The Inspector General

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.

1955-01-01 | zh

For Love Alone

Teresa is a spirited young girl chafing under the oppressive attitudes of 1930s society, and her father in particular. She fancies her poverty-stricken Latin tutor Johnathan Crow, without realising he merely considers her a pleasant diversion and nothing more, and eventually follows him from Sydney to London. En route she meets the gentle banker James Quick. Whilst navigating her relationships in London, including with a political poet bound for the Spanish Civil War, she experiences a transformation in her understanding of love. Based upon Christina Stead's best-selling Australian novel.

1986-05-22 | en

Daisy Miller

Despite mixed emotions, Frederick Winterbourne tries to figure out the bright and bubbly Daisy Miller, only to be helped and hindered by false judgments from their fellow friends.

1974-05-22 | en

Autumn

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.

1954-01-17 | cn

Oshidori kenkagasa

1957-05-22 | ja

Spring

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.

1953-12-22 | cn

Torrents of Spring

Sojourning in Macau, Su Erning by chance helps Pan Meiniang resuscitate his younger brother and fends off the thug. In her admiration, Pan calls off the engagement arranged by her mother to exchange vows with Su despite having known him for only three days. To raise the money for the wedding, Su plans to sell his family yacht to the rich wife of his classmate Lu Zuhua in Hong Kong and promises to buy Pan a pearl necklace. The promiscuous Mrs Lu seduces Su on the yacht and then dumps him. 18 years later, Pan's daughter is getting married. Su prepares a wedding gift—a stolen pearl necklace—for the bride but is too ashamed to show himself.

1960-01-21 | cn

Jons und Erdme

Adaptation of Hermann Sudermann's novel about the troubled relationship between the strong willed Erdme and her irascible husband Jons in the Lithunian moors.

1959-03-04 | de

Luz, Câmera, 50 Anos: Presença de Anita - O Filme

Adapted from the series aired in 2001. Looking for inspiration during the holidays, Nando sees Anita as the ideal character for his novel. She lives in a townhouse where a passionate crime happened in the past. Intense, Anita seduces Nando and awakens to

2015-01-10 | pt

Family

"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.

1953-01-07 | cn

Oliver Twist

When 9-year-old orphan Oliver Twist dares to ask his cruel taskmaster, Mr. Bumble, for a second serving of gruel, he's hired out as an apprentice. Escaping that dismal fate, young Oliver falls in with the street urchin known as the Artful Dodger and his criminal mentor, Fagin. When kindly Mr. Brownlow takes Oliver in, Fagin's evil henchman Bill Sikes plots to kidnap the boy.

1933-02-28 | en

The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire

An actress, three months post-partum, reads through fragments of the archive of Suzanne Césaire as she prepares to perform excerpts of the writer's work.

2025-07-18 | en

The Chair

After inheriting his father's estate, Cheung Ka-bo leads a life of debauchery after getting know Blackie Yuen, who profits at others' expense, and Yee-Wah, who working at a night club. As the family wealth diminishes, he always squabbles with his wife and finally separates from her. She returns a diamond bracelet, kept by Uncle Chan, to her mother-in-law. Bo's mother hides the bracelet in a chair. Later, Wah resides at Bo's home. To flatter Wah, Bo wants to get the bracelet by any means from his mother and give it to Wah. Later, Bo's mother falls ill. In the hospital, she tells Bo of the bracelet's whereabouts but the chair has already been sold to Uncle Chan by Wah. Bo, Wah and Yuen stealthily enter Chan's home to get the chair, but have a big fight when they try to take the bracelet. Knowing that Bo has huge debts, Wah intends to leave him after getting the bracelet. Wah exposes her gluttonous self in her pursuit of the treasure. Bo learns his lesson and returns to his wife.

1959-10-14 | cn

Wuthering Heights

Mistreated foundling Heathcliff and his stepsister Catherine fall in love, but when she marries a wealthy man, he becomes obsessed with getting revenge, even well into the next generation. [Originally aired on CBS's DuPont Show of the Month.]

1958-05-09 | en

The Girl in the Bus

Bus Money dons various disguises on public buses to protect the defenceless from the bullies and receives heroic praise. Money meets Tai Ngau, a righteous journalist, when they bear witness to the callous response of Manager Mo to the death of his servant Ah-kwai. Tai writes to redress grievances of the deceased. When visiting the family of orphans, he chances on his kindred spirit giving the eldest daughter Ah-yin a gift of gold. Money exploits the weakness of Mo and her connection with his son Sze-fu to swindle a fortune out of the lewd man for the benefits of the fatherless children. Her rage grows learning that Mo's friend Fong Hak-sang has pulled off a lucrative fraud on returned overseas Chinese and forces Ah-yin to pledge herself in paying off her father's debts. Money, who has all kinds of tricks up her sleeve, teams up with Tai and gives Mo and Fong their comeuppance before setting off on her next mission.

1965-09-29 | cn

The Witty Bus Girl

Industrialist Tam Kar-cheung knowingly puts the lives of his workers at risk so as to line his pocket with insurance payments. The chivalrous Bus Money gets into fisticuffs with Tam's chauffeur, Tam Biu, who bears a grudge against the assailant. When Money catches wind of Kar-cheung's vicious plot to set fire to a squatter area to clear the path for a property development project, she moves in and watches vigilantly for signs of arson. Soon, she saves Ah-hau, Biu's girlfriend and a young victim of drug rape, from her suicidal attempt by drowning. Money pursues fragments of clues which lead her to the victim's boss, Taipan Cheung who sucks up to his master Kar-cheung by drawing his prey to her trap. Money then organises squatter residences into fire brigade to guard against arson attacks and exposes Kar-cheung's evil. Realising he has been exploited for his blind loyalty, Biu teams up with Money to dispense justice.

1966-02-09 | cn

The Judgment

Adapted from the short story by Franz Kafka, The Judgment is a psychological drama exploring themes of alienation, memory, and the lines between fantasy and reality. The film follows Georg Bendemann, a young merchant living 1900s Prague, who is struggling to maintain balance in an ever changing world. As his situation deteriorates due to complicated familial relationships, we are compelled to question the very nature of what we are seeing.

2016-04-24 | en

The Woman from Sarajevo

The adaptation of a lesser known novel by Nobelist Ivo Andric, which describes the life of a spinster who was overwhelmed by a single passion: avarice.

1980-07-02 | sh

The Wonderful Partner

Wong Chat is jobless. He is forced to become a burglar. He breaks into Han Siu-yu and her boyfriend Cheung Wai-lim's home, but it is just the time when they return. Wong hides in the closet. He eavesdrops that Han and Cheung are a couple, but Han is forced to become the tycoon Chan Koon-kau's mistress for a living. Suddenly, Chan returns, and Cheung hides into the closet too. Wong and Cheung meet in the closet and become friends. Wong is righteous and promises to help Han to escape from Chan's control. Wong and his neighbour Yeung Oi-lin disguise themselves as a pair of Singaporean rich couple and attend a banquet at Chan's home. They want to steal back the document that Chan threatens Han with. But they also find evidence of Chan's drug trafficking. When Chan find out about the stolen document, he confines Cheung and Han and kidnaps Wong's children. But Wong refuses to surrender. During their confrontation, the cops arrive after being informed by Yeung and arrests Chan on the spot.

1960-07-14 | cn

Resurrection

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.

1955-04-01 | cn