Law Chi, whose real name was Law Cho, was born in Zhongshan, Guangdong, in 1932; Law Chi was a stage name, and he also used Law Man. He was a nephew of the director Law Chi-hung. During the war against Japan he served in a youth squad that assassinated collaborators around Macao and Hong Kong. Settling in Hong Kong after the war, he entered films at fourteen and by 1948 was a continuity man on Madame Butterfly. He began at Grandview's studio, then learned his craft under Chun Kim with Ng Tan, handling production and set duties on films such as Tears of Blood (1951) and A Mother's Tears (1953). In 1954, as Law Man, he was assistant director to Wu Pang on Rouge Tears (1954) and Wong Fei-hung's Fight at Fa Tei (1955). In 1958 he first used the name Law Chi on Wong Cheuk-hon's Freedom Film production The Prince of the Sea, keeping it thereafter. In 1960, invited by Hui Kin, he was promoted to director and made Tung Shan's first release, The Fragrant Shoes (1960). He then directed many Chaozhou opera films for Tung Shan, including The Pair of Pearls (1961, co-directed with Hui Kin), Blue Stepson Weeps in the Street (1961), Wang Mang Usurps the Throne (1961), Burning Chen Youliang (1961), The Story of Dripping Water (1962) and The Heavenly Wave Tower (1962). In 1963 he made two Chaozhou swordplay films for Tung Shan. When Tung Shan's output stalled he directed Chaozhou films for other companies, working long-term with the Sun Tin Choi troupe on titles such as The Red-Maned Steed (1963), The Number One Scholar on Night Patrol (1963), The Hibiscus Fairy (1964) and Hai Rui Dismissed from Office (1967). In 1964 he returned to Cantonese films as director of The Five Tiger Generals (1964), produced by Hui Kin, and became known for a run of action pictures: the detective film The Murder Case (1965) and the Black Musketeer Muk Lan-fa series (1966-67) and Cat-eyed Girl (1967). In 1968 he went to Taiwan for First Film to direct The Crazy Knight, and thereafter worked between Hong Kong and Taiwan on martial-arts films such as Wong Fei-hung Breaks the Flaming Array (1970), Thunderbolt (1973), The True Kung Fu of China (1975), The Imperial Guards (1979) and The Drunken Monkey (1980). Fading from cinema in the 1980s, he moved into television, planned the Hong Kong-mainland co-production Loulan (1991), and after retiring lived in Taiwan. He died on 26 February 2018.
Rising from continuity man and assistant director, Law Chi spent the early 1960s making Chaozhou opera films for Tung Shan, then became known for action pictures such as the Black Musketeer Muk Lan-fa series. Working across Hong Kong and Taiwan, he bridged Chaozhou-dialect cinema, Cantonese films and Taiwan's martial-arts output.
Achievements
- 1960 · Promoted to director at the invitation of Hui Kin, making The Fragrant Shoes as Tung Shan's first release.
- 1966 · Directed The Dark Heroine Muk Lan-fa, launching a series of female-action films.
- 1970 · Directed The Crazy Knight in Taiwan, thereafter making martial-arts films in both Hong Kong and Taiwan.