Ma Hsiao-Nung
Su Fen, a young and frail girl, looked forward to her wedding with her fiancé, Li Kuo-liang. The happy couple's bliss was cut short when war broke out. Kuo-liang was summoned to fight at the front lines. In his absence, Su Fen discovered she had tuberculosis.
A romantic Han Dynasty adventure epic of a dying Emperor, an Evil Queen, a beautiful Princess, a dastardly royal nephew, and a masked hero, with plots and counterplots galore, complete with cliffhangers and last-second rescues.
Love knows no limits in the grand period romance, Lady Jade Locket. A young fighter inadvertently falls for the spirit of a beautiful woman, who died years earlier avenging her own father's murder. The beautiful ghost is in fact the sister of his fiancee. Experienced as an actor in many such romances, director Yen Chuan keeps the tone perfect. Plus, with period specialist Li Li-hua in the lead and the attractive and acclaimed Li Ching playing the ghost girl, he really can do no wrong.
Ivy Ling Po was at the height of her fame in traditional Huangmei Opera films -- and chiefly as a male impersonator -- when she radically changed her image, taking on an ultra-contemporary semi-musical role in Song Of Tomorrow. Ivy plays a dance hostess and leading man Chiao Chuang is a jazz drummer, but with a difference. Chiao is a heroin addict, and Ivy learns that heroin is a far more lethal adversary than "the other woman" when trying to keep their marriage intact.
The adventures of a young married swordfighting couple, Lianzhu and Gui Wu, and the swordfighting members of their different clans.
Huangmei Opera movies like The Pearl Phoenix are unique to 1960's Hong Kong culture, a product of the Swinging Sixties but considerably more in touch with their Chinese roots. This one is complete with a gender-bending tale where the male lead is played by female and the female lead poses as a man, plus movie queen Li Ching and the singing voices of Ivy Ling Po and Jing Ting. Sit back and enjoy!
Jenny Wu is a singer who charms the well-to-do Peter Chen, but his parents object to a union between their only son and a lowly cabaret singer. He ignores their advice and marries her anyway, and for a time, they find some manner of wedded bliss. But the years are not entirely kind. He works hard to make ends meet, but his health pays the price.
FAIRY, GHOST, VIXEN (1965) consists of three fanciful tales that may be loosely classified as ghost stories, but they're presented and designed more along the lines of traditional fairy tales. They're beautifully staged and photographed and have a timeless quality about them with a moral at the end of each.
The tragic love triangle of early 20th century Peking Opera star Chiu Hai-tang, his beautiful stage partner, and the warlord who forces himself between them, has been a favorite with Chinese audiences for decades.
This is an adaptation of the folk story, “Jin Yu Nu beats her heartless groom with a cane”. Jin Yu Nu, a beggar’s daughter, is a beautiful and kind girl. On a snowy day she saves the life of a poor scholar, Mo Ji. When Mo recovers, he marries Jin with love and gratitude. Mo wins the third place in the imperial examinations, but now he is looked down upon because his wife is a beggar's daughter. Extremely embarrassed and ashamed, Mo wants to divorce but has no excuse. Jin then jumps into the river and Mo has deep regrets but it is too late. Later, Mo’s senior Ambassador Lin appreciates his talents and wants to marry him his daughter. On the wedding night, the bride orders Mo to kneel in her room and beats him hard with a cane. Not until then does Mo know his bride is actually Jin, who has been saved by Lin. At the end, Lin knows Jin still loves Mo and helps the couple reunite.
Comedy of Mismatches begins with widow Sun who single-handedly raises her son Yu Lang (Chin Feng) and daughter Zhu Yi (Li Hsiang Chun). One day, Mother Sun sends her children to the temple, where Yu Lang encounters Hui Niang (Pat Ting). Artist Xu Ya is also at the temple, praying that his daughter Wen Gu (Carrie Ku) will find a good husband. Soon after, Wen Gu encounters nobleman's son Pei Zheng (Wai Mao) and the two fall in love at first sight.
