Middle Eastern folktale collection One Thousand and One Nights has been greatly treasured by Western storytellers who are fascinated by the fantastic world within. The exoticism conveyed in Western film adaptations greatly appealed to Cantonese opera and film writer Ma Si-tsang, who adapted The Thief of Bagdad (1924) into Cantonese opera The Prince of Thieves, set in an ancient empire influenced by both East and West. In 1958, director Luk Bong adapted the play into a film, turning the thief of the original film into a Robin Hood-esque hero who poses as a prince to compete for the princess' hand in marriage. Packed with a thrilling treasure hunt and a damsel-in-distress rescue as well as eye-catching special effects, Prince of Thieves is 100% a romantic swashbuckler.
Middle Eastern folktale collection One Thousand and One Nights has been greatly treasured by Western storytellers who are fascinated by the fantastic world within. The exoticism conveyed in Western film adaptations greatly appealed to Cantonese opera and film writer Ma Si-tsang, who adapted The Thief of Bagdad (1924) into Cantonese opera The Prince of Thieves, set in an ancient empire influenced by both East and West. In 1958, director Luk Bong adapted the play into a film, turning the thief of the original film into a Robin Hood-esque hero who poses as a prince to compete for the princess' hand in marriage. Packed with a thrilling treasure hunt and a damsel-in-distress rescue as well as eye-catching special effects, Prince of Thieves is 100% a romantic swashbuckler.
1958-01-01
0
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.
In the twilight of the Ming Dynasty, the Imperial court is plagued by corruption as tyrants rule over the land. With the Manchurians preying on a weakened empire, war is imminent. To save the victims from their suffering, sorceress Jade Raksha fights the soldiers that oppress people for their own gain. As payback, local government officials decide to pin the murder of Governor Zhuo Zhonglian on Jade, turning her and the members of her cult into wanted fugitives for a crime they didn't commit.
The Prime Minister's daughter, Kong Yeuk-mui, is attracted by the private tutor, Chow Yuk-pui. However, the Prime Minister despises Pui's lowly background and banishes him. Kong disowns her father, hoping to marry Pui when he achieves honours in the imperial exam. Meanwhile, Mui's brother Tak-chu prepares for the exam under Pui's tutorship. Pui and Chu, take the money Mui gives them and head for the capital. Unfortunately, Pui has himself fallen ill. Considering that the examination day is approaching, he gives all the travel expenses to Chu and urges him to set off. Mui resides at Loquat Alley, longing for Pui's honourable return. One day, she comes across a beggar, when she recognises it is Pui, her heart breaks. Chu who has newly been appointed Top Scholar, arrives and tells her sister the whole story. Nevertheless, Pui's sister is chosen to be the imperial concubine. Benefiting from this bond, Pui becomes the Royal Brother and works as the court secretary and weds Mui.
The four constables Emotionless, Iron Hands , Life Snatcher and ColdBlood are specially skilled in their own individual super powers. When the four constables of the Divine Constabulary investigate a murder in the suburbs, they unexpectedly stumble on clues to the murder of Emotionless's family 15 years ago.
A series of terrifying accidents and brutal murders leave a bloody trail into the subterranean caverns of an Opera house. Below the theatre stalks a man raised by creatures of the underworld.
Yiu But-fan marries on the day his father Yan-kit retires as a distinguished swordsman when Yan-kit's nemesis 'Ghostly Mother Blue Flower' Chiu Choi-wan and her foster son Lai Chun-wah gatecrash the party, striking dead the elder and But-fan's wife with the White-bone Soul-thrashing needles. Having pledged his alliance to the anguished son, Taoist Tranquil of Emei vows to eradicate the menace at Mid-Autumn Festival when his junior disciple Kau Suet-mui is challenged to a duel with Chiu. Kau's fellow disciples Hung Tin-bo and Chuk Yuk-heung follow the orders of their master to roam the martial world and tumble into a bandit lair. Extricated from danger by the Taoist, the duo join hands with the passer-by Yiu to thwart Lai's assault on Kau by sorcery, again aided by the Taoist. Yiu, Kau and her peers head back to the Kau Fortress where a martial contest is being held to select a prospective groom for the daughter. Kau overwhelms Lai in the ring but concedes defeat to Chiu.
'Ghostly Mother Blue Flower' Chiu Choi-wan has abducted a group of virgin boys and girls for the nourishment of her mind and soul. Alarmed by the abduction, Yiu But-fan, Kau Suet-mui and Hung Tin-bo make a night raid on the Hanshan Temple to release the children and set a torch to the bandit lair. Fuming over the arson, Chiu casts a spell on Kau, who kills the father of Chuk Yuk-heung in her cross-dressing persona as Yiu. Confronted by the angry Chuk clansmen at the Chuk Fortress, Yiu tries futilely to defend his innocence. Believing that Chiu has masterminded the framed murder, the fugitive infiltrates the White-bone Yinyang Cave where he finds himself attacked by Kau and Chiu. Demon-vanquishing Magic Monk, Chuk and Hung helped Yiu wrestle Chiu, who fled. Kau is nursed back to health by the monk and joins the fellowship in their quest to annihilate the demon. With all her venomous needles forfeited to the monk, Chiu gets her comeuppance, slain by Chuk's flying dagger.
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.
After ten years of marriage, a woman decides to tell her husband about her libertine past. A cascade of revelations follows, all as unexpected as they are funny.
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.
A man journeys by rail to a nameless sanatorium where his father has recently died. Once there, time loses its linearity and he finds himself in a world that appears both strange and strangely familiar.
Sinbad the Sailor is a Soviet animated short by Valentina and Zinaida Brumberg, released in 1944 by Soyuzmultfilm. The film is based on the Arab fairy tales about Sinbad the Sailor and his incredible adventures in foreign countries.
Anne Desbarèdes is a young woman who is married to a wealthy businessman and lives a monotonous existence in the small commune town of Blaye. After indirectly witnessing a murder in a café, she returns to the scene of the crime the next day and meets Chauvin, who informs her in more detail about the events that took place. Mentally unbalanced, Anne begins to believe that Chauvin intends to kill her.
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.
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.
In 19th century Russia a woman in a respectable marriage to a senior statesman must grapple with her love for a dashing soldier.
A disfigured musical genius, hidden away in the Paris Opera House, terrorises the opera company for the unwitting benefit of a young protégée whom he trains and loves. The 25th anniversary of the first public performance of Phantom of the Opera was celebrated with a grand performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Mistreated foundling Heathcliff and his stepsister Catherine fall in love, but when she marries a wealthy man, he becomes obsessed with getting revenge, even well into the next generation. [Originally aired on CBS's DuPont Show of the Month.]
The way three different generations of women view virginity and the mystery that a love story hides.