Asia Weekly Magazine's 100 Greatest Chinese Films of the 20th Century
Source: http://www.chinesecinemas.org/chinacentury.html
Missing from IMDb:
The House of 72 Tenants (1963)
Missing from IMDb:
The House of 72 Tenants (1963)
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- DirectorShichuan ZhangStarsZhegu ZhengZhengqiu ZhengYing YuCheng the fruit seller is in love with the daughter of his neighbor the doctor, but the good doctor won't let him marry her unless Chang finds him more patients. With some creative carpentering, Chang sets about augmenting the doctor's income.
- DirectorYu SunStarsLingyu RuanCongmei YuanLi-li LiSister Ye is the master craftswoman in a village of toymakers that is subject to outside attacks. A series of personal tragedies reduces her to a shell of herself, until she breaks and rallies the townsfolk to fight their oppressors.
- DirectorBugao ChengStarsYing XiaoYuexian YanChia-Nung KungThis early classic of Golden Age Shanghai cinema echoes Visconti's classic La Terra Trema in its beautifully rendered story of a humble silk-farming family struggling to be free of debt to exploitative middlemen.
- DirectorZhengqiu ZhengStarsXiaoqiu ZhengZhiyuan TanJinglin XuanTwin girls separated at birth are reunited when the one raised in poverty becomes a servant in the household of her sister, now the pampered wife of a warlord general.
- DirectorYonggang WuStarsLingyu RuanTian JianZhizhi ZhangStreet walker by night, devoted mother by day, a woman fights to get her young son an education amid criminal and social injustice in China.
- DirectorChusheng CaiStarsRenmei WangLangen HanPeng LuoAbout the trials and tribulations of the family of a poor fisherman.
- DirectorYu SunStarsYan JinYanyan ChenLi-li LiSix young men from the city take jobs on a road crew, building a highway of strategic importance to the Chinese Army. The story relates the men's interactions with each other, the local community, and two friendly and flirtatious young local girls who become part of their circle. Meanwhile, their hard work is countered by a traitorous foreman bribed by Japanese agents to sabotage the road.
- DirectorXiling ShenStarsDan ZhaoYang BaiBan LüFour students in Shanghai have recently finished university. All are unemployed. Xu contemplates suicide but his friend Zhao talks him out of it. Zhao lives in a shabby room with just a flimsy wall of planks separating him from the room behind. Miss Yang, in town to take a factory job, moves in behind. Her nails into the wall knock Zhao's photos down. The unseen neighbours start playing tit for tat... Zhao gets a job as proofreader at a newspaper. He sees that pretty girl on the tram to work every day. He doesn't know her, but it's Miss Yang... Zhao is assigned to cover labour conditions for the paper. He is sent to a factory, the one where Miss Yang works...
- DirectorWeibang Ma-XuStarsMenghe GuPing HuShan JinChina's first horror film, this is loosely based on The Phantom of the Opera. A disfigured musical genius roams a traditional Chinese opera house, punishing those who offend him.
- DirectorMuzhi YuanStarsDan ZhaoHeling WeiXuan ZhouIn old Shanghai, two sisters, a prostitute and a singer, tried to escape from the local scoundrels with the help of a trumpet player and a newspaper seller.
- DirectorChusheng CaiStarsLi-li LiLi QingMing JiangSet during the Orphan Island period of Shanghai, the film follows a group of revolutionary patriots-cum-assassins who finally earn the support of the suffering public.
- DirectorChusheng CaiJunli ZhengStarsYang BaiJin TaoYinyan Wu1930's China. The village of a poor family is taken over by the occupying Japanese army. One son, Zhongliang, leaves his wife and young son to join a medic group for the Chinese Army. The other son, Zhangmin goes into hiding to protect his family. The focus shifts back and forth from the brothers' parents and Zhongliang's wife and son to Zhongliang's newfound life of luxury in a town not too far away. The plight of Zhongliang's mother, his wife, Sufan and her son, Kongeson is contrasted with Zhongliang's rise in a flourishing company.
