50th Anniversary of Shaw Brothers

[GeneChing]

Nothing warms my heart like seeing that SB shield logo at the beginning of a movie.

Celestial lines up Shaw retrospective
Swordsmen and courtesans to kick forth during 14 screenings
By Karen Chu
Sept 25, 2009, 03:50 AM ET

HONG KONG -- A retrospective of Shaw Brothers films will commence in Hong Kong in October to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the legendary studio.

Organized by Celestial Pictures, the owner of the 760-title Shaw Brothers film library, the festival will open with director Li Han-Hsiang’s 1963 costume musical tragedy “The Love Eterne” on October 1.

In spite of the fact that the recently revitalized Shaw Brothers studio is not involved in the festivities, the “Shaw Brothers Film Festival” will showcase 14 classic films the studio produced during its 1960-70 heyday, all in digitally restored versions, including Li Han-Hsiang’s winner of the 6th Asia Film Festival, “The Kingdom and the Beauty," martial arts and kungfu classics such as Chang Cheh’s “One-Armed Swordsman," King Hu’s “Come Drink with Me," Liu Chia-Liang’s “The 36th Chamber of Shaolin," historical drama “The Empress Dowager," and the then-controversial erotic melodrama “Intimate Confessions of A Chinese Courtesan."

The retrospective will be held from October 1-7 and October 15-21.

[SC36DC]

Nothing warms my heart like seeing that SB shield logo at the beginning of a movie.

I know exactly how you feel.

[Li Kao]

Sounds like a nice celebration. I share your sentiments as well Gene -- that old SB logo is ingrained permanently in my mind as well, and I will always count those old late-night flicks as the catalyst that led to my life-long obsession with martial arts.

[DRAGONSIHING]

They are forever ingrained in my brain. spent many a time at midnight showing of these films back in the seventies. Have collected some on Dvd and starting one just brings back a good feeling for all those nights in a smoky stinky theater filled with kung fu fans. Just thinking about it and writing this puts a grin on my face.
great memories!!!!

[GeneChing]

The Great Star and the Pagoda... Dried squid at the confection stands. I'd get flea bites on the backs of your knees from those nasty ass chairs. But it was so worth it.

[Jimbo]

The Great Star and the Pagoda... Dried squid at the confection stands. I'd get flea bites on the backs of your knees from those nasty ass chairs. But it was so worth it.

I really miss watching Shaw Brothers films on the big screen. Down in San Diego in the late '70s/early '80s, in addition to all the downtown grindhouse theaters that played some Shaws and lots of independent KF films (all English-dubbed), there were two Asian theaters; the Trieu Thanh theater in East San Diego, and the Ta Hwa, a converted grindhouse theater downtown.

The Trieu Thanh alone would show 4 movies in a row for $4 every week, and at least half of those were Shaws. The place smelled; you'd occasionally glimpse weird bugs on seat backs or floors; and you could partially hear people playing Pac-Man from out in the lobby. Sometimes a film would get stuck in the ancient projector and burn/break, and it took them ten or 20 minutes to fix the projector. Afterwards, you'd leave with a headache from so many movies, but it was great. I went there every week for years until I moved to Taiwan in early 1985, and it closed shortly thereafter. The Ta Hwa didn't make it through '83. Those movies (mostly in Mandarin) helped me immensely in learning the language in Taipei.

At the regular grindhouse theaters, you'd be breathing other people's pot smoke, smell p!ss everywhere, and your shoes would stick to the floor. People would get in fights there, too. But I still remember when they played a good KF movie, the whole place came alive. In those special moments when you had the right KF movie and the right audience reactions, at the risk of sounding corny, it was almost a 'magical' experience that made the movie that much better. People nowadays don't have the same participatory reactions like that at the movies anymore.

[GeneChing]

Historic Shaw Studios in Hong Kong Saved From Redevelopment


Shaw Studios, Hong Kong
MARCH 4, 2015 | 09:14PM PT
Patrick Frater
Asia Bureau Chief
Property developers have withdrawn plans to tear down the historic Shaw Brothers Studios in Hong Kong’s Clear Water Bay, following the site’s designation as the highest grade of heritage interest.

The 7.8 hectare (19 acre) site was Wednesday named as a Grade 1 Historical site by Hong Kong’s Antiquities Advisory Board.

The site was opened in 1961 by Sir Run Run Shaw and was home to a flourishing Chinese language cinema business that continued until the 1990s.

Susanna Siu Lai-kuen, of the Antiquities and Monuments Office, said that Shaw Studios not had had a positive impact on the local and international movie industries.

Developers including the SCMP group and China’s Fosun (an investor in Bona Film Group and in Jeff Robinov’s Studio 8 company) had last November been given permission by Hong Kong’s Town Planning Board to develop the site for commercial purposes.

There was argument about whether all of the 23 buildings on the site were of historical value, but the Antiques Advisory Board effectively said that the site should remain intact for now. Its heritage ruling now gives the government sets a basis for the government to negotiate with the owners.

The Shaw Brothers company has largely ceased activity as a film producer, but built new studios in nearby Tseung Kwan O.

Thanks to EL REY, I've been revisiting tons of classic Shaw Brothers films.