Rivals in Love

Tam Lan-hing added the glamour factor to complete the pre-war trio, alongside Wong Man-lei (in The White Gold Dragon, Part Two; 1937) and Nancy Chan (in Pretty Lady, 1938) – that is, before she made her name as the archetypal scold and evil mother-in-law in post-war cinema! In Rivals in Love, Tam is at once alluring and virtuous as a sacrificial mother who turns to prostitution to feed her young daughter, but is forced to flee from home after mistakenly killing a drunken punter in a scrimmage. Adopted by her aunt and knowing nothing of her birth mother, the daughter (Tsi Lo-lan) grows up to be a spoilt, vain brat who falls under the charms of a playboy. In a bid to stop her from running away with the crook, the mother poses as a siren to expose the man's philandering ways. But the daughter remains defiant as ever, accusing the mother of murder and taking her to court… The tempestuous relationship between mother and daughter at the center of the story is a less-than subtle homage to Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan. Director So Yee strips the original of its aristocratic trimmings, replacing them with the fervent patriotism and save-our-country sentiments of a Chinese social context and turning his adaptation into a didactic moral lesson.

Date	Time	Venue
11/2/2017 (Sat)#	2:00pm	Cinema, Hong Kong Film Archive
26/2/2017 (Sun)	5:00pm	Cinema, Hong Kong Film Archive

# To follow with seminar

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.