Li Han-hsiang Movies

A couple with a broken relationship learns some valuable lessons about love, life, and sacrifice in this romantic drama based on a novel by W. Somerset Maugham. It's 1925, and Dr. Walter Fane (Edward Norton) is a physician and bacteriologist who has become smitten with Kitty (Naomi Watts), the beautiful daughter of a wealthy and socially prominent family. Walter proposes marriage to Kitty and she accepts; however, while he clearly loves her, Kitty is more interested in her reputation than Walter's feelings, as she's recently turned 25, an age by which most of her peers have already wed. Kitty and Walter move to Shanghai, where he sets up a practice and she takes a lover, the British Vice Consul Charles Townsend (Liev Schreiber). When Walter learns of his wife's infidelity, he becomes furious, and impulsively volunteers to travel to China to work in a village stricken with a major cholera epidemic. While Walter's actions are meant to punish Kitty rather than reflect his own benevolence, the daily trials of living in a community in crisis have a striking impact on the couple, giving them a new and deeper perspective on their relationship. The Painted Veil is the third screen adaptation of Maugham's best-selling novel of the same name; a 1934 version starred Greta Garbo and Herbert Marshall, while Eleanor Parker and Bill Travers played the leads in a 1957 remake titled The Seventh Sin. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In an epic story that strives for grandeur but falls short in its conservative pacing, the 17-year-old daughter of a senior official at the Chinese court is the focus of attention. In the middle of the 19th century, she was chosen to serve the imperial family in the palace in Beijing. When the emperor hears her singing one day, he becomes interested in the young woman and she quickly is installed as one of his favorite concubines. One year later, she gives birth to a son - the emperor's only male heir, and thereby earns the title of Second Class Imperial Consort. So when the British and French armies attack Beijing, the emperor takes her and his son and flees with the court to his retreat at Rehe. Thus ends the first part of a two part series on the rise of the notorious Empress Dowager and her 46-year rule over a China that could only worsen under her despotic ignorance. Reign Behind a Curtain is the sequel that shows how this royal consort became installed in power once the emperor dies. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Director Li Han-hsiang (Li Hanxiang) focuses on the 18th century Chinese emperor, Chien Lung (Qianlong) once again in this surprisingly light treatment of one of the most respected, long-lived, and powerful emperors in Chinese history. A comparable drama for Americans would concern the "private life" of George Washington, fleshed out with fictional dollops of intrigue, vices, and sexual exploits. The emperor in this drama travels to one of the most literate, scholarly, and garden-filled cities in China (Suzhou) absolutely incognito, we are to believe, and there indulges his interest in gambling and a certain courtesan. At the same time, his imperial qualities emerge when he shows compassion to the victims of an earthquake by actively helping them recover from their misfortune, and when he ends a series of misdeeds in a gambling establishment. Meant to entertain rather than educate in an academic sense, this costume drama should prove interesting to most audiences. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Two stories are included in this erotic/romantic anthology. In the first, a Sung-Dynasty (10th-13th century) Buddhist monk is tricked into sexual relations with an unscrupulous female adventurer. He dies soon after with his misdeed on his conscience. In the second, the daughter of a woman who died in a brothel discovers that her mother died an unnatural death and seeks revenge. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Despite Kuang Hsu's (Ti Lung) enthronement as the last reigning Emperor of China, his ability to rule effectively is overshadowed by the ever-present power of the Dowager Empress (Lisa Lu). When his attempts to reform the Imperial system are thwarted by the Dowager Empress, he attempts to curb her power. His efforts are not successful, and this failure leads directly to his own death and the end of Imperial rule in China. The Dowager Empress, though, ends her days comfortably and in peace. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this zany comedy, four situations involving adultery provide fuel for laughter. A young man's skill at impersonating his boss gets him into bed with his boss's wives in the first segment. In the second, a Japanese woman commits adultery. The third concerns a couple who resume their relationship after one of them marries another. In the fourth, a woman is blackmailed by a third party who photographs her having sex with her lover while her husband is away. His price is to have a sexual relationship with the unfaithful wife. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Four separate stories by four separate directors make up this feature from Taiwan. These tales are recounted in a highly stylized, classical Chinese manner. The first story tells of ghosts, grave-robbers and the rewards for doing a good deed. The second reveals the fate of some larcenous inn-keepers. The third tells a tragic tale of frustrated vengeance. The last concerns a fisherman and ghosts or mirages. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this dreamy romance set in China during the fourth-century, a young woman convinces her parents to allow her to dress as a boy and attend university. Once there she soon falls in love with another student, but of course, she cannot tell him the truth lest she jeopardize her chance for an education. Years later the young man learns the truth and goes to her family home to see her. He gets there just before she is to marry another. Distraught, he kills himself. When she hears about that, she trades her wedding clothes for those of mourning and visits his grave. Suddenly a terrible storm whirls around her. The grave opens up and she is sucked into its depths. The storm abates, and in the sparkling sunshine the grave reopens. From it's maw fly two beautiful butterflies--the young lovers transformed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

An innocent, supernatural tale of love and ghosts and evil women, this Hong Kong film by director Li Hanxiang involves a traveler (Chao Lei) and his efforts to save a beautiful ghost (Betty Lo Tih). A villainous, nasty sorceress -- who happens to be the ghost's aunt -- has cast a spell that keeps the ghost bound to a temple where the traveler has stopped to spend the night. The sensuous supernatural spirit tries to seduce the innocent traveler but he resists her charms, especially when he realizes she is a ghost, and one with harmful intent at that. She is looking for victims for her evil aunt. Thanks to the morally upright traveler, there may be a ghost of a chance for the trapped spirit to go on to her next rebirth. Director Li worked in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Beijing during his career -- a highly unusual situation given the political rift between Beijing and Taiwan. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The young Emperor Zhengde (Zhao Lei) is a rather callow youth, easily distracted and not particularly interested in matters of state, much to the chagrin of his mother, the empress (Tang Ruoqing). One day, he hears peach-blossom girls singing of the wonders of Kiang-nan in the south and decides to leave the Forbidden City disguised as a commoner and travels to the province. He arrives in the midst of a Spring Festival and is immediately smitten with a young woman participant, whom he later learns is Li Feng (Linda Lin Dai). He seeks her out and learns she waits tables at a local teahouse. He pursues her, despite the objections of her brother-in-law, Ta Niu (Jin Quan, later to become a legendary director for the film's producers, the Shaw Brothers, under the name King Hu). She puts up a show of resisting him, but she's attracted to the mysterious stranger. Circumstance throws them together one fateful night. The next morning, she's shocked to discover the imperial army at her door, sent by the empress to retrieve Zhengde. After their night of passion, he promises to send for Li Feng when he gets back to Peking. But the empress won't allow Zhengde to marry a commoner. He's despondent at first, but soon enough he's distracted by other women and forgets all about it. For her part, Li Feng discovers she's pregnant. When Zhengde fails to send for her, she sinks into despair. Released in 1959, Li Han-Hsiang's The Kingdom and the Beauty was an early effort by the Shaw Brothers at bringing huang mei opera-style films to the screen. The film was shown by the Film Society of Lincoln Center at the 2004 New York Film Festival as part of a sidebar tribute to the Shaw Brothers. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide