Hong Kong Movie History

In the early 19^th century, soon after the advent of feature-length motion pictures in the West, Hong Kong emerged as an important gateway for introducing foreign films into Mainland China. A host of foreigner filmmakers also travelled to China via Hong Kong to shoot travelogues and newsreels while trying to work with the Chinese. In 1914, Russian-American entrepreneur Benjamin Brodsky collaborated with the Lai Brothers in Hong Kong to produce a series of short films, including the release of Chuang Tzu Tests His Wife. However, due to unfavourable filming conditions at the time, it was not until 1925 that the first local production, Rouge, appeared. Soon after its release, a general strike hit the territory and Hong Kong’s nascent film industry ground to a halt.

When sound films, also known as “talkies”, first appeared in the 1930s, the first Cantonese feature films such as White Gold Dragon (1933), which was made in Shanghai, and Romance of the Songsters (1933), which was produced by overseas Chinese in San Francisco, became popular hits both at home and abroad. By the mid-1930s, Hong Kong had become an important centre for the production of Cantonese films, which were then sold to Mainland Chinese and Southeast Asian distributors. Also at this time, popular Cantonese opera actors began to appear in the so-called “sing-song films”, followed by other genres that borrowed plotlines or treatments from Western cinematic releases. When war broke out in Asia in 1937, acting and production talent as well as capital flooded into Hong Kong from China, which helped facilitate the production of Mandarin films. After the war, Cantonese and Mandarin films continued to develop in tandem.

The 1950s was a boom period for the Hong Kong film industry, with sing-song films being the most popular, followed by martial arts films and comedies. The Union Film Company, founded in 1952, set its sights on producing serious, realistic dramas, and soon became the box office leader. By the mid-1950s, Hong Kong became a paradise for motion picture production, and film studios such as Great Wall, Motion Picture & General Investment Company (MP & GI) and Shaw Brothers all chose Hong Kong as their base of operations. During this period, they began to train a new generation of filmmakers and set up a self-sustaining network of production, distribution and cinema chains. While Mandarin film production was entering its big studio era, Cantonese films were run on a comparatively smaller scale with lower profits but faster turnover. As stage operas declined in popularity, Cantonese opera singers turned to the movies and adapted their best stage pieces onto the silver screen.

Tapping into the rapidly growing popularity of mainland opera films in Hong Kong, Shaw Brothers Studio made a series of Huangmeidiao opera films, which immediately took the Southeast Asian market by storm. MP & GI collaborated with Japan to produce chic colour features while Great Wall worked with mainland talents to produce operatic films. The Cantonese cinema industry continued to churn out fantasy martial arts films, followed later by iconic youth films that launched the careers of idols such as Connie Chan Po Chu and Josephine Siao Fong Fong. The success of Huangmeidiao films prompted Shaw Brothers to launch other impressive releases including the “New Martial Arts” series. The kung fu genre also helped groom action stars like Jimmy Wong Yue, Tommy Ti Lung, David Chiang, Alexander Fu Sheng, Chen Kuan Tai, Cheng Pei Pei, Lily Ho Li Li and others. As a result, Hong Kong became the powerful base from which Shaw Brothers built its vast entertainment empire.

With the success of the big studios and the emergence of free television broadcasting, small-scale Cantonese productions were forced out of the market. Actors tried their luck with television productions and even the big studios had to survive by injecting violence or sensational elements into their films. This was the era when Hui Brothers’ comedies and Bruce Lee’s kung fu films took centre stage. At the same time, television was nurturing a new generation talent, which later came to be known as the “Hong Kong New Wave”. This genre became famous for blending gags and action together to create kung fu comedy, a unique style of Hong Kong filmmaking that made international stars out of Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung Kam Po, Lau Kar Leung, Gordon Liu Chia Hui, Yuen Woo Ping, Dean Shek Tin, and Karl Maka.

In the 1980s, the kung fu genre evolved into urban action movies while at the same time the Hong Kong New Wave found a home among mainstream movie audiences. This spurred positive advances both in terms of marketing strategies and the development of cinematic skills, while new creative techniques opened up formerly untapped markets locally and overseas. Golden Harvest soon overtook Shaw Brothers in terms of box office supremacy and companies such as Cinema City, D&B Films, Century and Sil-Metropole established themselves. Each of these studios set up their own dedicated overseas partnerships in Mainland China, Hollywood and across Asia. These collaborations resulted in some brilliantly produced Shaolin kung fu films and a series of heroic action movies that were notable for their amusing plotlines and memorable characters. As box office receipts soared, Hong Kong took pride in its new international status as the “Oriental Hollywood”.

As uncertainty and political tensions rose prior to the 1997 reunification with China, the movie industry in Hong Kong took a downturn. Experienced filmmakers were all trying to capture the city’s various sentiments and the general zeitgeist in their movie productions. Stephen Chow starred in a nonsensical comedy about the Sino-British handover negotiations that depicted it as a grotesque charade; Tsui Hark’s explosive martial arts films reflected society’s unrest; gangster films of this period portrayed a younger generation trying hard to seek refuge and outlets from the confusion of Hong Kong’s new identity as part of China, while Wong Kar Wai used his stylistic compositions to depict the territory’s decadent beauty. These complex and diverse attempts at local cinematic expression caught the attention of the global film industry and, as a result, many local talents moved into the international movie scene.

As it approaches the third decade of the new millennium, Hong Kong cinema is experiencing a kind of “post-glamour” phase, revealing more settled and pragmatic ideas in its movies. More recently, big companies have been overtaken by smaller independent players. In 2004, new opportunities for filmmaking opened up after the historic CEPA agreement with China, inspiring a number of filmmakers to head north to blaze new trails in uncharted waters. Those who chose to stay in Hong Kong adopted a more cautious approach towards their productions. Greater efforts were made to refine scripts and exercise cost controls. Whether it was a human drama or a gangster film, much more emphasis was put into building plotlines and developing character depth. Today, an encouraging industry phenomenon is the devotion and determination of up-and-coming young filmmakers to produce memorable movies. At the same time, the north-bound filmmakers are continuing to inject new creative energy into Mainland Chinese projects, resulting in record-breaking box office profits. Looking towards the future, the integration of China’s and Hong Kong’s cinematic traditions is as inevitable as it is irreversible.