The Magic Cat

Dir: Wong Yiu
Scr: Wong Kit
Prod Co: Chi Leun
Co-starring: Lui Kay, Nancy Sit Kar-yin, Meng Li, Tai Wai-kwong, Helena Law Lan
1969 | Colour | DCP | Cantonese | Chinese Lyrics | 97min

Connie Chan Po-chu and Lui Kay became an adored on-screen couple in the late 1960s after starring together in several popular films. Eager to cash in on their appeal, production companies dreamed up extraordinary plots to spice up the requisite romance stories starring the beloved duo, such as falling in love with a ghost in Beauty in the Mist (1968) and with a cat in The Magic Cat. In this human-cat affair, a young painter finds his beautiful muse, without knowing she is a furry creature that can be temporarily transformed into a human. But the cross-species romance turns CATastrophic when the titled feline’s mother disapproves of their relationship and takes away the daughter’s ability to transform…

Wong Yiu, an accomplished stylist of Cantonese cinema, directs with flair and carefully-orchestrated visual elements, from the animation of colour patterns, to the cat dances performed by Chan and choreographed by famed dancer Julie Ng, to the exotic Arabian dresses and decors in a scene featuring an oil tycoon’s daughter from the Middle East. The film is a celebration of youth-oriented popular culture, decorated with girls in mini-skirts, trendy convertibles, lively teen parties, swinging night clubs and the very western-style Lindy’s Restaurant…A fabrication of the hip lifestyle young audiences yearned for in the late 1960s.

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