Liang Shan Bo yu Zhu Ying Tai (1963)

Director:

Han Hsiang Li

Writer:

Han Hsiang Li (writer)

Release Date:

3 April 1963 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Musical

Plot Keywords:

Opera | Character Name In Title

Awards:

6 wins

Cast

Li-chu Chang
Yanyan Chen	...	Ying-tai's Mother
Kuang Chao Chiang	...	Student
Chuang Chiao
Miao Ching	...	Ying-tai's Father
Han Chin
Chiang Fung
Julia Hsia
Man Huang
King Hu
Chieh Jen	...	Yin-xin
Ting Jing	...	(singing voice)
Pao-Shu Kao	...	Headmaster's Wife
Feng Ku	...	Wedding orchestra musician
Carrie Ku Mei
Shan Kwan
Hsiang Chun Li
Kun Li	...	Si-jiu
Ivy Ling Po	...	Liang Shan-bo (as Ling Po)
Ting Li
Betty Loh Ti	...	Zhu Ying-tai
Mar Lo
Chou Mo	...	Student
Sha-fei Ouyang	...	Shan-bo's Mother
Yen Shih
Dan Tang
Grace Ting Ning
Chung Wang
Chih-Ching Yang	...	Headmaster
Mu Zhu

Also Known As:

Liang Shan-po and Chu Ying-t'ai (Hong Kong: Mandarin title) (literal title)
The Love Eterne (International: English title)

Runtime:

USA:126 min | Hong Kong:122 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Hong Kong:I

Company:

Shaw Brothers

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Da sha xing yu xiao mei tou (1978)

Simply The Best Chinese Classic

A very simple tale but great direction by Li and great acting by the 2 leads, simply the 3's best movie. All the songs are the best of this genre too.Legendary Classic Beauty Betty Loh Ti(her fame then was only next to "evergreen" Li Lihua and 4 times Asian movie queen Lin Dai) proved to be a great actress again, considering her role is more difficult(she need to play both sexes) and the singing is not her own voice and she has to "act" the songs too. The opening part where she imposed as a male to fool his dad, the rest of the scenes which she imposed as a male against his male classmate and secretly in love with him, till she appears as a female to face him are all great acting, seldom seen anywhere else.Her acting is natural and seeing it 40 over years later now, you don't feel outdated like some of the acting by others in the early days. Observe her body language too while as a female and male, is so natural you just don't feel she is acting. Those who enjoyed her should also watch her 2 other great movies, available in DVD now,"Enchanting Shadow"(remade by Tsui Hark, Chinese Ghose Story) and "Dream of the Red Chamber". Tsui Hark also remade this into "Butterfly Lovers". Ivy Ling Po who acted as the male did a good job(her own singing voice) too although she overacted in some scenes. She became an instant hit and continued to acted many male roles in such genre but none of her films to follow come close to this. WARNING; Foreigners who are not used to such films may find it hard to accept as more than 95% of the dialogs are done in songs. This movie created a craze in all Chinese areas and broke all box-office records. Reported that someone in Taiwan saw it 40 over times during the original release !! A great pity so few people in IMDb saw it. Note: This movie is voted among the Top Ten of HK films, wonder why not mentioned in this site.