of the movie "Mambo Girl" (1957).
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