Hong Kong Film Archive's 100 Must-See Hong Kong Movies
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Missing from IMDb:
Scenes of Yan'an (1941)
Roar of the People (1941)
A Page of History (1941)
Wong Fei Hung Burns The Tyrants' Lair (1949)
The Misarranged Love Trap (1950)
Should They Marry? (1951)
Mysterious Murderer Parts 1 and 2 (1951)
Mutual Understanding (1954)
Anna (1955)
The Wall (1956)
Love Lingers On (1957)
The Sorrowful Lute (1957)
The Chair (1959)
Paragon of Sword & Knife Part 2 (1968)
Missing from IMDb:
Scenes of Yan'an (1941)
Roar of the People (1941)
A Page of History (1941)
Wong Fei Hung Burns The Tyrants' Lair (1949)
The Misarranged Love Trap (1950)
Should They Marry? (1951)
Mysterious Murderer Parts 1 and 2 (1951)
Mutual Understanding (1954)
Anna (1955)
The Wall (1956)
Love Lingers On (1957)
The Sorrowful Lute (1957)
The Chair (1959)
Paragon of Sword & Knife Part 2 (1968)
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- DirectorBenjamin BrodskyDocumentary on the then-new Chinese Republic, taken over a ten-year period. Footage includes races at Shanghai, imperial ceremonies at the national Temple of Heaven, scenes of the destruction caused by the typhoon of 1914, and the installation of government officials at the Peking palaces.
- DirectorChusheng CaiStarsLi-li LiLi QingMing JiangSet 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.
- DirectorShilin ZhuStarsXuan ZhouShi ShuRhoqing TangSet in the Qing Dynasty, years of emperor Guangxu. Guangxu feels involuntarily like a puppet because of dowager Cixi's reigning behind the curtain. He wants to support a political reform.
- DirectorFeng YuehStarsGuang BaiJuanjuan ChenZhan-Yuan Gao
- DirectorPeng HuStarsTak-Hing KwanTat-Wah TsoLan Lee
- DirectorChusheng CaiWeiyi WangStarsChing LeeYing CheungSun Wong
- DirectorFung FungStarsBruce LeeChau-Shui YeeHoi-Chuen LeeThe English was actually The Kid.
- DirectorPingqian LiStarsLi Hua LiFei HanChun YenAs China falls into hyperinflation following the end of the war, people fought tooth and nail to get their hands on the only reliable currencies in the world. In this world, the only truth is that everyone is lying for his own gain.
- DirectorSun-Fung LeeStarsCho-Fan NgYin PakYin-Fei Siu
- DirectorWui NgStarsYing CheungHang LeeYuet-Ching Lee
- DirectorWui NgStarsYing CheungWood-Yau CheungCho-Fan NgThe decline of a large, bourgeois family shortly after the overthrow of the Manchu Dynasty. Mr. Gao's three sons by his first wife are all oppressed by the feudal ethical code of the time. eldest son Gao Junxin is an extremely weak man. Not daring to show displeasure or speak out, he gives in to his family's demands and agrees to marry Li Ruiyu, although he really loves a girl called Miss Mei. Ruiyu later dies as a result of the oppressive code. The family declines further. When progressive ideas begin to sweep China, Juexin finally begins to wake up. Second son Gao Juemin falls in love with a Miss Qing, but determines to follow his heart and marry who he chooses. He rejects a marriage arranged by his family and moves out. Third son Gao Juehui falls in love with family servant Ming Feng, and enthusiastically joins the student movement. when the local ethical association director wants to take Ming Feng as his concubine she chooses death by drowning herself. Juehui decides to disassociate himself from the family and devote himself to revolution.
- DirectorSun-Fung LeeStarsCho-Fan NgYin PakWood-Yau Cheung
- DirectorKim ChunStarsCho-Fan NgWood-Yau CheungHung Sin-Nui
- DirectorShilin ZhuStarsQiuxia GongFei HanHua JiangA financially struggling office worker goes into debt in order to afford traditional holiday gifts for his boss and landlord.
