Ping Fan

Showing off his love of visual aesthetics as a painter, director Dan Duyu combines elegance, exoticism and oddity into a grand big-budget package with New Arabian Nights. Dan's vision is definitely not bound by the source material, but his magical and music-filled version of the orient turns out to be not so different from how Western storytellers would imagine it.

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)

HK drama film.

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.

Martial arts movie.

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.

Adapted from the novel “Fei Feng Qian Long” (飞凤潜龙) by Liang Yu Sheng (梁羽生).

A Charlie Chan mystery, from Hong Kong.

A villain steals a kung fu manual and kills the good swordsmen it belongs to. He masters the powers it offers and goes on to commit various evils. Twenty years later, a young swordsman heads off to take him to account. On the way he meets a couple of feisty young swordswomen, and his life gets more complicated.

Famed director Zhu Shilin tries his hand at a horror film! The beginning of The Living Corpse immediately sets the tone with a folk duet clearly inspired by the popular 1956 musical Songs of the Peach Blossom River. The duet, in addition to Zhu's frequent use of long, empty shots and crisp editing, gives this horror film a traditional poetic charm and a strong folk flavor. Mise-en-scene and sound effects create a terrifying atmosphere, and successfully communicate the ghostliness of a world without ghosts.

HK horror film.

Starring in numerous singing films, Zhou Xuan was one of the most beloved singers in both cinema and recording industries for her 'golden voice'. Popular nightclub singer Zhu Lan (Zhou) is originally in love with impoverished painter Fang Zhiwei (Gu Yelu), but is taken advantage of by rich playboy Ye Chunhua (Wang Hao) at her most vulnerable time. To add to her misfortune, Zhu discovers her being an adoptee. She also learns the heartbreaking truth about her birth parents which intertwines with her own life across generations. Eventually, irreversible tragedy awaits with revenge exacted for past wrongs. In a case of art imitating life, the songstress's life and upbringing resemble Zhou Xuan's own, making the film even more heart-wrenching. The 'Song Fairy' Chen Gexin composed the film's entire music with six songs sung by Zhou. 'Song of a Songstress', sung towards the end of the film, adds poignancy to the film with its discourse on the joy and sorrow in life.

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

Four sisters, each with their different characters, embark on their separate roads to romance. Elder sister has vast experience of romance; second sister is predisposed to vampiness and wantonness; third sister is righteous and of noble character; fourth sister is just reaching puberty and experiencing the pangs of first love. Being sentimental, flirtatious and amorous, the four sisters form a backdrop conducive to songs and tripping the light fantastic.

A lifeguard rescues a millionaire who is involved in a plane crash. He gives his blood to save the rich man's life, but this turns the rich man's white hair into black and the lifeguard starts to age...

An early Musical by the Hsin Hwa Motion Picture Company.

Love stories of three different female characters.

Yang Mengchi is a spoiled, rich do-nothing whose habit of smoking opium has cost him his entire fortune and the family mansion, the Garden of Repose, now due to be sold to Yao Guodong. Fearing that Yao's spoiled and unruly son Siaofu will follow in Yang's footsteps, Yao's stepwife Wan Zhaohua tries to instil discipline in the child but her efforts are undermined by the child's indulging and protective father and grandmother. Unable to reform himself despite his own son's chastisement, Yang leaves home to lead a reclusive life in a destitute temple, only helped out by his filial daughter Han'er. The poverty-stricken Yang is drafted into the army and tragedy ensues.

Brothers Bo and Wei are forced to join the triad in Hong Kong after arriving from China. They become successful drug dealers but sacrifice their family happiness for money and power. Once the ICAC is established, they become its targets and struggle to escape its grip.

The four famous hunters had already been hidden, but they reappeared because their master Zhuge Shenhou was killed. Shangguan Cang Qiang assassinated Shenhou and successfully seized his throne, and then revealed his ambitions, and he controlled the emperor with drugs, trying to force him to surrender the throne. The four great immortals learned of his conspiracy, obstructed it, and vowed to fight with him to the end and crush his dream of becoming emperor.