Mr Lo Duen

1911-2000

Actor & Director

Director, playwright and actor Lo Duen studied theatre in Guangzhou and founded a theatre troupe in 1931 with classmates Ng Wui and Lee Sun Fung. He also acted in silent films including Shelling in Mountain Five Fingers (1933) and The Glittering Prison of the Jade Palace (1934). In 1935, Lo left Guangzhou for Shanghai to study film production before making his way to Hong Kong a year later. It was in Hong Kong that Lo became involved in filmmaking; Follow Your Dream (1941) was an early work that he wrote and directed. After a hiatus during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Lo rejoined the industry, writing, directing and acting in numerous memorable titles. He was frequently typecast as a villain, like the nefarious “Taipan Wong” in In the Face of Demolition (1953) or the obstinate patriarch in Family (1953). These characters are an interesting contrast to the films he helmed, which are marked by a concern for the poor and the deprived. Examples include historical tragedies Everlasting Regret (1948) and Tragedy in Canton (1951), and social realist drama Typhoon Signal No. 10 (1959). Lo was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Hong Kong Film Critics Association in 1998.