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.
Fong's father
Mok's father
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.
1959-03-11
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Despite mixed emotions, Frederick Winterbourne tries to figure out the bright and bubbly Daisy Miller, only to be helped and hindered by false judgments from their fellow friends.
Adaptation of Hermann Sudermann's novel about the troubled relationship between the strong willed Erdme and her irascible husband Jons in the Lithunian moors.
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.
Inside a café, on Christmas Eve. Chim Kei meets an enigmatic woman named Mimi Wong who introduces herself as the daughter of an upper-crust family. But the infatuated writer is struck by a spasm of sorrow when he later sees Mimi make her appearance as a taxi-dancer at a party. The lovers are reconciled by the story of her plight told by her sister Annie. However, Mimi goes missing on the engagement day. By a stroke of luck, Chim runs into the elusive woman again and finds out how she was forced into prostitution by her drug-addict husband, his childhood best friend and benefactor Chan Hung-kit. Chim leaves dejectedly, and has since been idling his days away. The frail Mimi confesses her love for Chim on her deathbed, and from not far away, Chan has ended his own life.
Teresa is a spirited young girl chafing under the oppressive attitudes of 1930s society, and her father in particular. She fancies her poverty-stricken Latin tutor Johnathan Crow, without realising he merely considers her a pleasant diversion and nothing more, and eventually follows him from Sydney to London. En route she meets the gentle banker James Quick. Whilst navigating her relationships in London, including with a political poet bound for the Spanish Civil War, she experiences a transformation in her understanding of love. Based upon Christina Stead's best-selling Australian novel.
First installment of the Tense Moments with Great Authors series. Presumed lost.
In 1862, Abraham Lincoln's youngest son is laid to rest. That night, Lincoln visits his son's crypt, a chorus of ghosts narrating their brief reunion. Based on the bestselling novel by acclaimed author George Saunders.
"Family" (1953), which launched the Union Film legacy, "Spring" (1953) and "Autumn" (1954) are adaptations of Ba Jin's highly regarded novel "Torrent Trilogy". In "Family", director Ng Wui skilfully condenses the voluminous first part of the novel into an emotionally powerful and intellectually focused story of youngsters struggling to survive oppression and repression in a feudalistic family. This well-received film quickly established the company's reputation.
Guerrilla member Ting Siu-yuen works as a playwright and Lee, the leader of an opera troupe. They conceal their identities in the troupe in order to gather military intelligence. Yuen gradually falls in love with the lead actress Mui Law-heung. Ting is unsettled to learn that County Chief Fong covets Mui. He sneaks into Fong's residence and is astounded by the sight of his old lover Pak Kuen, now Fong's wife. Fong colludes with the military chief in conducting vicious schemes. With Kuen's help, Yuen is able to get the intelligence. But as Heung is not an insider, she reports to the Governor about the illicit relationship between Yuen and Kuen. Kuen backs Yuen to eliminate the conspirators and bring about the union of Yuen and Heung.
A mild-mannered English conscientious objector moves to what he feels will be the relative calm of Australia after World War I, but gets caught in the middle of violent battles between the rising trade unions and fascist groups.
Ko Suk-ying is saddened over her arranged marriage as manipulated by her father Hak-ming. Ko Kok-sun's Cousin Chow Wai's spends the Mid-Autumn Festival before her marriage with the Kos. She has been in love with Sun. Sun finds out about her love for him when she is about to be married off, he is too weak to oppose to Wai's betrothal to another man. Sun's son, Hoi-sun, falls ill. Fearing the displeasure of his elders, Sun dares not consult a western doctor. Meanwhile, another dispute arises among members of the family over the ancestral land. When accused of being incompetent in his management, Sun takes the blame silently. Wai dies of grief while Hoi-sun becomes a victim of mistreatment. Sun is devastated at this double blow. Hak-ming instructs Sun to arrange for Ying's wedding. Knowing the kind of man Ying's fiancee is, Sun is reluctant. Not wanting to follow in Wai's footsteps, Ying fights for her own rights, and backed by an enlightened Sun, she leaves for a new start.
Adapted from the series aired in 2001. Looking for inspiration during the holidays, Nando sees Anita as the ideal character for his novel. She lives in a townhouse where a passionate crime happened in the past. Intense, Anita seduces Nando and awakens to
Lau Mung-mui chances on To Lai-leung and their encounter transcends to a rendezvous in their dreams. They admire each other, but they do not know each other's names and addresses. They keep on thinking of each other and decide to take each other as their future husband and wife. Mui's father wants his son to get married, but he pays no attention to his father's wishes. Mui leaves home to look for Leung. Leung's father forces his daughter to marry her rich and powerful cousin. Leung becomes despondent and dies, following an arranged marriage with her cousin. Mui sought everywhere for Leung for three years, but to no avail. He locates the home of Leung, but the household has moved out. The house is guarded by an old servant. Mui, chasing Leung's spirit, has a brief romance with her. Acknowledging that their union will be hindered by their incompatibility as a mortal and a spirit, Leung reincarnates as a mortal so that their love may be rekindled.
An orphan boy in 1830s London is abused in a workhouse, then falls into the clutches of a gang of thieves.
Inspired by the book of Genesis, this film tells the power struggle between two families: a clan of herders led by Jacob and another clan of hunters fronted by his brother Esau. Caught in the crossfire is their cousin, Hamor and his tribe of farmers.
Diaochan (aka Diau Charn and Sable Cicada), one of the Four Beauties of China, is supposed to be so stunningly lovely that the moon was shamed to hide behind clouds. Despite being the only Beauty among the four who is not a real historical figure but one conjured by storytelling imagination and embellished by public fascination, her story was nonetheless incorporated by author Luo Guangzhong into his popular and influential novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Her tale is one of Machiavellian intrigue, in which she schemes with her godfather Wang Yun to restore moral order to the land, sowing discord between the corrupt Minister Dong Zhuo and his adopted son Lu Bu, a man of martial and military prowess.
An actress, three months post-partum, reads through fragments of the archive of Suzanne Césaire as she prepares to perform excerpts of the writer's work.
Adapted from the short story by Franz Kafka, The Judgment is a psychological drama exploring themes of alienation, memory, and the lines between fantasy and reality. The film follows Georg Bendemann, a young merchant living 1900s Prague, who is struggling to maintain balance in an ever changing world. As his situation deteriorates due to complicated familial relationships, we are compelled to question the very nature of what we are seeing.
Songstress Mui Yee-wah falls head over heels for painter Wai Tik-fung despite their age difference. Because Wai is a married man, Mui's mother is against the match. Mui falls ill from grief. Rich heir Siu Kar-wai seizes the chance to successfully propose to Mui. However, Siu is unable to let go of Mui's past. In a fit of anger, he fires a deadly shot at Wai.