Avenue of Stars

1) The Silent Era

The first film shot in Hong Kong was the 1909 Shanghai production "Stealing the Roast Duck". In 1913, the first truly Hong Kong made silent movie entitled "Zhaung Zi Tests His Wife" was produced by Lai Man Wai who also played the title role in the film. Ten years later, in 1923, Lai and his brother founded the China Sun Motion Picture Co, and made the first feature length newsreel style documentary "Chinese Athletes Go To Japan to Compete in Sixth Far East Games". In 1924, the Lai brothers came out with the first feature length drama "Rouge". Hong Kong film production came to a standstill in June 1925 because of the general strikes in Guangzhou and Hong Kong. The strikes ended in the following October, and theatres began to operate again but the film industry did not resume its activities immediately.

2) The Thirties and the Forties

The Hong Kong Film Company, established in 1928, produced the first movie after the strikes - "The Witty Sorcerer"- in 1931. In 1933, China Sound and Silent Movies Production Co. produced "Conscience", which was the first movie ever made in Hong Kong partly with sound. The first all-sound movie "The Idiot's Wedding Night" came out the same year. Anti-Japanese feelings ran high in 1935 but local production "Lifeline", which was highly charged with Anti-Japanese sentiments, was banned in Hong Kong. After the Sino-Japanese War, many Mainland film workers came to Hong Kong and set up companies like Great China, Yung Hwa, and Great Wall. Their co-operation with home grown film workers gave a boost to the local cinema.

3) Local Cantonese Cinema in the Fifties

The fifties was a prolific era in the production of Cantonese cinema. Local films at that time adopted simple themes and familiar subject matters and enjoyed popular appeal. In 1952, twenty one film workers including famous actors and actresses like Ng Cho Fan and Pak Yin joint forces and formed the Union Film Enterprise Ltd., which went on to make films combining entertainment and education values. In 1955, Chun Kim, a famous local director, founded Kong Ngee Co. that specialised in romantic dramas and love stories. Back in 1949, Wu Pang produced "The Story of Wong Fei Hung" which was the first of a series of over sixty films recounting the life story of the Kung Fu master. It was the longest movie series in the history of cinema. At the same time, local Cantonese Opera legends Yam Kim Fai and Pak Suet Sin starred in such films as "The Tragedy of the Emperor's Daughter" and "The Purple Hairpin", whose popularity has defied the passage of time.

4) Local Mandarin Cinema in the Fifties

In the beginning of the nineteen fifties, a slew of talents — script writers, directors, actors etc. - emerged with film companies like Great Wall and Feng Huang. In 1956 Hsin Hwa Company made "Song of the Peach Blossom River" which started the current of musical comedy in Mandarin. In the mid-fifties, the Singapore and Malaysia-based Cathay Organisation founded MP & GI in Hong Kong and produced a number of highly successful Mandarin films. On the other hand, Run Run Shaw took over Shaw and Son which he reorganized and renamed as Shaw Brothers in 1957. The new company made a large number of high quality films with massive production budgets and a high degree of sophistication. This move assured the prominent position of Shaw Brothers in Hong Kong's film industry. Shaw Brothers and MP & GI, endowed with sound financial backing, remained keen competitors during that period. They also promoted Mandarin films with their full strength, and were pioneers in capturing the overseas markets.

5) Local Cantonese Cinema in the Sixties

The sixties was the most prolific era in local cinematic history. It also coincides with the takeoff of Hong Kong's commercial and industrial activities. With the improvement of living standards, local cinema productions switched their focus from films depicting life at the grass root level to comedies and romances that were mainly destined for the emerging middle class audience. Lam Fung, Connie Chan Po Chu, Josephine Siao Fong Fong, Patrick Tse Yin, and some others took the public by storm and became on-screen idols. At the same time, companies like Er Mei and Hong Kong Film Company specialised in costumed historical dramas which were highly successful. On the other hand, Leng Kwong Film Company, Tai Seng Film Company and Chi Leun Film Company worked on genres like family dramas and musicals for the young and trendy.

6) Local Mandarin Cinema in the Sixties

Shaw Brothers emerged as the leading film maker in the sixties with diversified productions like regional costumed musicals, new style Kung Fu films, historical court life dramas and large-scale musicals. Making the colour widescreen and gorgeous production as the selling points, more and more, it gained the upper hand in the industry. Its arch rival MP & GI also produced many fine dramas and comedies during the same period. However with the tragic death of its boss Loke Wan Tho during a plane crash, the company gradually bowed out from the movie industry. From the mid sixties onwards, Shaw Brothers made a number of Kung Fu films with historical backdrops, and Chang Cheh created the masculine image on screen, and discovered talents with distinct characters like Jimmy Wong Yue, David Jiang, and Ti Lung. At the same time, a totally different genre, the Huangmei opera movies like "The Love Eternel" and many others took the public by storm and became extremely popular in Hong Kong, Taiwan and overseas Chinese communities.

7) The Seventies

In 1970, Raymond Chow founded Golden Harvest Company. The following year, he succeeded in persuading Bruce Lee to return to Hong Kong to play the leading role in "This Big Boss". The film was an instant blockbuster and gave the Kung Fu genre a popularity that it had never known. With the advent of wireless television and the predominance of Western and Mandarin cinema in Hong Kong, Cantonese cinema went into a total standstill, and for a period of 32 months not a single Cantonese language film was produced. It was not until 1973, when Chor Yuan directed "The House of 72 Tenants" that the Cantonese cinema made a comeback. In 1976, Michael Hui directed and acted in "The Private Eyes" which broke the box office record. In 1978, Jackie Chan shot to stardom with Kung Fu comedies like "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow" and "Drunken Master". Towards the end of the seventies, many directors of television dramas turned to the big screen for development. Collectively, they were known as "The New Wave".

8) The Eighties

The Hong Kong cinema came of age in the eighties with an explosion of new genres and talents. Cinema City revolutionized traditional Cantonese comedies by adding Hollywood type filming techniques, which introduced a new type of cinema to the Hong Kong audiences. Sammo Hung and Yuen Wo Ping, on the other hand, were making comedies with spooks and witchcraft as background. This genre became a guarantee of blockbuster. In 1986, John Woo made "A Better Tomorrow" with Chow Yun Fat in the leading role and which became the box office champion that year. The film triggered off a spate of similar movies. In the late eighties, the Sino-British talks on Hong Kong's sovereignty gave rise to a confidence crisis amongst Hong Kong people. Slapstick comedies with strong anti-intellectual undertones and films depicting gamblers' lifestyle were reflective of the prevailing mood of the time and gained popularity.

9) The Nineties

In the beginning of the nineties, Hong Kong action movies like "Once Upon a Time in China" and "Swordsman II" became very popular, as did films recounting life stories of actual characters like "To Be No 1". In the mid-nineties, "Young And Dangerous" series did very well at the box office and many producers came up with me-too imitations. At the same time, people in the Hong Kong movie industry gradually attracted the attention of Hollywood producers. Film workers like John Woo Yu Sum, Yuen Wo Ping, Jet Li, Chow Yun Fat and so on were at different times recruited by Hollywood film producers. And many Hong Kong directors and actors like Wong Kar Wai, Josephine Siao Fong Fong, and Maggie Cheung won important awards in overseas film festivals, bringing international recognition to the local cinema.