Awful Truth

Awful Truth 1950

1

As China falls into hyperinflation following the end of the war, people fought tooth and nail to get their hands on the only reliable currencies in the world: gold and American dollars. This is a story that shows how seven bars and two thousand US dollars bring together an interesting mix of characters: an opportunistic manager, a materialistic courtesan, a con artist posing as a commissioner of the Treasury, a white-collar worker who will do anything for a promotion, a man who specialises in conning women, a father who marries off his daughter for money and a sorcerer who fakes his magic. In this dog-eat-dog world, the only truth is that everyone is lying for his own gain. Playing the courtesan who longs to be part of high society, Li Lihua steals the film with a feisty performance opposite the amusing Yan Jun, whose con artist character has a tendency to flirt with lyrics from Peking operas.

1950

Loves of the Youngsters

Loves of the Youngsters 1955

1

Yan Xintang have seven kids with his wife, all their kids have grown up now and facing different problems on their own romance experiences.

1955

Modern ‘Red Chamber Dream’

Modern ‘Red Chamber Dream’ 1952

1

Dream of the Red Chamber, one of the big four of classic Chinese novels, has been adapted for film and television dozens of times over the past decades. Yet this sui generis Great Wall production daringly transposes the setting to modern-day 1950s. The contemporised story revolves nonetheless around the love triangle between Jia Baoyu and his two cousins. Both girls love him but his heart belongs to only one. The ending, however, is remarkably changed to separation of the lovers as a result of war—the war that was surely still haunting the minds of the filmmakers at the time when the film was made. Not only did Great Wall pour money into building extravagant sets just so to recreate down to the smallest detail the grandeur of the legendary Jia mansion, but the film also boasted of its lavish costume designs for the diverse female cast. (From Hong Kong Film Archive)

1952

The Peerless Beauty

The Peerless Beauty 1953

1

This is a story of how Ru Ji, a farm girl of Chao Kuo, who sacrificed her own life to save her country and people in the year 257 B.C.

1953

Love Affairs of a Confirmed Bachelor

Love Affairs of a Confirmed Bachelor 1959

1

Wang Lewu is over 35 but never had any successful romance relationships, his friends and relatives tried to introduce single females to him but none worked out in the end. Until one day, his mother introduced a young lady, Li Meijuan to him...

1959

Diamond Thief

Diamond Thief 1955

1

A diamond flower from the rich merchant Sun was stolen, his neighbors gathered a detective group to solve this problem.

1955

The Street Boy

The Street Boy 1958

1

Young widow Li Jingqin is struggling to put her son Du Shaoxiong through school with her meagre income. Bullied by the landlady, Du spends his days wandering the streets where he is lured by a gang to commit crimes. Fortunately, Du has a heart of gold.

1958

Three Charming Smiles

Three Charming Smiles 1964

7.00

Tang Bohu is smitten by the stunning beauty of Qiuxiang, the maid of Grand Tutor Hua, during his visit to a monastery in Suzhou. Stalking the maid, Tang's affections are finally reciprocated with three charming smiles. To approach the fair maid, Tang seeks work in the Grand Tutor residence as a study companion, and his talents win Hua's attention. As a frustrated suitor, he turns to his resourceful friend Zhu Zhishan for help.

1964

The Red Bat Apartment

The Red Bat Apartment 1962

1

On her way home from Lan Sin Restaurant, Liang Li-chin is horrified to have beheld a man's body inside a private hired-car. But when she explains what she has seen to her fiance Hu Ming-lin at his Red Bat Apartment, she is no longer sure whether it was a drunkard or a corpse. But Hu is arrested by the Police as the suspected murderer of his boss Chia Lei on certain material evidences: a/ Hu's visiting card has been found near the corpse; b/ the scarf which strangled Chia to death belongs to Hu as there are his initials M. L; and c/ he has been seen to have quarreled with Chia. But somehow Hu denies he has killed Chia. Liang now recalls that she has seen a strange figure, a man, that night in the car. She is sure he was not Hu, but the Police Inspector, is not a bit convinced, especially because of her relation with the suspect, Hu. Liang feels she must act fast, if she is going to save her fiance's neck.

1962

The Eternal Love

The Eternal Love 1960

1

Tragedy strikes two pairs of lovers and a family, just three days after a happy marriage.

1960

It So Happens to a Woman

It So Happens to a Woman 1955

1

Hung Sin Nui plays a mother of three who is burning with desires to serve society. Working as a journalist, she stays out for long hours, resulting in negligence of her children and her husband’s suspicions of infidelity. The twist, at once ironic and realistic, is that her unsupportive husband had actually written in his youth a book on gender equality. On the verge of divorce, the couple reconciles after the husband’s mother, sympathetic to the difficulties faced by women, rises to the occasion with timely and prudent advice. Hung’s character, a woman stuck between cultures of old and new, was tailor-made for the star by screenwriter Chu Hak. Director Li Pingqian portrays her struggles with realist and humanistic touches, extending gentle critiques of social prejudices without fanning the ire of resentment.

1955

The Three Loves

The Three Loves 1956

1

Li's direction and Jin Yong's script always go hand-in-hand with each other. This time, their collaboration sparks again as the film seamlessly brings three short stories together through three different segments of flashbacks. Yin Zhaozong (Bao Fong) is an amour fou falling in love with a girl much younger than him. Instead, Yu Baicheng (Fu Che) is a playboy trapped by his three girlfriends. The bartender (Chiao Chuang), however, tells them how he and his wife are blessed by true love. The film not only displays Li's sensitivity to narrative structure but also his ability to cast the most suited actors for their respective roles, as such Mao Mei had a chance to demonstrate her dance talent for her debut in this movie.

1956

The Younger Generation

The Younger Generation 1971

1

After the deaths of their parents, sister and brother Lan and Cow must take care of their younger siblings. Living hand to mouth, they struggle to overcome unscrupulous employers and unfair labour practices. The Younger Generation, with its humanist perspective on social justice, is the first film co-directed by the husband-and-wife team of Huang Yu and Wu Peirong, and stars Nina Paw, daughter of renowned actor-director Bao Fong, in one of her earliest roles.

1971

A Brilliant Spectacle

A Brilliant Spectacle 1974

1

A Hong Kong production blending the breathtaking highlights of 1973's Asian-African-Latin American Table Tennis Friendship Invitation Tournament in Peking with the accompanying cultural explosion of songs, music and dances.

1974