- DirectorTit LeeStarsYing CheungLuquan GaoBruce Lee
- DirectorWui NgStarsWood-Yau CheungSiuyi YungMan-Lei Wong
- DirectorSun-Fung LeeStarsChi-Sing ChowYik-Mei FungLuquan GaoCold Nights features great performances by both Pak Yin as a tough minded "new woman", Shusheng, and Ng Cho-fan as her weak husband, Wang Wenxuan, whose spirits have been crushed by the Sino-Japanese war.
- DirectorKim ChunStarsShizeng MaMan-Lei WongJiasheng Lin
- DirectorTit LeeStarsChung-Ping GeungYuet-Ching LeeJiasheng Lin
- DirectorHan Hsiang LiStarsLi Hua LiWei LoJu-Hua Fen
- DirectorWui NgStarsYin TseHong NanLap Ban Chan
- DirectorFeng YuehStarsDai LinKelly Lai ChenEnjia Liu
- DirectorChing DoeStarsJeanette Lin TsuiHong MuJulie Yeh Feng
- DirectorWui NgStarsCho-Fan NgYing CheungYin Pak
- DirectorTit LeeStarsXuexian BaiSing-Po LeungCibo Liang
- DirectorPingqian LiStarsQiuxia GongFong PauHui Shi
- DirectorWen YiStarsGrace ChangKelly Lai ChenLai Wang
- DirectorKea TsoStarsYing CheungPing HaYat-Fan Kong
- DirectorTian-Lin WangStarsGrace ChangYang ChangPo-Chien ChinGrace Chang seduces as Hong Kong's most sensual Carmen ever. The torrid passions of Bizet's famous opera gets a postmodern reading when it is transposed to the noir-like setting of Hong Kong's Wanchai district. One of the most exhilarating and energetic musicals in the Chinese language.
- DirectorShilin ZhuStarsQi FuQiuxia GongMing Jiang
- DirectorTit LeeStarsCho-Fan NgYing CheungSuet Kong
- DirectorKim ChunStarsChi ChouLuquan GaoChung-Ping GeungPatrick Tse Yin plays an amicable white-collar worker who discovers that the new co-worker (Patsy Kar Ling) he has fallen for is also the boss's mistress.
- DirectorHan Hsiang LiStarsLi Hua LiChun YenLei ZhaoWu Ze Tian rules as empress during the Tang and Wu Zhao dynasties.
- DirectorTian-Lin WangStarsMing YuYin WangKelly Lai ChenA young lady has taken the place of caring for her two younger brothers since the death of their mother. She is content with putting her life on hold whilst she cares for them until one day when she meets an old classmate and her father proposes marriage to a colleague. She's unsure what kind of stepmother her father's new bride might make. Will she be mean and cruel like the woman across the alley or will she be kind and benevolent? What about her new beau? Will the family accept him and can the two work everything out?
- DirectorYuen ChorStarsWood-Yau CheungLing KaPeng-Fei Li
- DirectorKing HuStarsPei-Pei ChengHua YuehChih-Ching YangBandits kidnap a governor's son and demand their imprisoned leader to be set free in exchange. The governor's daughter, a skilled martial artist, is sent to rescue him, but eventually finds herself overmatched and in need of assistance.
- DirectorKong LungStarsYin TseLing KaTsai-Jung Chan
- DirectorCheh ChangStarsPei-Pei ChengJimmy Wang YuLieh LoThe indomitable martial arts team of director Chang Cheh and stunt choreographer Liu Chia-liang continues the compelling saga of Golden Swallow from King Hu's Come Drink with Me in this sequel of heartbreaking romance, jianghu intrigue and stunning action.