- DirectorDongshan ShiWeiyi WangStarsYang BaiJin TaoZheng GaoA college girl and a musician go to front of anti-Japanese war and fall in love.
- DirectorHu SangStarsTianliu JiangFa ZhangZhen LinAfter setting up a new company with his father-in-law's money, a man neglects his supportive wife for a seductive gold digger.
- DirectorMu FeiStarsChaoming CuiWei LiYu ShiA lonely housewife finds her monotonous life altered when her childhood sweetheart returns to town.
- DirectorFu ShenStarsMa LanYunzhu ShangguanQiaqia ShiThis tale of familial warfare and sacrifice takes place in hard-pressed Shanghai at the end of the 1940s. Hu Zhiqing can barely support his wife and children, and his situation is worsened by the unexpected arrival of his mother, brother and sister-in-law. When he is fired by his unscrupulous boss, the whole family becomes embroiled in one emotional/economic struggle after another.
- DirectorGong YanMing ZhaoStarsMo ChengLongji WangLong GongboanOn the adventures of homeless orphan Three Hairs, a street urchin fighting for survival in the 1940s.
- DirectorJunli ZhengStarsDan ZhaoYinyan WuDaolin SunA story of a corrupt party official who attempts to sell an apartment building he has appropriated from the original owner and the struggles of the tenants to prevent themselves being thrown onto the street.
- DirectorChusheng CaiWeiyi WangStarsChing LeeYing CheungSun Wong
- DirectorShilin ZhuStarsXuan ZhouShi ShuRhoqing TangSet in the Qing Dynasty, years of emperor Guangxu. Guangxu feels involuntarily like a puppet because of dowager Cixi's reigning behind the curtain. He wants to support a political reform.
- DirectorHui ShiStarsHui ShiHeling WeiYang ShenFifty years of modern Chinese history (1900-1950), including wars, revolutions and corrupt politics, as seen through the life and times of a simple Beijing policeman and his family.
- DirectorYu SunStarsDan ZhaoZongying HuangBoxun ZhouThe life-story of Wu Xun, a beggar in the Qing dynasty who set up free schools for poor children.
- DirectorChen BaiShilin ZhuStarsHsiao-Shan ChaoFei HanHua Jiang
- DirectorShilin ZhuStarsLi-Hua LiFei HanCiyu Li
- DirectorTit LeeStarsYing CheungLuquan GaoBruce Lee
- DirectorSha HuangHu SangTian-Lin WangStarsRuijuan FanYanfang JinRuiying LuFrom a famous Chinese opera, the story of The Butterfly Lovers: the attempt at romance by a young couple is thwarted by conflicts with family.
- DirectorChing DoeStarsJeanette Lin TsuiHong MuJulie Yeh Feng
- DirectorWen YiStarsGrace ChangPeter Chen HouChien-Fei ChangA woman finds out that she's adopted and sets out to find her long-lost biological mother.
- DirectorFan CenJunli ZhengStarsDan ZhaoZheng GaoNan DengSet in the middle of 19th century, in city of Guangzhou. The United Kingdom stretches her tentacles to China, the country of great antiquity. UK exports a lot of opium to the Qing Dynasty and takes away immense amount of treasure. The "resistance" and "accommodationist" groups take intense struggles in the court. The Emperor supports Lin Zexu's prohibition policy of opium and sends him to Guangzhou as a Imperial Commissioner for investigating and prohibiting opium problems.
- DirectorChoui KhouaStarsTian XieBin LinWei MaA textile store in Zhejiang province encounters a series of trouble when the Japanese invade China and the war breaks out.
- DirectorTian-Lin WangStarsGrace ChangYang ChangPo-Chien ChinGrace Chang seduces as Hong Kong's most sensual Carmen ever. The torrid passions of Bizet's famous opera gets a postmodern reading when it is transposed to the noir-like setting of Hong Kong's Wanchai district. One of the most exhilarating and energetic musicals in the Chinese language.
- DirectorSu LiStarsWanqiu HuangZongxue XiaJu-ke ZhangThis is the first musical film in China which tells the story of Liu San Jie (Liu the Third Sister), a legendary folk female singer of Zhuang minority in Guangxi Autonomous Region.
