Hu Siao-fung was born in Shanghai in 1924, with ancestral roots in Suzhou, Jiangsu. His schooling cut short by the War of Resistance against Japan, he later studied at the National Central University in Nanjing, then returned to Shanghai, joining the Tianfeng Theatre Company as an actor and stagehand and later Fei Mu's Shanghai Art Troupe. Moving to Hong Kong in 1946, he entered films as an actor, his debut being An All-Consuming Love (1947), followed by Orioles Banished from the Flowers (1948), Song of a Songstress (1948), Zhu Shilin's A Dream of Spring (1947), and Yung Hwa's Sorrows of the Forbidden City (1948) and A Peasant's Tragedy (1949). He was production manager for the first film of 50th Year Motion Pictures, The Fiery Phoenix (1951). Joining Fei Mu's Dragon-Horse Films, he worked both on screen and behind it, starring in Map of One Hundred Treasures (1953) and House Removal Greeting (1954) and assisting on Flora (1951), eventually becoming part of Zhu Shilin's creative team. Taking over the completion of Ode to Youth (1953) from co-director Liu Qiong marked his directing debut. He then co-directed several films with Su Chengshou before his solo debut Those Bewitching Eyes (1958). Hu directed nearly thirty films for Great Wall, often also writing the scripts, including A Seaside Village (1959), Seventeen (1960), Gentleman Who Steals (1963) and My Darling Princess (1964). In the 1970s he made the realist The Hut on Hilltop (1970) and A Family in Thousands (1975) and the stage-play-styled A Pound of Flesh (1976); in the 1980s, Romance in China (1980), the Mainland co-production A Lady from Shanghai (1982) and his last film, Shanghai Adventure (1985). Active in the South China Film Industry Workers Union from the 1960s, he served it in various posts before becoming its advisor. Married to actress Li Tziang, he died in Hong Kong in 2009.
Hu Siao-fung was one of the most prolific directors at the Great Wall Film Company, helming nearly thirty films and often writing them too, making him a major figure in leftist cinema. At ease with drama, comedy, youth and operatic films, he also responded to social concerns in the 1970s with realist works such as The Hut on Hilltop and A Family in Thousands, and shot A Pound of Flesh entirely as a stage play, showing creative resilience under constraint. His Mainland co-production A Lady from Shanghai and his long service to the South China Film Industry Workers Union linked Hong Kong and Mainland film circles.
Achievements
- 1953 · Took over and completed Ode to Youth, co-directed with Liu Qiong, marking his directorial debut.
- 1958 · His solo directorial work Those Bewitching Eyes was released, establishing him as a leading director.
- 1976 · Directed A Pound of Flesh, a groundbreaking film presented entirely in the form of a stage play.