- DirectorYuen ChorStarsConnie ChanHsin FangStanley Sui-Fan FungThe Young Pregnant A young girl, upon learning that her unmarried older sister is with child, decides to fake her own pregnancy to divert her parent's attention, confident that she can better handle the scornful reproach of the family's temperamental patriarch because she is the father's favourite; madcap shenanigans ensue... The late 1960s saw the rise of youth culture in Hong Kong cinema, embodied by a new generation of movie stars lovingly labelled Jade Girls, among them Connie Chan Po-chu was the most adored. The Pregnant Maiden, starring Chan and directed by Chor Yuen, takes the audience on a hilarious romp, poking fun at social conventions while exploring the hazy ambiguities of sexuality.
- DirectorShu Shuen TongStarsLisa LuRoy ChiaoHilda Chow HsuanA woman falls in love with a visiting cavalry captain, but chooses to suppress it for the sake of her daughter.
- DirectorKong LungStarsYang ChangPaul Chang ChungNancy Sit
- DirectorYuen ChorStarsLily HoHua YuehBetty Pei TiThe Four Seasons Brothel is run by a ruthless madam, Lady Chun Yi. Countless young girls have been kidnapped or bought and then sold into a life of servitude, prostitution, and torture at this brothel. Ai Nu, an honest, but poor family's only daughter, is one of the newest girls that was recently kidnapped and sold to Lady Chun. To complicate matters even more, Lady Chun is a lesbian and quickly falls in love with the virginal Ai Nu, who will not let her spirit be broken and tries to escape again and again. This causes Lady Chun to use all of her resources to break her, including auctioning off Ai Nu's virginity to a group of wealthy businessmen. She eventually entrusts Ai Nu with a number of ancient kung-fu secrets like the Ghost Hands, which allows you to thrust your fists into an opponent's chest. Soon after murder erupts within the brothel. A diligent detective, Chi Te, visits the brothel and becomes increasingly involved in the murder investigation. He realizes he must do everything he can to prevent Ai Nu from taking her much deserved revenge on everyone that has wronged her over the years.
- DirectorBruce LeeStarsBruce LeeChuck NorrisNora MiaoA man visits his relatives at their restaurant in Italy and has to help them defend against brutal gangsters harassing them.
- DirectorCheh ChangStarsDavid ChiangLung TiKuan Tai ChenAssassin Chang and his brother Hung meet up with a soldier, Mu. Together, they form a small mountain army, but when Hung's wife arrives, emotions swell, and Mu leaves for the army. After long, Mu summons his friends to join him, but all the while, he has longed for Hung's wife, and tries to have Hung murdered. This treason forces Hung to take up arms against his former comrade.
- DirectorShu Shuen TongStarsChi-Lu TsengHsiao-Ling ShawPao-Hsien FengFour college students and a doctor try to escape the Cultural Revolution.
- DirectorMichael HuiStarsMichael HuiSamuel HuiRicky HuiThe kingpin of the Manix Private Detective Agency and his fellow detective solve cases together.
- DirectorWoo-Ping YuenStarsJackie ChanSiu-Tin YuenJeong-lee HwangWong Fei-Hung is a mischievous yet righteous young man, but after a series of incidents his frustrated father has him disciplined by a master of drunken martial arts.
- DirectorChia-Liang LiuStarsYue WongChia-Hui LiuLieh LoA prince enlists a thief to serve as his bodyguard to protect him from assassins.
- DirectorHark TsuiStarsSiu-Ming LauMichelle YimShu-Tong WongA journalist attempting to solve a mystery in "Martial World" enlists the aid of a master fighter and a woman named Green Breeze. They go to a mysterious castle where they come across poisonous butterflies and a black-leather-clad killer.
- DirectorAnn HuiStarsSylvia ChangAngie ChiuNorman ChuA real murder case which was complicated by the minage ' trois relationship of the victim and the main suspects. As different witnesses narrated their conflicting stories, the case seemed set to lead to nowhere; especially when the real identity of the dead person was finally discovered.
