My brother has for years told me about this silent film he saw with a "gold monster" in a nightmare segment. This always intrigued me but I had never gotten around to watching the recording he had made of it. That is, until today I hadn't.

Charles, played by Rudolph Valentino, is sent to live with his uncle after his father loses millions in the stock market and commits suicide. There he meets his cousin, the lovely Eugenie (Alice Terry.) While Charles was brought up in decadence and luxury, Eugenie lives in poverty brought on by her father's miserly ways. The two fall in love yet the uncle (seeing no profit in their marriage) refuses to allow it and works to keep them apart.

The Conquering Power is certainly a product of its time. The melodrama is a simple moral play told through the stylized lens of the silent screen. It's certainly a classic and if you are a fan of silent films you are in for a treat.

Labels: 31 days of film, Romance, Silent Films

If ever was there a more appropriate title for a movie, I don't know of it. This 1960 M.P. & G.I film delivers a well rounded story of the lives of three women living together and their happy times and sorrows. The trio consists of a writer who is living in her romantic past, a younger girl unhappy with her arranged marriage and infatuated with her pen-pal and an older woman whose husband went astray and despite the pleading of him and her sick child she cannot forgive and move on.

Between Tears and Laughter is, at its core, a nice romantic comedy and drama. I found myself at times, despite the troubles of the characters, of wanting to jump into the film into this rather inviting and comfortable setting. Friendship, I believe, is one of the few things that is universal and the friendship between these women to help each other out in times of need is something to really look at with admiration.

Cathay films are, to me, like an favorite old shirt; while I know not everyone can appreciate them, I get a sort of cozy feeling watching them. While I know that at the time they were made, most in Hong Kong were not living the sort of middle class lifestyle that was always showcase dbut yet, they seemed to show that life can be comfortable with just a little romance and good friends. In this age of movies with explosions, CGI and explicit sex, maybe Hollywood could learn a little from this film.

Labels: Cathay, Drama, Hong Kong, Romance

Ai Yori Aoshi: 5. With All My Heart

Harem shows are a dime a dozen these days. The premise which started way back with Tenchi Muyo was repeated over and over through the years. You take a rather awkward teenage boy and surround him with gorgeous women who all have the hots for him. While there have been variations on it over the years with such series like Angel Tales with the girls being pets and series like Love Hina where all characters are made as unlikeable as can be.

Ai Yori Aoshi is at the higher end of the harem spectrum. What makes this show interesting is not the fanservice as clearly that is not overwhelming in the show but it's the fact that it does set out to tell a story and include some very interesting cultural overtones such as the traditional lifestyles of Aoi's family blending with the more western and modern style of Kaoru and how it shows that while the two may not mesh well all the time, there are high points of both.

I personally really enjoyed Ai Yori Aoshi despite the fact that it took me so long to watch it all. The show really, for me, is a great relief from the pratfall a minute and two-dimensional characters that so many harem type shows have as standard. It was also refreshing to see Kaoru as such a strong male lead who can stand up for himself and not be a pervert or doormat like so many other male leads seem to be.

Ai Yori Aoshi is easy to recommend. It has a lot of laughs and a lot of quiet moments to get you thinking about the characters and their life. If you want to see if a harem show can be deeper than Love Hina, you can't do much better than Ai Yori Aoshi.

Highly recommended!

Labels: Anime, Romance

My Dream Girl:

Here is a movie I had heard about for a few years as being exceptionally terrible and should be avoided. For some masochistic reason when people tell me these things I want to seek out that film just to see how awful it is. This was the case with Protégé de la Rose Noire and was the case here. However unlike that film which was so inept that nothing could save it, this film was more boring than anything else.

What was cool was seeing Richard Ng again. His minor role in My Wife is 18 seemed in many ways like a tease of his former glory and while he doesn't play the zany guy he once did during his Lucky Star days, he did handle his role quite well and I would really like to see him do more.

