Tou Kuan (Chang Chan-peng) is a wealthy Kwangtung brat with a good kung fu background, he has only one ambition: to pit his wits against three shady masters of the North. The first, conman Che Tsai (Alexander Fu Sheng). The second, a professional romantic dubbed The Terrific (Nat Chen Pai-chiang). Terrific introduces Tou Kuan to his third rival, Thief Shih San-shou (Wang Yu).
This sequel to The Empress Dowager surpasses its predecessor in some ways. The attention to historic detail in the sets and costumes is everything one expects from director Li Han-Hsiang, the master of the costume drama. Variety hailed the production as "lavish, the script tightly packed"; Variety also concluded that the "filmmaker's efforts to try to make things perfect, to put his audience back in the days of the Empress Dowager and her son, have come off once again."
Long before he became internationally famous for directing Bruce Lee's first film and giving Jackie Chan his big break, Lo Wei was famous for his acting. He was, in fact, a wellknown matinee idol in the 1950's. He enjoyed appearing in front of the camera throughout his career - even in his five years working at the Shaw Studio. This was one of his most central roles, as the loyal swordsman ShangkuanHao, leader of the Black Dragon Clan. Sharing the screen with him was swordswoman supreme Cheng Pei-pei, the lovely and luminous superstar who also created an international stir with her one and only villainous role (in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon). Here she is as most fans love her best: the heroic woman warrior who saves the country. But she must face the duplicitous White Dragons, the Flying Leopard, and the Red-headed Monk, among others, to secure the throne and safeguard a hoard of treasure.
Cheng Pei-pei , Yueh Hua , Wu Fung, Lo Wei, Tien Feng
Shih Hsin-chiao (Ling Yun) is a journalist who trained under mentor Lu Tao-jan (Chin Han). Lu's daughter, Chih-pai (Tien Niu) is infatuated with the good-looking and intelligent Shih, but Shih sees her only as a child. When he returns from a long stay abroad, he finds that things have changed. Chih-pai is now an attractive young woman in a relationship with rich boy (Wang Yu). A miscarriage and Lu's death throw Shih and Chih-pai together...
It's a fun and wild romp that mixes pleasure with pleasure. A nightclub owner, playboy Peter Chen Ho, has his ways with three sisters while gallivanting across Asia. Each one has a dangling relationship to save - ensuring a series of mishaps and comic moments. The film also introduces young up and coming starlet Betty Ting Pei as one of the sisters.
Jimmy Wang Yu heads the stellar cast from the golden era of Shaw Brothers under the brilliant directing of auteur Chang Cheh, and here underlies their next collaboration on the classic One-Armed Swordsman. The story centers on a swordsman on the run (Wang), with his beloved trailing to find him. The intensive action scenes are beautifully choreographed; setting an example for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the like, 34 years later.
Pan Lei, winner the China Literary Award for three consecutive years, wrote and directed this film about the lives and loves of a fishing village. It starred the glorious Cheng Pei-pei in her first film as a woman (she had debuted in a man’s role), and her much-lauded performance won her the prestigious Golden Accolade Award from the International Association Of Independent Producers a first for any Asian woman.
Incredibly, the title serpent is not a harbinger of horror, but actually the film's hero. This virtuous viper sniffs out bombs, fights gangs, battles a baby-killing rodent and even takes on a duplicitous woman. This one-of-a-kind thriller will be applauded by reptile fans everywhere.
With Hong Kong cinema's new wave, high flying, martial arts action of the 1980's, came a new wave of actors; teeny-bopper, canto-pop singer/stars with little or no martial arts background. However, when a film like LITTLE DRAGON MAIDEN intelligently mixes the old with the new, the results are pure golden magic. This costume-action, drama, love story features relative newcomer Leslie Cheung, who falls in love with the Dragon Maiden while learning the art of swordplay. The recipe is complete when veteran kung-fu stars Chen Kuan-tai and Lo Lieh add just enough weapon-wielding spice to make this film really cook. Cheung garnered international recognition in John Woo's A BETTER TOMORROW and Ronny Yu's THE BRIDE WITH WHITE HAIR.
Leslie Cheung, Weng Tsing-tsing, Chen Kuan-tai, Liu Hsueh-yua
Huangmei Opera movies like The Pearl Phoenix are unique to 1960s Hong Kong culture, a product of the Swinging Sixties but considerably more in touch with their Chinese roots. This one is completed with a gender-bending tale where the male lead is played by a female posing as a man, plus movie queen Li Ching and the singing voices of Ivy Ling Po and Jing Ting. Sit back and enjoy!
Auteur Lo Chen helmed this tragic love story of the famed Peking Opera star Chiu Hai-Tang, his beautiful stage partner, and the warlord who stands between them. The superlative stars' traditional musical skills give an extra layer of professionalism to the film's fascinating music and intense interpersonal drama.
Filled with amazing sword-fighting & martial arts, David Chiang plays the 13th Prince, a powerful young fighter whose prestigious status provokes jealousy & a gruesome family feud.
David Chiang, Ti Lung, Chin Han, Lily Li, Nan Kung-hsun
This is widely regarded as one of the most controversial and erotic films in Hong Kong cinema. Chu Yuan helmed this 1972 cult classic featuring Lily Ho in her most audacious role as a beautiful and mysterious courtesan caught in a web of sex and murder with her powerful and ruthless madam (Pei Ti). The film's unprecedented genre crossover of lesbian-themed period thriller with eye-popping martial arts is a real screen gem for generations of movie aficionados.
