''Shanghai Blues'' ( Chinese:上海之夜) is a

Hong Kong film The cinema of Hong Kong ( zh, t=香港電影) is one of the three major threads in the history of Chinese language cinema, alongside the cinema of China and the cinema of Taiwan. As a former British colony, Hong Kong had a greater degree of pol ...

directed and produced by

Tsui Hark Tsui Hark (, vi, Từ Khắc, born 15 February 1950), born Tsui Man-kong, is a Hong Kong film director, producer and screenwriter. Tsui has directed several influential Hong Kong films such as '' Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain'' (1983), the ...

in his producer debut, which had its premiere on September 1984. Kenny Bee,

Sylvia Chang Sylvia Chang (born 21 July 1953) is a Taiwanese actress, writer, singer, producer and director. In 1992, she was a member of the jury at the 42nd Berlin International Film Festival. In 2018, she was one of the jury members of the main competition ...

and Sally Yeh starred in this film. The music is composed by

Wong Jim James Wong Jim (; 18 March 1941 – 24 November 2004, also known as "霑叔" or "Uncle Jim") was a Cantopop lyricist and songwriter based primarily in Hong Kong. Beginning from the 1960s, he was the lyricist for over 2,000 songs, collaboratin ...

. The film has been selected as one of the Top 10 Chinese films of 1984 at

Hong Kong International Film Festival The Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF), is one of Asia’s oldest international film festivals. Founded in 1976, the festival features different movies, filmmakers from different countries in Hong Kong. HKIFF screens around 230 films ...

.窦欣平,徐克的世界.北京市：中国广播电视出版社,2007.页74 - 77 This was the first film that Hark produced under his new company,

Film Workshop Film Workshop Co. Ltd. (), is a Hong Kong production company and film distributor. It was founded in April 1984 by producer/ director Tsui Hark and his now ex-wife, Nansun Shi. Already a director with box office hits, Tsui wanted to create a wor ...

Plot

Dung Gwok-man and Aak-suk are both clowns of a night club, after the breaking out of the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific T ...

, Gwok-man is inspired by patriotism thought, and prepared for joining the army. The Japanese battleplanes are bombing Shanghai, Gwok-man meet with a young girl named Aak-syu and they agree that they would meet at Suzhou Bridge after the war. Ten years pass, and Gwok-man returns to Shanghai to look for Aak-syu, but only meets several vagrant veterans. At this time Aak-syu has become a dance hostess at Bat-je-sing Dancery. One day she runs up against Dang-zai, a wandering girl, and she lets Dang-zai live in her room. She never thinks that Gwok-man is in the same apartment. One day Aak-syu's maid is assaulted by a rogue, Aak-syu herself is beaten for helping her. But later Aak-syu sings in an impromptu, and attracts a plutocrat's attention. The plutocrat wants to marry her, but is refused. Dang-zai takes part in a beauty contest of Calendar Queen by chance. Accidentally, she is chosen as the winner by the wealthy old lady who sponsor the contest. At the same time, "Shanghai Blues", a song composed by Gwok-man, is chosen by a famous singer Zau Siu-sin, and is suddenly popular among the Shanghai people. One day it rains very heavily, Gwok-man and Aak-syu share an umbrella, they return to Gwok-man's home together, but are encountered by Dang-zai, who is in love with Gwok-man unrequitedly. Another day, Gwok-man is saved Ask-syu when she is annoying by some canailles. Gwok-man and Aak-suk later find a job to make performance for an advertisement. One day when he is performing, Aak-syu happens to pass there in a car. Aak-syu wants to meet Gwok-man, but he hurt's her leg when he jumps out of the car. Dang-zai appears at Calendar Queen party, a rich man fuddles her, so the boss can rape her. But the wealthy old lady drinks the wine mixed with magic potions by mistake and faints on the bed in the boss's room. The drunken Dang-zai falls to the ground, escaped from rape. A power failure occurs that night, the boss mistakes the old lady for Dang Zai, and it ends with a farce. In the same night, Gwok-man and Aak-syu finally recognize each other. When Aak-syu realize that Dang-zai also love Gwok-man, she decides to leave Shanghai. At the last moment, Gwok-man catches up with the train, to be together with Aak-syu again.

Reception

Andrew Saroch of Far East Films said that "‘Shanghai Blues’ is, overall, superior entertainment, but by the time the end credits roll its hard not to think of what might have been."

References

External links

* * * {{Tsui Hark 1980s Cantonese-language films 1984 films Hong Kong films Hong Kong New Wave films Films directed by Tsui Hark Second Sino-Japanese War films