After talking to a friend about what Jackie Chan flicks he has recently seen,I decided to check his IMDb page. Going right the way back to his earliest credits,I was excited to find that the first appearance of Chan's I could track down was as a uncredited extra in this Shaw Brothers operetta,which led to me finding out how eternal love can be.
View on the film:
Tragically killing herself at just 30 years old,Betty Loh Ti, (whose family fled to Hong Kong after the Communist takeover in China) gives an exquisite performance as Zhu Ying-tai,whose dream of entering higher education is captured with wide-eyed wonder by Ti, knotted with a sweet nervousness over her identity being discovered. Becoming entwined with Shan-bo,Ti holds the petals of their love with a passionate sincerity and a deep anguish over missing Shan-bo's embrace. Whilst the characters inability to see Ying-tai is not a boy is strange, Ivy Ling Po presents the full vision of Shan-bo's love for Ti,with a delicacy shown by Po as they fall in love for each other,which turns to sorrow from a longing to see Ti again.
Done on the Shaw Brothers back-lot, (keep that budget down!)writer/ director Han Hsiang Li & cinematographer Tadashi Nishimoto soar with a vast vision that covers the film in shimmering primary colours that dazzle in the elegant Musical numbers. Displaying an impressive sensitivity towards the lesbian romance, Li uses graceful wide-shots to gaze at the blossoming romance. Adapting a well-known traditional story, the screenplay by Han Hsiang Li beautifully uses the operetta numbers to cast an epic operatic atmosphere over the tugged heartstrings. Dipping the tale into Melodrama, Li hits a poetic note with the thoughtful dialogue capturing bo's and Ti's eternal love turning them into beautiful butterflies.
View on the film:
Tragically killing herself at just 30 years old,Betty Loh Ti, (whose family fled to Hong Kong after the Communist takeover in China) gives an exquisite performance as Zhu Ying-tai,whose dream of entering higher education is captured with wide-eyed wonder by Ti, knotted with a sweet nervousness over her identity being discovered. Becoming entwined with Shan-bo,Ti holds the petals of their love with a passionate sincerity and a deep anguish over missing Shan-bo's embrace. Whilst the characters inability to see Ying-tai is not a boy is strange, Ivy Ling Po presents the full vision of Shan-bo's love for Ti,with a delicacy shown by Po as they fall in love for each other,which turns to sorrow from a longing to see Ti again.
Done on the Shaw Brothers back-lot, (keep that budget down!)writer/ director Han Hsiang Li & cinematographer Tadashi Nishimoto soar with a vast vision that covers the film in shimmering primary colours that dazzle in the elegant Musical numbers. Displaying an impressive sensitivity towards the lesbian romance, Li uses graceful wide-shots to gaze at the blossoming romance. Adapting a well-known traditional story, the screenplay by Han Hsiang Li beautifully uses the operetta numbers to cast an epic operatic atmosphere over the tugged heartstrings. Dipping the tale into Melodrama, Li hits a poetic note with the thoughtful dialogue capturing bo's and Ti's eternal love turning them into beautiful butterflies.