Hung Sin-Nui

Ma Si-tsang is memorable in his comedic roles for being lively and down to earth, making a stark contrast with the tough and feisty Hung Sin Nui, and they strike gold as a team in screwball comedies. Ma is psychologist Doctor Tsui while Hung is Pearl, the feisty third daughter who is hard to get along with. The undaunted Tsui sees the virtues in Pearl and teases her to teach lessons on marital harmony. With multiple schemes, Tsui teases, coaxes and has Pearl taste her own medicine. The battle of wits and the sexes becomes a joy to watch with Ma's complacent and roguish portrayal as a refined witty scholar clashing with the energetic and bickering Hung.

The rapier wit is not only for playful bantering between a couple but also for fighting justice. Famed attorney Sung Sai-kit (Ma Si-tsang) is best known for his sharp pen and silver tongue. His wife Madam Tong (Hung Sin Nui), sympathetic with a wronged widow, tries every trick up her sleeve to get her husband to help. Ma is funny and lovable who morphs from the henpecked husband to the brilliant and shrewd attorney at court, he displays perseverance behind his devil-may-care and nonchalant attitude, even Stephen Chow reincarnated his persona in the 1992 version.

Reporter Yu Mong-yuen is recovering from a leg injury in his fiancee Man-wah's apartment. Bored, he looks out the rear window and observes the life of the neighbouring building. Among the tenants are a sugar-daddy and his mistress, a middle-aged man wants to marry a young girl, but she is in love with his son. Finally, she hatches a plot and makes the man agree to her marrying his son ; a sly fortune-teller ; a lively gym, a rich widow quarrels with the trainer of a gymnasium because his dog has bitten her cat ; and an opera school, a woman signs, leaning on the balcony, and a man tries to strangle her. In fact they are rehearsing an opera…… One evening, Wah is on the night shift, and Yuen watches the opera troupe rehearse to the end. Under the influence of drugs, Yu mistakenly believes that a divorced man has murdered a taxi dancer. He alerts the police, but the whole thing is nothing more than a misunderstanding.

Comedy from Hong Kong directed by Cho Kei.

The sophistication of 1950s Hong Kong cinema is vividly illustrated in this film of limited budget and resources. Cantonese opera star Sun Ma Si-tsang plays a country boy who looks exactly like Sun Ma and is asked by a rich girl to impersonate the star, to help her stage an opera. The self-reflexive humour generated by the absurd situation not only provides delicious parody of celebrity culture but also comments subtly on class inequality and the perils of urbanisation. Sun Ma, who also appears as himself in a stage performance, is complemented beautifully by the brilliant comedian Yee Chau-shui as his sidekick and Hung Sin Nui, another opera superstar, as the spoiled and precocious rich girl.

The film features a conflict between a young wife and her mother-in-law, depicting the lives of ordinary people and their profound problems.

This script was adapted from a Rediffusion Radio airwave novel, written by Lang Wun and read on-air by his wife Ngai Mun. Ngai Mun also acted in this film. Wang (Cheung Ying) worked himself to an early death. His wife Ching (Hung Sin Nui) raised their three children all by herself. Eldest son Kei (also played by Cheung Ying) was spoiled and grew up to be a robber. Middle child, daughter Ching-han, is materialistic and vain, and is later killed by Kei. Youngest son Leung (Yeung Fan) is diligent and ambitious, a great comfort to Ching. Hung Sin Nui played Ching from a young to an elderly woman, showing off her practiced, perfect acting skills. Chun Kim’s detailed portrayal of the relationship between the two generations set the stage for his later work Parents’ Hearts (1955).

Drama from Hong Kong directed by Lee Tit.

Chan Sai-wah abides by his late father's word and marries the wealthy Yam Suk-kuen. They have a son, Kwok-leung. Though Wah is manager of the hotel owned by his father-in-law, Kuen is not a good wife. For all the years of their marriage, Wah has never been happy. Attracted to the humble and honest Carrie Mui, Wah decides to leave his domineering wife Kuen, but is stopped by his father-in-law. The lovers set off to Macau for a new start. Their life has become increasingly miserable under the pressure from Yam's family. When Wah leaves to seek help from his son in Hong Kong, Carrie decides she should leave so that Wah can go without feeling any guilt or burden. On the other hand, Wah is too ashamed to face his son, and returns to Macau. He lives his life in misery. Years pass, the lovers meet again. Wah is reduced to begging in the streets while Carrie becomes an opera diva.

"Red and White Azaleas" (alias "重訂今生未了緣"), a Hong Kong film produced by the Red and White Film Company, was released in 1951.

Hak-ming heads the Ko Family, but he and his brothers, Hak-ting and Hak-on, and the second wife of the late Master Ko quarrel. Young Cousin Mui, who has tuberculosis, is forced by to marry an older woman. Kok-sun is guilty of being unable to stop the marriage. Sun and maid Chui-wan are wary of their feelings for each other due to class difference. Cousin Mui dies of illness. Hak-ting has his eyes on Wan. His wife, Wong, complains to their daughter, Shuk-ching, who cannot take it and commits suicide. Wong blames herself for her death. Undergone these tragedies, Cousin Kam's mother let Kam have a modern wedding with Kok-man. When Ming is ill, Ting and On want to sell the ancestral home. Hak-ming dies of angst. When the fifth uncle of Sun forces Wan to be his concubine, Wan tries to kill herself but is intercepted by Sun. Pressurised by people of the house over the issue of inheritance, Sun protests by declaring his love for Wan and leaves the family, with his mother, brother Man and Wan.