Yen Tzu-fei (Ling Yun) is a college and martial arts student. A letter from his father tells him that Japanese financier, Nomura (Ching Miao) plans to seize the family mine and forest lands, and that Ichimura (Chan Shen) has been instructed by Nomura to use force against him. Yen's father asks him to return home and help resist the threats. Once home, Yen introduces Kuan Yueh-hua (Ching Li), who he met during the journey home, to his family, and the attraction he previously felt for her, grows. Later, Kuan Yueh-hua discovers that her father is plotting with the Japanese to get Yen Chien-kuang's property. Nomura and Ichimura hire professional killers to murder Yen Tzu-fei.
The noted actress Li Li-hua, star of more than sixty films since 1947, beautifully portrays the drugged, then disgraced wife of a peddler in the waning days of the Ching Dynasty. To make matters worse, she's soon framed for her husband’s murder by her rapist - the son of the local magistrate! And even that isn’t the end of her woes. It's best to have a box of tissues nearby as two expert directors ratchet up the emotional suspense in this consummate tearjerker.
Li Li-hua, Kao Pao-shu, Ouyang Sha-fei, Kwan Shan, Ku Wen-chung
Besides his pioneering films based on authentic martial artistry and kung-fu comedies during the 1970's, acclaimed director Liu Chia-liang also embraced the master/pupil relationship to form the cornerstone of many of his other works where his characters exhibited physical and moral failure as a means to either "make them or break them". Besides directing MAD MONKEY KING FU, it's also Liu's debut as a lead actor playing down and out, monkey kung-fu master Chen, crippled by the ruthless villain Tuen (Shaw's penultimate bad guy Lo Lieh). Street boy Hsiao Hou (which means "little monkey" and played by popular martial arts aerialist Hsiao Hao) convinces Chen to teach him monkey kung-fu to avenge Chen's shame. The wacky training sequences and outlandish finale fight leave you stupefied.
An amusing insider's look at the Hong Kong film industry; this is auteur Li Han-hsiang's version of Truffaut's Day for Night and Fellini's 8. It is a homage paid to Li, with a 30-year landmark in this business. Based on the director's highly popular newspaper column, this is a potboiler of some of his funniest and most surreal film gossips of the era. Filled with fictional plots and hardcore facts, this is definitely a must-see for any Hong Kong cinema aficionado!
A resourceful martial artist Shen Lang (David Chiang) attended a conference with other kung fu experts discuss avenging on Huan His-wang, a notorious gangster who had killed countless people in the martial world. But meanwhile Shen's fiancée, Chu Chi-chi (Ching Li), an arrogant and pretty girl, arrived at the conference and caused troubles without any reason. Embarrassed by her behaviour, Shen left the conference with Chu immediately. Both of them go on their pursue of Huan, but falls into a murder plot set up by Huan...
Shaw Brothers’ superstar David Chiang displays a unique take on the narcotics racket in his directorial debut, The Drug Addicts. Addicted kung-fu instructor Ti Lung not only kicks the habit but smashes a drug smuggling ring. His fantastic performance befits as that of a martial-arts superstar.
Cheng Chang-ho had already established his filmmaking fame in Korea when he was invited to join the Shaw Studio. He created new fame in Hong Kong by directing (and sometimes writing) such action epics as Valley Of The Fangs, The Swift Knight, and this tale of a decapitating swordswoman who will let nothing stand in her way when she falls in love with a bandit’s son. Chiao Chiao, made famous in One-Armed Swordsman, is the girl who won’t let such trifles as craniums keep her from freeing her man from jail. The one villain who manages to keep his head (in every definition of the phrase) is Fan Mei-sheng. The success of this film really helped the director get ahead in just two years he was to helm the very first internationally successful kung-fu film: King Boxer.
Chiao Chiao, Chen Liang, Wang Hsieh, Ching Miao, Chang Pei-shan
Lin Dai stars in this romantic classic as a nightclub singer who falls for a young architect. When he suffers grave financial difficulty, she does the unthinkable to help him.
Lin Dai, Kwan Shan, Kao Pao-shu, Lo Chi, Chiang Kwong-chao
Three young martial arts students and their teacher are beaten up badly by a wandering man who proclaims himself 'a corrector of bad kung-fu.' Determined to avenge their teacher and regain their honor, the three students go their separate ways to find kung-fu masters who will take them as students.
When reputable fight choreographer Liu Chia-liang debuted as a director with THE SPIRITUAL BOXER, it not only established him as a superb director, but it also encouraged other martial arts instructors to turn to directing. Plus, it was the first film to introduce comedy into kung-fu so it made sense for Liu to return to that foundation with the same bumbling idiot Wang Yu still not quite getting it when it comes to the affair of ghost control in THE SHADOW BOXING. Liu also brings in both of his brothers Liu Chia-yung and Gordon Liu Chia-hui, which guaranteed that the fights would be an extra notch above magnificent further ensuring that the audience had never seen anything like it before. THE SHADOW BOXING was twice as successful as THE SPIRITUAL BOXER.
The aggressive and dangerous Chin Empire conquers the hard-put Chao kingdom while the Wei empire is drained of its heroes and paralyzed by an indecisive ruler. Adventure, intrigue, death and tragedy reigns before the triumphant clash of the armies.
In The Sword And The Lute, Kwei Wu (Jimmy Wang Yu) and his partner (Chin Ping) are on a mission to destroy the "Phoenix Lute", a deadly weapon that shoots poisonous needles up to 500 paces and which can only be destroyed by the Kan curved sword...
Love and lust, passion and desire, and, man and woman make up Hong Kong Hong Kong. A critically acclaimed drama, Hong Kong Hong Kong sizzles with erotic tension in relating the destruction of three lives involved in a love triangle; a macho Thai-Chinese rogue (Alex Man), a prosperous, middle-aged carpenter (Kwan Hoi-shan), and the sultry, beautiful illegal immigrant whom they both love (Cherie Chung).
Yen Chuan plays the weak emperor, whose obsession with his consort, Yang Kwei Fei (Li Li-hua) makes him ignore the running of the country and leave the reins to his Prime Minister Yang Kuo-chung (Yang Chi-ching), who also happens to be Yang Kwei Fei's brother. Unfortunately, the cruel Prime Minister's selfish decisions leave the empire in shambles. The Magnificent Concubine is one exquisite production not to miss!
