A charitable childhood deed holds fateful consequences for poor Pip. An anonymous benefactor paves the way for Pip’s transformation and subsequent social ascent from peasant boy to gentleman. But he soon finds out that life among the upper-classes is no bed of roses, and Pip encounters a number of characters who shape his life for the better, and for the worse. (Stumfilm.dk)
After ten happy childhood years, the life of David Copperfield takes an obscure turn. His mother passes away and a cruel stepfather crushes young Copperfield’s dreams and sends him to work in London. From here, the poor soul must fend for himself. Through the hard school of life, he experiences fun and tragedy, love and heartache, friendship, and deception, until he finally rediscovers his place with a dear friend from his happy childhood days. (stumfilm.dk)
The Bread Peddler is a 1923 French silent drama film directed by René Le Somptier and starring Suzanne Desprès, Gabriel Signoret and Geneviève Félix. It is based on Xavier de Montépin's novel of the same title.
The deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House causes murder and mayhem in an attempt to make the woman he loves a star.
An adaptation of Madame Bovary transported to Rye, New York in the 1930's. All characters have been renamed.
An orphan boy in 1830s London is abused in a workhouse, then falls into the clutches of a gang of thieves.
In 19th century Russia a woman in a respectable marriage to a senior statesman must grapple with her love for a dashing soldier.
The sequel to the 1935 film Great Bodhisattva Pass
Diaochan (aka Diau Charn and Sable Cicada), one of the Four Beauties of China, is supposed to be so stunningly lovely that the moon was shamed to hide behind clouds. Despite being the only Beauty among the four who is not a real historical figure but one conjured by storytelling imagination and embellished by public fascination, her story was nonetheless incorporated by author Luo Guangzhong into his popular and influential novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Her tale is one of Machiavellian intrigue, in which she schemes with her godfather Wang Yun to restore moral order to the land, sowing discord between the corrupt Minister Dong Zhuo and his adopted son Lu Bu, a man of martial and military prowess.
Two neighbours with similar names, Paweł and Gaweł, meet a violinist girl Violetta who pretends to be a child. When Paweł learns she's not a child anymore, he falls in love with her. And vice versa.
Following a tragic accident that leaves him disfigured, crazed composer Erique Claudin transformed into a masked phantom who schemes to make beautiful young soprano Christine Dubois the star of the opera and wreak revenge on those who stole his music.
Showing off his love of visual aesthetics as a painter, director Dan Duyu combines elegance, exoticism and oddity into a grand big-budget package with New Arabian Nights. Dan's vision is definitely not bound by the source material, but his magical and music-filled version of the orient turns out to be not so different from how Western storytellers would imagine it.
Mok Ming moves into Po Tak-yan’s old mansion. Po's mistress, the songstress Tsi Law-heung, has died in it. Her spirit haunts the mansion as she is unburied. Mok sees her ghost and notes that she resembles his late wife Kit-ching. Mok dreams that his wife has possessed Tsi's body in return. Mok asks Uncle Tak to take him to the coffin. Tsi resurrects as Kit-ching. Mok accepts that his wife has returned from death, but he is suspicious. He brings her to a nightclub, where they chance upon Po and his mistress, Chan Mei-chu. Po is suspicious. Mok explained that his wife has returned through Tsi's body. Two reporters are there and the news is reported in the papers. To resolve his suspicions, Po goes to the old mansion. He meets Mok, his “wife,” and Uncle Tak. The wife denies that she is Tsi. Po retrieves a pistol and goes to confront the woman. Mok intervenes. In the struggle, Po falls down the railing to his death, but Tsi is shot. Now it is time for her to tell Mok of her past.
"Family" (1953), which launched the Union Film legacy, "Spring" (1953) and "Autumn" (1954) are adaptations of Ba Jin's highly regarded novel "Torrent Trilogy". In "Family", director Ng Wui skilfully condenses the voluminous first part of the novel into an emotionally powerful and intellectually focused story of youngsters struggling to survive oppression and repression in a feudalistic family. This well-received film quickly established the company's reputation.
Ko Suk-ying is saddened over her arranged marriage as manipulated by her father Hak-ming. Ko Kok-sun's Cousin Chow Wai's spends the Mid-Autumn Festival before her marriage with the Kos. She has been in love with Sun. Sun finds out about her love for him when she is about to be married off, he is too weak to oppose to Wai's betrothal to another man. Sun's son, Hoi-sun, falls ill. Fearing the displeasure of his elders, Sun dares not consult a western doctor.
Meanwhile, another dispute arises among members of the family over the ancestral land. When accused of being incompetent in his management, Sun takes the blame silently. Wai dies of grief while Hoi-sun becomes a victim of mistreatment. Sun is devastated at this double blow.
Hak-ming instructs Sun to arrange for Ying's wedding. Knowing the kind of man Ying's fiancee is, Sun is reluctant. Not wanting to follow in Wai's footsteps, Ying fights for her own rights, and backed by an enlightened Sun, she leaves for a new start.
Hak-ming heads the Ko Family, but he and his brothers, Hak-ting and Hak-on, and the second wife of the late Master Ko quarrel. Young Cousin Mui, who has tuberculosis, is forced by to marry an older woman. Kok-sun is guilty of being unable to stop the marriage. Sun and maid Chui-wan are wary of their feelings for each other due to class difference. Cousin Mui dies of illness. Hak-ting has his eyes on Wan. His wife, Wong, complains to their daughter, Shuk-ching, who cannot take it and commits suicide. Wong blames herself for her death. Undergone these tragedies, Cousin Kam's mother let Kam have a modern wedding with Kok-man. When Ming is ill, Ting and On want to sell the ancestral home. Hak-ming dies of angst. When the fifth uncle of Sun forces Wan to be his concubine, Wan tries to kill herself but is intercepted by Sun. Pressurised by people of the house over the issue of inheritance, Sun protests by declaring his love for Wan and leaves the family, with his mother, brother Man and Wan.
Nikolai Gogol's The Inspector General is a satire play well-known around the world. In the period between the end of World War II and the 1960s, the play was adapted in Hong Kong cinema a total of six times. Director Huang Yu alone adapted it twice, as a Republic era story and a period comedy, respectively. The 1955 Republic era-set film is more faithful to its source material, following a spoiled rich brat who is mistaken as a government inspector in a small town and ends up being wined and dined by a corrupted local official. The film pokes fun at the ugliness of bureaucracy in old society, calling back to renowned Qing Dynasty novel Officialdom Unmasked while keeping the original play's artistic style.
Rascal To Chai-yan brings a false charge of selling fake medicine against doctor Fan Tin-sang, who is sentented to a twenty-year imprisonment. Fan makes an escape after a decade, and secretly provides for the education of his son Fuk-kwan brought up by a poor blacksmith. Fuk-kwan grows up to be a doctor practising in the country. To again does harm to Fuk-kwan, only this time Fan intervenes. Both he and To die in the fight.
Ah Hing is made pregnant by her master Fan Chun-kit. Fan soon leaves for his studies overseas while Ah Hing suffers gross prosecution and is reduced to becoming a prostitute. In a momentary slip of a struggle, Ah Hing commits manslaughter. Now a qualified lawyer, Fan acquits Ah Hing of the charge, and intends to marry her to redeem his negligence in the past. Ah Hing, however, is determined to pursue an independent life.
A university professor, confident that everything which occurs in life has a rational explanation, finds his beliefs severely challenged when he awakens horrors beyond human understanding. A decade before the BBC's version of MR James' supernatural classic came this chilling version from the North Downs Cinematograph Society.