Assistance eliminating non-HK films required

[Mike Thomason]

In an attempt to fine-tune my lists of Hong Kong films for review inclusion on my eventual Asian movie review website, I am looking at weeding out productions that weren't HK productions at all (ie: Taiwan, Philippines, China etc).

List Number 1 comes from the 1985 production year, and titles I have compiled are as follows:

Affectionately Yours (1985)
City Hero (1985)
Cop Busters (1985)
Cop Of The Town (1985)
Crazy Romance (1985)
Crazy Shaolin Disciple (1985)
Cupid One (1985)
Curse (1985)*
Dead Curse (1985)*
Disciple Of 36th Chamber (1985)
Flying Mr. B, The (1985)
For Your Heart Only (1985)
Funny Triple (1985)
Girl With The Diamond Slipper, The (1985)
Happy Ghost II (1985)
Heart Of Dragon (1985)
Heroes Of Tsim Sha Tsui (1985)
Illegal Immigrant, The (1985)
Intellectual Trio, The (1985)
Island, The (1985)*
Isle Of Fantasy, The (1985)
It’s A Drink, It’s A Bomb! (1985)
Killing In The Nude (1985)*
Kung Hei Fat Choy (1985)
Let’s Have A Baby (1985)
Let’s Make Laugh II (1985)
Mismatched Couple (1985)
Mr. Boo Meets Pom Pom (1985)
Mr. Vampire (1985)
My Lucky Stars (1985)
My Name Ain’t Suzie (1985)
Night Caller (1985)
Police Story (1985)
Protector, The (1985)*
Puppy Love (1985)
Seven Angels (1985)
Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars (1985)
Unforgettable Fantasy (1985)
Unwritten Law, The (1985)
Why Me? (1985)
Working Class (1985)
Yes, Madam! (1985)

Titles I believe are NOT pure-bred HK productions have been marked with an asterisk (which, the case of The Protector is a definite as the film was a US production). All help in whittling my current lists down will be greatly appreciated -- the next list will be 1986, and so on.

Thanks in advance,
Mike

[calros]

Heroes Of Tsim Sha Tsui (1985) What film is this? Is an alias? Where? Who? When?

[Mike Thomason]

Heroes Of Tsim Sha Tsui (1985) What film is this? Is an alias? Where? Who? When?

You mean you don't know? I'm amazed...

As usual, though, slow going on a response to my original query...

...but from what I've been able to ascertain, The Curse and Dead Curse are not true HK movies -- being that they're part of the useless series of "Sorcery" films the late Kwan Hoi Sang made (which were SE Asian pick-ups with insert material shot in HK, or maybe even cobbled together in Taiwan...who knows? Who cares?). The Island was a D & B Films production, so that's off the hook. The aforementioned The Protector is scotched as it's a US production. I'm fairly certain that Lee Tso Nam's Killing In The Nude was a Taiwanese production, so that's out too. Thus, that's pretty much this round solved....next, 1986...

[Mike Thomason]

Round two: 1986 (suspects marked with an asterisk, per usual)

100 Ways To Murder Your Wife (1986)
Aces Go Places IV (1986)
Better Tomorrow, A (1986)
Bloody Sorcery (1986)*
Brotherhood (1986)
Caper (1986)
Dream Lovers (1986)
Escape from Coral Cove (1986)*
Evil Cat (1986)
From Here To Prosperity (1986)
Fury Of The Heaven (1986)*
Ghost Snatchers, The (1986)
Goodbye Mammy (1986)
Happy Din Don (1986)
Happy Ghost III (1986)
Hearty Response, A (1986)
Heroes Shed No Tears (1986)
Immortal Story (1986)*
Innocent Interloper, The (1986)
Inspector Chocolate (1986)
Last Emperor, The (1986)
Last Song In Paris (1986)*
Law Enforcer, The (1986)
Legacy Of Rage (1986)
Love Unto Waste (1986)
Lucky Stars Go Places (1986)
Lunatics, The (1986)
Magic Crystal (1986)
Martial Arts Of Shaolin (1986)
Midnight Girls (1986)
Millionaire’s Express, The (1986)
Mr. Vampire Part II (1986)
Naughty Boys (1986)
New Mr. Vampire (1986)
Paper Marriage (1986)
Passion (1986)*
Peking Opera Blues (1986)
Pom Pom Strikes Back (1986)
Righting Wrongs (1986)
Rosa (1986)
Rose (1986)*
Royal Warriors (1986)
Seventh Curse, The (1986)
Silent Love (1986)
Soul (1986)
Story Of Dr. Sun Yat Sen, The (1986)
Strange Bedfellow, The (1986)
Tongs: A Chinatown Story (1986)
True Colours (1986)
Walking Beside Me (1986)
Where’s Officer Tuba? (1986)
Why Why Tell Me Why (1986)
Witch from Nepal (1986)

The Yonfan and Sylvia Chang films are pretty much automatically disqualified, as they're Taiwanese productions -- but let's see if there's some feedback this time directly concerning the subject at hand.

[Brian Thibodeau]

As usual, though, slow going on a response to my original query...

Yikes! It must be so difficult not being able to find good help nowadays...

but let's see if there's some feedback this time directly concerning the subject at hand.

I know I'll get probably get a:roll: for this, but my question is very much related to the subject at hand, which is the inclusion or possible non-inclusion of these movies into your website. And since I'm genuinely intrigued about the launch of this project, I'm curious if these films—some of which seem to be classics regardless of their point of origin/funding, etc.—will still rate inclusion, perhaps in a "not officially Hong Kong films" or a "these don't count, but here they are anyways" sidebar type thing. Or must they be fully excluded because they're only tangentially related to HK cinema, if at all? Personally, I'd be interested in reading your final thoughts on them someday (moreso than knowing their lineage, I'm afraid! But you probably already knew that! ), so it seems a shame they might be ignored completely, not that I'm automatically assuming that will happen. Just wonderin' is all...

