1959, Hong Kong. Starring Grace Chang, Julie Yeh Feng, Roy Chiao, So Fung. Directed by Evan Yang. DVD (HKFlix).

"Come fly with me!"

The invitation used to be one of the most glamorous opportunities a person could receive, but air travel feels me with a sense of dread these days. Not because I fear flying. That particular aspect of the experience is one with which I am at ease. And it's not even the fear of terrorism. Despite all that has happened, that remains for me less of a concern that the plane simply malfunctioning. No, it's everything surrounding the actual act of flying that deflates my enthusiasm. Ticket counter attendants who apparently studied rudeness at the university level; belching, gas-passing, inconsiderate passengers who see pajamas and a pair of flip flops as proper attire for flying; flight attendants clad in nothing fancier than a golf shirt and a pair of those elastic-waistband casual jeans that are all the rage among the homosexual community's butcher lesbians. In short, it's the complete lack of sophistication or class, all of which has been stripped away from an experience it once defined.

I don't intend to sound elitist or bemoan the accessibility of air travel by the common man. Being a common man myself, I appreciate that it is no longer the exclusive property of comtesses and Rockefellers. What I mourn, rather, is that we in the middle of society have gained affordable access to the air and, rather than using it as a chance to create a working class jet set, we've turned the entire experience into a cramped Wal-Mart in the sky. Rather than taking the sophistication and class that once surrounded those who traveled by air and showing we could behave just as properly on a much more modest budget, we instead dragged everything down to the basest level, creating an atmosphere where it was perfectly acceptable to travel in the same clothes you might wear to cut grass, gorging ourselves on KFC, pestering the attendants, and generally behaving like a pack of louts who are offended by the very notion that there's not a single thing in the entire universe that requires anything more than ultra-casual dress and a complete lack of couth. At this rate, we're lucky people aren't attempting to board planes wearing nothing but threadbare boxer shorts and a sweat-and-beer-stained tank top.

Nearly everything that used to be a grand event has been reduced to the laid-back casualness of a backyard bar-b-que, and while backyard bar-b-ques are enjoyable, they belong in the back yard. As I see it, surrounding certain events with a degree of pageantry isn't meant to exclude anyone nor make anyone feel inferior. It's simply a way to make something that would otherwise be mundane into something that feels special. It makes an event an event rather than merely something that must be done, and as a result it's more enjoyable if only on a superficial level. Unfortunately, we seem to have built for ourselves a society where exerting effort to do anything is frowned upon. If it cannot be done while wearing sweatpants and a basketball jersey, then it's not worth doing.


And so the experience of flying gets dragged down into the mud because rather than rise to an occasion, people would rather pull it down to the lowest level. There is nothing written that relegates sophistication and courtesy to the ranks of the wealthy, and as such there's no reason that air travel could not become affordable for those of us not possessed of a baron's bank account yet still remain refined and elegant. Unfortunately, that wasn't the route we chose, and as the efforts and behavior of passengers devolved, so too did those of the airlines. Why dress your attendants in smart outfits if the guests they're serving are wearing cut-off jeans and upside down tennis visors? Why maintain a beautiful, refined waiting area at the gate when your passengers are just going to leave KFC chicken bones and dirty diapers lying about? And why practice courtesy and charm when people are simply going to be bullish and inconsiderate? Obnoxious guests make for obnoxious staff, which in turn makes for obnoxious guests. It's a vicious circle that has delivered to us the sorry state of modern air travel. Of course, the rampant, ethics-free corruption and greed of airline executives has added more than a little to the overall decline.

It wasn't always like this.

