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As part of its Morning Matinee series, the Hong Kong Film Archive (HKFA) of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) will present "Delightful and Thrilling Genres of Yeung Kung-leong" from November to December, featuring films directed by Yeung Kung-leong. The selected films including thrillers, comedies, operettas and martial arts fantasies that will enable audiences to learn more about this "maverick" director, and will be shown at 11am on Fridays.
The HKFA Cinema will show "Bitter Phoenix, Sorrowful Oriole" (1947), "The Razor's Edge" (1949), "Flower Girl" (1952) and "Sing Her a Love Song" (1955) on November 6, 13, 20 and 27 respectively. On December 4, 11, 18 and 25, the films to be shown are "Su Siu-mui Thrice Tricks the Groom" (1958), "Two Fools in Paradise" (1958), "Agent 101" (1965) and "A Beauty in Times of War" (1959).
In addition, "The Devil and Her Magic Needles, Part One" (1964) will be shown on December 12 at 2.30pm. To complement the screenings, a seminar entitled "Horror, Fantasy and Cult Films of Yeung Kung-leong" will be held at 4.30pm in the HKFA Cinema on the same day. The seminar will be conducted by speaker, Ms Stephanie Ng, in Cantonese. Admission is free.
Yeung Kung-leong, also known as Yeung To, began his first foray into filmmaking by writing English subtitles for silent films when he was a student. Being adept at English, Yeung experimented with film language and embraced a confluence of Western and Eastern cultures in his Cantonese films. The pre-war detective comedy, "Bitter Phoenix, Sorrowful Oriole", stands as his earliest surviving work, featuring Cantonese cau (male clown) opera star Ma Si-tsang and "Whimsical Diva" Cheung Yuet-yee as a loving detective couple. Yeung deftly blends Eastern and Western elements with entertainment vignettes, showcasing a creative trait that defines the early chapters of Cantonese cinema. The film focuses on humorous flirting between the couple, while downplaying the dark side of humanity and a murder investigation. The operatic excerpt, "Yu Hap-wan Pours Out His Heart", is expressly designed to transplant the detective from his bourgeois and Western origins to a grassroots environs using a beggar's disguise.
Adapted from Charlie Chaplin's "City Lights" (1931), "Flower Girl" tells of drunken millionaire Wong Pak-man (Leung Sing-po) being rescued from drowning by "Oriental Chaplin" Yee Chau-shui, granting Chau his every wish whenever he is intoxicated. Chau takes the opportunity to help the blind flower girl (Hung Sin-nui) out of her financial troubles. Yeung added four song numbers to give a theatrical platform for his three leading actors to unleash their singing and performing talents, and infused local flavours to appease the palette of Cantonese audiences. Hung Sin-nui gives a heart-rending portrayal of the worry-laden flower girl in a brilliant debut as a blind character, while Yee and Leung also catch the comedic rhythm precisely.
Yeung is talented in bringing out the star qualities of his cast with characterisation and plot design. "Su Siu-mui Thrice Tricks the Groom" is a stylised rendition of the same title taken from Feng Meng-long's "Lasting Words to Awaken the World" of the Ming dynasty. The story tells of Su Siu-mui (Tang Bik-wan), a lady with wit and genius, who attends a literary and wine fete in male disguise with her brother Tung-bo (Poon Yat-on), where she meets her cute and scholarly equal Chun Siu-yau (Sun Ma Si-tsang). In the nuptial chamber, the bride poses three brainteasers to test the literary acumen of her groom and deal a blow to his ego. By adapting the episode "Walking 18 miles to send off his sworn brother" in "Butterfly Lovers", where Zhu Ying-tai hints at her true gender, librettist and screenwriter Wu Man-sum uses the lyrics to highligh Siu-mui's wit and gives the "Versatile Opera Queen" an opportunity to showcase her sumptuous singing prowess in pinghou (modal voice) and zihou (falsetto voice). Her witty brilliance also glows radiantly in contrast to Yeung's offbeat cinematic landscape.
