My Kingdom for a Husband Cheung Ying, Law Yim-hing, Leung Sing-po, Tam Lan-hing Director: Tso Kea
At a time when Cantonese films were often considered poor cousins of the bigger-budget Mandarin offerings, the opulent trappings of My Kingdom for a Husband (1957) represented a higher standard for mainstream Hong Kong fare.
The romantic comic opera was one of the first Cantonese films produced by the primarily Mandarin-oriented Motion Picture & General Investment Company (popularly known as MP&GI or Dianmao), a studio whose reputation for quality was second to none. With a cast headed by four superstars and a script based on opera great Sit Kok-seen's 1930 stage sensation, the movie's blend of Hollywood and Cantonese theatrical conventions makes the fluffy fantasy culturally accessible to today's Westernised audiences without sacrificing an iota of its local bona fides.
The Chinese title (which literally translates as 'The Romance of Jade Hall') is identical to that of Ernst Lubitsch's The Love Parade, the 1929 musical that was a huge box office hit in China and elevated Maurice Chevalier to pan-Asian stardom. The script by veteran director Tso Kea keeps only the original's basic plot points, with the action taking place in a vague European locale where crooner Ali (Cheung Ying) falls for Queen Law Yee (Law Yim-hing, right with Cheung). Predictably, mayhem ensues as they cross social strata to embark on the rocky road of romance abetted by their jocularly amorous servants Jack (Leung Sing-po) and Lulu (Tam Lan-hing).
The characters' names are Cantonese versions of The Love Parade's personages (ie, Alfred, Louise, Jacques, and Lulu), but otherwise the two scenarios have few concrete points in common.
The film's most intriguing aspect is its mixture of East and West, particularly in costume, set design and music. The voluptuous Law is fitted in modes running the gamut from low-cut ball gowns to bathing suits, and her palatial digs, though somewhat threadbare, owe more to Versailles than the Forbidden City.