Wah Shan, also known as Wah Yat-wang, was born in Shanghai in 1942 and graduated in cinematography from the Shanghai Film College. He came to Hong Kong in 1962 and joined Shaw Brothers the following year as assistant to the Japanese cameraman Nishimoto Masao, becoming a full cinematographer in 1968. In this period he shot eleven films, mostly for Shaw, including Shen Chiang's The Wings of the Tiger (1970), Jimmy Wang Yu's directorial debut The Chinese Boxer (1970), Ma Wu's The Deaf Mute Killer (1971) and Ho Fan's Blood Love (1972). Leaving Shaw in 1973, he made his directorial debut in Taiwan with films released in 1974. Returning to Shaw as a director in 1975, he made The Super Inframan (1975), Hong Kong's first feature to rely heavily on special effects, produced under Chua Lam's supervision; although it did poorly locally it earned abroad and established him as a director. He directed three of Shaw's five-film Hong Kong criminal-case cycle, and his 1976 gangster drama made Lau Wing a star. From 1978 he directed for the Hang Seng company under the name Wah Yat-wang, with a 1980 film proving the most accomplished. Other Shaw works ranged across crime, social realism, period action, swordplay and satire. He retired from the film industry after his last Shaw feature in 1984. A cameraman by training, he was known for handling stunts and dangerous action and for using camera movement to build atmosphere.
A cameraman turned director whose range ran from effects science fiction to social realism and period swordplay, Wah Shan made The Super Inframan (1975), Hong Kong's first feature to rely heavily on special effects. The film did well overseas and set an important marker for local science fiction and tokusatsu-style production.
Achievements
- 1968 · Promoted to full cinematographer at Shaw Brothers
- 1975 · Directed The Super Inframan, Hong Kong's first feature to rely heavily on special effects
- 1976 · Directed three instalments of Shaw's Hong Kong criminal-case series