Acting
A light-hearted comedy about a struggle between a maverick actress and her stubborn and conservative brother-in-law, which represents a debate between individualistic values and family obligations. Apparently the happy enlightenment of Li represents a triumph of the latter over the former. Li, Zhang and Lei Zhen, who plays the role of Li's husband, all showcase their distinctive personalities in their portraits of the characters.
Ostensibly a romantic comedy about mistaken identity, this film stars Kitty Ting Hao in two roles, the first as poor flower girl Fangfang and rich relation of a family in Hong Kong, who arrived in Hong Kong to see if she can feel better with the warmer climate. She meets Xihong, played by Kelly Lai Chen, who is the son in the family in Hong Kong. He is, of course, smitten with her, but when the secret is out, will he still feel the same?
A young woman in search of a lost identity, her long lost mother who abandoned her soon after her birth.
Meal Time is a comedy film about all the mess with housework that director Yan and his wife had to go through after the maid gave up her job.
A Chinese Opera
Romantic melodrama set in contemporary Hong Kong, Japan and Laos. Hiroshi Tanaka (Takarada) is a Japanese journalist on assignment in Hong Kong who meets and falls in love with Wu Li Hung (Ming). He proposes to Wu Li but she rejects him because of her distaste for mixed marriages (her mother was Japanese but deserted her family and returned to Japan during WWII). Tanaka locates Wu Li’s mother and unsuccessfully tries to reunite them, but eventually Wu Li accepts his proposal. A joyous Tanaka flies off to Laos to finish an assignment but on the eve of his wedding he is killed there.
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 film traces the relationships that develop between the protagonist Xu and the three women he meets, set against the backdrop of the Second World War.
.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.
Devotion, should be grim enough a lesson for my teenager in love. Little Kitty Ting Hao suffers due to social evils that ruthlessly rob her of the inalienable right to marry Chang Yang, the man she loves. Her incidental misbehaviour with Chang, which leads to the birth of a fatherless baby, does the final nailing of her coffin. Fortunately their daughter is intelligent and strong enough to be the master of circumstances and fights for her own love.
Musician Sun Ping is estranged from his wife. Second daughter Yinzheng lives with Sun while eldest daughter Jinliu follows her mother. By coincidence, the sisters both enter the 'Calendar Girl' pageant but Jinliu deliberately lets her sister win the contest. Later, the sisters and Liu Bucheng perform in Sun's musical show. Though the show is a success, Yinzheng decides to quit in order to get married. Not wishing to disappoint their father, Jinliu devises a plan to make Yinzheng stay on, but the plan misfires. Yinzheng leaves angrily. She is at last brought back to the show due to Liu's mediation. The elders also reconcile as the sisters perform together on stage.
Helen Li Mei plays the role of an alcoholic who, in a state of drunkenness, mistakenly hires a mafia boss to kill herself.
Part 1 ended with Jianbai and Su Yanan among the students fleeing the invading Japanese. Part 2 follows the efforts of all four characters to participate in the war effort. Su Yanan joins the army and fights. Jianbai enlists to be near her. A-Lan becomes a nurse at a battlefront hospital and Qiuming entertains the troops. (Grace Chang, Cathay's leading musical star at the time, performs some rousing patriotic numbers in these scenes.) Jianbai is reunited with Su in the battlefield, but...
Woo Ting-ting (Julie Yeh Feng) is a smart, tall, introverted and snobby young girl who embodies the idea of the unattainable beauty. On the other end of the spectrum, Ting's younger sister Bin (Jeanette Lin Tsui) is an outgoing, fun and bright girl-next-door type who exudes youthful energy. Ting's cold demeanor makes a lot of boys give pause about pursuing her, but the arrival of car dealership employee Kam (Roy Chiao) changes everything. Meanwhile, Bin's flirty nature attracts too many boys, and it finally becomes trouble when the wealthy Li (Tian Qing) grows obsessed with her.
This is a Historical Drama that was written and directed by Doe Ching. It was produced by the Shaw Brothers Studio.
