The Red Robe

Director: Wong Hok-sing
Screenplay: So Yung
Cast: Yam Kim-fai, Law Yim-hing, Lan Chi-pak, Lee Hong-kum, Kwan Hoi-shan
1965 | Colour | D Beta | Cantonese | Lyrics with Chi Subtitles | 56min (Incomplete) | Cantonese Opera

This period courtroom drama sees two Cantonese opera icons, Yam Kim-fai and Lan Chi Pak, at their very best. Yam, a distinguished siu-mo (martial adept) who is well trained in martial plays, seamlessly furnished this civil role of the righteous Imperial Censor with an awe-inspiring staunchness. His enemy is the thoroughly wicked Prime Minister, played by Lan who inhabited the role with superb eye movements and beard skills. The existing cut is an incomplete version salvaged from a dumpster in Oakland Chinatown, and has been in the vaults of Hong Kong Film Archive since restoration in 2004. Thankfully, all the climactic scenes survive to this day, giving audiences a fair view of this real gem in Cantonese opera cinema.

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