The Story of Heroine Fan Lei-fa
Dir/Scr: Fung Chi-kong
Librettist: Poon Cheuk
Prod Co: Kin Lee
Cast: Connie Chan Po-chu, Tam Lan-hing, Yu Kai
1968 Colour D Beta Cantonese Chinese Lyrics 99 min
Librettist: Poon Cheuk
Prod Co: Kin Lee
Cast: Connie Chan Po-chu, Tam Lan-hing, Yu Kai
1968 Colour D Beta Cantonese Chinese Lyrics 99 min
The film, centring on the legend of the four ancient Chinese heroines, was a novelty for audiences at the time, as the singing performance was in Cantonese and used huangmei operatic rhythms—a popular trend in the 1960s, yet it retained traditional flavours by using operatic luogu percussion in the battle scenes. ‘Movie-fan princess' Connie Chan Po-chu not only sings Cantonese song and huangmei tone solos in the film, she also wows the audience by taking up the doumadan role for the first time as the Tang dynasty female general Fan Lei-fa, showing off her superb operatic martial skills, together with Shum Chi-wah, inherited from Peking opera master Fen Ju Hua. Yu Kai's weaponry prowess and renowned female comedian Tam Lan-hing cross-dressing as a male general are also brilliant in this gem.