The Teddy Girls (1969)

When wayward teen Josephine Hsu (Siao) is hauled into court after a dance hall brawl, she's given chance to clean up her delinquent ways. A judge sentences a year in reform school -- a welcome sentence for the girl who'd rather go to jail than live at home with her mother (Ha) and stepfather (Lung).

Josephine's entry to Purple Peak Girl's Home is hardly smooth, though. With girls under the eye of Rector Do (Tsang) and his manageress wife (Seung Gwun), the inmates are split between two gangs and bullying is rife. With fighting abundant and punishments severe, it's not long before Josephine and some new friends jump the fence and flee.

Stopping only to rob some teddy boys on their way to the city, Josephine and escapee mates Ma Bi-shan (Sit), Sussie Huang (Man) and Ah Chun head off to right past wrongs. With men they need to confront, their life on the run turns violent as robberies, murders and bashings mount.

Like Story of a Discharged Prisoner earlier, Lung Kong's The Teddy Girls is another take on reform in Hong Kong. A lengthy spoken monologue at the film's conclusion sums up the film's thinking: that teen delinquency is not a product of society, that parents hold the bulk of responsibility for youth problems, and that influence is more effective than punishment in the reform system. Just to drive the last point home is reform school success story Yang Shiao-chiao (Shum) and a look in at the institution head's relationship with his daughter Chia-heui (Wong).

Colour production work is pleasing to watch, benefiting from several striking compositions featuring the girls in their institution and setting about their wrongdoing. A standout diversion is a flashback over Josephine's past, presented as if it's a television show with the viewpoint zooming into a TV frame and out of the present. Even if the social message becomes overwhelming at the end, the top-notch actors take well to the theme and its scenarios. Josephine Siao and Nancy Sit pull off some stunning early work alongside similarly catchy screen mates. Other notables on the screen include Sai Gwa-pau as a hotel manager and Lung Kong playing it suave and slimy as a most unwelcome stepfather.

* Teddy Girls was screened in Cantonese and subtitled at the Hong Kong Film Archive.
* Cast and credits mostly from the Hong Kong Film Archive handout booklet at the screenings.

Credits:
Directed by Patrick Lung Kong
Script by Lin Nien-tung, Kam Ping-hing and Lung Kong
Cinematorapher: Chiu Hung
Editor: Yeung Pak-wing
Starring Josephine Siao Fong-fong, Nancy Sit Kar-yin, Lydia Shum, Kenneth Tsang Kong, Seung Gwun Yuk, Man Lei, Wong Oi-ming, Ha Ping, Lung Kong and Sai Gwa-pau

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