1940s Hong Kong Movies

This is the first 16mm Cantonese film in full colour, shot on 1940s state-of-the-art Technicolor film stock. Opera star Man-ha (Leung Bik-yuk) enjoys tremendous popularity during her performances in San Francisco, but drowns herself in the vices and temptations of the big city. Increasingly, she fails to show up for performances, almost causing the theatre to go bankrupt. When she sees her lover for the scoundrel that he is, she also sees the errors of her own ways and saves the theatre, restoring it to glory. Joseph Sunn Jue established the Grandview Film Company in Hong Kong during the 1930s and continued making films in the USA during wartime by collaborating with Chinese opera performers in exile there. Wong Hok-sing, an opera actor himself, directed, wrote and starred in this film. He staged a spectacular play-within-a-play at the end, not only to promote the art of Cantonese opera but also to boost solidarity among overseas Chinese through difficult times.

Martial artist Wong is confronted by other masters. After he returns to his disciples, he vents his anger during a fierce fight.

Shot at the same time as the inaugural chapter, The Story of Wong Fei-hung, Part Two is a continuation of the story. Solving the cliffhanger at the end of Part One and carrying on with a series of fights against a lineup of martial artists recruited by Master Wong's nemesis, Part Two culminates in a showdown with Grey Hair Fu, played by the great character actor Sek Kin, who is to appear as the archvillain in most of the following chapters, each time in a different guise.

An early lost swordplay film from Hong Kong. It centered on Wu Lai-Chu as a swordswoman fighting evil.

The story follows a Chinese-American girl who falls for a Cantonese opera star against her father's wishes and becomes pregnant.

A film by famed director Tit Lee.

Gao Zhijian is the good friend of married couple Li Xiangmei and Hou Xinming. They live in the foreign settlement quarter of Shanghai. zhijian is a teacher,Xinming is involved in underground work against the Jpanese, while Xiangmei is a musician. The Pacific War erupts; the Japanese occupy the foreign settlements. Xinming is called off to work for the war effort, leaving behind his wife and blind mother. Zhijian aids Xiangmei and her mother-in-law with financial assistance. To earn money, Xiangmei becomes a song girl in a dance hall through the recommendation of her friend Liu Qing, arousing anger in Zhijian. Zhijian is soon arrested for teaching anti-Jpanese propaganda to his students and it is due to Xiangmei and Liu qing's efforts that he is released. From this,Zhijian learns of Xiangmei's difficulties and feelings of love grow between the two friends. The war ends. Xinming, minus an arm, returns to his wife and mother. Seeing his friend reunited with his family, Zhijian leaves.

A sick king instructs his loyal minister Luo Zhengqing to guide and install the crown prince as king after his death. However, the minister of the army, Situ Yangming, makes a grab for power after the King's death and incarcerates the crown prince. Luo's daughter disguises herself as the male bandit Robin Hood, robbing government offices to help the poor. Meanwhile, Situ orders captain of the imperial guards, Zhang Zhonggeng, to kill the crown prince. Zhang is a loyalist and conspires with Lady Robin Hood to save the crown prince. When Situ discovers that the prince has escaped, he falsifies the late King's will and has himself crowned as king. However, the female Robin Hood has stolen the original will. The female Robin Hood kills Situ and installs the crown prince as the ruler.

Li's first directorial work in Hong Kong is adapted, by himself, from the Hollywood movie The Great Lie (1941) starring Bette Davis. When a husband disappears in an accident, the wife is dismayed by a social butterfly pregnant with her husband's child. To preserve the husband's blood line, the wife takes care of the expectant mother and raises the child. Featuring the two ravishing beauties Li Lihua and Sun Jinglu, Our Husband foregoes juicy feuds between the leads and delivers an allegorical message: parents should provide an ideal environment for the next generation. Addressing the rocky times in China, it is equally overt in its remonstration as Yung Hwa's earlier works, The Soul of China and Sorrows of the Forbidden City.

Nurse Lin is hired by a wealthy family to care for Mr. Kao, who has lost his mind since his daughter, Ling Kuan, died. As Lin resembles Ling Kuan, her nanny asks Lin to impersonate her to help Mr. Kao recover, which works well. Lin then uncovers a secret: Ling Kuan had loved a music teacher, Qiufan, but her cousin, Yiu Tong, envious of Mr. Kao’s wealth, slandered Qiufan. One night, Yiu Tong attacked Qiufan and attempted to assault Ling Kuan, accidentally killing her. To cover up the crime, he staged her death as a suicide. Later, Nurse Lin and Qiufan, pretending to be ghosts, trick Yiu Tong into confessing. In a panic, Yiu Tong escapes, but his mistress Huigu causes a fire that kills them both. Disheartened by the truth and his burning home, Mr. Kao walks into the flames.

The Goddess (1934) is remade once again. In this version, Zhu Shilin tackles the anxiety concerning the clash of 20th century Chinese traditions and modern Western culture. Despite her father’s strict discipline, Fun still manages to have a boyfriend secretly and give birth to twins. After leaving her son to her father, she takes off with her daughter. Twenty years later, Fun has become a streetwalker. The three generations finally come face-to-face at the police station. Her father laments that his generation should be ousted while Fun’s generation has been sacrificed, leaving the future for the next generation to establish. Zhu carefully depicts the shame of selling one’s body without passing judgment while he finds balance and reflects on the pain in the age of progress. Even though the production was far from lavish, Zhu’s astute handling of the narrative and mise-en-scène makes this a vivid and exciting film to watch.

Three young women navigate modern life in post-World War 2 Shanghai. Directed by Feng Yueh. Starring Hao Wang, Li Hua Li, and Helena Law.

A concubine and a cousin attempt to poison a rich man's son to gain the inheritance. But he survives and must fight back.