The Hong Kong Film Archive of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department will present its "Archival Gems" series from February to May with the theme of "Time After Time III - Finding Precious Pearl". Four classics starring Connie Chan, the "movie fan princess", will be screened to show her versatile images at different stages of her career.
Since entering the film industry in the 1950s, Chan has acted in more than 240 films. Besides playing the roles of beautiful teenage girls in the later stage of her career, Chan also took up male roles in numerous films. In "A Sword and Nine Rings, Part Two" (1961), Chan, who was 14 years old at that time, played a small role as a formidable young swordsman. Being the second male lead in "The Devil and Her Magic Needles, Part Two" (1964), Chan exudes a heroic image and fights with nimble swordplay. Chan and Josephine Siao assume respectively the leading male and female roles in "The Bloody Devil, Concluding Episode" (1965) where Chan stars as a righteous marital arts hero who always stands by the powerless.
"The Magic Cat" (1969) is a teen romantic musical from the later years of Chan's film career which revolves around the romance of a magical cat that transforms into a human, played by Chan, and a young painter, played by Lui Kay. With vibrant colours and well-designed cat dances, Chan's charisma as a beautiful teen idol is on full display in the film.
Reference films "The Devil and Her Magic Needles, Part One" (1964) and "The Bloody Devil, Part One" (1965) will be screened respectively before "The Devil and Her Magic Needles, Part Two" and "The Bloody Devil, Concluding Episode" to facilitate the understanding of the complete plots of the films by ticket holders.
Some of the films will be accompanied by post-screening talks hosted by Matthew Cheng, Dr Stephanie Ng, Eric Tsang, Dr Ng Chun-hung and Sam Ho. The talks will be conducted in Cantonese and admission is free. For programme details, please call 2739 2139 or visit www.filmarchive.gov.hk/en/web/hkfa/2024/tat/pe-event-2024-tat3.html.
All films are in Cantonese. "The Magic Cat" is with Chinese lyrics, while other films are without subtitles.
Comment