It wasn't so long ago (back when men were aware of the proper times to remove their hat) that air travel was a grand event, both for the passengers and the crew. There was no more romantic a job (other than, perhaps, movie star) than airline pilot or air hostess. On a Pan Am clipper to Hong Kong or Paris, the mysteries of the world were laid out before you, and experiences most people only dreamed about opened themselves up to you every day. For the passenger, the experience was just as grand. For many people, it was a once in a lifetime adventure, and they celebrated it as such, dressed to the nines and ready to put their best foot forward from the moment they left home until the moment they returned. People wore their fanciest duds and trotted out their best manners. And the airlines reciprocated in both behavior and style. The era of jet set design was a definite high point and unfortunately, like everything else associated with air travel, the fashion and graphic design has declined dramatically since the 1970s. But there for a while, from the 1940s until sometime in the early 1970s, we were in a golden age of flight with skies populated by smartly dressed crews shuttling smartly dressed passengers between smartly designed airports decorated with smartly designed ads.

Recent movies revolving around the world of air travel in the 1960s have sparked in certain people a desire to make that world something more than just a nostalgia trip along "what once was" avenue. With films like Catch Me If You Can serving as inspiration, British Airways is returning in late 2003 to a more retro, jet set style and hoping that passengers will follow the crew's lead. While Catch Me If You Can was remarkable in its recreation of that wonderful era before nylon jogging suits ruled the world, we can turn to movies from the era itself to get an even better glimpse at air travel when it was still glamorous and romantic.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a better example of this than Air Hostess, Cathay Studio's (aka MP & GI) 1959 color-saturated ode to the jet set era and those who manned it. It was, in fact, the first color film for the studio, and they certainly picked a gem of a movie to make that special splash of vibrancy with. From the jet set décor and fashion to the lush tropical scenery (not to mention the film's two leading ladies), Air Hostess is a tremendous feast for the eyes and a glorious celebration of a time we're not likely to return to despite the nostalgia of some old fogies like myself.

Of course a lot has changed since then. The concept of manners has been all but abandoned and anyone who attempts to show the least bit of courtesy is viewed in society as a square who doesn't know how to "keep it real," keeping it real apparently meaning to keep it as loud and inconsiderate as possible. "Casualness" has been taken to the extreme in both dress and behavior, and the notion of observing social pleasantries has been dismissed as being too "phony." Today, we much prefer people who burp in our faces, interrupt people and cut them off when speaking, and leave chunks of sandwich dripping with mayonnaise lying on the seat of the train. I'm not a culture freak, but I am a Southerner and I was raised to behave with some degree of respect for those around me. I've found that life is generally much more enjoyable if you treat others with simple consideration and observe at least the basic tenants of polite human interaction. But perhaps I'm simply a throwback to a "phonier" time.

Air travel has also become far more common as a part of work, not just a function of leisure. A business person who flies frequently as part of the job is unlikely to treat every flight as a special event. I'll grant them that. It comes with the territory. But on any given flight, there are just as many if not more pleasure passengers, and they're frequently the ones in muu-muus and flip flops while the business travelers at least continue the tradition of dressing well, or at least wearing something other than what you slept in the night before.


Ultimately, if we demand more of ourselves, we can demand more of our airlines. As long as we treat everything with the same level of effort we might exhibit in popping out to the store to pick up some aspirin in the middle of the night, we can't expect the atmosphere of air travel to improve. It's a horrible experience now, and the fact that we're all having a horrible experience makes us create an environment that only fosters further decline. What goes on in the executive meeting rooms is beyond our control to a large degree. What goes on at the check-in counter, at the gate, and on the plane is something on which we can have a direct effect. I am not a man who insists on formality in all instances. In fact, I appreciate a relaxed spirit as much as the next chap. But I also appreciate the simple pleasure of treating certain things as being a little different, a little special, and worthy of a little extra effort on my part. It's fun for me, and if other people put forth the same effort to act with a little class and politeness, it'd be a damn sight more fun for a lot more people.

