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The Hong Kong Film Archive (HKFA) of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department will present "Delightful Remakes" in March and April as part of the "Morning Matinee" series, which is held at 11am on Fridays. Five pairs of films will be screened, which are either very similar in their plots, or are transplanted from ancient settings to modern times, or are de facto remakes. Nonetheless, each version is unique in its own way. One of the films, "Colourful Partners" (1968), will be shown on March 19 at 2.30pm at the HKFA Cinema, followed by the seminar "Not Really a Matter of Coincidence" at 4.30pm with guest curator Tong Ka-wai as speaker. The seminar is in Cantonese with free admission.
"Maiden's Heart" (1964), which resembles "The Merry Month of May" (1955) in both storyline and dialogue, centres on a rich heiress who disguises herself as a flower peddler in the hope of finding her true love, while her destitute clan sister poses as a desirable wife to ensnare a rich husband. Apart from the different cast, the latter also features an array of mesmerising tunes by Cantonese opera masters such as Yam Kim-fai and Pak Suet-sin, which the former lacks. Both films demonstrate fluid cinematography and comic repartees mixed with satirical humour. Lam Mui-mui and Lai Cheuk-cheuk deliver show-stealing performances as the matriarchs, while Lui Kay showcases his comedic flair in "Maiden's Heart".
In both "My Intimate Partners" (1960) and "Colourful Partners", two similarly fated buddies (Patrick Tse Yin and Woo Fung, and Patrick Tse Yin and Chow Chung) fall for the same woman but continue to help each other through tests of brotherhood despite their different personalities. The former focuses on Hong Kong people's tenacity and pathos during the early 1960s, while the latter highlights society's grotesqueness and debauchery as the economy takes off.
Starring Yam Kim-fai, Pak Suet-sin and So Siu-tong, the costume Cantonese opera film "The Elopement" (1960) is strikingly similar to its contemporaneous double "Two Ridiculous Marriages" (1965), which has a cast including Cheung Ying-choi, Ng Kwan-lai and Cecilia Lee Fung-sing. The story follows a jealous wife accepting her husband's mistress and illegitimate son into the home out of sympathy, but it turns out that the mistress is her husband's male buddy. So Siu-tong's funny cross-dressing in "The Elopement", and Cheung Ying-choi's trademark over-the-top neuroticism and Yu Ming's hilarious act as the corny housekeeper in "Two Ridiculous Marriages", provide a feast of laughter in their farcical situations.
While both films centre on the cultural clash between northerners and southerners, "The Greatest Civil War on Earth" (1961) zooms in on the north-south differences in traits, language and habits, whereas "Two Mouthy Ladies from the North and South" (1965) focuses on the business competition between the two. The story tells of neighbours from north and south bickering over various issues, and banning family members from communicating with the other side, along with plenty of joking and laughter.
"Spring Appears" (1963) and "Foolish Fate" (1965) are satirical comedies about men and women who cling to the pipe dream of changing their fortunes by marrying into money. In both films, ne'er-do-wells (Patrick Tse Yin and Cheng Wai-sum) pose as wealthy suitors to woo a banker's daughter for good fortune, but get caught up with impostors instead. Despite the almost identical plots and structures, "Spring Appears" stands out for its exquisite narrative execution and contemporary sensibility.
"The Greatest Civil War on Earth" and "Two Mouthy Ladies from the North and South" are in Mandarin and Cantonese, while the other films are in Cantonese. "Colourful Partners" has Chinese and English subtitles and other films are without subtitles.
Tickets priced at $20 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/2011mm/film.html.
Ends/Thursday, February 4, 2016
Issued at HKT 16:00
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