Sing High, Sing Low
A joke from The Flop House podcast is that some movies have so little ‘movie’ in them that you can’t really call them a movie.
Sing High, Sing Low may have the least amount of ‘movie’ in any Shaw Brothers production. Apparently deciding that the Seiko ad hidden in The Mating Season didn’t go far enough, the studio chose to make the whole film an ad. And why limit the ad space to just one company? Let’s get a bunch of them in there!
The story that they stuffed in the cracks around the ads is quite simple. Peter Chen Ho has left a life of music to work for his Uncle’s advertising firm. For his first assignment he needs to get a prime TV spot for DuBarry beauty products (advertiser number one). In doing so he learns about and drinks some “Robust Super Health Tonic” (advertiser number two) and watches a short, very weird dance number about the perils of greed that somehow advertises Phillips electronics (advertiser number three). After dancing too much he gets a massage (advertiser number four). And, clearly running out of ideas on how to integrate the ads into the story, the film also just shows a Listerine commercial at one point (advertiser number five).
Somewhere in there both Margaret Hsing Hui and Pat Ting Hung fall in love with him, and Chiang Kuang-Chao gets punched in the face a bunch.
When it’s not shilling products the movie is about music. There are nine musical numbers before the grand finale. And the grand finale is seven more numbers in a row, each of which features famous Shaw Brothers actresses and singers, as well as legendary Shaw Brothers producer and singer Mona Fong.
But if you don’t mind the endless capitalism of the thing the film’s pretty fun. It’s got a variety of musical styles, plenty of pretty costumes, and a fast pace. And, again, Chiang Kuang-Chao gets punched in the face a lot.
Ian Whitney
Published: 2025-07-27