A mystery caper of devilish fun, Temptress Of A Thousand Faces proves a femme fatale can match any man in wickedness. A mysterious thief has been committing crimes across the city. Always disguised and ever elusive, woman detective Chi Ying cannot find any clues for a good lead. But her reporter boyfriend Yu Ta is always supportive and understanding. Reversing the standard role stereotypes, it is the man here who then becomes the damsel (or dude as the case may be) in distress. Constantly frustrating her police woman foil, the temptress manages to make a game of outwitting her nemesis.
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This Asian entry in the "super-criminal" genre (which was dominated by the Europeans and the Americans in the 1960s) is more erotically suggestive than its peers, and has an unusually active female heroine, but storywise it is uninvolving, routine and often boring, despite the relatively short length (76 minutes). There are some good fight scenes with female cop Tina Chin facing multiple opponents at the same time, and at one point even herself (!), but the action climax, with two people, one of whom is a mere newspaper reporter, taking out an entire army of some of the worst shots ever hired by a supposedly super-smart crime boss, is quite absurd. I should have liked this film more, but for some reason I wasn't really feeling it. ** out of 4.
At the Edmonton Film Festival, I caught the second screening of this hidden gem. The print was unrestored, so I was pleasantly surprised at how gorgeous it looked on the big screen in Shawscope. Beautiful bright colours and clarity.The English Language title is "Temptress of a Thousand Faces". Directed by Cheng Chang-ho, best known for "Five Fingers of Death", this movie is not so much a martial arts movie as more of a crazy Hong Kong crime comedy. The aesthetic of the movie is very, very 60s, and I mean that in the best possible way. However, this movie might be a little too campy for some.The story is very multi-layered, believe it or not. It's a love story and a crime story laced with themes of morality and identity crises, but the Three Stooges style comedy and ridiculous action scenes take away all pretension.The premise: An underworld leader, who uses masks and other forms of deception, is wreaking havoc on Hong Kong and aspires for world domination. Through a series of unfortunate events, a young woman is caught up in the crimes of this "Temptress" and ends up being hunted down by both law-keepers and law-breakers. Sounds familiar, and it is, but the execution of this premise make the movie much more than just a standard episode of "Batman" with Adam West.The chances of one getting to see this movie are quite slim, so if you do get the chance, seize it. "Temptress of a Thousand Faces" is a rare treat.