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The Hong Kong Film Archive (HKFA) of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) will present "How Tam Lan-hing Makes You Laugh" from August to October, featuring 13 of the actress' films in the "Morning Matinee" series held at 11am on Fridays. Born as Tam Shui-fen, Tam Lan-hing started as the "fa dan" (female lead) in an all-female troupe and balanced a career in both films and Cantonese operas in the mid-1930s. Gaining the nickname "Plumpy Lan", Tam later took on the role of supportive female comic relief. Regardless of each role's importance to the story, she poured her heart into every performance, which became her lasting legacy in the Hong Kong film world.
The HKFA Cinema will show respectively "The Story of Emperor Guangxu" (1952), "Fatso Married Skinny" (1956), "The Fairy in the Picture" (1957) and "My Kingdom for a Husband" (1957) on August 7, 14, 21 and 28; "A Stroke of Romance for Mr. Wong" (1959), "The Missing Cinderella" (1959), "The Stubborn Generations" (1960) and "Silly Wong Growing Rich" (1960) on September 4, 11, 18 and 25; and "The Thunderous Night" (1962), "Matrimonial Storm" (1962), "Fake Saviour" (1962), "Three Fools Searching for Their Daughter" (1963) and "The Story of Heroine Fan Lei-fa" (1968) on October 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30.
Tam started acting under the guidance of her elder sister at a very young age and earned the reputation of "The Queen of Melodies". Being a talented Cantonese opera singer, she often shared the screen with fellow male opera performers. In "The Story of Emperor Guangxu", Tam and Lau Hark-suen light up the screen as the Empress and the eunuch Li Lian-ying. Chronicling the power struggle in the palace between Emperor Guangzu (Sun Ma Si-tsang) and the Empress' followers, the film portrays Consort Zhen (Cheng Bik-ying) as a caring beauty who supported the Emperor to push reforms in the country and was later tragically murdered. Several leading Cantonese opera stars showcase remarkable singing performances in the film, among which Sun Ma Si-tsang's final song of condolences over Zhen's death offers a heartrending coda to a tragic story.
Tso Kea's "My Kingdom for a Husband" is a remake of a Cantonese opera stage play based on Ernst Lubitsch's musical "The Love Parade" and inventively blends Cantonese opera singing with Western-style aristocratic comedy. The film launched a trend of offbeat Western-style Cantonese opera films. Following the original story, the film stars Cheung Ying as a handsome musician who falls in love at first sight with the Queen of the Snow nation, Law Yim-hing. It also adds a second love story featuring Leung Sing-po and Tam Lan-hing as the two lovers' respective personal attendants. Amid the European sets, the characters send their love by singing romantic Cantonese opera tunes. In the grand widescreen action saga "The Story of Heroine Fan Lei-fa", Connie Chan Po-chu makes a major performance breakthrough by stepping into action mode as "dao ma dan" (female warrior role), while Tam puts on a white beard and heavy costume to cross-dress as the Tang general Ching Ngau-kam. This Cantonese opera-style reinterpretation features new arrangements of songs and traditional gongs in the fight scenes, as well as two extra solo performances for Chan, giving the immensely popular superstar a chance to stretch her vocals.
Tam often played the testy wife or the evil mother-in-law in movies. However, her myriad expressions and comical persona made her a lively, loveable performer. "A Stroke of Romance for Mr. Wong" is based on a comic book series by Ye Qianyu and features skinny Mr Wong (Sun Ma Si-tsang) and his plump wife (Tam Lan-hing) as two country bumpkins visiting the big city on a family trip. They are immediately welcomed by Sing (Cheng Kwan-min), who mistakenly thinks that Wong is the heir to a large fortune and sets him up in a honey trap. Fearful of his wife, Wong tells a pack of lies before his clever wife and daughter crack the case. In "The Thunderous Night", Tam Lan-hing plays soldier Tung's snobbish mother who believes her son was murdered by her daughter-in-law and Tung's best friend on the battlefield. Just as the two are about to be executed for a crime they did not commit, a bolt of lightning comes down from the sky and strikes away the executioner's blade, and the case is opened for retrial.
