Teddy Page (akas: Ted Johnson, Irvin Johnson) is a Filipino

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

and occasional writer. Page, whose real name is Teddy Chiu, began his career as a young man in the early 1980s, directing low-budget action movies for producer K.Y. Lim's Silver Star Film Company (known as Kinavesa in the Philippines).

Career

Most of them starred the same prolific group of

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

and

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

expatriate actors working in the Philippines in the 1980s: Mike Monty,

Bruce Baron Bruce Baron (November 15, 1949 – April 13, 2013) was an American actor. Born in New York City, he graduated from Cornell University (B.A. 1971). He starred in several Asian movies, playing over a dozen lead roles in Hong Kong and Manila produ ...

, Romano Kristoff,

James Gaines James Gaines, birth name James Larry M. Gaines Jr., is a character actor, singer, musician, writer, director and producer born on May 18, in Maui, Hawaii. He was sometimes also credited as Jaimes Gaines, Jim Gaines, and James Gainers. Career ...

, Eric Hahn, Mike Cohen, Ann Milhench, Gwendolyn Hung, Ronnie Patterson and Ken Watanabe (not to be confused with the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese actor of the same name). Former

Spaghetti Western The Spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's film-making style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...

and peplum star, Richard Harrison, appeared in three of Page's films, '' Fireback'', ''Hunter's Crossing'' and '' Blood Debts'' (1983). Many of his earlier efforts were written or co-written by Watanabe, Kristoff, Gaines or Harrison using a pseudonym. The majority of Page's films have been generally classified as

Z-movie Z movies (or grade-Z movies) are low-budget films with production qualities lower than B movies. History and terminology The term "Z movie" arose in the mid-1960s as an informal description of certain unequivocally non-A films. It was soon adopte ...

s, characterized by loose, seemingly improvised narrative ('' Fireback'', for example, is supposed to take place in the United States, but the setting suddenly changes to ''"The Jungle"'' for the last third of the film), bizarre plot twists, and comically bad acting accentuated by equally poor dubbing. Gratuitous, often sadistic violence is mixed with near childlike naivety, with characters having comic book names like "Panther" and "Cat Burglar". Another trademark of the earlier Page films were oversized, customized special weapons, which feature prominently in ''Fireback'' and ''Blood Debts''. The ''Silver Star'' productions are infamous for their extremely low budgets, which might have also contributed to the low technical quality. In the book ''Gods In Spandex'', Richard Harrison states that the Page films he appeared in didn't have complete shooting scripts and many scenes were improvised, hence the disjointed narrative. However, it can be said that Page's early films are particularly bad, even on the admittedly low ''Silver Star'' standards, but they have attracted some cult interest, especially in French B-movie fandom. There is very little information on Teddy Page in print or online. He is discussed briefly in pieces by Richard Harrison and John P. Dulaney in the books '' Gods in Polyester, Or, A Survivors' Account of 70's Cinema Obscura'' (2004) and ''Gods In Spandex, Or, A Survivors' Account of 80's Cinema Obscura'' (2007). He is also mentioned in passing in interviews of

, Nick Nicholson and Mike Monty at the French B-movie website ''Nanarland''. He is still working as a director on films and television in the Philippines, now using his real name (Teddy Chiu). His last directing credit is the 1999 action film ''Anino''. He has also worked as a Second Unit Director or

assistant director The role of an assistant director on a film includes tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, and maintaining order on the set. They also have to tak ...

, most recently in the 2001 film ''Xtreme Warriors''.

Partial filmography

* '' Fireback'' (1983) * '' Blood Debts'' (1985) * ''Deadringer'' (1985) starring Max Thayer * ''Phantom Soldiers'' (1987) starring Max Thayer

References

* '' Gods In Polyester, or, a Survivors' Account of 70's Cinema Obscura'' (2004/Succubus Press) * ''Gods In Spandex, or, a Survivors' Account of 80's Cinema Obscura'' (2007/Succubus Press)

External links

*
Nanarland
a French site housing many reviews of Teddy Page and ''Silver Star'' films (in French) and related interviews (some in English). {{DEFAULTSORT:Page, Teddy Filipino television directors Filipino film directors Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people)