Awful Truth

Dir: Li Pingqian
Orig Story: Wu Tieyi
Scr/Lyricist: Doe Ching
Prod Co: Great Wall
Cast: Li Lihua, Han Fei, Yan Jun, Wang Yuen-lung, Ping Fan
1950 | B&W | DCP | Mandarin | Chi & Eng Subtitles | 119min

Satire has long been a staple of Chinese theatre, literature and cinema. Through sharp observations and an even sharper sense of humour, satirists tackle social ills and issues with irony and even ridicule. Li Pingqian, a master of comedy and key creative member of Great Wall’s early days, helmed Awful Truth, the company’s first production after its restructure. The film amplifies and pokes fun at the absurdities of modern city life, becoming an immediate sensation upon its release in Hong Kong, selling out 86 shows in a row. It remains to this day a classic work of black comedy in Hong Kong cinema. 

The film is set in the Shanghai economic crisis between 1948 and 1949, amidst serious inflation and a currency crash. A roster of typical city characters is featured: an opportunistic manager (Wang Yuen-long), a social butterfly leeching off the upper classes (Li Lihua), a con man (Yan Jun), a poseur who is only a lowly salaryman (Han Fei) and a gold-digging pretty boy (Ping Fan). They cheat and trick each other while vying for seven bars of gold and US$2,000. In line with progressive leftist cinema’s insistence on critiquing capitalism, the film’s multiple, intertwining subplots and layers of comedy lampoon and expose society’s ugly and ridiculous realities.

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