Cathay’s Cantonese Tour de Force

In 1954 to cater to the local predominately Cantonese-speaking audience the Motion Picture & General Investment Co Ltd, later known as Cathay, began making Cantonese language films in Hong Kong. Recruiting, amongst others, the directorial talents of Tso Kea, Wong Tin-lam and Wong Toi, these films included adaptations of literary classics, airwave novels (stories originally told over the radio) and foreign films.

As part of the retrospective Angels over the Rainbow – Cathay’s 80th Anniversary Celebration the LSCD is screening several Cantonese films from that era at the HK film Archive over the weekend of the 12-13 March. All films are black and white and in Cantonese with, sadly, no English sub-titles.

The romantic tragedy Love Lingers On (1957) is based on Emily Brontë’s gothic novel Wuthering Heights. Concentrating on the characters’ simmering mental troubles, Tso Kea shepherds the tale of profound passion, thwarted love and bitter vengefulness with broad narrative strokes and delicate orchestration of mise-en-scène.
Love Lingers On: 1pm, 12 March, 2016 at HK Film Archive, $40

Based on the Hollywood film Love Me or Leave Me (1955), The Sorrowful Lute (1957) features the rooftop entertainment scene of Guangzhou and portrays love and careers, and fame and power, in the Cantonese opera world. Tso Kea brilliantly depicts a crazed relationship balanced with extreme and subtle emotions. Ng Cho-fan embraces his role as a crippled sponsor with a shady side, while Fong Yim-fun counters with a riveting turn as a Cantonese opera diva struggling in lust and fame.
The Sorrowful Lute: 5pm, 12 March, 2016 at HK Film Archive, $40

Second Spring (1960) is adapted from a typical airwave novel by Li Ngaw and tells of the reunion of two miserable lovers (Law Kim-long and Christine Pai Lu-ming) after going through ordeals. Wong Tin-lam’s skilful mise-en-scène brings out the strong script structure and introduces a humorous servant (Leung Sing-po) and a defiant maid (Chan Ho-kau) to provide much comic relief.
Second Spring: 7:30pm, 12 March, 2016 at HK Film Archive, $40

Also adapted from a Li Ngaw airwave novel, The Song of the Nightingale (1961) follows a poor young man (Woo Fung) and an ill-fated village girl (Christine Pai Lu-ming) being forced to leave their home village and toil away to rise from despair. Wong Toi fluently lays out the twist-filled plot, in which Pai shows her resilience with measured precision and depth. In a role that moves from wealthy heir to poor and desperate scammer, Cheng Kwan-min utterly inhabits a loathsome character, and is paired in a duo of classic melodrama villains with Lee Hong-kum playing his two-faced partner in crime.
The Song of the Nightingale: 7:30pm, 13 March, 2016 at HK Film Archive, $40