Yueh Feng (1910 – 1999), originally named Da Zichun and using the pen name Ge Ruifen as a screenwriter, was born and raised in Shanghai to a family from Danyang, Jiangsu, and became a director and screenwriter spanning the Shanghai and Hong Kong industries. He first learned film printing and editing at the Dadong company in Shanghai, became an assistant director in 1931 with the support of Wang Yuen-lung, and made his directorial debut in 1933 with the anti-Japanese film Raging Waves of China Sea, consolidating his standing with further patriotic titles in 1935; in 1942 he joined China United (later Huaying). Invited to Hong Kong in 1949, he joined Great Wall Pictures and directed films such as A Forgotten Woman, then founded Dafang Film Company in Hong Kong in 1953. From 1956 he directed box-office hits for MP&GI (Cathay), including Golden Lotus, which won the actress Linda Lin Dai her first Best Actress award at the Asian Film Festival; he and Tao Qin were reckoned Cathay's two leading directors. He moved to Shaw Brothers in 1959 and stayed until retirement, working across realist melodramas such as The Orphans (1960), wuxia experiments like The Swallow Thief (1961), and later huangmei-diao and mythological opera films — Madame White Snake (1962), Lady General Hua Mulan (1964), The Lotus Lamp (1964) and Empress Wu; his 1969 huangmei-diao comedy The Three Smiles won Best Comedy at the 15th Asian Film Festival. Writing under the name Ge Ruifen, he also won Best Screenplay at the Asian Film Festival and at Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards in 1963. Over a career of more than forty years, from entering the industry in Shanghai in 1929 to retiring in 1974, he directed nearly ninety films; he received the Hong Kong Film Directors' Guild Lifetime Achievement Award in 1991 and a special Golden Horse award in 1993, and died in Hong Kong on 3 July 1999.
Beginning with anti-Japanese films in 1930s Shanghai and moving to Hong Kong after 1949, Yueh directed for Great Wall, Cathay and Shaw Brothers, bringing huangmei-diao opera films, historical court drama and wuxia to the major studios; his Golden Lotus won Linda Lin Dai her first Asian Film Festival Best Actress award.
Achievements
- 1933 · Directed his debut film, the anti-Japanese Raging Waves of China Sea
- 1956 · Directed Golden Lotus for Cathay (formerly MP&GI), winning Linda Lin Dai her first Best Actress award at the Asian Film Festival
- 1959 · Joined Shaw Brothers (Hong Kong) Ltd, where he worked until retirement
- 1969 · Directed the huangmei-diao comedy The Three Smiles, which won Best Comedy at the 15th Asian Film Festival