Grace Chang and Julie Yeh Feng - arguably the top two leading ladies in the history of Cathay Studios - could certainly make flying more enjoyable. In Air Hostess, they star as two women seeking positions as what was at the time the most romantic and sought-after career a woman could have - stewardess. Joining them are a host of other hopefuls, including Grace's well-meaning but shy friend. This movie is, in many ways, the 36th Chamber of Shaolin for stewardess movies. While stewardess movies are not a rare thing, most of the ones anyone is familiar with involve sexual hijinks and X-ratings, and if you're lucky, 3D effects on the boobs. Air Hostess is a slightly more down-to-earth look at life up in the sky, and the first half of the film is consumed with kungfu film-like training scenes as our gals strive to attain the highest level of skill at become true air hostesses. Like students at Shaolin Temple, the young women are put through a gamut of training exercises, including learning the proper way to attend to passengers, dealing with unruly patrons (back in the days when people just complained and shouted instead of trying to kill other people), and more curious things like walking with books on their heads and turning around in circles on one foot.

Naturally, Grace is the one who's good at everything. Heart-warmingly polite, charming, and accomplished. Julie Yeh Feng is the sexy one who must learn not to swing her hips so seductively while serving coffee in the airplane. There's also the shy girl, the stern but caring senior hostess, and the handsome young pilot (Roy Chiao) who takes his job so seriously that he becomes a real jerk in the air.

Grace has the most back story of all the characters. Her mother wants her to give up these dreams of a career and marry the nice but dull guy who comes around all the time looking to make Grace into a well-treated stay-at-home wife. Grace, of course, doesn't want to be confined to a home. She has a sharp mind and independent spirit and wants to succeed on her own while seeing the world. Plus, she's developing a thing for the pilot despite the fact that he always chastises her and criticizes her work even when she's the highest rated new employee. Because this is at heart a romantic comedy, they will get mad at each other, make pouty faces, then discover their true love for one another before the final flight rolls onto the tarmac. After all, he's only a jerk in the air because he doesn't want to ever fail in his duties as a pilot, since that would mean death for a lot of people.

Although the human drama is the focus of the plot, and there's a subplot about a smooth talker trying to use the air hostesses to smuggle fake gems in and out of Thailand, it never comes before the celebration of the glamour of air travel at the midpoint of the 20th century. Air Hostess never wallows in romantic comedy clichés. Although there are the inevitable misunderstandings and conflicts, they're wrapped up pretty quickly instead of dragged out endlessly like they are in many romantic comedies. Air Hostess always maintains a subtle, sophisticated tone and never succumbs to the shrill screaming and slapstick running about that plagues many comedies. It maintains its dignity and presents characters who are realistic and behave in ways that actual people in the real world might behave - which is, again, something very few romantic comedies bother to attempt. Like a well-trained air hostess, it keeps its cool no matter what.

Although most romantic comedies of the time are dismissed as shallow flights of fancy (something that's actually much truer in today's soulless and irksome films), they almost always contained a fair bit of social commentary, often about class or the changing role of women in society. They were usually much more progressive and subversive than people give them credit for. Air Hostess tackles the problem of discrimination against women from a couple different directions. First and most obvious is Grace's conflict with her mother and suitor, both of whom can't understand why she would want anything other than an easy life with her every need provided for her by her man. What they fail to comprehend is that the one need he can't provide for her, the most important need, is the need to be independent and free to chart her own course in life instead of surrendering it to man and tradition. Grace's character is smart and full of life, and to sequester her spirit to a home, however nice, is to kill off a vital part of her.

At the same time, both her mother and suitor argue the point that being an air hostess, despite the glamour surrounding such a position, is nothing more than being a waitress in the sky. You're still fulfilling a female stereotype, still serving coffee and fielding complaints about peanuts. What the movie does, albeit with a fine degree of subtlety, is show that Grace and her fellow air hostesses are far more independent than the job description makes them out to be. For starters, they're traveling the world. They're seeing things every day that most people will never see in a lifetime. And they're facing a certain degree of danger every time they take to the skies. Plus, all work is serving someone. You can serve coffee on a plane, or you can sit in a cubicle debugging software. You're still a servant. It's just that one servant gets to fly all over the world and go sightseeing to snappy music while the other turns gray and pallid in an office complex. So while the stereotype is that being a flight attendant is just another typical female role, the fact of the matter is that it's not different in theory than what any man does, and in fact is a hell of a lot better than sitting at home or wasting away in an office.

