Butterfly Beauty (Original Theatrical Version)

Dir/Scr: Collective Collaboration
Prod Co: Hung Tu
Cast: Ma Si-tsang, Hung Sin Nui, Pak Kui-wing, Lang Junyu, Lo Ban-chiu
1959 | Colour | DCP | Cantonese | Chinese Subtitles | 110min

Regional opera is an integral part of Chinese culture. Sun Luen in its late 1950s attempt to diversify its production while also responding to the Chinese theatre reform in the Mainland, made a number of films adapted from the medium, including Cantonese opera and Chaozhou opera. Most of these opera films were produced under its subsidiary company, Hung Tu. 

In 1959, the company made use of its leftist connection to film in Guangzhou eight renowned Cantonese opera excerpts, performed by a cast of great artists from both Hong Kong and the Mainland. The two resulting films were Butterfly Beauty (1959) and An Ideal Couple (1960), and together they form an invaluable audiovisual record of Cantonese opera as an artform, which has been recognised by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage.

Butterfly Beauty comprises four excerpts. Hung Sin Nui, one of the most beloved stars of Hong Kong film, gives a wondrous solo performance at the height of her artistry in Beating the Gods, then co-stars with Ma Si-tsang in another excerpt, Butterfly Beauty, showcasing her signature ‘Nui style’ singing. Releasing Son at the Hall features Pak Kui-wing (father of Pak Suet-sin), the sole screen record of this great performer in Hong Kong Film Archive’s collection. Despite having lost his eyesight, Pak gives a virtuoso performance, and his superb duet with Lang Junyu is a classic all-timer. Feng Yi Pavilion features one of the best-known roles of the legendary artist Lo Ban-chiu, for which he had won a national award in 1952.

Butterfly Beauty was filmed in Eastmancolor and printed in Rank Film Laboratories in the UK, capturing the four masterpieces of Cantonese opera in all their splendid, colourful glory.

An Ideal Couple was re-released in 1979, comprising two opera excerpts from the original film plus two excerpts from Butterfly Beauty. Existing negatives and copies of the two titles are of these later edited versions. In our attempt to preserve film heritage, the Archive digitised the films and re-edited them, returning Butterfly Beauty to its original 1959 version.

The contents of the programme do not represent the views of the presenter. The presenter reserves the right to change the programme should unavoidable circumstances make it necessary.