A captivating examination of human obsession and love, Woman Of The Night offers three stories in one film. In the first tale, a perverse young student with a voyeuristic habit spies on two of his female roommates. The second story follows an office manager who develops an infatuation for his secretary. The last part is a complex family drama about a debilitated father who forces his family to leave him, only to have a bittersweet reunion when his daughter's life is threatened.
Tien Ni , Chin Han , Margaret Hsing Hui , Li Hsiang
Japanese director Inoue Umetsugu takes on the glitzy world of nightclub performers in The Yellow Muffler. The film depicts the struggle of two singing sisters, Ching-ping (Irene Chen I-ling) and Pai-hung (Betty Ting Pei) and ends when they are cast in a new movie.
Betty Ting Pei, Tsung Hua, Paul Chin Pei, Irene Chen
Teenage heart-throbs Ching Li and Paul Chin Pei come across like Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon in the musical Sunset, a musical romp that plays similar to one of Hollywood's famous "Beach Party" movies. A car load of girls meets a car load of boys, and Ching and Paul ultimately fall in love. Yet the film takes an acrid twist and turns out to be more like a Shakespearian tragedy than a beach-babe party.
Ching Li, Paul Chin Pei, Tien Feng, Ouyang Sha-fei
The charm of Pursuit Of A Killer lies in the long awaited reunion of Five Venoms duo, Lo Meng and Sun Chien; Lo Meng, who plays a Mainland Chinese criminal escapee to Hong Kong in search of a better life, and a cop (Sun Chien) who helps him adjust to Hong Kong life while tracking down his mysterious killer at the same time.
This is an extremely rare example of science fiction, Hong Kong style. But fittingly, it's unlike any sci-fi flick you've ever seen. Alien abductions, suicide pacts, superstardom, and the reality of science fiction itself is highlighted in this bright, crazy, and truly out-of-this-world epic--one of the more unusual movies in the Hong Kong cinema of the early 1980s.
It's the Sung Dynasty versus the Chin invaders as the "Iron Triangle" of director Chang Cheh and stars David Chiang and Ti Lung truly hit their stride with this crowd-pleasing kung-fu epic. When a handsome Prince is taken captive and guarded by a martial arts master, it's up to two powerful patriots to fight overwhelming odds to pull off the impossible: rescue the royal son and get out of the Chin stronghold alive. It's action as only Chang can film it, with supremely charismatic acting and fighting as only Chiang and Lung can perform it. From the first fascinating minute to the final desperate battle to the death -culminating in an unforgettably evocative conclusion - this duo is dynamic as well as deadly.
Two Con Men is a wonderfully twisted, pseudo-romantic comedy in the vein of "Robin Hood" meets "The Sting". Starring Liang Tien as Clever Chan and Chang Ying (who's done over 400 films) as Tricky Ching, it's the age-old competition between a rookie con artist versus the ultimate, experienced flimflam man. It's a game Chen cannot afford to lose, because people's lives - including his own, hang in the balance of good versus evil.
Sun Chung had been recognized as an expert comedy and crime thriller director, but he was to gain even greater acclaim for his soulful, powerful, intelligent, and beautifully-made martial arts epics. This stands alongside The Deadly Breaking Sword and The Kung-fu Instructor as one of his very best. It's not so much the plot - a master swordsman protects a treasure chest on a dangerous journey - that makes this great, but what Sun does with it, inspiring the cast and crew to some of their finest work.
Some of Shaw Brothers' biggest female stars of the 1970s share the screen in this tale of young love and interfering parents, starring Lily Li, Shu Pei Pei and Essie Lin Chia.
There is a decidedly Japanese flavour to this musical comedy, shot on location in Japan under the direction of Shaw Brothers' number one Japanese import, director Inoue Umetsugu. The star, often called the "Cary Grant of Hong Kong," gives an inspiring performance in this romantic farce, but sadly, it was his last for Shaw Brothers before his untimely death less than a year after the picture release. Even so, it is a fitting testament to his carefree comic talent.
Li Ching, Ouyang Sha-fei, Chin Wei-ling, Peter Chen Ho
Betty Ting Pei stars as a singer from Taipei who comes to Hong Kong in search of her missing sister; nearly getting raped by a street gang and rescued by a handsome composer. Among the girls she meets during her investigation are "queen of Shaw kung-fu", Lily Li, and elegant Ouyang Sha-fei. It's all handled with taste and verve by the studio's Japanese import, writer/director Inoue Umetsugu, who made viewers rediscover Hong Kong's splendors and dangers with an outsider's perspective.
Betty Ting Pei, Yang Fan, Lily Li, Ou Yen-ching, Hsia Ping
Whenever director Chang Cheh teamed up with Five Venoms, film plots were probably decided by flipping a coin - which of the fab five will play the good or bad guys, who lives or dies and which ones will do the fight. The Daredevils was just another example of Shaw Brothers’ sure fire formula to success: Venoms + Chang Cheh = maniacal frenzy x infinity. Of note, the only venom to make it in Hollywood was Kuo Chue, who choreographed the French film Brotherhood Of The Wolf and Michelle Yeoh's The Touch.
After killing a tiger with his bare hands when drunk, Wu Song is appointed as chief constable. The wife of his brother Wu Da Lang seduces Wu Song but gets rejected and later engages in an affair with a rich man. They poison Wu Da Lang after he finds out about their affair. To avenge his brother’s death, Wu Song kills the two of them.
Kao Chien Fei is a young swordsman who wields a special sword with a teardrop marked on its blade. He is charged with averting an impending crisis in the martial arts world, but the villain, Zhou Tung Lai, wishes to become the ruler in the martial arts world, and launches a scheme to pit the various heroes against one another.
