The Natural Son (1959)

overview : Chor Yuen started his directorial career with a bang. From its very first image, The Natural Son establishes Chor as a filmmaker of stylistic flourish, which would be sustained in various forms throughout his long tenure. Adapted from '30 cents' pulp fiction, it is a Kong Ngee melodrama made in the studio's mould, with Westernised characters and trendy middle-class lifestyles. Yet, Chor's first film is not exempt from the social urgency that characterises the Cantonese cinema of his father, Cheung Wood-yau. The film cloaks its entertainment in a moral deliberation on blood ties, its story about the raising of a bastard child a head-on challenge of archaic family values. An ostentatious start for a colourful and eventful career.

Release Date : Mar 11, 1959

Runtime : 1h 47m

Genre : Drama  Family  

Companies : Kong Ngee Motion Picture Production Company

Countries : Hong Kong

Keywords : literary adaptation, wenyi (melodrama)