- DirectorWan LaimingCheng TangStarsYue-Feng QiuRun-Sheng FuHans AlfredsonSun Wukong, the King of the Monkeys, sets off on his first adventure to gain a worthy weapon. This earns the attention of the Jade Emperor of Heaven.
- DirectorYuen ChorStarsYin PakWood-Yau CheungLap Ban Chan
- DirectorJin XieStarsXijuan ZhuXingang WangMei XiangIn 1930s, Wu Qionghua was a housemaid of Nan-ba-tian, a cruel warlord of a village in Hainan Island, China. Often abused by her master, Qionghua was finally rescued by Hong Changqing, leader of the Red Detachment of Women - a troop of women soldiers. She joined the troop and became the Detachment leader after the death of Hong. They captivated and executed the warlord and liberated Qionghua's home village.
- DirectorNong LinStarsJie LiMoran LiXueqin PangIn 1894 the Japanese Imperial Navy provokes the Chinese navy to test defenses. Some Chinese want to make concessions while others want to fight. When Japan invades, some naval officers put up a heroic resistance.
- DirectorWeiyi WangStarsTianzong ChenKok-Fei ManMany tenants live in a same building. The landlord plots with the police chief to reconstruct the building as a club, so they press the tenants to get out. But the tenants insist on keeping their dwellings.
- DirectorTieli XieStarsDaolin SunFang XieYunzhu ShangguanJianqiu is a high school teacher and sympathizes Mrs. Wen, a widow whose husband was Jianqiu's schoolmate and died in the Guangzhou Uprising. Jianqiu and Lan fall in love, but Jianqiu decides to marry Mrs. Wen.
- DirectorJun LiStarsYangjie BaimaZhuoma ShicuiDui WangAll of Qiangba's Tibetan ancestors have been serfs. Shortly after his birth, his parents are tortured to death by serf owner Wangjie. In his teens, he becomes a household serf of Wangjie, and passes an inhuman existence. Qiangba from then on refuses to speak, showing his resistance through silence. After the PLA enters Tibet, Qiangba and female serf Landuo leave to find the PLA. Landuo is rescued by the PLA, changing her fate, but Qiangba is caught and taken back. The serf owner's son, with support from foreign imperialists, foments armed rebellion. After the rebellion is smashed, Qiangba is rescued by the PLA, and the serfs are liberated at last. Qiangba is reunited with Landuo, and begins to speak again after many years of silence.
- DirectorHsing LeeStarsWen-Wen ChangKuo-Chun ChenMing ChiangThe story of duck man Lin and his adopted daughter Hsiao-yue. Hsiao-yue knows nothing about her real descent, which Lin has been keeping secret from her. But one day, someone appears and changes her life.
- DirectorCheh ChangStarsJimmy Wang YuChiao ChiaoChung-Hsin HuangA noble swordsman, whose arm had been chopped off, returns to his former teacher to defend him from a villainous gang of rival swordsmen.
- DirectorHan Hsiang LiTsun-Shou SungStarsChun YangHsiu-Fang WuLi-Ping ChaoA young guard witnesses the corruption of the system during his first night call in the tribunal. A series of dramatic stories told by each prisoner to the judge ensues in flashbacks. The young guard has some doubt of conscience on his new job, but an elder guard who is also his uncle reassures him it's just a matter of time. The guard back home at dawn forgetting every injustice he witnessed because his wife has just given birth to a baby.
- DirectorKing HuStarsPolly Ling-Feng Shang-KuanChun ShihYing BaiWhen the children of an executed General are pursued in 1457 China, some heroic martial arts swordsmen intervene.
- DirectorHan Hsiang LiStarsAh-Lei GuaYeh TienPo-kien ChangThe winters in Northern China could become rather bitter and harsh especially if one must endure it alone. Hoping to spend his last winter in solitude, a timid man must declare his love for his sweetheart before her family forces her to be married off.
