Chan Tung-man (1931–2023), born Chan Yeung-man, was a Hong Kong film director, screenwriter and veteran media man, and the father of the celebrated director Peter Chan. Of Chaozhou ancestry, he was born to a Thai-Chinese father and moved to Thailand with his mother as a child; he briefly returned to China for schooling at seven but went back to Thailand when Japan invaded, later teaching Chinese at a local secondary school. In 1956 he went to Beijing to study film directing, and in 1957 joined Great Wall Film Company in Hong Kong as a screenwriter before moving to a new studio founded by the producer Ng Yan-on, for which he wrote several screenplays. When that company closed he joined the Phoenix studio but was given no work, so in 1963 he became an editor at the daily Ming Pao, working alongside the novelist Jin Yong. In 1968 he joined the Cathay organisation, writing and assistant-directing The Thousand-Hand Buddha before becoming deputy head of publicity and editing Cathay's official magazine, and later became publicity chief at Shaw Brothers. In 1972 he and family members founded the Datong Film Company, for which he personally directed its first film, Big Land, Twin Heroes, and several more including The Killer and The Gallant Heroes; the former won a Best Actress prize at the 19th Asian Film Festival, while the latter later inspired Peter Chan's Bodyguards and Assassins. He stopped directing after a 1977 Japan co-production starring Sonny Chiba, and from the 1980s lived out his life in Thailand writing editorials for a Thai-Chinese daily. From his debut in 1957 to his last film in 1977 he worked as screenwriter, publicist and director.
Working across screenwriting, publicity and directing, Chan Tung-man edited for a leading daily and headed publicity at Shaw Brothers before founding his own studio; his early action film later inspired his son Peter Chan's Bodyguards and Assassins.
Achievements
- 1957 · Joined Great Wall Film Company in Hong Kong as a screenwriter
- 1972 · Founded his own Datong Film Company and directed its first film, Big Land, Twin Heroes
- 1977 · Co-directed the Japan co-production with director Yukio Noda, his last film as director