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The Natural Son

Chor Yuen started his directorial career with a bang. From its very first image, The Natural Son establishes Chor as a filmmaker of stylistic flourish, which would be sustained in various forms throughout his long tenure. Adapted from '30 cents' pulp fiction, it is a Kong Ngee melodrama made in the studio's mould, with Westernised characters and trendy middle-class lifestyles. Yet, Chor's first film is not exempt from the social urgency that characterises the Cantonese cinema of his father, Cheung Wood-yau. The film cloaks its entertainment in a moral deliberation on blood ties, its story about the raising of a bastard child a head-on challenge of archaic family values. An ostentatious start for a colourful and eventful career.

The Natural Son

NR 1959
Parents' Hearts

An opera troupe has to dissolve in view of the poor economy. Comedian star Sang Kwai-lei loses his job and he has no alternative but to play the lion character in the opera troupe of his former junior apprentice Chan Hau and pawn his stage costume. He aims at earning enough money to support the final year's secondary school studies of his elder son Chi-kuen. Kuen however refuses to continue his studies, seeing that his father has to put aside his dignity to earn money and his mother is worried. Lei is enraged and uses the money to support his younger son Chi-wai's studies. Again, Lei loses his job and he resorts to giving street performances, his wife takes up sowing work in her spare time and she dies after a long illness. Kuen works to support himself through school, but Wai is less fortunate, he is forced to enrol in an opera troupe as an apprentice. Years later, the dying father joyfully embraces Chi-kuen's return from his studies.

Parents' Hearts

7.0 1955
To Catch a Thief

Young shoeshine boy Shing is a mischievous yet kind-hearted child. When he notices that his neighbour, the unemployed Fung, is struggling to make ends meet with a pregnant wife about to give birth, he secretly delivers food to help them. Out of desperation, Fung takes a risk and attempts to steal from their neighbour, dancer Lily, only to stumble upon a crime scene—Lily has just been murdered by the ruthless villain Robert. Fung immediately becomes the primary suspect of the case. Having witnessed everything, Shing reports the truth to the police inspector, but is ignored due to his reputation for lying. Fung flees to the outskirts of the city, where Shing continues to provide him with food in secret. Wracked by guilt and fear, Robert, seeks to silence both Shing and Fung for good, but fortunately, Shing’s quick thinking allows them to escape. His actions raise suspicion from the inspector, leading to a tense battle of wits and strength between Shing, Fung, Robert, and the police.

To Catch a Thief

NR 1958
Awful Truth

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.

Awful Truth

8.0 1950
Two Fools capture a Ghost

The town is rumoured to be haunted. Cheung Siu-chen pretends to be possessed so that her lover Lau Tin and his friend Lee Luk may heroically exorcise the ghost and curry favour with her father. Driven by greed and lust, the attendant of the ancestral temple and his underlings cast an enticing spell on Cheung and claim that Cheung is possessed with a fierce ghost. Lau and Lee expose the hoax and redeem Cheung. Cheung's father happily gives his consent to the marriage between his daughter and Lau.

Two Fools capture a Ghost

6.0 1959
Snow White and the Seven Fellows

The Brothers Grimm's Snow White has been adapted into different art forms around the world, including the beloved 1937 animated film by Walt Disney Studios. Similar to that version, Chow Sze-luk and Lo Yu-kei's adaptation is a light-hearted musical romance, but the Cantonese version's stepmother doesn't have a magic mirror, nor does she care if she's the prettiest of them all. The two also adds intentional Chinese touches to the story, even replacing the iconic poisoned apple with a Chinese BBQ pork bun. However, one thing does remain: the heroic prince rides on a white horse to save the day.

Snow White and the Seven Fellows

NR 1955
The Murder Case at Club 99

Club 99 is not just a hideout for triad gangsters, but also a haven for smuggling jewelleries from robbery. When detective Law is investigating a jewellery heist, he is ambushed by the men from Dog Stone (Sek Yin-tsi) who is the owner of Club 99. Then, Law's daughter Fong (Law Yim-hing) helps her father to be undercover and disguises herself as a dancer in the club and gambler Lung (Lam Kau) is also an informant for the police force. While Dog Stone is cunning enough to discover their identities, there are in fact more undercover agents in the club...Influenced by Hollywood's semi-documentary style, the film has a detailed yet complex portrayal of human nature-undercover anxieties, domineering gangsters and moral ambiguity. With its realistic chasing and action sequences, the film is nonetheless a very entertaining piece of cinema.

The Murder Case at Club 99

NR 1956
Our Dream Car

A gem in every sense of the word, Our Dream car features popular idols Ge Lan (Grace Chang) and Chang Yang as a couple of newlyweds who struggle hard to acquire the latest symbol of middle class affluence: a motor car, but only find themselves in alienating situations. Yi Wen's script is full of lively and humorous details, his direction affectionate, while the young stars are charming. The film also paints a picture of a bourgeois lifestyle that was yet to occur in the ex-colony. It has also been aptly compared to the genre of hollywood "bedroom" comedy made famous by Rock Hudson and Doris Day in the 1950s.

Our Dream Car

9.0 1959
Eternal Love

Chan Sai-wah abides by his late father's word and marries the wealthy Yam Suk-kuen. They have a son, Kwok-leung. Though Wah is manager of the hotel owned by his father-in-law, Kuen is not a good wife. For all the years of their marriage, Wah has never been happy. Attracted to the humble and honest Carrie Mui, Wah decides to leave his domineering wife Kuen, but is stopped by his father-in-law. The lovers set off to Macau for a new start. Their life has become increasingly miserable under the pressure from Yam's family. When Wah leaves to seek help from his son in Hong Kong, Carrie decides she should leave so that Wah can go without feeling any guilt or burden. On the other hand, Wah is too ashamed to face his son, and returns to Macau. He lives his life in misery. Years pass, the lovers meet again. Wah is reduced to begging in the streets while Carrie becomes an opera diva.

Eternal Love

8.0 1955
Mr Wong's Adventures with the Unruly Girl

The film is adapted from Chinese classic comic series Mr Wong, with Tang Bik-wan joining hands with the magnificent Sun Ma Si-tsang and Tam Lan-hing to give a dazzling performance. Wong (Sun Ma Si-tsang) passes off as the company's manager to pursue the beauty Hui (Tang Bik-wan) behind his fearsome wife's (Tam Lan-hing) back. Unbeknown to him, Hui is actually the fiancée of his nephew (Sima Wah-lung), to whom he has refused to lend money. Scenes in which Hui plays pranks on him and tricks him into providing funds for her are spiced up by the lively acting of Sun Ma as a wife-fearing perv and Tang as a sassy girl with a sharp tongue. The film ends with Wong making excuses to meet Hui at a hotel but getting caught by his feisty wife. Whilst both are acclaimed comedians in their own right, brassy Tam and composed Tang together pull Sun Ma's leg in an unmissable classic slapstick.

Mr Wong's Adventures with the Unruly Girl

NR 1959
The Seventh Heaven

Chan Siu-hung is forced to become a prostitute, with the police following hot on her heels. Ching Chi-ko comes to her defence by claiming to be her husband. Chan is put up at Ching's roof hut named the 'Seventh Heaven' and the two gradually fall in love. Soon the war breaks out. Ching is drafted to do hard labour by the Japanese army. When the war is over, the crippled Ching returns and lies to Chan that he is already a married man, hoping to persvade Chan to marry someone else. Nonetheless, Chan's devotion overwhelms Ching.

The Seventh Heaven

7.0 1956