- DirectorChing-Jui PaiStarsChun-Hsiung KoAh-Lei GuaHsiang Li
- DirectorShu Shuen TongStarsLisa LuRoy ChiaoHilda Chow HsuanA woman falls in love with a visiting cavalry captain, but chooses to suppress it for the sake of her daughter.
- DirectorWei LoStarsBruce LeeNora MiaoJames TienA young man seeks vengence for the death of his teacher.
- DirectorShu Shuen TongStarsChi-Lu TsengHsiao-Ling ShawPao-Hsien FengFour college students and a doctor try to escape the Cultural Revolution.
- DirectorShan-Hsi TingStarsZhen ZhenChun-Hsiung KoSha-Li ChenGen. Cheng Tsu-chung, the "Mars of China", is held in high esteem by his Japanese counterpart, General Itagaki during Sino-Japanese war.
- DirectorMichael HuiStarsMichael HuiSamuel HuiRicky HuiThe kingpin of the Manix Private Detective Agency and his fellow detective solve cases together.
- DirectorChia-Liang LiuStarsChia-Hui LiuLieh LoYue WongA man studies kung fu at the Shaolin Temple to fight back against the oppressive Manchu government.
- DirectorAnn HuiStarsSylvia ChangAngie ChiuNorman ChuA real murder case which was complicated by the minage ' trois relationship of the victim and the main suspects. As different witnesses narrated their conflicting stories, the case seemed set to lead to nowhere; especially when the real identity of the dead person was finally discovered.
- DirectorHark TsuiStarsSiu-Ming LauMichelle YimShu-Tong WongA journalist attempting to solve a mystery in "Martial World" enlists the aid of a master fighter and a woman named Green Breeze. They go to a mysterious castle where they come across poisonous butterflies and a black-leather-clad killer.
- DirectorJin XieStarsJianlan ShiFuli WangShi Wei-JianA female Communist cadre is overcome by regret after she breaks up with her former lover attacked as a Rightist during the Anti-Rightist Campaign. Decades later, she now has the chance to rehabilitate him.
- DirectorKwok-Ming CheungStarsLun ChiaHing-Yin KamEddie ChanAn undercover cop goes deep undercover to inside one of Hong Kong's most notorious Triad gangs only to find him getting consumed by a life of crime and seediness.
- DirectorAllen FongStarsLei ShihHong ZhuWai-Man YungA young man dreamed of a career in comics and movies. But his father would rather gave up all he had in order to let him receive formal education.
- DirectorYalin LiQi ZhangStarsDanping ShenXiaoshu HeHailian YangAfter the suicide of a sister involved in a premarital scandal, a young village girl becomes wary of men. She falls in love with a young man intent on revitalizing their village through cultivating orchards.
- DirectorYi ChangI-Chen KoTe-chen TaoStarsEmily Y. ChangSylvia ChangChi ChenFour short films from four different directors, spanning from the 1950s to the 1980s.
- DirectorAnn HuiStarsGeorge LamCora MiaoSeason MaA Japanese photojournalist revisits Vietnam after the Liberation and learns harsh truths about its regime and its "New Economic Zones".
- DirectorYigong WuStarsJie ShenMin ZhangFengyi ZhangYingzi is a young, impressionable girl living on the southern side of Beijing in the late 1920s. Encountering people in the city, she tries to understand how people are really like inside through her own eyes.
- DirectorJackie ChanSammo Kam-Bo HungStarsJackie ChanSammo Kam-Bo HungBiao YuenFighting against pirates at the turn of the 20th century, the Hong Kong navy are failing miserably. It's up to Sergeant Lung (Jackie Chan) to take matters into his own hands.
- DirectorAllen FongStarsKwok-Lam ChaChi-Hung ChangMing-Cheung ChinWhen romance starts to cool, Ah Ying applies for a job in a film centre. Instead of paying her for her work, the centre lets her attend its classes for free. She is later drawn into a relationship with her teacher. Based on the life of its leading actress, Hui So Ying, and using non-professionals, the film is a realistic portrayal of contemporary Hong Kong life.
