The Golden Cat

Adapting Ma Wan’s novel for Radio Rediffusion, the film follows a Robin Hood-esque hero named The Golden Cat (Yam Kim-fai), who robs ill-gotten gains to help the poor during an era when bandits ran amok during the late Ming dynasty. Fear strikes the hearts of corrupt government officials when they hear the Golden Cat’s meows and cat-shaped darts, but the Golden Cat’s real identity is actually a scholar named Yuen Man-lung. He was originally engaged to Cho Oi-lan (Law Yim-hing), the daughter of a landlord. But after the Yuen family lose their fortune, the Cho family dismisses them as being too poor, putting the love affair to the test. 

In a rare performance in a wuxia musical, Yam Kim-fai embodies two personalities in one character. In romantic scenes, she plays Man-lung as a weak, lovelorn scholar; at night, she becomes a righteous warrior who can walk up walls. Yam can handle the witty scholar part with her eyes closed, but she also manages to command the screen when she transforms into the majestic hero thief. Proving how seriously she took the role, Yam stayed up all night observing cats’ meows in order to get into The Golden Cat persona. After filming, she even joked that she has become ‘The King of Cats’ (The Cantonese nickname for Elvis Presley).

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.