|
Sum Hun
''Sum Hun'' (aka ''Xinhin'', as well as ''Heartaches'') is a 1936 Cantonese-language drama film produced by an American production company in 1936 for a Chinese audience. The film was advertised as the first Cantonese-language film made in Hollywood. The film is believed to be lost. Plot A Chinese-American aviator (Beal Wong) falls in love with an opera star named Fan ( Kim-Fong Wei) in San Francisco. Unfortunately, a jealous theater manager named Jung intervenes, threatening to send the opera star back to China. Cast * Beal Wong as Lee * Kim-Fong Wei as Fan Production In 1936, a young San Francisco woman named Esther Eng (who would later become a well-known director) joined forces with a young actor Bruce Wong Bruce Wong (born Tung Soon Wong) was a Chinese American character actor, filmmaker, and restaurateur who worked in Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s. Biography Early life Bruce was born in Los Angeles as Tung Soon Wong to parents who had imm ... to try and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Tang
Frank Tang (born Dai Jung Tong) was a Chinese-American character actor, filmmaker, community leader, and restaurateur who was best-known for directing the 1936 Cantonese-language film '' Sum Hun''. Biography Frank was born in San Francisco into a big Chinese-American family. His parents, Yee Tong and Wong Shee, were immigrants. His brother Kam Tong would also become an actor. He began his career in Hollywood in the late 1920s, and he got a rare chance to work as a director in 1936, when he teamed up with Bruce Wong and Esther Eng to make the Cantonese-language American film '' Sum Hun''. He'd appear in over a dozen films afterward in smaller roles, in addition to serving as a technical advisor. Later in life, he owned and operated a restaurant called Tang's in Los Angeles's Chinatown neighborhood. He died in 1968 at the age of 62 after an illness, and was survived by his wife, Birdie, and several siblings. Selected filmography As director: * '' Sum Hun'' (1936) As acto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bruce Wong
Bruce Wong (born Tung Soon Wong) was a Chinese American character actor, filmmaker, and restaurateur who worked in Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s. Biography Early life Bruce was born in Los Angeles as Tung Soon Wong to parents who had immigrated to Southern California from China. One of his brothers, Beal Wong, also became an actor. Behind the camera In 1936, after raising money in San Francisco he made a nine-reel film—''Sum Yun'' (aka ''Heartaches'')—for the Chinese market, sensing a real opportunity. The Cantonese-language film starred Wai Kim, and was filmed in California under Wong's Cathay Pictures production company during a six-day shoot. Wong served as producer, and the film was directed by Frank Tang. Acting roles Plans to make subsequent films never came to fruition, and he turned to acting instead. He appeared in a long list of films between 1937 and 1950, mostly in background roles. Personal Wong was married to Genevieve; the pair had several child ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Esther Eng
Esther Eng ( – January 25, 1970), born Ng Kam-ha, was a Cantonese–American film director and the first female director to direct Chinese-language films in the United States. Eng made four feature films in America, and five in Hong Kong.Wei, 2011. p.16 She was recognized as a female pioneer who crossed the boundaries of race, language, culture and gender. Early life Esther Eng was born in San Francisco on September 24, 1914. She was the fourth child in a family of ten children. Eng's grandparents originally came to America from Toy Shan (Taishan) county in southern China's Guangdong province. Eng was a fan of Cantonese Opera and having lived in San Francisco she was able to socialize with the Cantonese singers and actors who performed there. San Francisco had Chinese language theaters which were successful and had hosted some of the best actors from China. Career When Eng was 19, her father and his business partners created a film production company with Eng as a producer. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beal Wong
Beal Wong (1906-1962) was an American actor from California. Wong acted in films from 1933 to 1962. Some of the films he appeared in were '' The Big Bluff'', ''China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...'', '' Women in the Night'', '' Little Tokyo, U.S.A.''. He also appeared in '' The Secret Code''. He played the Chinese Radio Listener in ''Earth vs. the Flying Saucers''. Biography Wong was born in Boise, Idaho, to parents who had immigrated to the United States from China. One of his brothers, Bruce Wong, also became an actor as an adult. In 1933, he had a small part in the film '' Stage Mother''. In 1936, he starred in '' Sum Hun'', a film produced by his brother Bruce. In 1944 he played Toma Nogato in '' The Purple Heart'', a film that starred Dana Andrews. He pl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Ivano
Paul Ivano, ASC (May 13, 1900 – April 9, 1984), was a Serbian–French– American cinematographer whose career stretched from 1920 into the late 1960s. Born Paul Ivano Ivanichevitch, to Serbian parents in Nice, France, he served for two years with the Franco–American Ambulance Corps and the American Red Cross Ambulance Corps, between 1916 and 1918. After the conclusion of World War I, he remained in the Balkans, acting as a photographer and interpreter for the American Red Cross. He arrived in the United States in 1919, and moved to California, the following year. In 1947 he was the cameraman who made the first aerial helicopter shots for an American feature film in Nicholas Ray's film noir '' They Live by Night''. Select filmography Television The Lawless Years References External links * * * * The Paul Ivano Papersat the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cantonese-language Films
Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding area in Southeastern China. It is the traditional prestige variety of the Yue Chinese dialect group, which has over 80 million native speakers. While the term ''Cantonese'' specifically refers to the prestige variety, it is often used to refer to the entire Yue subgroup of Chinese, including related but largely mutually unintelligible languages and dialects such as Taishanese. Cantonese is viewed as a vital and inseparable part of the cultural identity for its native speakers across large swaths of Southeastern China, Hong Kong and Macau, as well as in overseas communities. In mainland China, it is the '' lingua franca'' of the province of Guangdong (being the majority language of the Pearl River Delta) and neighbouring areas such as Guan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