- DirectorAnn HuiStarsJosephine SiaoKenny BeeMang-Ha ChengA Cantonese opera company arrives in Cheung Chau to perform for a rich man, who wants to marry of his nephew Dick to the star of the company Ah Gee. As soon as they arrive, the company is thwarted by a female spirit, Catshit, who turns out to be the precursor of a whole army of spirits sent to pester the uncle and one of the older actors. Only Ah Gee and Dick find out that the danger has something to do with a crime committed by Ah Gee's ancestors. This involved selling bad medicines to soldiers as a result of which a whole platoon of ghosts is out for vengeance
- DirectorHark TsuiStarsLieh LoChen-Chi LinAlbert AuThree lazybones friends manufacture a firebomb and place it in a cinema. Pearl, a sadistic young girl, has observed the scene, follows the bombers and starts to manipulate them. The four criminals plan more and more daring acts.
- DirectorKwok-Ming CheungStarsLun ChiaHing-Yin KamEddie ChanAn undercover cop goes deep undercover to inside one of Hong Kong's most notorious Triad gangs only to find him getting consumed by a life of crime and seediness.
- DirectorChia-Liang LiuStarsChia-Hui LiuKara WaiTe-Lo MaiWong Fei-Hong and his once-rival, now friend, find themselves and their martial arts schools pitted against a rival school which uses a Kung Fu expert from the North to do their dirty work.
- DirectorSammo Kam-Bo HungStarsBiao YuenChing-Ying LamSammo Kam-Bo HungA young man discovers that his reputation as a fearsome martial artist is manufactured by his rich father, after meeting a real martial arts master, who's also a master thespian, and is determined to apprentice under him to learn kung fu.
- DirectorAnn HuiStarsGeorge LamCora MiaoSeason MaA Japanese photojournalist revisits Vietnam after the Liberation and learns harsh truths about its regime and its "New Economic Zones".
- DirectorPatrick TamTong Kay Ming TerryStarsCecilia YipLeslie CheungPatricia HaA story about the experiences of a group of youngsters who feel lost and try to find the true meaning of life.
- DirectorHan Hsiang LiStarsXiaoqing LiuYe ChenTony Ka Fai Leung
- DirectorAllen FongStarsKwok-Lam ChaChi-Hung ChangMing-Cheung ChinWhen romance starts to cool, Ah Ying applies for a job in a film centre. Instead of paying her for her work, the centre lets her attend its classes for free. She is later drawn into a relationship with her teacher. Based on the life of its leading actress, Hui So Ying, and using non-professionals, the film is a realistic portrayal of contemporary Hong Kong life.
- DirectorJohnny MakStarsJing ChenLung ChiangLing ChowFour men sneak into Hong Kong to rob a jewelry store. Before the robbery, they're hired by a local triad to kill a man, who turns out to be a cop. They have to execute the heist while hiding from the police hunting them down.
- DirectorHo YimStarsJosephine KooSiqin GaowaWeixiang XieCoral, a Hong Kong woman tortured by city life, returns to her hometown to visit her two old friends. They all find that some precious things in life that disappear through the years can never be recovered.
- DirectorHark TsuiStarsKenny BeeSylvia ChangSally YehIn 1937 Shanghai, a soon-to-depart soldier meets a young woman under a bridge during a Japanese air raid. They vow to meet after the war ends, but they don't each other's name or face. Ten years later, the young woman, a nightclub singer, takes in a naive girl fresh from the country. The country girl falls in love with the would-be song-writer upstairs who, unbeknownst to the singer, is none other than the soldier from the bridge.
- DirectorRicky LauStarsChing-Ying LamSiu-Ho ChinRicky HuiThe planned reburial of a town elder goes awry as the corpse resurrects into a hopping, bloodthirsty vampire, targeting everyone responsible for digging the grave. A Taoist Priest and his two disciples attempt to stop the terror.