- DirectorJunzhao ZhangStarsDaoming ChenXiaoyan LuZeru TaoSet in the Anti-Japanese War, an instructor who used to be an undercover at the enemy-occupied area. He is set up by a spy and could not prove his innocence.
- DirectorKun-Hou ChenStarsChun-Fang ChangFu-Sheng TsuiDoze NiuThe story follows a young man as he changes from an intelligently aware youth, to a teenager with much less confidence than he once had, and finally, to a stable adult.
- DirectorHsiao-Hsien HouChuang-Hsiang TsengJen WanStarsBor-Jeng ChenLi-Yin YangKuo-Feng TsengThree vignettes from three different directors that tell stories of ordinary people during Taiwan's Cold War period.
- DirectorHsiao-Hsien HouStarsChi-Kuang WangShu-Chen LiHsiu-Ling LinA coming-of-age story about a young brother and sister who spend a pivotal summer in the country with their grandparents.
- DirectorYou-Ning LeeStarsYueh SunChun-Fang ChangJen-Lei ChenStory of Lao Mo, a Taiwanese veteran who does not want to live a lonely life as an old man.
- DirectorHo YimStarsJosephine KooSiqin GaowaWeixiang XieCoral, a Hong Kong woman tortured by city life, returns to her hometown to visit her two old friends. They all find that some precious things in life that disappear through the years can never be recovered.
- DirectorJohnny MakStarsJing ChenLung ChiangLing ChowFour men sneak into Hong Kong to rob a jewelry store. Before the robbery, they're hired by a local triad to kill a man, who turns out to be a cop. They have to execute the heist while hiding from the police hunting them down.
- DirectorKaige ChenStarsXueqi WangBai XueQuiang LiuA communist soldier travels to Shanbei to collect folk songs for propaganda while visiting a poor peasant family, giving hope to the teenage daughter in escaping an arranged marriage.
- DirectorHsiao-Hsien HouStarsChia-bao ChangNeng ChangChih-Chen ChenThe semi-autobiographical film on director Hou Hsiao-Hsien's childhood and adolescence, when he was growing up in Taiwan, living through the deaths of his father, mother and grandmother.
- DirectorJianxin HuangStarsZifeng LiuMing GaoGerhard OlschewskiEngineer Zhao Shuxin likes playing chess a lot. Once during his business trip, he loses a black cannon chessman which leads to unexpected consequences for him.
- DirectorXueshu YanStarsYuan DuLin PaiYuzhen QiuThe story of two brothers who are faced with great upheavals when they set up in business after years of communal farming.
- DirectorJohn WooStarsLung TiLeslie CheungChow Yun-FatA reforming ex-gangster tries to reconcile with his estranged policeman brother, but the ties to his former gang are difficult to break.
- DirectorEdward YangStarsCora MiaoLi-Chun LeeShih-Chieh KingA metaphysical mystery about the lives of three couples in Taipei that continually intersect over a span of several weeks.
- DirectorZhuangzhuang TianPeicheng PanStarsRigzin TseshangJiji DanDaibaA Tibetan man struggles to provide for his family.
- DirectorTian-Ming WuStarsYujing LiangYuqing LiaoLiping LüA married village worker teams up with an old girlfriend to try to dig a well for his water-starved village. The well collapses and they are trapped. Their enforced confinement leads to them exploring their feelings for each other and those around them.
- DirectorYimou ZhangStarsGong LiWen JiangRujun TengWhen a leprous winery owner in 1930s China dies a few days after his arranged marriage, his young widow is forced to run the winery to make a living while contending with bandits, her drunkard lover, and the invading Japanese army.
- DirectorSiu-Tung ChingStarsLeslie CheungJoey WangWu MaAfter a string of bad luck, a debt collector has no other choice than to spend the night in a haunted temple, where he encounters a ravishing female ghost and later battles to save her soul from the control of a wicked tree demon.
- DirectorRingo LamStarsChow Yun-FatYueh SunDanny LeeAn undercover cop infiltrates a gang of thieves who plan to rob a jewelry store.
