Reviewed by: duriandave Date: 09/23/2005 It is interesting to compare Her Tender Love with Movie-Fan Princess, which was made just three years earlier. Both films feature Connie Chan playing a factory girl and both are tributes to her fans who worked in Hong Kong’s booming manufacturing industry. In fact, Her Tender Love features an amazing song, "Long Live the Factory Girls,” that is oddly similar to the model revolutionary operas being made in the People's Republic of China during the same period. Both films also star sixties heart-throb Lui Kei as Connie’s leading man. Movie-Fan Princess was the debut of their four-year, 25-film screen romance that ended with Her Tender Love. There is, however, one significant difference between the two films, and it is best exemplified by Connie's hands. In Her Tender Love, they are a major motif. The romance between Connie and Lui Kei is signaled in the beginning of the film when Lui Kei kisses Connie's hands and tells her how pretty they are. Actually—backing up a bit—he first takes her hand after she tries to slap him for playing a joke on her. He then asks how she could hit with such pretty hands and says that they instead should be displayed in a museum for everyone to see. Lui Kei’s words are indicative of Connie’s changing character in the films they made together. In most of Connie’s other films she does use her hands to hit (she wasn’t the sixties queen of action because of her “pretty” hands!) but not in this film. Later, after the two have fled to Hong Kong to get away from their evil brother and after she has worked herself to the bone to support him as he goes to university, he takes her hands again and notices how damaged they are. Although they are no longer beautiful on the outside, they are still beautiful on the inside for all the support they have given him. “Your great hands support my studies,” he declares as he kisses them. What they can’t do, however, is protect Connie from her brother’s lecherous friend who tries to rape her at the end of the film. She does put up a struggle, but it is Lui Kei who saves her in the end. This is a complete turnaround from three years earlier in Movie-Fan Princess, when it is Connie who saves Lui Kei and shows off her fighting skills! Enough analysis! Although I obviously prefer the Connie Chan of Movie-Fan Princess, I still really enjoyed Her Tender Love. It’s a great romantic melodrama pitched to the perfect intensity. It’s got the kind of villains you love to hate: Connie’s extremely unfilial brother and his despicable friend Valentino Chen. Besides the factory-girl song, there is also a wonderful musical fantasy sequence and some traditional Malaysian dancing. Finally, it should be noted that Her Tender Love is special simply because it is one of only a handful of Connie Chan films that are currently available with English subtitles. Reviewer Score: 8

Reviewed by: dleedlee Date: 10/01/2004 Lui Kei’s few directorial efforts that I’ve seen up to now have not impressed me. This one is a in the middle of the pack. His storytelling tends to pace on the slower side and rely a bit too much on romantic dialogues. There are some special highlights contained within the film, however. More on that below. Set in Southeast Asia, wayward son Chin-Hua causes the death of his rich father. A gambler, drinker and womanizer, Chin-Hua casts out his step-brother Chai-Hua whom he perceives to be a rival for the family fortune. His sister Ping-Ting loves her step-brother and the two leave the household. Chin-Hua tricks her sister into signing a legal document accepting responsibility for his debts, owned by Valentino Chen, a rich gambling pal of Chin-Hua who lusts for Ping-Ting. When she discovers the truth, she and Chai-Hua flee to Hong Kong to start a new life. Once in Hong Kong, the pair struggle to get by. Chai-Hua takes on three jobs and Ping-Ting finds work as a fcatory girl. I especially liked the umbrella scene in the rain where Ping-Ting discovers the true nature of Chai-Hua’s work. Seeing no bright prospects along this path, Ping-Ting decides to work days and nights to support Chai-Hua so that he can return to university and dream of hopes for a better future. Their tough but idyllic life is interrupted by the reappearance of her brother at the factory one day and brings the story to it’s climactic conclusion. The are some notable musical numbers in the film. After first arriving in Hong Kong, Ping-Ting has a fantasy dream of her future. There, it’s all spacious, bright colors, streamers and dancing girls. But later, when Ping Ting starts working at the flashlight factory, the song she sings is a little different. That song plays out almost like something lifted from a mainland model play such as The Red Detachment of Women. We see a dark and gloomy sweatshop, machines dwarf the girls. Some of the lyrics of the song are: “…She is so courageous!/She won’t shrink from pain/Working attentively/(a) little pain means nothing/For happiness/Work hard and make the dream come true”. What a contrast. But the highlight of the film is certainly the ‘Long Live Factory Girls’ muscial number. It’s a song and dance piece of camraderie set in the women’s dormitory where Ping-Ting lives (so that she can more easily work overtime). Connie sings the praises of the nobility and efforts of Hong Kong factory girls. The girls’ song extols the virtues of the factory girls in comparison to the Teddy girls (the era’s troubled youth): “Teddy girls are lazy bones/They fool around to live/They must follow the factory girls/One must stand upon ones own feet/Long live the factory girls/Long live the factory girls” There are some other musical numbers in the film. Connie and Lui Kei sing a couple of duets together. And Connie sings a Christmas song at the Chai-Hua’s university Christmas party. This is the party that our humble heroine hesitates to attend for fear of Chai-Hua being seen with a ‘factory girl’. There is something seemingly ironic in that it opens with a kissing game. In an earlier scene with the Teddy boys and girls, a kissing game led by Fung King Man(!) is show with disdain as cheap and tawdry. But here, a not much different kissing game is shown as sweet and innocent when performed by the students. Was it intentional or ironic? I can’t tell. Following Connie’s song are some night shots of Hong Kong decorated for Christmas which is always appreciated. And there are plenty of panoramic shots of the city throughout the film. The film opens in Indonesia (?) with Connie performing a local native dance under balmy palm trees. The film too often slow down with scenes of Lui Kei and Connie Chan just talking. Partly, it sets up contrasting scenes of Ping-Ting’s hands, before arriving in Hong Kong, soft and beautiful, and later, rough and ruined, after working in the factory. The ending attempted rape and rooftop chase scenes where Connie eludes the predator Valentino is well done and exciting. The accompanying music heightens the dire apprehension for Connie’s safety (and virginity). And who knew that one could pole vault onto a roof with a bamboo stalk! Chan Leong Chung plays the smarmy Paul Chun –like Valentino. Gung Fan Hung is the dissolute brother that finally realizes the errors of pimping his sister and helps saves her from Valentino. You instantly know he’s bad since he sports a pencil moustache. Director and screenwriter Wu Ping appears as lawyer Kuo. Ko Lo Chuen makes a brief appearance as a gambler attemption to collect a debt. He threatens to break Chin-Hua’s legs if he fails to pay. Lok Kung plays the family patriarch Shangkuan who wields a hunting rifle in the house but mainly appears in a death portrait on the wall. The film is in color, looks slightly faded but turn down the brightness on your set and the picture improves vastly. And the picture is of the zoomed in variety so portions of the sides are cut off. There appears to be at least one shot cut when Valentino get bonked on the head with a shovel, besides the usual end of reel snips. Reviewer Score: 7