Film Archive's "Archival Gems" series to screen ghost movies (with photos)
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"Beyond the Grave" (1954), based on the story "Lian Suo" in "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio", tells of a young man (Chao Lei) being sent to study in a deserted ancestral house, where he meets and falls in love with a beautiful ghost (Lucilla You Min). The direction by Doe Ching and the sets created by set designer Chan Ki-yui complement well to make the film an unusual sorrowful romantic story. The film won the Best Art Direction Award at the Second Southeast Asia Film Festival.
"Red Plum Pavilion" (1968), a huangmei diao ghost film, is the last released work of Betty Loh Ti. Adapted from the Ming dynasty novel "The Story of Red Plum Blossom", the film features the romance between a scholar of the late Southern Song dynasty (Chao Lei) and Li Huiniang (Loh). However, an evil minister (Leung Sing-po) seeks to make Huiniang his mistress by capturing her in the Red Plum Pavilion, and later Huiniang is found dead. The phantom of Huiniang subsequently seeks to burn the minister's house as revenge.
In her early work "Ghost of the Mirror" (1974), Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia stars as a beautiful phantom who ended her life to escape war by plunging into a well clutching a bronze mirror. However, the ghost becomes controlled by a demon. When the demon forces her to kill a scholar in a deserted house, she can't bear to hurt him while the scholar is attracted to her.
Director Yao Fung-pan's "The Blue Lamp in Winter Night" (1975) embellished the story "Nie Xiaoqian" with elements of horror films from the West, including eerie atmospherics, grotesque make-up and a bloodsucking vampire, and the narrative is filled with twists and turns. With modern sensibilities, Chiang Min's portrayal of maiden ghost Xiaoqian is a precursor for the ones to come in the 1980s.
"Esprit D'amour" (1983) follows a female ghost, Siu-yu (Ni Shu-chun), who appears to insurance agent Chi-ming (Alan Tam) in hopes of proving her accidental death in order to get compensation for her family. Chi-ming is later smitten by the otherworldly beauty, stirring the jealous rage of his fiancé (Cecilia Yip). Director Ringo Lam infused the film with elements of horror, comedy and romance, making it a blockbuster while the theme song recorded by Alan Tam became a hit.
In "A Chinese Ghost Story" (1987), director Ching Siu-tung and producer Tsui Hark updated the story "Nie Xiaoqian" with a hybrid of Hollywood computer special effects and quintessentially local production touches. The film features the affair between the maiden ghost Xiaoqian (Joey Wang Tsu-hsien) and a pure-hearted lad (Leslie Cheung) which is full of modern romance. Thanks to the lush visual designs and the evocative music score, the film won multiple awards the 7th Hong Kong Film Awards.
Stanley Kwan's award-winning work "Rouge" (1988) is an adaptation of Lillian Lee's novel of the same title. The film centres on an alluring female ghost coming to modern times 50 years after her death to search for her lover, who was supposed to have committed suicide with her. Their story of old love reflexively comments on the passage of time and cultural changes of Hong Kong. With Kwan's exquisite mise-en-scène and the delicate performances of the stars, Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung, the film has become a classic in Hong Kong cinema.
Fruit Chan's directorial debut "Finale in Blood" (1993) is based on a popular classic of the Cantonese narrative singing art form of nanyin and tells of a love triangle in postwar Hong Kong. A radio host (Lawrence Cheng) is rescued from the sea by a ghost hidden inside an umbrella (Tao Jun-wei), and he goes on to help the phantom look for her unfaithful lover.
All screenings will be accompanied by post-screening talks hosted by film critics Joyce Yang, Eric Tsang, Lau Yam, Sam Ho, Ellis Yip, Siu Heng and Thomas Shin as well as actor Lau Siu-ming, sharing their views of the movies. All talks will be conducted in Cantonese with free admission.
"Red Plum Pavilion", "Ghost of the Mirror" and "The Blue Lamp in Winter Night" are in Mandarin and the other films are in Cantonese. "Beyond the Grave" and "Red Plum Pavilion" are without subtitles and the other films have Chinese and English subtitles.
Tickets priced at $55 are now available at URBTIX (www.urbtix.hk). For credit card telephone bookings, please call 2111 5999. For programme details, please visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/HKFA/en_US/web/hkfa/programmesandexhibitions/2017ag/film.html, or call 2739 2139.
Ends/Thursday, July 6, 2017
Issued at HKT 16:32
Issued at HKT 16:32
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