Overview: Cited as China’s first detective film, TEN SISTERS was also one of the country’s first martial arts films with action scenes added by writer-director Guan Haifeng due in part to the popularity of martial arts stage plays in Shanghai. After a car accident puts female student Huang Juying (Shen Fengying) in the hospital, she falls in love with her attending doctor, Bao Zongying (Chai Shaoyong), during recovery. On his way to a romantic rendezvous with his subsequently discharged patient, Zongying is lured away by two seductive women who are secretly members of the Ten Sisters, a gang of prostitutes working for the head of a crooked insurance company. Their aim is to lure unsuspecting men into sexual encounters for the purpose of robbing them. When it’s discovered that the unsuspecting doctor isn’t as wealthy as they had hoped, the gang plots to set him up with a life insurance policy and poison him to collect on it. Meanwhile, Juying teams with her brother and hospital employees to mount a search for the missing doctor. After discovering the truth, Juying and her brother infiltrate the gang and attempt to rescue Zongying. With its potent mix of intrigue and sensuality at a time when Western detective films were popular in China, TEN SISTERS was a box office hit. Interestingly, the slinky costumes worn by the female cast members helped popularize the distinctive “qipao,” a form-fitting long dress with a high collar and revealing slits up the legs that became synonymous with high society women’s fashion in Shanghai during the 1920s.
AKA: Beauty and the Skeletons, The Lady Killer, Women Skeletons, Hongfen kulou, Hong fen ku lou, Shi zimei, 《十姊妹》, 《红粉骷髅》
Genre: Action
Companies: New Asia Film Company, Commercial Press Motion Picture Section
Release Date: May 10, 1922 (China)
Producer:
Director: Guan Haifeng
Action Director:
Cast: Yin Xianfu, Shen Fengying, Chai Shaoyong, Lu Manshu, Hong Jingling, Wang Guilin
