Mysterious Murder, Part One / Part Two

Dir/ Orig Story /Scr: Tong Tik-sang
Prod Co: Chak Sang
Cast: Fong Yim-fun, Luo Pinchao, Lo Duen, Lam Mui-mui, Ng Wui
1951 / B&W / D Beta / Cantonese / 91min (Part One) / 93min (Part Two)

Tong adapted his own Cantonese opera and transformed it to early Republican China. Fong Yim-fun puts on a tour de force as an ill-fated woman, separated from her lover through an arranged marriage to the terminally ill and impotent son of a warlord. The power struggle within the family led to an inevitable murderous consequence. Seven years later, the heroine's ex-lover, now an ambitious detective, is keen to solve this almost forgotten case, only to discover that he is also part of the enigma. In this rare Cantonese cinema's film noir, the narrative is woven with its near-expressionist settings and cinematography. The final courtroom scene, unusual in Cantonese films of its time, stands as an accusation against all the beliefs and dogmas entrapping Chinese women throughout the centuries.