Chen Hou is a chauffeur who gets caught in a mistaken identity scandal linking him to businesswoman Lok Dai. Chen was supposed to audition for a job as her chauffeur, but a proposed musical show is far more attractive to the aspiring dancer. When a rumor gets out that the two are involved in an affair, she's angry and confronts him, but his charms overwhelm her, and it's revealed that she too desires to dance. Soon she's bankrolling the affair, the sets are being built, and the singing and dancing begin!
Zhao’s husband goes to the capital to take the imperial examination but doesn’t come back. Due to famine, Zhao has to leave her hometown and find her husband, playing her lute for a living.
The noted actress Li Li-hua, star of more than sixty films since 1947, beautifully portrays the drugged, then disgraced wife of a peddler in the waning days of the Ching Dynasty. To make matters worse, she’s soon framed for her husband’s murder by her rapist - the son of the local magistrate! And even that isn’t the end of her woes. It’s best to have a box of tissues nearby as two expert directors ratchet up the emotional suspense in this consummate tearjerker.
Singaporean diva Li Ailian has arrived in Hong Kong to further her singing career. Xu Zhaofeng helps her land a job at Spring Wind Palace. Provoked by jealousy, Xu's long-time girlfriend Tao Haiyin, a local diva, insists on performing at the Palace, too. And when two divas strut their stuff, it's great tunes and hot action. Haiyin's brother Zhengsheng, the bandleader, has fallen out with his sister due to his infatuation with Li. Li misunderstands Zhengsheng's intentions initially but his devotion speaks volumes. Haiyin and Xu also reconcile.
The ethereal Lok Dai plays a pivotal role in the 1962 Shaw Brothers screwball costume comedy The Bride Napping. Based on a chapter of author Shi Naian's The Water Margin (AKA: Outlaws of the Marsh), the action kicks off when Liu Yuen Ying (Ding Nung) is "bride-napped" by a bandit who's out to make her his wife! The bandit's sympathetic sister returns Ying, but that's only the beginning of the mistaken identities, social satires, and cross-dressing confusion as Ying's disappearance and return wreaks havoc with the locals! A delightful costume comedy that combines screwball antics, musical interludes, and even a little action, The Bride Napping is a fun and entertaining way to catch the legendary Lok Dai at her most beautiful and charming!
The Ching Dynasty novel The Dream of The Red Chamber is not only the most widely read, but also the most filmed book in Chinese history. The sprawling love story has proven a challenge to many filmmakers, but this version is acclaimed as the most successful. A sumptuous feature which took three years of planning and another for production, it was a hugely popular and critical hit which still stands out as a classic of both 18th century literature and 1960s moviemaking.
.A young middle-class upstart Lin Ching Yi reluctantly takes on the task as understudy for her sick father who's a dedicated teacher to a band of mischievous working-class 3rd graders that initially proved to be much more than she can handle. Yet it is the matronly bond that is formed with her little urchin flock and her gradual understanding of the their poverty-stricken home lives outside of the classroom that raises the stakes for her as a teacher. It doesn't hurt that her empathetic male colleague Kit Chang provides support for her dilemmas also provide her a prospect as love interest. With growing ties with her students and school, Lin finds herself accepting the challenge for education of her community with her own education of love.
A woman is fired from her job because she's pregnant. The husband, who's a teacher, needs to get another part-time job as a waiter, to cover the expenses which causes problems at his school. He starts to resent children but there's hope as the husband is able to get another job and start to appreciate his family...
This is a drama about parents disapproving a young couple's relationship and the unfortunate consequences that it has.
The eldest daughter of an elderly couple, murders her lover and goes to jail. The youngest daughter, Yin Ni, is taken to her hometown to escape the scandal. While there, Yin Ni becomes involved with a painter, Xu Liang, and tragedy also falls upon her...
