Created that two unknowns:

http://hkmdb.com/db/people/view.mhtml?i ... ay_set=eng

and

http://hkmdb.com/db/people/view.mhtml?i ... ay_set=eng

I'm surprised nobody IDed these from way back! These are two legendary Mandarin era veteran actresses: Eurasian actress Hsia Hou-lan aka Helen Hsia & preWWII Shanghai era actress including silents (Chen Yen-yen & Yuan Ling Ru colleague) HK expatriate Tsan Ying aka Tan Ying respectively.

kenichiku wrote:I'm surprised nobody IDed these from way back!

This is why we need you more than the IMDB.

kenichiku wrote:I'm surprised nobody IDed these from way back! These are two legendary Mandarin era veteran actresses: Eurasian actress Hsia Hou-lan aka Helen Hsia & preWWII Shanghai era actress including silents (Chen Yen-yen & Yuan Ling Ru colleague) HK expatriate Tsan Ying aka Tan Ying respectively.

... and here they are :

Ha Hau-Laan
http://www.hkmdb.com/db/people/view.mht ... ay_set=eng

Tam Ying
http://www.hkmdb.com/db/people/view.mht ... ay_set=eng

Maybe i'm confused ... are the current images for the database's Ha Hau-Laan incorrect? The woman in the 4 images doesn't really look like the ones for Unknown Actress (2), especially with that trademark mole. Or do we simply have the alias wrong?

<are the current images for the database's Ha Hau-Laan incorrect?>

Doubt has been raised especially when I look over in my realm (I didn't update 'Forbidden Tales' for the role of Mrs Sha there yet I thought I may have)...then I'll pull out my copy of 'Forbidden Cities' & an old 1950-60s International Screen issue to re-verify or refute. Sit tight.

I have also my doubts with Ha Hau-Laan. In FORBIDDEN CITY her name is shown on screen at her first scene. It is not our "unknown actress 2".

Tam Ying: Possible, but I need a proof. On the web I found images of her who could be "Unknown Actress 3":

http://images.google.de/imgres?imgurl=h ... e%26sa%3DN

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3242/301 ... 375e6a.jpg

...Hsia Hou Lan...It is not our "unknown actress 2

I agree with you on this one now as I blindly went with my IMDB entry for 'Forbidden Tales..' trusting my assumption that I filled the entire cast there a few years back however upon 2nd glance today, I realize that I didn't originally update/specify the role of 'Mrs. Sha' there & curiously within a week since my reply here, it has disappeared telling me that whoever originally updated that actress I suspect retracted it after reading this thread! For DB data that's open & therefore up for grabs in the vast Wiki-community, my mistake was relying on the data in that entry that I had originally authored & assumed accurate (but not for that actor). There's enough evidence here to support 'unknown actress (2)' not being Hsia Hou-lan. Will follow-up.

Tam Ying: Possible, but I need a proof.

Of course you do; but for this one I'm 100% certain. I'm going on my non-leftist Chinese film history here but I know for a fact that industry leaders (notably dtr Li Han Hsiang in the 60-70s) were responsible for placing many Shanghai film expats in character/extra roles within the Hong Kong industry post 1949. Hsin Hwa, Great Wall, MP&GI & Shaw studios were all built on this brain-trust & tradition. Personalities such as Yen Chun, Hung Po, Liu En-jia, Ching Miao, Chien Szu-yin, Wang Yin, Li-li Hua, Li Ying, Pai Kuang, Ouyang Sha-fei, Li Yun Chung, Erh Feng, Wang Lai, Chen Yen Yen, Ho Li-jen, Butterfly Wu & Tan Ying were all part of that 1st generation of Mandarin-era reclamation thespians in HK who got new leases on their careers. (if you've managed to get outside the curtain, it's safe to say for them it beats the alternative for artists & intellectuals being retooled for performing for the people's agricultural or military rally films as part of some re-education program during the cultural revolution).

Can't give you links by others cuz little or none exist (if they do, I see you guys already found it), so my own visual proof is forthcoming.

Tam Ying: Possible, but I need a proof.

Happen to grab this cap off an old SS mag (July 72) spread on 'Tales of Larceny' dtrs. Cheng Kang & Li Han Hsiang (sorry kinda fuzzy):

There's enough evidence here to support 'unknown actress (2)' not being Hsia Hou-lan. Will follow-up.

I take that back...No there's not. I sense I can recognize you HKMDB editors who also moonlight at IMDB & I suspect that 'Hsia Hou-lan' is indeed one of my data entries (you Canto oriented editors don't usually update primary names with Yale-Wade-Giles even for old-school Mandarin productions & staff when Mando ruled in HK) so I'm working on retrieving my update log from years back to verify. I do have my region 3 'Forbidden Tales' somewhere handy & will check back soon to verify a link with your unkown (2). If nothing else, it at least puts to rest the name of the actress who played the role of the dominatrix Mrs Sha & will restore her name at IMDB.

awesome!!!

Great! Did ID of Tam Ying:

http://hkmdb.com/db/people/view.mhtml?i ... ay_set=eng

I ask me who Lin Ju-Hsin on the TALES OF LARCENY image is. Must be that one:

http://hkmdb.com/db/movies/image_detail ... ay_set=eng