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"Angels over the Rainbow - Cathay 80th Anniversary Celebration", organised by the Hong Kong Film Archive (HKFA) of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, will feature the Cathay studio's cinematic classics with four focuses at the HKFA Cinema from February to April. Focus 1 will screen works by filmmaker Doe Ching, as well as "Our Sister Mambo" (2015), Cathay's special production for its 80th anniversary. The HKFA will also hold free outdoor screenings on March 18 at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Piazza, with "Our Sister Hedy" (1957) to be shown at 7pm and "Wedding Bells for Hedy" (1959) at 9.15pm.
Doe Ching (1915-1969) was a renowned local screenwriter-director and movie lyricist with more than 40 directorial and screenwriting credits, mostly melodramas and musicals, earning him the accolade of the "Literati Director". The opening film "Calendar Girl" (1959) is the epitomic urban musical by Motion Picture & General Investment Co Ltd (MP & GI, later known as Cathay), featuring Helen Li Mei and Diana Chang Chung-wen as sisters. Doe choreographed dances with the cast and the film opens with Li's beguiling drum dance, which sizzles to the youthful and upbeat "I Love Cha-Cha" as Chang and Peter Chen Ho join the merriment.
Co-starring Mu Hong, Julie Yeh Feng, Jeanette Lin Tsui and Dolly Soo Fung, "Our Sister Hedy" depicts the lives and loves of four sisters with diverse personalities and their reconciliation after setbacks and discord. The film stands out for its measured screenwriting and well-paced execution, which rejuvenates the classic family-romance with a touch of Westernised comic flair. The film was named Best Film at the 5th Asian Film Festival.
"Wedding Bells for Hedy" is a sequel to "Our Sister Hedy" featuring the same cast of characters. Doe delicately depicts the three sisters in a narrative that scrutinises the myth of marital bliss, and bachelorette Hedy irons out her sisters' troubles while spurting witty and barbed dialogue. Even though the screening copy was scanned from an incomplete 35mm print, the film still provides a view of its Eastmancolor glory. A post-screening talk with Peter Dunn will be held after one of the screening sessions.
A remake of "Our Sister Hedy", "Our Sister Mambo" portrays a controlling mother's expectations on marriage and careers for her four daughters. The characters are adapted to the current times, with comic relief supplied by the culturally and racially mixed context. A cast of multi-lingual Singaporean and Malaysian actors spice up the English script with their comical Southeast Asian dialects. Grace Chang, the glamorous screen goddess of MP & GI's golden era, appears on the screen 51 years after her retirement to reminisce about the good old days.
"Torrents of Spring" (1960) tells of the brutal betrayal by Su Erning (Tian Qing) against his lover Pan Meiniang (Jeanette Lin Tsui) due to his affair with a married woman (Helen Li Mei). Years later, the downtrodden Su chances upon Pan's daughter and risks it all to fulfil his old-time promise to her mother.
"Our Sister Mambo" is in English, Mandarin and Cantonese; "Torrents of Spring" is dubbed in Cantonese; and the other films are in Mandarin. "Our Sister Hedy" and "Wedding Bells for Hedy" have Chinese and English subtitles, "Our Sister Mambo" has Chinese subtitles (partially English or Chinese and English) and the rest have no subtitles.
Film tickets priced at $40 are now available at URBTIX (www.urbtix.hk). For credit card telephone 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/Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Issued at HKT 11:04
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