Good Fortune of a Fool (1963)
Reviewed by: dleedlee on 2004-05-11
An elaborate storyline and a stellar cast make this an extra enjoyable romp. Basically, Fong (Lam Fung) comes to Hong Kong to find her long lost father and is robbed and swindled upon her arrival. She has nowhere to turn but to Shi/Sze and Yau (Wu Fung and Leung Sing Bo) who befriended her earlier. Fung joins the two at their rooming house run by an amourous landland while Sze and Yau take odd jobs to support themselves. Dai Fei (Cheng Kwun Min) and Ming (Law Lan) pose as Fung’s parents and try to profit by selling her off in marriage. This film is another reminder of how lovely Law Lan looked in her youth. The comedic sketches of Sze and Yau as hotel clerks, barber shop attendants and musicians are low brow but still entertaining, though I didn’t care for the cooking scene.

Yue Ming (looking incredibly like Elvis Costello) plays a conniving fellow roomer with four wives who also woos the landlady. Lee Pang Fei plays Fong’s real father and Yung Yuk Yi (the battle axe of many a marital arts film) is Fong’s mother. Chang Chor Lam can barely be seen dancing in the background at the club scene with Ko Lo Chuen as the prospective groom for Fong. Cheongsam wearing Chan Lap Bun (NOT playing a servant for once) is a scam artist who separates Fong from her money.


One thing that puzzled me is that Sai Gwa Pau is listed in the credits and his picture is shown in the end credit but nowhere to be found in the film. I assume a scene with him must have been cut from the vcd I viewed. The horror, the horror.
Reviewer Score: 7