- DirectorKar-Wai WongStarsAndy LauMaggie CheungJacky CheungMid-level gangster Wah falls in love with his beautiful cousin, but must also continue to protect his volatile partner-in-crime and friend, Fly.
- DirectorStanley KwanStarsLeslie CheungAnita MuiAlex ManFleur is the blue angel in one of Hong Kong's "flower houses" - bordellos and night clubs of the 1930s. A detached and beautiful performer, she falls in love with Twelfth Master Chan, heir to a chain of pharmacies. They agree to a suicide pact. 50 years later, in modern Hong Kong, Fleur's ghost appears in Yuen's newspaper office, wanting to place an ad to find Chan, who never arrived in the afterlife. Yuen, and his equally bewildered girlfriend, An Chor, are captivated by Fleur and her story.
- DirectorHsiao-Hsien HouStarsTony Leung Chiu-waiShu-Fen HsinSung-Young ChenThe story of a family embroiled in the "White Terror" that was wrought on the Taiwanese people by the Kuomintang government after their arrival from mainland China in the late 1940s.
- DirectorPing HeStarsWei GaoMana ZhaoJiang ChangA teenage lad arrives at Double Flag Town to claim his betrothed bride, when he encounters a group of outlaws and kills one of them. A vendetta is expected.
- DirectorStanley KwanStarsMaggie CheungHan ChinTony Ka Fai LeungBiopic of 1930s Chinese actress Lingyu Ruan.
- DirectorEdward YangStarsChang ChenLisa YangKuo-Chu ChangBased on a true story, primarily on a conflict between two youth gangs, a 14-year-old boy's girlfriend conflicts with the head of one gang for an unclear reason, until finally the conflict comes to a violent climax.
- DirectorAng LeeStarsSihung LungLai WangBozhao WangAll the while, Master Chu tries to find his place in the foreign American world.
- DirectorYimou ZhangStarsGong LiPeiqi LiuLiuchun YangA peasant woman seeks justice after the headman of her village has kicked her husband in the groin.
- DirectorKaige ChenStarsLeslie CheungFengyi ZhangGong LiTwo boys meet at an opera training school in Peking in 1924. Their resulting friendship will span nearly 70 years and endure some of the most troublesome times in China's history.
- DirectorAng LeeStarsWinston ChaoMay ChinAh-Lei GuaTo satisfy his nagging parents, a gay landlord and a female tenant agree to a marriage of convenience, but his parents arrive to visit and things get out of hand.
- DirectorYing NingStarsZongluo HuangWenjie HuangShanxu HanA charming story of a group of senior citizens who set up a Peking Opera club in hopes of finding revitalization through singing and dancing.
- DirectorJianxin HuangYazhou YangStarsZhenhua NiuKesheng LeiQiang LiWang Shuangli is Deputy Director of the local Cultural Centre, and hopes to be appointed Director. However Old Ma is brought in from the country and installed as Director. This starts a long train of events with Wang's cronies using the bureaucracy to try to oust the new director. At home, Wang has problems because his father wants Wang to have a son to carry on the family name. However, because of the one-child policy, Wang cannot have any more children unless his young daughter is certified infirm.
- DirectorWen JiangStarsYu XiaWei ChenShaobo DaiBeijing, 1970s. Now that the CR has driven most adults to the provinces, 14-year-old Monkey and his pals have free reign over the city. They hang around, get up to no good, and discover that unsolvable mystery referred to as "girls."
- DirectorKar-Wai WongStarsBrigitte LinTakeshi KaneshiroTony Leung Chiu-waiTwo melancholic Hong Kong policemen fall in love: one with a mysterious female underworld figure, the other with a beautiful and ethereal waitress at a late-night restaurant he frequents.
- DirectorPeter Ho-Sun ChanStarsMaggie CheungLeon LaiEric TsangTwo Chinese-mainlanders living in Hong Kong form a close friendship. Over the years this grows into love, but there are obstacles.
- DirectorFruit ChanStarsSam LeeNeiky Hui-Chi YimWenders LiAutumn Moon (Sam Lee), a low-rent triad living in Hong Kong, struggles to find meaning in his hopelessly violent existence.