Featuring Cantonese opera masters of the time, "Sing Her a Love Song" follows stony-broke musician Wong Man-fu (Yam Kim-fai), who chooses pride over practicality, and only avoids eviction by winning the affections of his landlady's niece Ho Suet-fung (Pak Suet-sin). Chancing upon an equally downtrodden old school friend Ma Man-lung (Sun Ma Si-tsang), the duo hope to make their own luck by pulling every ruse and hoax while job-hunting, and they create an abundance of amusing moments. The directorial trio of Yeung, Leung King-bok and Ling Wan crafted a solid vision of life in the midst of the economic depression in the 1950s, albeit sugar-coated and with a comic touch. "Two Fools in Paradise" focuses on the hardship of eking out a living on a school campus. "Two Fools", Lau Chuen (Sun Ma Si-tsang) and Wong Luk (Tang Kei-chen), slave away to afford an education, while their teddy boy classmate, Elvis (Cheng Kwan-min), idles his days away. Yeung enlisted Wu Man-sum, who had an extensive knowledge of Western pop tunes, to score the movie and produce a fun and playful rendition of Harry Belafonte's "Banana Boat Song", "Ants in Your Pants", which serves as a hilarious parody of the teddy boy dance moves.
While injecting songs and comedic elements into his movies, Yeung also applied horror, mystery and fantasy martial arts to create an entertaining concoction of Cantonese film attractions. Adapted from a martial arts fantasy that ran as a newspaper serial, "The Devil and Her Magic Needles, Part One" features martial arts devices as wildly imaginative as soul-thrashing needles, and Yeung uses generous special effects along with eerie "white-bone" makeup for the Ghostly Madam character and her victims. The story follows Ghostly Madam Blue Flower (Tang Ruoqing) who seeks vengeance on Yiu But-fan (Lam Kar-sing) with her deadly soul-thrashing needles. Taoist Tranquil of Emei (Hong Bo) saves Yiu, while his disciples Kau Suet-mui (Yu So-chau) and Hung Tin-bo (Connie Chan Po-chu) join hands to eradicate the menace. "The Razor's Edge" depicts a murder hatched by a ne'er-do-well son, Fang Zhiping (Lü Yukun) to remove his dutiful and filial elder brother (Yan Hua) over the inheritance of the family fortune. The low-key lighting builds suspense and creates an atmosphere that is dreary, grim and dark, while special effects create a ghostly world of shadows that heightens the murderer's mental turmoil of fear and remorse.
Director Yeung favoured dazzling cinematography over the spinning of narrative threads and meticulously orchestrated the stage setting of epic scenes to a nicety. "A Beauty in Times of War" is a large-scale song-and-dance film based on the historical event of "King Or assassinates the King of Qin". Unlike an average Cantonese opera film, Yeung did not rely on a few operatic stars to carry the narrative forward, but build up the momentum of a scene through his cinematic portrayal and filmic compositions. For example, he thoughtfully cast and characterised Crown Prince Dan (Ho Fei-fan) and his consort (Lam Dan), the King of Qin (Leung Sing-po), General Fan Yu-kei (Lan Chi Pak) and King Or (Mak Bing-wing). The leads perfectly encapsulated the personalities and nuances of their characters, each being distinct and memorable. "Agent 101" is Yeung's last, a posthumous work completed by Wong Hok-sing depicting a battle of wits and brawn between a resistance fighter and enemy spies. Yeung executed many outdoor scenes by using the composition of the crowd to serve the narrative and the visuals, creating one of the most devotedly crafted gems of Cantonese cinema.
"The Razor's Edge" is in Mandarin, while the other films are in Cantonese. None of the films have subtitles.
Tickets priced at $20 are now available at URBTIX. Half-price tickets are available for senior citizens aged 60 and above, people with disabilities and their minders, full-time students and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipients. Credit card bookings can be made at 2111 5999 or on the Internet at www.urbtix.hk. For enquiries, please call 2739 2139 or 2734 2900. Detailed programme information can be found in "ProFolio 79" distributed at all performing venues of the LCSD, or by browsing the website: www.lcsd.gov.hk/fp/en_US/web/fpo/programmes/2011mm/film.html.
Ends/Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Issued at HKT 15:00
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