Augmenting the notion that air hostessing is something more than just being a waitress in the sky is the fact that none of the women bow down to the men. Grace has a moment of weakness when she thinks about giving it all up, but then she's shown how important she is to her friends at work. Although she has a thing for the dashing young pilot, she never defers to his bouts of moodiness and eventually stands up and challenges him. Plus, you get a cool uniform and get to hang around on airport terraces sipping cocktails. All I get to do is sit at gate 23 scarfing down a Pizza Hut personal pan and a Sprite. I need to join that Admiral's Club.


So you have charming characters and a social commentary that is more complex than usual. The real star, however, is the setting. Fans of mid-century air travel design will be in heaven. Classic stewardess outfits, smartly dressed pilots, elegant airports and tarmacs, and plenty of layovers in exotic locales provide a never-ending parade of eye candy. Although people are cynical about the wonders of the world these days, I still get a kick out of that wide-eyed childlike innocence that reflected the way people were just beginning to discover the world in the days after World War II. Thus, the film's stretches of sight-seeing travelogue footage from places like Thailand and Singapore circa 1959 were still wondrous and welcome to me. That sort of sweeping travel brochure style appeals to the adventurer in me who wishes the world still retained that sense of mystery and exoticism. I enjoy the scenes of people wandering from one famous Thai landmark to another while breezy 101 Strings or Les Baxter-esque music plays. I'd like to imagine myself there some day soon, hopefully with the same music.

Of course, what's the point of having Grace Chang in your film if you don't let her smile her trademark smile and break into song every now and again? She does a couple numbers here, but they're pretty grounded in reality (mostly her being egged on to perform at parties), and Grace's singing is always a treat. I've never been to one of these parties full of cool cats where someone is asked to stand up and sing, but I have been to parties where someone got drunk and started to sing when everyone pleaded with them to stop. I imagine it's more or less the same thing.

Air Hostess has quickly become one of my favorite films, and not just because it appeals so strongly to my love of a certain era and style. It's just a fun, light-hearted film that manages to challenge some social standards (that women should stay at home and be docile housewives), serve us up plenty of beautiful scenery, and give us a plot that remains engaging without becoming melodramatic or annoying. The cast lead by Grace and Julie is superb. Grace radiates warmth and charm that is impossible to resist. If there's a more charismatic female in film, I've yet to find her. Grace's smile and energy is infectious, and you can't help but feel good while you're watching her sing and stroll about Thailand and Singapore. Roy Chiao makes an excellent stiff who must learn to loosen his collar just a little (at least while he's on the ground) if he doesn't want to alienate the free-spirited Grace the way that drip back home did.

And Julie Yeh Feng -- I first saw her alongside Grace Chang in the Cathay epic Sun, Moon and Star and found her positively captivating. If Grace was the cute and warm girl next door, Julie was the studio's bombshell. High cheekbones, long legs, and a sultry glance make her hard to forget. Her character here is not nearly as memorable as her strong revolutionary fighter in Sun, Moon and Star, but considering that was such a powerful role, it's no fault of hers that her air hostess with a kinky streak isn't quite as impressive. She's still in top form here, and although her character is the type that makes you think she'll stab the others in the back, the friendship and sisterhood of air hostesses keeps everyone bound together. Hey, there's another rarity -- a romantic comedy where the relationships between women are strong, and no one ever degrades themselves or their sex with cattiness and backstabbing.

If you're looking to delve into Cathay's catalog, or just into Golden Age romance, then this is a fine place to start. It lacks both the overwrought drama and loud-mouth shenanigans that befoul many films from the same era. And if you're a person with a terminal bite from the travel bug, or anyone nostalgic for look and attitude of the early 1960s when we were just beginning to combat the repression of the 1950s but still hadn't abandoned manners and standards in life, then Air Hostess is a must-see. I'd fly with Grace Chang any day.

Labels: Country: Hong Kong, Musicals, Stars: Grace Chang, Stars: Julie Yeh Feng, Stars: Roy Chiao, Studio: Cathay, Year: 1959