The Origins of Kung Fu Cinema, Part 5: Exodus

Although Chinese martial arts movies originated in Shanghai during the early film scene that thrived there in the 1920s, by mid-century Hong Kong had taken over as the foremost producer of kung fu films. At first lured by the lucrative market for Cantonese language films, Chinese filmmakers and actors were later driven to the British port by the storms of war and revolution. In Part 4 of this series, I discussed the difficulties that wuxia filmmakers were beginning to encounter in Shanghai in the early 1930s. The genre was weakened but not completely dead. It would have a brief flowering in Hong Kong before the war, but the true resurgence would have to wait until peace and prosperity were re-established.

Top: Hung Chung-ho, above: Run Run and Runme Shaw.

The Shaw brothers were pioneers in the exodus, as in so many other aspects of Chinese filmmaking. The Shaw family, originally from the city of Ningbo but resident in Shanghai, had made its fortune in the merchandising of textile dyes. The oldest son, Runje, was a lawyer with a passion for the theater. After launching a second career as a successful playwright, he and his brothers Runde and Runme founded the Tianyi (Unique) film studio in 1924 (some sources cite 1925). Almost immediately the fledgling company ran into difficulty breaking into the regionally based film distribution circuits (see Part 4). Runme and eventually youngest brother Run Run decamped for Singapore, where they began to piece together a lucrative theater circuit that catered to the nanyang, or Southeast Asian, market. Tianyi made its reputation on cheaply produced costume dramas and folktales, along with a handful of wuxia films.

In 1933, the Shaws, newly invested in sound technology, persuaded a Cantonese opera star, Sit Kok-sin, to come to Shanghai, where he starred in a relatively lavish contemporary drama called THE PLATINUM DRAGON (Tianyi underwrote the cost of production through a merchandizing tie-in with Platinum Dragon brand cigarettes!). This early Cantonese “talkie” was a major success, and the Shaws decided to capitalize on the profitable new market by opening a branch of Tianyi in Hong Kong. It was a wise decision. The Shanghai branch of Tianyi was forced to cease production in 1937 with the Japanese invasion. In 1938,Runde Shaw took over the reins of production in Hong Kong (Runme and Run Run were trapped in Singapore for the duration of the war). Runde renamed his studio Nanyang, and hired Hung Chung-ho (grandfather of Sammo Hung, see Part 2) as head of production.

Working for Nanyang and other studios, Hung continued to direct and, with his wife Chin Tsi-ang (generally uncredited), produce dozens of films in Hong Kong until the Japanese invasion shut down local film production. In 1938, Hung directed the first Hong Kong martial arts film to feature action choreography credits, THE ADVENTURES OF FONG SAI-YUK. The choreographers were two local martial artists, Ho Si-kit and a woman named Ng Mei-lo. FONG SAI-YUK was a hit and spawned at least two sequels. Other martial arts films directed by Hung in this period include TRIPLE STEALING OF THE NINE DRAGON CUP and SWORDSWOMAN RED BUTTERFLY (both 1939).His last pre-war film was EIGHT HEROINES (1941), starring Chin Tse-ang in a leading role.

Meanwhile, Ren Pengnian and his wife, the wuxia actress Wu Lizhu (see Part 3) shut down their Yueming studio in Shanghai sometime after after 1935 – their last film, called DAZED AND CRAZY, may indicate a reaction to the deteriorating situation there – and relocated to Hong Kong. By 1940, Ren was working for Nanyang under the Cantonese version of his name, Yam Pang-nin. He directed two films starring opera performer Kwan Tak-hing, who had come to Hong Kong in 1935. Their first collaboration, THE FANTASTIC KNIGHT, adapted the story of Zorro to a Chinese cast and location. In 1941, Ren/Yam directed his wife, now known as Wu Lai-chu, in two wuxia films, THE LADY IN COMBAT and WOMAN SECURITY GUARD. Then they too were forced to stop production by the war.

Although tiny Hong Kong proved not to be the untouchable sanctuary that many of the Shanghai filmmakers had hoped for, it did offer a relatively secure refuge from both the war and the political turmoil that rocked China in the immediate post-war period. Entertainment professionals from the Mainland continued to pour into Hong Kong well into the 1950s, and many of these immigrants would shape the future of kung fu cinema. In addition to the people already mentioned, Shanghai refugees in Hong Kong included Wu Pang (director of the seminal Wong Fei-hung series), Walter Tso Tat-wah (a Hong Kong native who returned after gaining experience in the Shanghai film industry), Yuen Siu-tin (father of choreographer Yuen Wo-ping), Yam Yu-tin (the first martial arts choreographer credited in a Shanghai film, 1927’s RED BUTTERFLY, and father of kung fu actor Yam Sai-koon, seen in ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA [1991] and IRON MONKEY[1993]), and opera teachers Fen Juhua (who had starred in a 1925 wuxia film called HEROINE LI FEIFEI for Tianyi) and Yu Jim-yuan (Jackie Chan’s teacher). From southern China came martial artists like Shek Kin and Yip Man (Bruce Lee‘s teacher). All this talent was to come together to create a style of cinema that would, within a generation or two, rock the world.

This entry was originally posted on July 14 2007.

Tags: Chin Tsi-ang, Fen Juhua, Hong Kong movie history, kung fu movie history, Ren Pengnian, Wu Lizhu, Yip Man, Yu Jim-yuan, Yuen Siu-tin