Jiang Ming

The Warrant of Assassination

During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, the famous general Qi Jiguang was slandered by eunuchs, which led him to retreat into the forest. He went to the capital in order to take martial arts exam, but after failing he did not have a plan what to do.

The Enigmatic Case

An imprisoned swordsman is accused of killing three men. He probably would have already been executed for his crimes but is kept alive because he knows the whereabouts of hidden gold.

The Heroic Defenders

A young girl returns home to find her mother killed and her village slaughtered.

The Battle of Sha Chia Bund

The Battle of Sha Chia Bund, Hong Kong film from 1968.

The Painted Skin

A scholar falls for a beautiful maiden whom he invites to stay with him, but she is not what she seems to be...

The Golden Eagle

'Golden Eagle' is crowned wrestling champion at the Aobao Meeting, but subsequent conflicts break out between Glden Eagle and the Lord of Ba-yin. Expelled from the tribe, he meets and falls in love with San-Tan. But their affair arouses the jealousy of her suitor Chaganhu.

The Reluctant Bridegroom

Hong Kong comedy film.

What Price Love

Hong Kong adaptation of Lao She's novel RICKSHAW BOY.

Husband Hunters

In order to avoid young women being selected to enter the imperial palace, the parents hastily arrange marriages for their unmarried daughters with men they deemed suitable.

The Living Corpse

Famed director Zhu Shilin tries his hand at a horror film! The beginning of The Living Corpse immediately sets the tone with a folk duet clearly inspired by the popular 1956 musical Songs of the Peach Blossom River. The duet, in addition to Zhu's frequent use of long, empty shots and crisp editing, gives this horror film a traditional poetic charm and a strong folk flavor. Mise-en-scene and sound effects create a terrifying atmosphere, and successfully communicate the ghostliness of a world without ghosts.

To Borrow a Wife

The first Hong Kong-made Huangmei opera film.

Diamond Thief

A diamond flower from the rich merchant Sun was stolen, his neighbors gathered a detective group to solve this problem.

The Inspector General

Nikolai Gogol's The Inspector General is a satire play well-known around the world. In the period between the end of World War II and the 1960s, the play was adapted in Hong Kong cinema a total of six times. Director Huang Yu alone adapted it twice, as a Republic era story and a period comedy, respectively. The 1955 Republic era-set film is more faithful to its source material, following a spoiled rich brat who is mistaken as a government inspector in a small town and ends up being wined and dined by a corrupted local official. The film pokes fun at the ugliness of bureaucracy in old society, calling back to renowned Qing Dynasty novel Officialdom Unmasked while keeping the original play's artistic style.

The Peerless Beauty

This is a story of how Ru Ji, a farm girl of Chao Kuo, who sacrificed her own life to save her country and people in the year 257 B.C.

The Dividing Wall

A 50's Chinese film that reflects the post-war society, expresses idealism and pleads to return to the homeland.

Should They Marry?

A wedding musician fails to wed his own love: Little Trumpet is raring to marry his childhood sweetheart, but a series of setbacks has prevented them from getting their way. Criticism against social formalities becomes all the more forceful with the clever use of contrast and irony, not to mention the realist and comedic touch a la Zhu Shilin. Of special mention is the famous teahouse scene where dynamic, melodic camerawork creates a hilarity that continues to amaze to this day. A genuine masterpiece with every single detail, down to the minor props, forming an integral part of a whole. Today, young couples are struggling nonetheless to get a roof over their heads, a testimony to the fact that poverty still reigns beneath the facade of harmony and stability after all these years.

The Flower Girl

A Chinese drama

Our Husband

Li's first directorial work in Hong Kong is adapted, by himself, from the Hollywood movie The Great Lie (1941) starring Bette Davis. When a husband disappears in an accident, the wife is dismayed by a social butterfly pregnant with her husband's child. To preserve the husband's blood line, the wife takes care of the expectant mother and raises the child. Featuring the two ravishing beauties Li Lihua and Sun Jinglu, Our Husband foregoes juicy feuds between the leads and delivers an allegorical message: parents should provide an ideal environment for the next generation. Addressing the rocky times in China, it is equally overt in its remonstration as Yung Hwa's earlier works, The Soul of China and Sorrows of the Forbidden City.

Sorrows of the Forbidden City

The film focused on a conflict between Empress Dowager Cixi, her son Guangxi (the nominal emperor) and his wife, Zhenfei.

The Third Generation

The Goddess (1934) is remade once again. In this version, Zhu Shilin tackles the anxiety concerning the clash of 20th century Chinese traditions and modern Western culture. Despite her father’s strict discipline, Fun still manages to have a boyfriend secretly and give birth to twins. After leaving her son to her father, she takes off with her daughter. Twenty years later, Fun has become a streetwalker. The three generations finally come face-to-face at the police station. Her father laments that his generation should be ousted while Fun’s generation has been sacrificed, leaving the future for the next generation to establish. Zhu carefully depicts the shame of selling one’s body without passing judgment while he finds balance and reflects on the pain in the age of progress. Even though the production was far from lavish, Zhu’s astute handling of the narrative and mise-en-scène makes this a vivid and exciting film to watch.

Signal Fires of Shanghai

During the Taiping Rebellion of the mid-19th century, anti-Qing (Manchu) Chinese forces led by Taiping commander Li Xiucheng march on Shanghai. Although the Western powers are officially neutral, the British consul in Shanghai sides with the Qing imperial government, and counter to his own government's policy he retains American adventurer Frederick Townsend Ward to raise a mercenary force of foreigners in Shanghai and oppose the Taipings. Ward's force is routed, with heavy casualties, but since many of the casualties are British, the British army soon is drawn in on the side of the Qings. The only support for the Chinese comes from Japanese in Shanghai and anti-imperialist demonstrations in Japan. A family drama plays out against this historical background. After a Chinese home is destroyed by careless British shelling, killing the father and crippling a daughter, the surviving son vows revenge but begins to see that his true friends may be the Japanese.

Princess Iron Fan

The story was liberally adapted from a short sequence in the popular Chinese folk tale Journey to the West. Princess Iron Fan is a main character. Specifically, the film focused on the duel between the Monkey King and a vengeful princess, whose fan is desperately needed to quench the flames that surround a peasant village.

Song at Midnight, Part II

Jiang Danping arrives in a city at night, where often a mysterious man causes panic.

A Ghost

A young woman falls in love with her university classmate but her father is against it. She disappears and soon there are rumours that her spirit haunts her family’s villa.

Orphan Island Paradise

Set during the Orphan Island period of Shanghai, the film follows a group of revolutionary patriots-cum-assassins who finally earn the support of the suffering public. ‘We’re all Chinese,’ so they repeatedly chant.