Enormously popular Ivy Ling Bo, playing the male lead character Zhang Junrui, along with up-and-coming Li Ching and Fang Ying, breathed youth into this version of The West Chamber . Originally casted in Shaw Brothers’ Red Maiden to play the female lead Cui Yingying, the shooting was halted when Ling Bo was recast to play the male lead in The Love Eterne (1963). After Li Hanhsiang’s departure for Taiwan, Yueh and Ivy Ling Bo became the go-to team for Huangmei Diao movies. Talented Ling sang and played a totally love-struck man. Yueh’s depiction on emotions relied on subtleties and details instead of grandeur and extravagancy. Every character was complex but not overly dramatic. Thanks to Yueh and cinematographer He Lanshan (aka Nishimoto Tadashi), the camera smoothly flowed through the studio sets, injecting dynamics contemporary into a classic story.

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6/9

(Sat)

4:00pm

Cinema, Hong Kong Film Archive

Post-screening talk by Yu Siu-wah