- DirectorJackie ChanChi-Hwa ChenStarsJackie ChanMaggie CheungBrigitte LinA virtuous Hong Kong Police Officer must clear his good name when the drug lord he is after frames him for the murder of a dirty cop.
- DirectorJohn WooStarsLung TiLeslie CheungChow Yun-FatA reforming ex-gangster tries to reconcile with his estranged policeman brother, but the ties to his former gang are difficult to break.
- DirectorAllen FongStarsJiaju CaiHung-Nin ChanChi-Hung Chang
- DirectorRingo LamStarsChow Yun-FatYueh SunDanny LeeAn undercover cop infiltrates a gang of thieves who plan to rob a jewelry store.
- DirectorMabel CheungStarsChow Yun-FatCherie ChungDanny Bak-Keung ChanFilmed in New York, story of naive young woman from Hong Kong who goes to New York to study. Street-wise cabbie cousin takes care of her in the big city.
- DirectorSiu-Tung ChingStarsLeslie CheungJoey WangWu MaAfter a string of bad luck, a debt collector has no other choice than to spend the night in a haunted temple, where he encounters a ravishing female ghost and later battles to save her soul from the control of a wicked tree demon.
- DirectorKwok-Leung KamStarsCarol 'Do Do' ChengCecilia YipMichael WongThis is an outrageous comedy about seven days in the life of two girls Leung and Ling, who want to skyrocket to the top by entering a beauty pageant. Both girls are ballyhooed as the hottest contestants, but at the end neither can make it to the top 5! What's more, Ling is dumped by her boyfriend, and gets fired at the same time. Being afraid of going home to get along with her father. Leung gives her a hand, inviting Ling to stay with her in her roof-top bungalow. Then they begin their days of similar conscious degradation, which force them to become best friends. But their friendship becomes short-lived when they run into a handsome and well-built young man Wong. They start to vie for his attention and his sex. However, before the climax of their war comes, they find out that he's a dawdler. Shattered by the fact, the two girls eventually come to team with one another. (Joy Sales)
- DirectorAnn HuiStarsNuo AiShichang DaJie DengThe young leader of the rebel Red Flower Society discovers a secret about the current Manchu emperor which may change the fate of China.
- DirectorStanley KwanStarsLeslie CheungAnita MuiAlex ManFleur is the blue angel in one of Hong Kong's "flower houses" - bordellos and night clubs of the 1930s. A detached and beautiful performer, she falls in love with Twelfth Master Chan, heir to a chain of pharmacies. They agree to a suicide pact. 50 years later, in modern Hong Kong, Fleur's ghost appears in Yuen's newspaper office, wanting to place an ad to find Chan, who never arrived in the afterlife. Yuen, and his equally bewildered girlfriend, An Chor, are captivated by Fleur and her story.
- DirectorJohn WooStarsChow Yun-FatDanny LeeSally YehA disillusioned assassin accepts one last hit in hopes of using his earnings to restore vision to a singer he accidentally blinded.
- DirectorJing WongStarsChow Yun-FatAndy LauJoey WangA master gambler loses his memory and is befriended by a street hustler who discovers his supernatural gambling abilities.
- DirectorKar-Wai WongStarsLeslie CheungMaggie CheungAndy LauA man tries to find out who his real mother is after the woman who raised him tells him the truth.
- DirectorHark TsuiStarsJet LiRosamund KwanBiao YuenLegendary martial arts hero Wong Fei-Hung fights against foreign forces' plundering of China. When Aunt Yee arrives back from America, Wong Fei-Hung assumes the role of her protector.
- DirectorSiu-Tung ChingStarsJet LiBrigitte LinMichelle ReisLing Wu Chung decides to hide from the chaotic world. Before leaving, he visits his friends, a tribe of snake-wielding women warriors. However, he finds that the tribe have been attacked, and their leader Yam Ying Ying has been abducted.
