Li Ping-Qian
2021 - 1984
三戀
Li Ping-Qian
Fu Che, Hsia Moon
Li's direction and Jin Yong's script always go hand-in-hand with each other. This time, their collaboration sparks again as the film seamlessly brings three short stories together through three different segments of flashbacks. Yin Zhaozong (Bao Fong) is an amour fou falling in love with a girl much younger than him. Instead, Yu Baicheng (Fu Che) is a playboy trapped by his three girlfriends. The bartender (Chiao Chuang), however, tells them how he and his wife are blessed by true love. The film not only displays Li's sensitivity to narrative structure but also his ability to cast the most suited actors for their respective roles, as such Mao Mei had a chance to demonstrate her dance talent for her debut in this movie.
The Three Loves
三笑
Li Ping-Qian
陈思思, Heung Kwan
Tang Bohu is smitten by the stunning beauty of Qiuxiang, the maid of Grand Tutor Hua, during his visit to a monastery in Suzhou. Stalking the maid, Tang's affections are finally reciprocated with three charming smiles. To approach the fair maid, Tang seeks work in the Grand Tutor residence as a study companion, and his talents win Hua's attention. As a frustrated suitor, he turns to his resourceful friend Zhu Zhishan for help.
Three Charming Smiles
女儿经
Chen Kengran, Yao Sufeng
Butterfly Wu, Gao Zhan-Fei
A hostess in Shanghai invites her secondary schoolmates to a reunion. They each reminisce about their lives, with some having difficulties in marriage or career. Some led destructive lives, while others contributed to the country.
The Classic for Girls
笑笑笑
Li Ping-Qian
Kung Chiu-Hsia, Fong Pau
A sadder than sad story about a fun-loving optimist whose interest in comedy performance is despised by both his family and his wealthy future in-laws, Li’s tragic-comedy follows the 50-year-old father (Bao) as he maintains a dignified façade after losing his long-held accounting job in an occupied Tianjin in the 1940s.
Laugh, Clown, Laugh
生离死别
Li Ping-Qian
Chong Pei, Qiong Liu
Фильм основан на романе «Санин» русского писателя Михаила Арцыбашева. Группа молодых людей, которые только что закончили колледж, вступают в новую для себя жизнь. Шэнь Мэнфэй стремится преследовать сестру своего одноклассника Лю Ханьюня, Лю Циньюнь. После двух других подцепленных им подружек, Шэнь Мэнфэй обрел новую любовь и оставил Лю Циньюнь. Лю Циньюнь пыталась покончить жизнь самоубийством. Честный парень Ван Шиин изначально интересовался Лю Циньюнь, но позже увидел, что она была брошена Шэнь Мэнфэем он потерял к ней всякий интерес. Пей Ван-ли, который был пессимистом по-жизни, когда попал в беду, почувствовал себя ещё более неуверенно в своем будущем из-за неудач, преследующих его по жизни и невозможности найти работу. В конце концов, после того, как Ханьюнь, Шиин и Циньюнь были похоронены за тысячи миль, все другие поняли, что «без упорных усилий нет способа выжить», и все они начали новую жизнь.
Sheng li si bie
Hua Mulan Cong Jun
Li Ping-Qian
Shan hu, Zhang Zhi-Zhi
A silent film based on the legend of Hua Mulan, released by Tianyi Film Company and directed by Li Pingqian. This silent film holds the distinction of being the first ever full-length feature film about Hua Mulan. Mulan is betrothed to a young man when war arrives and their wedding ceremony has to be put on hold. As her fiancé enlists in the army, so too does the filial Mulan, disguised as a man in place of her ailing father. These new plot twists lead to comedic moments when Mulan encounters her fiancé during training and he does not recognize her.
Mulan Joins the Army
Chunlei
Li Ping-Qian
Li Li-Hua, Sun Jing-Lu
Li's first directorial work in Hong Kong is adapted, by himself, from the Hollywood movie The Great Lie (1941) starring Bette Davis. When a husband disappears in an accident, the wife is dismayed by a social butterfly pregnant with her husband's child. To preserve the husband's blood line, the wife takes care of the expectant mother and raises the child. Featuring the two ravishing beauties Li Lihua and Sun Jinglu, Our Husband foregoes juicy feuds between the leads and delivers an allegorical message: parents should provide an ideal environment for the next generation. Addressing the rocky times in China, it is equally overt in its remonstration as Yung Hwa's earlier works, The Soul of China and Sorrows of the Forbidden City.
Our Husband
Shuo huang shi jie
Li Ping-Qian
Li Li-Hua, Han Fei
As China falls into hyperinflation following the end of the war, people fought tooth and nail to get their hands on the only reliable currencies in the world: gold and American dollars. This is a story that shows how seven bars and two thousand US dollars bring together an interesting mix of characters: an opportunistic manager, a materialistic courtesan, a con artist posing as a commissioner of the Treasury, a white-collar worker who will do anything for a promotion, a man who specialises in conning women, a father who marries off his daughter for money and a sorcerer who fakes his magic. In this dog-eat-dog world, the only truth is that everyone is lying for his own gain. Playing the courtesan who longs to be part of high society, Li Lihua steals the film with a feisty performance opposite the amusing Yan Jun, whose con artist character has a tendency to flirt with lyrics from Peking operas.
The Awful Truth
Shaonainai de shanzi
Li Ping-Qian
Lu Luming, Yuan Meiyun
Lady Windermere's Fan, Oscar Wilde's play on moral values, is adapted for a setting in Shanghai. Young wife Meilin mistakenly believes her husband is having an affair with a social butterfly and decides to leave for a suitor. Her reputation, about to be ruined because of a misplaced fan, is saved by the social butterfly who turns out to be …Unlike typical Chinese scripts on parental love, the understated familial love in the original play is aligned with Li's preference for the undramatic. Motherly love is portrayed indirectly while emotions run strong yet subdued in the film. Poking fun at social culture of the times, this is Li's earliest extant feature film in a modern setting and a showcase of his modernistic and crisp directorial approach.
The Young Mistress' Fan
