Clara, a 1941 "new-school cosmopolitan novella" by Lui Lun, depicts the tragic romance of a poor author and his luckless lover against the backdrop of 1930s and 40s Hong Kong where East meets West. The Rich House, the screen adaptation of the novella by Lui himself, retains to a certain extent the exotic touch of the original. Cheung Wood-yau plays the struggling writer, who develops an affection out of sympathy for waitress Clara (Lo Ming), their affair yet turning into a complex love triangle with the intervention of rich man Carlito. Signatures of Western modernity are found here and there, such as café with live band, self-made sandwiches and enjoying coffee and fresh milk. One major difference from the source material is the addition of the comedic, freewheeling painter couple (Yiu Ping and Yung Yuk-yi), who imparts on this melodrama a feel-good, lighthearted tone.

Guest Commentator: Wong Shuk-han, Mary
# To follow with seminar. See "Seminar"

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