Sung Tsun Shou

An early romantic comedy starring Brigitte Lin.

Hsi Shih: The Beauty of Beauties was one of the most ambitious films made in the Taiwan film industry in the 1960s. After leaving The Shaw Brothers studio in Hong Kong and moving to Taiwan, filmmaker Li Han-hsiang mounted this historical epic. Told through the story of Xishi (Hsi Shih), one of the 'Four Great Beauties' of Chinese history, the film portrays the war between two Chinese Kingdoms during the Warring States Period (475-221 B.C). After the kingdom of Yue is defeated by the kingdom of Wu, King Goujian of Yue takes pains to prepare for his revenge and rebuild his country. Knowing that King Fucha of Wu is lewd and lustful, he offers Xisi to the court of Wu to serve as Fucha’s concubine, with Fucha unaware that she is also a spy. She uses her charm to draw Fucha away from his office and governance, while King Goujian rallies his forces together to attempt to reclaim his lands.

Adapted from a Tang Dynasty fantasy tale, Sung Chuen-sau used the story of a scholar meeting a female ghost at night, but emphasised neither the killing nor horror but the literary and romantic elements. Scholar Chan (Shih Chun) stays in a remote mansion outside the city. People often fall into the mansion’s well for no apparent reason. Chan looks into it. Later, he sees the girl from the well, Susu (Brigitte Lin), waving to him. She begins to wait on him nightly. Susu was from a wealthy family, but was running away from bandits during wartime, and committed suicide by jumping into the well rather than be caught. After her death, her spirit was controlled by Du Long (Pai Lin). Du Long has forced her many times to harm Chan, but she never has the heart to carry it through. Chan’s pity for her soon becomes love. He goes into the well to retrieve an old bronze mirror, and eventually succeeds in freeing Susu. In the end, to rescue Chan, Susu fights with Du Long and they destroy each other.

Shih Hsin-chiao (Ling Yun) is a journalist who trained under mentor Lu Tao-jan (Chin Han). Lu's daughter, Chih-pai (Tien Niu) is infatuated with the good-looking and intelligent Shih, but Shih sees her only as a child. When he returns from a long stay abroad, he finds that things have changed. Chih-pai is now an attractive young woman in a relationship with rich boy (Wang Yu). A miscarriage and Lu's death throw Shih and Chih-pai back together again.

Brigitte Lin's debut film. A young girl gets romantically involved with a teacher twice her age.