In 1955 Stirling Moss and Denis Jenkinson won the Mille Miglia, one of the toughest races in the calendar.This play is about the two men, and the qualities and preparation that went into that victory.
Centring on the legend of the four ancient Chinese heroines, the film was a novelty for audiences at the time, as the singing performance was in Cantonese and used huangmei operatic rhythms—a popular trend in the 1960s, yet it retained traditional flavours by using operatic luogu percussion in the battle scenes.
Anthony Steffen, as a young gunman who works as a circus performer, witnesses the killing of some outlaws, carried out by their leader and is credited with the deed.
Five criminals are arrested after a bank-robbery. One escapes, and the police officer in charge of transporting them arrests a new person at random to cover up for his negligence.
There's nothing like a good, opulent, gaudy musical to lift the spirits, but when it's a 1960's Hong Kong musical orchestrated by a Japanese director and composer, it breaks through the ranks as a classic of campy kitsch.
Comments
Have you watched Mille Miglia yet? What did you think about it?