The 18th century reign of Emperor Chien Lung has proven to be a treasure trove for Hong Kong filmmakers, and director Li Han-Hsiang, the acknowledged master of the costume drama, made a series of four blockbusters about the dashing young swashbuckler's exploits. The scenario won the Best Adapted Screenplay Award at the 1979 Golden Horse Awards, and told of the monarch's incognito journey from Beijing to southern China... and imperial mayhem that ensues!
Tales Of A Eunuch reunites the potent mix of martial arts superstar Gordon Liu Chia-hui, who plays Emperor in cognito Kang Hsi, with the kung-fu comedienne Wang Yu, an anti-Ching revolutionary. It is a film laced with wild barrages of excellent martial arts chiefly choreographed by Yuen Hua and Yuan Pien; Jackie Chan's long-time kung-fu classmates. At one time, Wang was considered to be the next Alexander Fu Sheng.
Wang Yu , Ku Feng , Linda Chu , Liao Li-ling , Liu Chia-hui
Li Han-hsiang wrote and directed this charming and fascinating comedy, Forbidden Tales Of Two Cities. The two cities in the picture are Macau, where a love quartet is a morally-unsound source for sexual entertainment; and Hong Kong, where a woman enters a gambler’s apartment to find four shackles hanging from his ceiling to aid in kinky activities...
After his lengthy training nears completion, expert swordsman Kao is entrusted with an unusual mission by his elderly master: taking the fabled 'Teardrop Sword' down into the martial world and solving the petty squabbles of a few supremely skilled individuals, while also deciding the fate of the seemingly cursed weapon.
Adapted from the most widely read Ching Dynasty novel, this touching love story has proven a challenge to many filmmakers, and it is acclaimed as the most successful one. A sumptuous feature that took three years of planning and production, it was a hugely popular and critiqued hit which stands out as a classic combination of both 18th century literature and 1960s moviemaking.
Loh Tih, Pat Ting Ning, Ting Hung, Tu Chuan, Jen Chieh
Like many of the swordsman films of the sixties, The Magnificent Swordsman centers on the hero vowing vengeance against evil bandits that killed his family when he was a child. Influenced by Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai, the hero (played by Huang Tsung-shun who starred in Bruce Lee's Fist Of Fury), recruits several friends to help peasants rid their village of marauding bandits, the leader of course being the man that killed his family.
Shu Pei-pei, Huang Tsung-hsing, Tien Feng, Ching Miao
Wong Jing, who is now considered one of the leading lights in Hong Kong cinema, wrote, directed, and co-starred in this Asian-accented Cinderella story starring the glorious Maggie Cheung Man-yuk as a TV actress who inadvertently buys a shoe with a stolen diamond secreted in it. That makes her the target of the two bumbling thieves, as well as a bunch of greedy killers. After action, laughs, and romance, it, of course, turns out that she lives happily ever after…!
Wang Jing, Chan Pak-cheung, Maggie Cheung, Wang Yu
In attempting to rescue some innocent people, swordsman Chiang Tzu-chao (Fang Mien) slays the son of Tsao Kang (Wang Hsia), leader of the ruthless Crimson Charm gang.The enraged father promises vengeance on the day of Chiang's 60th birthday...
Ivy Ling Po, Chang I, Shih Szu, Ku Feng, Wang Ching-ho
Cherie Chung headlines this sexy romance as the eponymous heroine, a fitness instructor who attracts the attentions of a wealthy businessman (Chu Yuan) and handsome artist (Tony Leung Ka-fai).
The ship of pirate Chang Pao-Chai (Ti Lung) springs a leak after an otherwise successful raid on a foreign ship. He goes ashore to get materials to patch his ship up, where he encounters corrupt Qing officials and poor, oppressed peasants. Being a good man at heart, he decides to help out and becomes an even bigger outlaw in the process.
Beloved comedian Yi Lei stars in this horribly amusing 1980 comedy. Yu Nan (Yi Lei) is a compulsive gambler. When his debt collector decides he wants Yu's wife as down payment, a reluctant Yu agrees. But when Yu's wife discovers the trade-off, she leaves him. Yu decides that it's best to kill himself but is stopped when he's offered the hand of a beautiful ghost (Pei Ju-hua) as his new wife...
This martial arts spectacular showcases 20-year-old Derek Yee. Variety noted "Yee's charismatic screen presence should take him to superstardom like his older brother, David Chiang". The prediction proved correct, and his performance as ace swordsman Third Master is just what any producer would want. He fights evil, saves damsels in distress (including a kindhearted prostitute played by Yu An-an), and duels with rival swordsmen to the end.
How far would you go for love? Or lust? These are the questions posed in this sinfully entertaining Sung Dynasty period effort. Split into two tales, the first one involves a devilish magistrate who tries to tempt a Buddhist monk out of his self-professed celibate control by hiring a pretty prostitute. The second story is the tragic tale of an exploited young girl, the queen of femme fatale Shaw Yin-yin, who is forced to work in an unscrupulous couple's brothel.
