Retrospective: Inoue Umetsugu
Xiang jiang hua yue ye
Dir. Inoue Umetsugu
Japan 1967, 128’
Subtitles: Polish & English
Hong Kong’s mighty Shaw Brothers studio lent a new sheen to the territory’s musicals in the mid-1960s when it brought in director Inoue Umetsugu from Japan. A standout among Inoue’s seventeen productions for Shaw is Hong Kong Nocturne, a lavish song, dance and drama confection that reworked his earlier Japanese film Tonight We’ll Dance against new backdrops.
Cheng Pei-pei, Lily Ho and Chin Ping star as the Chia sisters, the backup troupe for their musician father on Hong Kong’s nightclub circuit. When they become fed up with Dad siphoning away their salaries, the girls leave home to pursue ballet, screen stardom or marriage. The trio eventually overcome personal obstacles, band together, and aim to hit the big time in the televised Hong Kong Music Lovers a-go-go stage show.
Melodrama piles on thick and fast when a show-must-go-on plot takes root, but the Chia sisters and their friends remain happy to step out with spontaneous song. Wild flights of fantasy appear in one sister’s dreams, and the girls’ partnership with a budding composer brings a local theme to their ultimate production, a widescreen musical extravaganza on expansive, Broadway-style sets. Though the lead actresses did not lend their voices to the movie’s soundtrack—a job left to pros like singer Tsin Ting—the three display ample dance floor talents and remain a joy to follow as they struggle to fulfill their dreams of the spotlight. - Adapted from Mark Schilling in Asia Sings! A Survey of Asian Musical Films.
Inoue Umetsugu
Inoue Umetsugu (1923-2010) was a Japanese film director and scriptwriter. He directed 115 movies, wrote 101 screenplays, and is credited with the original story for five films. In addition, he worked with all six major Japanese film production companies.His film work extended to Hong Kong, and he did the technical guidance for movies there from 1966 to 1970. The Polish Retrospective is considered a prelude to other Inoue Umetsugu Retrospectives being programmed in order to celebrate the centenary of his birth.
Filmography
1955 Midori Harukani a.k.a The Green Music Box
1960 Shōri to Haiboku
1960 Six Suspects
1961 Gonin no Totsugeki Tai
1967 Hong Kong Nocturne
1967 King Drummer
1967 Operation Lipstick
1968 Hong Kong Rhapsody
1976 Ikare Doku Hebi: Moku Gekisha o Kese a.k.a Cobra
1983 Man Who Causes a Storm
Cast & Crew
Director: Inoue Umetsugu
Screenplay: Inoue Umetsugu
Cinematography: Nishimoto Tadashi
Editing: Chiang Hising-lung
Music: Hattori Ryōichi
Cast: Paul Chang Chung, Chan Hei, Chao Hsin-yen, Cheng Kang-yeh, Cheng Pei-pei, Chiang Kuang-chao, Chin Ping, Tina Fei Chin, Fan Dan, Lily Ho, Peter Chen Ho, Ku Feng, Li Hao, Ling Yun, Li Yunzhong, Lui Ming, Ouyang Sha-fei, Tien Feng, Tien Shun, Wu Chun-li, Wu Wei, Yueh Hua
Producer: Run Run Shaw
Production: Shaw Brothers
Language: Japanese
Colouration: Colour
