Chan Cheuk-sang was born in Xinhui, Guangdong, in 1922 and moved to Hong Kong with his family at eight. After the fall of Hong Kong in 1941 he taught primary school in Vietnam, returning in 1947; through his elder brother he found work at the New World Theatre and began helping the cinema's proprietor Cheung Man-kuen make films. He then ran a café in Tin Lok Lane, Wan Chai, whose name, Tai Luen, became that of his film company and the basis of its finances. In 1950 he founded Ngai Shing Film Company, contracting to produce Cantonese pictures financed by cinema chains, and later set up Tai Luen Film Company, whose output included a run of Cantonese features in the 1950s. He began directing in 1959, and Tai Luen specialised in big-gong-and-drum Cantonese opera films; his best-known works were a series of ordinary-folk comedies written by Szeto On and starring Sun Ma Sze-tsang, made between 1963 and 1969. He also co-directed a Yu So-chau vehicle showcasing northern-style martial arts in 1962. His wife Wong Mei-yee produced and supervised many Tai Luen pictures, working alongside him. When Cantonese production finally halted in 1971, the last film released was a Tai Luen production. Besides making films he ran a second-run distribution business for Cantonese pictures, and over his lifetime produced and distributed more than two hundred films. In 1974 he wound up his Hong Kong interests, emigrated with his family to the United States and became an acupuncturist. He died on 15 September 2017.
Starting from a cinema and a café, Chan founded Ngai Shing and Tai Luen and produced or distributed more than two hundred Cantonese films; his opera pictures and Sun Ma Sze-tsang comedies typified the popular Cantonese cinema of the 1950s and 60s, and he was a key operator in that industry.
Achievements
- 1950 · Founded Ngai Shing Film Company, contracting to produce Cantonese pictures financed by cinema chains
- 1959 · Made his directing debut with a Cantonese opera fantasy film
- 1963 · Directed the first of a series of ordinary-folk comedies starring Sun Ma Sze-tsang