Hong Kong Cinema: The Extra Dimensions

Covering a period from 1909 to the "end of Hong Kong cinema" in the present day, this book features information about the films, the studios and the personalities that have shaped this kind of cinema. It includes studies of the films of King Hu, Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. "This book offers a history of Hong Kong cinema in the postwar period. It is an extraordinary history of survival and success against the odds, a history which is inseparably bound up with Hong Kong's economic miracle." Here is the first book to treat the Hong Kong film industry with real seriousness, demonstrating how it reflected the changes in the city's administration and growth. Author Stephen Teo convincingly debunks the commonplace notion that Hong Kong consistently produced movies of "dubious aesthetic quality"; he uncovers the remarkable range and versatility of the city's cinema. Teo focuses on international action stars such as Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan and directors like John Woo, Ringo Lam, and Tsui Hark, while also covering the industry's forays into melodrama, horror, comedy, social realism, the crime film, and other genres. His descriptions of the industry's ethics are very powerful, even when he covers action movies: "More than any other cinema, the Hong Kong cinema takes to heart the adage that old warriors never die: they fade away and reappear, some taking the call to arms literally by using their fists as kung fu warriors. Others fence their way to a last moment of glory as expert swordsmen and women before the sword is sheathed and the scabbard hung up."