Law Chi-hung, born Law Kwong-chung and also known as Law Chap-kwan, was a native of Zhongshan, Guangdong, born in 1912. Trained in Cantonese opera from a young age, he came to Hong Kong in 1937 and joined Grandview Film Company as an assistant director, directing his own first Cantonese film, The Uncrowned Emperor, the same year. He directed more than forty films in his career, twenty-five of which he also wrote. His best-known works were the war films Little Canton (1940) and Little Tiger (1941), co-directed with Tang Xiaodan, each the year's top box-office hit. Returning from Guilin after the war, he wrote and directed Cantonese films including The Iron Gallant (1947), and appeared in Wait with Anxious Eyes (1948). In the early 1950s he went to Guangzhou as a director for the Guangdong Cantonese Opera Theatre, then returned to Hong Kong in 1957 to join the Sun Luen Film Company, where he made three Judge Bao operas and directed Fong Yim-fun's The Goddess of the River Luo, earning a reputation for opera films. Sun Luen later made Chaozhou-dialect opera films under the Hung To banner, for which he directed Su Liu Niang (1960), Accusing the Husband (1961) and Swallows in Spring (1962). His Su Liu Niang, performed by the Guangdong Chaozhou Opera Troupe, was a hit in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia and sparked a Chaozhou opera film boom. He went on to direct such Chaozhou films as The Lotus Lantern (1963) and Xiangzi Bridge (1965). His last film was Storm of Resistance (1968). He withdrew from cinema in the mid-1960s due to ill health and died in Hong Kong on 6 February 1991. His cousin Law Kwan-hung, son Law Kei-sek and nephew Law Chi were all film directors.
Directing more than forty films, Law Chi-hung left his deepest mark on Chaozhou-dialect cinema. His 1960 Su Liu Niang was a hit in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia and sparked a Chaozhou opera film boom, followed by titles such as Accusing the Husband that carried Teochew opera to overseas audiences and opened a dialect-film market for Hong Kong.
Achievements
- 1937 · Joined Grandview as an assistant director and directed his first film, The Uncrowned Emperor.
- 1940 · Co-directed the war film Little Canton with Tang Xiaodan, the year's top box-office hit.
- 1960 · Directed the Chaozhou opera film Su Liu Niang, a hit in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.