Best of luck in your research, nonetheless. (and I promise to leave this thread to those, if any, better able to venture into this topic in a satisfactory way! )

[Mike Thomason]

As usual, though, slow going on a response to my original query...

Yikes! It must be so difficult not being able to find good help nowadays...

Indeed it is, indeed it is... I had hoped coming back to the place where we have so many experts working on the DB might prompt some speedy replies -- but I guess everyone's not as able in this area as I thought they might have been. It was worth a try, though...

...perhaps in a "not officially Hong Kong films" or a "these don't count, but here they are anyways" sidebar type thing. Or must they be fully excluded because they're only tangentially related to HK cinema, if at all? Personally, I'd be interested in reading your final thoughts on them someday (moreso than knowing their lineage, I'm afraid! But you probably already knew that! )...

Bingo! As I've already allocated partitions of the site to HK, (South) Korean and Thai films, there is an "overspill" generic Asian section that can accommodate everything else (ie: Taiwanese, Singaporean, Mainland Chinese, Malaysian, Indonesian, Japanese, etc). You (well, everyone here really) knows me by now and the expectation is for me to be a stickler for accuracy -- I have no intention of placing Mainland, Taiwanese, Korean, Filippino or other direct-point-of-origin titles in the Hong Kong section if they do not belong there. Hong Kong born and bred ONLY in the HK section of my eventual site, I'm afraid! Everything else will fall into into a more "generic" home (but they'll be labelled accordingly).

Hope that answers the question? As always, discourse appreciated!

[Mike Thomason]

Y'know, even though this topic has been slow-going if almost non-existant in response (maybe folks don't like the idea that may so-called Hong Kong movies aren't actually from Hong Kong?) I've come to realise something from a reflective position...

As much as fans, critics and film journalists alike often bemoan the fact that Hong Kong doesn't produce as many films as it used to, I can honestly see that, personally, there has perhaps only been a small downturn in productions from Hong Kong over the last couple of decades. The fact of the matter is, over the last couple of decades and as information became more accessible thanks to the internet (instead of people like myself doing much leg-work that harboured a significant margin for error in the early days), many titles identified as Hong Kong movies have proven in actuality NOT to be Hong Kong movies at all. Many of the surrounding Asian regions outside of Hong Kong, like Taiwan, imported HK talent (both in front and behind the camera) to manufacture movies in the HK style as that was what sold commercially and internationally in the day. With the new Millennium, and since times have changed dramatically, it's now far easier to prove the origins of many films and essentially disspel them as bonafide HK productions.

In hindsight, I don't think there was ever really a time where HK produced in excess of 200 films a year -- it was probably more akin to just on, or slightly over, the 100 mark. In recent years that figure has dropped to below 80 films a year, but that's still a high output when you take into consideration just how small Hong Kong really is.

[Brian Thibodeau]

In hindsight, I don't think there was ever really a time where HK produced in excess of 200 films a year -- it was probably more akin to just on, or slightly over, the 100 mark. In recent years that figure has dropped to below 80 films a year, but that's still a high output when you take into consideration just how small Hong Kong really is.

I used to wonder about the statistics that placed Hong Kong's film production in something like third place behind India and the States. Was that ever really true? I mean, even 80 films a year from a city is impressive, but I'm certain I've read sources (books? magazines? web? can't even remember now) that used to claim Hong Kong, at it's peak, churned out something like 300 or 400 movies a year, and I always found that difficult to believe. Having now realized all these years later just how easily some non-Hong Kong movies are given the "Made in Hong Kong" label, I seriously have to wonder if that is what actually led to these (possibly???) inflated figures. Perhaps people in those difficult-to-do-research days simply noted a predominantly Hong Kong cast, crew, locations, etc. and made the honest mistake of assuming that's where it originated? Obviously, I'm speculating at all this because simply watching the movies is more my thing, but I've always wondered. Any thoughts?

Y'know, even though this topic has been slow-going if almost non-existant in response (maybe folks don't like the idea that may so-called Hong Kong movies aren't actually from Hong Kong?) I've come to realise something from a reflective position...

I can't speak for others, but I know I'm not personally bothered by the fact that many supposed Hong Kong movies aren't really from Hong Kong (even when they're set there! ), and I don't even mind if info about them is included in the DB, but your original lists above have posed a bit of a puzzler to me from day one, something I'm hoping you can clear up for me!

Were ALL the titles on your above lists suspect at one time—even stuff like Police Story, Yes Madam, etc.? Are they still? There's a few titles on both of your lists that I have (probably ignorantly yes ), assumed were Hong Kong productions, if only because of cast, crew, location, production companies etc. Though I'm admittedly not much of a money trail follower—especially when, as you say, the info hasn't exactly been easily accessible over the years—I'm genuinely intrigued as to how you came to compile your lists, or what made you initially suspect that some fairly famous films might not HK productions.

As an example, I'll use NAUGHTY BOYS, not a personal fave, but one which I like to haul out for its action scenes from time to time (although it's been awhile). The one thing I can't remember about it at the moment is where it was filmed, so please forgive my temporary ignorance it that's exactly what might exclude it as a HK film, but otherwise, I do recall a largely Hong Kong-based cast and crew, including its rather famous producer. So was this a case of the money coming from another country keeping the film from being an honest HK production? Or has this film been properly included in the HK canon already and if so, what promptedit to be added to the list?

Sorry for so many questions so long after the original post. Figured it wouldn't hurt to know why at least one person here was leery of taking a shot!