Hu Tong, born Hu Xunfa and also known as Hu Feng, was a native of Tong'an in Fujian and worked as an actor, lyricist, composer and director. In the early 1950s, when Nanfeng Film Company was formed, he became its manager, handling the release of the box-office hits Tang Bohu's Seduction of Qiuxiang (parts 1 and 2, 1952–53) and playing supporting roles in them; backed by Singapore money, the film was shown in the Nanyang region and the Philippines to good business and helped set off a wave of Amoy-dialect pictures. With The Romance of Lychee and Mirror (parts 1–3, 1953–54) he began taking leading roles, and he went on to appear in more than a hundred Amoy-dialect films, mostly in support but occasionally as the lead. Behind the camera he wrote lyrics for the songs in The Butterfly Lovers (1955), Two Sisters in a Turbulent World (1957) and Honeymoon Hiccups (1958), and was assistant director on An Orphan's Tears (1957). On films such as Story of the White Fan (1958), Choosing a Son-in-Law (1958) and Phony Phoenixes (1959) he wore several hats at once, serving as screenwriter, assistant director, composer and actor. As Amoy-dialect cinema declined he joined Shaw Brothers (Hong Kong) Ltd as a contract player in 1965, working steadily in Mandarin films including The Perfumed Arrow (1966), The Trail of the Broken Blade (1967), Susanna (1967) and The Assassin (1967). Amoy-dialect cinema peaked in the mid to late 1950s, and Hu was among its busiest figures, managing in the studio while covering many roles on both sides of the camera. He died of a cerebral haemorrhage in Japan on 26 December 1968 while filming Shaw's The Singing Escort (1969). The Amoy-dialect star Xiao Wen, who made her name in Tang Bohu's Seduction of Qiuxiang in 1952, was his former wife, and his second wife was the Taiwanese Amoy-dialect actress Ma Li.
Moving from manager of Nanfeng Film Company to actor, Hu Tong appeared in over a hundred Amoy-dialect films and tried his hand at screenwriting, lyric-writing, composing and assistant direction, a rare all-rounder of that cinema; when the genre declined he joined Shaw Brothers, witnessing the transition from dialect films to Mandarin pictures before his death on location in Japan in 1968.
Achievements
- 1952 · As manager released the Amoy-dialect film Tang Bohu's Seduction of Qiuxiang and took a supporting role in it.
- 1954 · Began taking leading roles with The Romance of Lychee and Mirror, going on to appear in over a hundred Amoy-dialect films.
- 1957 · Wrote lyrics for Two Sisters in a Turbulent World and worked as assistant director on An Orphan's Tears.
- 1965 · Joined Shaw Brothers (Hong Kong) Ltd as a contract player.