Pearl Chang Ling

The time has come, the walrus said, to speak of Pearl Chang Ling. Apologies to Lewis Carroll, but one suspects the master of loopy logic would feel right at home amidst the dreamy delirium of kung fu cinema’s weirdest heroine. As writer, director and star, Chang Ling played Alice in her self-imagined wonderland of swashbuckling fantasy, psychedelic sets, and surreal characters. That she was a successful female filmmaker in a male dominated industry is impressive enough. That movies like Dark Lady of Kung Fu (1981) and Miraculous Flower (1984) feature magical flying boots, zombies, heroic wolves, cell animated special effects, masked heroines, talking apes, satanic rituals, exploding intestines, fire-breathing monks, and a duel in an active volcano – make her downright loveable.

Background information on Chang Ling remains frustratingly scarce. A star on Taiwanese television, she supposedly married a wealthy producer, gaining carte blanche to produce the movies she wanted. Her best-known movie, Wolf Devil Woman (a precursor to Ronny Yu’s masterpiece The Bride with White Hair (1994)) exists on English dubbed VCD, but her finest film Matching Escort (1983) is readily available from Amazon, alongside an early swordplay fantasy My Blade, My Life (1977), produced by Chang but directed by Chen Ming Hwa.

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[Ronald Gillhaus]

What is Pearl Chang Ling Doing Today? Is She as Sexy as She was in Dark Lady of Kung Fu VHS I Bought Few Weeks Ago. Does She Know Martial Arts? Is She Still Married to Producer? Can This Web Site Contact Her? I Loved to Meet Her? She Send Autographed Pictures? Thank You Ronald Gillhaus-1045 Harding Street-Westfield-New Jersey-07090. Phone is Area Code 908 & Phone # is 232-4693.