Labels: Bad Movies, Comedy, Hong Kong, Romance

June Bride: The stars of Cathay are out in full force in this upbeat musical drama which shows in a muted way some of the ways that Western culture mixed with Chinese to create something quite different.

The very lovely and talented Grace Cheng plays Wang Tanlin who has traveled with her father for many years. She has in her travels picked up a suitor and dance partner much to her refusal. Her only love is Tung Chifang, a man she hasn't seen in over two years. However traditional she seems, she resents that her father seems to be using the marriage as nothing but a business proposal and when a third suitor, a salior played by the always wonderful Roy Chaio, comes into play Tanlin is so confused she leaves the groom in the lurch. Of course being a Cathay film you are guaranteed a happy ending.

If there was ever a film studio so devoted to happy and upbeat "slice of life" films it was the glorious and wonderful Cathay studios otherwise referred to as M.P. & G.I. As I have documented in the past the sheer amiability of everyone in the film from Grace Cheng to Roy Chaio to the portly Liu Enjia, Cathay always seemed to deliver a film worth watching. They seemed to take a topic so simple as buying a car, being a stewardess or just about dancing the Mambo, Cathay could make a 100 minute film about it and make it interesting.

Sad that those days of simple movies are gone but thanks to DVD a whole new generation can see them. I can pretty much guarantee that no one at M.P. & G.I. ever thought their films would be watched 50 years later by a white guy on the East Coast of the US but in this age of DVD, it can be done!



I definitely recommend this one just as I recommend every Cathay film.

Labels: Cathay, Comedy, Hong Kong, Musical, Romance

Drink, Drank, Drunk: Miriam Yeung and Love Undercover costar Daniel Wu team up again for this romantic comedy about a girl who can't get drunk and a traveler who gets intoxicated very easily.

The plot of a romantic comedy is really never very important. They are usually about a boy meeting a girl and then losing her and then winning her back in the end. With that said Ive decided really to forgo any real description of the plot and just give an opinion.

Drink, Drank, Drunk is enjoyable as far as romantic comedies go. Miriam Yeung, as always, plays her role of the somewhat scatterbrained and somewhat naive girl that she plays is just about every movie she's been in. For those of us who love watching Miriam, and I will include myself in this group, will certainly enjoy her in Drink, Drank, Drunk.

I think the real drawback to the film is that the movie just doesn't have the fun that some of Miriam Yeung's other films have. She's such a bouncy girl and, in my opinion, she works best in silly roles. Still, if you want to watch a romantic comedy with your girlfriend, you could do a lot worse.

Labels: Comedy, Hong Kong, Romance

The Attractive One: Here we have a romantic comedy starring some bankable stars from Hong Kong to basically look cute and say some cute things and then we all walk away happy. It should be standard fluff from Hong Kong where I expect mediocrity and accept it with open arms. Somehow in the normal scheme of things, something went awry in that we have one of the most boring pictures in a while.

Instead of concentrating on the terrible I feel it my duty to at least point out some of the merits of this film and I suppose eye candy is the first I should mention. Joey Yung Tso-Yi is cute enough although Yumiko Cheng Hei-Yi is perhaps a bit more desirable to the eyes. Also Lau Ching Wan is at least fun to watch although he is nowhere near his usual entertaining self.

So yeah, this film might entertain someone but that person probably enjoys a lot
of other activities too boring for the average person.

Labels: Bad Movies, Comedy, Hong Kong, Romance

First Blog Entry: Will update with every DVD I watch(I hope)<^_^; Just finished "Dance with the Dragon" starring Andy Lau and Shara (Sharla?) Cheung (a.k.a. Cheung Man). I bought this DVD by mistake actually and for some reason I ended up enjoying this piece of fluff. BTW I thought Shara looked adorable in those glasses.

In short the film was a simple timewaster.

Labels: Comedy, Hong Kong, Romance, site news