In addition to playing the role of a feisty shrew, Tam Lan-hing also excelled in playing a kind mother and dutiful wife. In "Fake Saviour", Leung Sing-po plays frivolous business owner Chow, who sponges off his wife (Tam Lan-hing). To get a pivotal deal from a Japanese company, Chow makes his secretary dress in a kimono to entertain the guests in a hotel, causing suspicion from his jealous wife and a series of uproarious misunderstandings. Tam seems to be playing a typical feisty wife archetype but her character actually hides a tender, caring side that makes her a surprisingly likeable character. Tam Lan-hing and Leung Sing-po pair up again in "Three Fools Searching for Their Daughter" as an unadorned couple and have twin daughters Little Kau and Little Yim. When a fire breaks out at their makeshift theatre, sadly they could save Little Yim only and Little Kau's fate is unknown. Shifting from comedy to a more serious role, Tam puts her typical comedic demeanour aside for a warm-hearted performance as a kind mother.
Written by Tong Tik-sang, "The Fairy in the Picture" follows scholar Cheung Man-yee (Yam Kim-fai) praying for his artwork beauty to appear, as he wishes to marry her. One night, the beautiful woman in the painting becomes a real person (Pak Suet-sin). Tam plays Cheung's mother, who is deceived by a mad Taoist (Lau Hark-suen) into thinking that the woman is an evil spirit trapped in a painting and must be destroyed. Under old-age make-up, Tam lends a kind presence to the film as a caring mother. Based on a classic Peking opera play, "Matrimonial Storm" stars Tam as loving mother Madam Ho, who learns that her daughter has fallen in love with a down-and-out scholar. She decides to meet the scholar at their home, but a family housekeeper mistakenly invites town bully Chung instead. Chung vows to get his girl even if he has to snatch her away. The hilarious farce of mistaken identities and coincidences refreshes an old formula for a new generation.
Tam Lan-hing acted in over 100 films in her career, and most were comedies. In "Fatso Married Skinny", a wealthy heiress, Ying, swaps identity with her secretary in order to escape from public functions and causes much misunderstanding. Playing the fake heiress who is hungry for marriage, Tam is hilarious as she tries her hardest to get the spoiled rich guy Chung (Sun Ma Si-tsang) to take her to the altar. Starring Tam Lan-hing, Yam Kim-fai, Law Yim-hing, Leung Sing-po, Cheng Kwan-min and Ma Siu-ying, "The Stubborn Generations" has a cast of the most popular comedians at the time. Featuring the relationship between mother and daughter-in-law through three generations, the film tells of how a strange long-running tradition in the Gao family proves that all brides to the family are feisty, stubborn women who will not listen to the older generation, costing the family household many days of peace.
In "The Missing Cinderella", wealthy heiress Sima Hung (Teresa Ha Ping) returns home from France and is forced by her father to marry her oddball cousin. She runs away to fake a suicide, only to be rescued by young writer Hong (Cheung Ying). After initially hoping to get a big reward and fame in return, Hong falls for her over time. In a small role as Hung's aunt, Tam Lan-hing steals the spotlight with a vivid and memorable comic performance as she imitates an elegant lady with bound feet and showcases her penguin walk. In "Silly Wong Growing Rich", Tam plays Siu, who is married to Mau, the godson of frugal Mr Wong (Leung Sing-po). They and other friends do business together, but each person ends up resorting to hare-brained schemes to make quick money. Siu fakes her death for insurance money, Mau plays a tiger that refuses to die in "Wu Song Slaying the Tiger" and Mr Wong's nightclub pageant nearly tears his marriage apart.
All the films are in Cantonese. Tickets are priced at $20. Half-price tickets are available for senior citizens aged 60 and above, people with disabilities and their minders, full-time students and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipients. Credit card bookings can be made at 2111 5999 or on the Internet at www.urbtix.hk. For enquiries, please call 2734 2900 or 2739 2139. Detailed programme information can be found in "ProFolio 78" distributed at all performance venues of the LCSD, or by browsing the website: www.lcsd.gov.hk/fp/en_US/web/fpo/programmes/2011mm/film.html.
Ends/Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Issued at HKT 16:00
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