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"Angels over the Rainbow - Cathay 80th Anniversary Celebration", organised by the Hong Kong Film Archive of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, will feature Cantonese productions of Motion Picture & General Investment Co Ltd (MP & GI) directed by Tso Kea, Wong Tin-lam and Wong Toi in Focus IV in March. To cater to the predominately Cantonese-speaking audience, MP & GI (later known as Cathay) began making Cantonese movies in Hong Kong in 1954 and recruited the finest directorial talent in Cantonese cinema. These movies included adaptations of literary classics and contemporary novels, among other captivating productions.
The romantic tragedy "Love Lingers On" (1957) is based on Emily Brontë's gothic novel "Wuthering Heights". Concentrating on the characters' simmering mental troubles, Tso Kea shepherds the tale of profound passion, thwarted love and bitter vengefulness with broad narrative strokes and delicate orchestration of mise-en-scène.
Based on the Hollywood film "Love Me or Leave Me" (1955), "The Sorrowful Lute" (1957) features the rooftop entertainment scene of Guangzhou and portrays love and careers, and fame and power, in the Cantonese opera world. Tso Kea brilliantly depicts a crazed relationship balanced with extreme and subtle emotions. Ng Cho-fan embraces his role as a crippled sponsor with a shady side, while Fong Yim-fun counters with a riveting turn as a Cantonese opera diva struggling in lust and fame.
"Second Spring" (1960) is adapted from a typical airwave novel by Li Ngaw and tells of the reunion of two miserable lovers (Law Kim-long and Christine Pai Lu-ming) after going through ordeals. Wong Tin-lam's skilful mise-en-scène brings out the strong script structure and introduces a humorous servant (Leung Sing-po) and a defiant maid (Chan Ho-kau) to provide much comic relief.
Also adapted from a Li Ngaw airwave novel, "The Song of the Nightingale" (1961) follows a poor young man (Woo Fung) and an ill-fated village girl (Christine Pai Lu-ming) being forced to leave their home village and toil away to rise from despair. Wong Toi fluently lays out the twist-filled plot, in which Pai shows her resilience with measured precision and depth. In a role that moves from wealthy heir to poor and desperate scammer, Cheng Kwan-min utterly inhabits a loathsome character, and is paired in a duo of classic melodrama villains with Lee Hong-kum playing his two-faced partner in crime.
All films are in Cantonese and have no subtitles.
Tickets priced at $40 are now available at URBTIX (www.urbtix.hk). For telephone credit card bookings, please call 2111 5999. For programme enquiries, please call 2739 2139 or 2734 2900 or visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/fp/en_US/web/fpo/programmes/2016cathay/film.html .
Ends/Thursday, January 28, 2016
Issued at HKT 17:30
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