Chow Sze-luk, a Guangdong native, began as an apprentice at the Tianyi studio of Shao Zui-weng in Shanghai, working on many productions, including as second cameraman on Tianyi's first sound film, Springtime in the Song Hall (1931); his first picture as chief cinematographer was Between Husband and Wife (1931). Up to 1941 he shot a string of notable features for Tianyi (later Nanyang) in both Shanghai and Hong Kong, among them The Girl Yunlan (1932) and Wandering (1933). Around 1947 he turned to directing, making his debut with Spring Breeze Brings Joy (1948), and over the next nine years directed more than seventy films for companies such as Ching Wah, Man Fong and Long Feng. His strongest work of the period was in Cantonese opera films, including Two Opium Smokers Sweep the Long Dyke (1948) and The Fourteen Years of Fire-Net Buddhist Palace (1953), as well as comedies such as Snake King (1950) and The Ghost Wife (1953). From 1957 he headed the Cantonese production unit of Shaw Brothers (Hong Kong), overseeing more than fifty films there, among them The Scent of Durian (1959) and Blood-stained Black Dragon Street (1961), of which he personally directed over twenty, such as Sisters of the Door (1958) and A Mother's Thread (1961). Many talents passed through his hands, including the directors Lung Kong and Ng Dan and the actors Cheung Ying-choi, Lin Fung and Lui Kei. He also directed Mandarin pictures such as The Twin Phoenixes (1964) and various Amoy- and Teochew-dialect films. On 7 September 1964, shortly after finishing a Mandarin feature, he died of liver cancer, having directed about 120 films in all.
From a Tianyi apprentice to head of Shaw's Cantonese production unit, Chow Sze-luk directed roughly 120 films across opera and comedy and mentored figures such as Lung Kong, Ng Dan, Lin Fung and Lui Kei, making him a pivotal figure in Hong Kong's Cantonese-film industry of the 1950s and 60s.
Achievements
- 1931 · Served as second cameraman on Tianyi's first sound film and in the same year shot Between Husband and Wife as chief cinematographer
- 1948 · Directed his first feature, Spring Breeze Brings Joy
- 1957 · From 1957 headed Shaw Brothers' Cantonese production unit, overseeing more than fifty films