Wang Liuzhao

Wang Liuzhao (30 May 1926 - 6 August 1970), originally Wang Yongnan, courtesy name Zhaoyan, was a Hong Kong screenwriter and director born in Wujin, Jiangsu. A graduate of the special course of National Chengchi University in Taiwan, he wrote film criticism for the Taiwan Hsin Sheng Pao and later became editor of its film and drama pages, publishing a book of film essays and translating two works on Hollywood and film technique. In 1954 he became head of the editorial section of Taiwan's Central Motion Picture Corporation, and in 1957 directed two Taiwanese-language films. In 1958 he was hired by Motion Picture & General Investments (MP & GI) to come to Hong Kong as a screenwriter-director, his first film being The Amorous Couple (1958). Between 1958 and 1970 he wrote more than twenty scripts for the studio; several won honours, one taking the best-screenplay prize at the seventh Asian Film Festival in 1959 and another a Golden Horse award for best screenplay in 1963. He directed five pictures at MP & GI, including Summer Love (1968) and Wolf and Wolf (1969), the last being a 1970 production. Moving to Shaw Brothers in 1964, he wrote The Goddess of Mercy (1967) and directed a 1970 film. Plagued by nervous exhaustion, he took his own life on 6 August 1970, aged forty-four; his script for The Snake King and the Hell King (1973) was used posthumously.