TEMPTRESS OF A THOUSAND FACES (1969)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *comedy*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological*

I've assigned this lightweight super-crook outing the "psychological" function because its writer seems to be borrowing from the playbook of the 1960s FANTOMAS film series by having the same actor play both the devious criminal and the crusading hero. 

As the film begins, we witness a major jewel theft by a respected Hong Kong citizen, who is actually the disguised super-thief The Temptress of a Thousand Faces. Apparently the Temptress has been bamboozling the local cops for a long time, but female officer Ji Ying (Tina Chin-Fei) publicly challenges the Temptress to a confrontation. (If the screenwriter saw the first entry in the French FANTOMAS series, this opening gambit might well be derived from a similar one, in which the film's reporter-hero falsifies an encounter with Fantomas and gets dragged to the villain's lair.)

Quick as a bunny, the Temptress's minions capture Ji Ying and take her to their underground hideout, in which bare cave walls alternate with various technical devices. Ji Ying meets the Temptress, albeit with a veil over the latter's face, and defies the villain. The Temptress sics her henchmen and henchwomen on Ji Ying, who gives a good account of herself before being beaten. However, for some reason the Temptress doesn't just kill the pesky cop, but decides she's going to humiliate Ji Ying in a variety of ways-- including subjecting the lady officer to what looks like electroshock. (Unlike some of the Fantomas entries, the Temptress's arsenal remains fairly low-tech and therefore uncanny in phenomenality.)

The Temptress then pulls off a major crime disguised as Ji Ying, and for some reason Ji's fellow cops don't believe in her innocence despite the well documented incidents of the super-crook's other impostures. But of course if the HK police believed Ji, she wouldn't get the pleasure of playing a "lone hand" in her quest to bring the Temptress and her (mostly female) gang to justice. I say "lone" advisedly, for Ji does have a cop-boyfriend, but he only renders martial aid once or twice. In fact, at one amusing point the Temptress, still dressed as Ji, seduces and sleeps with the guy, moments before the real thing bursts in and catches the couple in flagrante, leading to a rousing battle of the Tinas.

Given that this isn't a straight kung-fu film, the fight-choreography is stellar, and Tina Chin-Fei makes an admirable heroine and villainess. In fact, this is one of those films where it's difficult to determine which of the two is the star, though I lean toward the titular character. However, unlike Fantomas the Temptress meets a bad end and never returned for any sequels known to me.