- DirectorJeffrey LauStarsLawrence Ah-MonFai-Hung ChanKwok Leung CheungThe film is about a movie hero of the 60s called Black Rose, but she was actually real, and a woman in the 90s is mistaken for her because she's in the wrong place at the wrong time and somebody is doing crimes as Black Rose, who isn't the real Black Rose
- DirectorClara LawStarsMasatoshi NagasePei-Hui LiSiu Wan ChoiTwentysomething Japanese tourist, Tokio, comes to Hong Kong looking for good cuisine. He does all that the tourist is expected to do, but is disappointed with the food so far. By chance, he meets 15-year-old Pui Wai. She's been left behind with her eighty-year-old Granny, her parents too busy with their immigration problems in Canada. Differences in culture, language and age serve as no barrier, as Tokio finds a soulmate in Granny, Hong Kong cook extraordinaire. He discovers the secret to Granny's cooking and learns that she's known all along that her family will not be taking her to Canada when they leave.
- DirectorCorey YuenStarsJet LiJosephine SiaoMichelle ReisThis Hong Kong martial-arts extravaganza tells of evil emperors and true love. The secret Red Lotus Flower Society is committed to the overthrow of the evil Manchu Emperor and his minions. One of his Governors is sent on a mission to retrieve a list of members of that secret society. Meanwhile, Canton kung fu practitioner Fong Sai-Yuk falls in love with the beautiful daughter of a rich merchant, recently moved to Canton. Her father, in an attempt to gain influence in the region and thus improve his business, offers his daughter in marriage to the winner of a kung-fu contest. Some interesting gender role-reversals take place during a 'comedy of errors.'
- DirectorCorey YuenStarsJet LiJosephine SiaoAdam ChengThe Cantonese hero Fong Sai Yuk becomes involved in the secret brotherhood "The Red Flower", who are trying to overthrow the Manchurian emperor and re-establishing the Ming dynasty. The social upheaval is combined with Sai Yuk's personal moral conflict about how to conform to the rigid regime of the brotherhood and on top of that sort out his difficult love life, saddled with two presumptive wives.
- DirectorTung-Shing YeeStarsChing Wan LauAnita YuenCarina LauA jazz musician (Lau Ching-Wan) who has problems in both his life and career breaks up with his girlfriend, and moves into a poor neighborhood. There, he meets a girl (Anita Yuen), who started being interested in him as of his saxophone skills. Their friendship turns into a romance, and he gets inspired to write songs again. However, Min discovers that she has an issue with her health-condition...
- DirectorKar-Wai WongStarsBrigitte LinMaggie CheungLeslie CheungA broken-hearted hit man moves to the desert where he finds skilled swordsmen to carry out his contract killings.
- DirectorJeffrey LauStarsStephen ChowMan-Tat NgKar-Ying LawA Monkey King is reincarnated in the un human form as Joker, a highwayman oblivious to his original identity and the fact that 500 years earlier, he and his master, the Longevity Monk, were punished and made to stay human.
- DirectorJeffrey LauStarsStephen ChowMan-Tat NgAthena ChuThe convoluted continuation of the adventures of the time-traveling, now-human Monkey King, who attempts to fulfill his divine destiny.
- DirectorPeter Ho-Sun ChanStarsMaggie CheungLeon LaiEric TsangTwo Chinese-mainlanders living in Hong Kong form a close friendship. Over the years this grows into love, but there are obstacles.
- DirectorFruit ChanStarsSam LeeNeiky Hui-Chi YimWenders LiAutumn Moon (Sam Lee), a low-rent triad living in Hong Kong, struggles to find meaning in his hopelessly violent existence.
- DirectorJohnnie ToStarsAnthony Chau-Sang WongFrancis NgJackie Chung-yin LuiTriad boss Lung, who has just escaped being killed in an assassination, hires five killers for his protection. Their grown solidarity is under compulsion when Lung gives a special order.