Film studies: Genteel cinema giant
There is a hybrid Hong Kong-Hollywood-Shanghai quality about Evan Yang's movies that makes him an emblematic director of his era.
His peak professional years - from the late 1950s to the early 60s - coincided with the emergence of Cantonese-speaking Hong Kong as the post-war bastion of Putonghua movies. Unlike directors such as Yue Feng and Zhu Shilin, who were already well-regarded auteurs before re-establishing themselves in Hong Kong, Yang belonged to a younger generation of ?migr?s (Li Han-hsiang and Chang Cheh among them) who had not yet chosen cinema before relocating to the then British colony.
Born in 1920, Yang attended Shanghai's prestigious St John's University during the initial phase of the Sino-Japanese war, a time when the city's foreign concessions alone remained unoccupied by the Japanese. It was an intellectually stimulating era, with motion picture and theatrical adaptations of classical Chinese literature all the rage, along with contemporary themed urban tales and the public's love of Hollywood movies. The combination of these diverse strands helped to foster a cosmopolitan sensibility among the city's bourgeoisie and provided the basic ingredients that would later factor into Yang's films. But prior to the Communist victory and his settling in Hong Kong, the bulk of Yang's employment was as a journalist and author.
His focus changed as he became a much sought-after scriptwriter in the early 50s. During this period of Yang's career, he wrote for some of Shanghai's most glamorous actresses now resident in Hong Kong, such as Ouyang Shafei (Always in My Heart, 1952), Zhou Manhua (Long Live the Bride, 1952). and especially Li Lihua. Yang's standing in cinema rose considerably after he directed Li in three 1955 productions shot in Japan: Beauty of Tokyo, Madame Butterfly and Blood Will Tell.
But it wasn't until the late 50s that Yang truly came into his own. Working for Motion Picture & General Investment, the most formidable rival of Shaw Brothers, his productions displayed taste and sophistication and featured a roster of young stars who embodied Hong Kong's urban chic. While far from being a trailblazer in terms of style or content, his skill at distilling and showcasing his actors' charisma was a major factor in his new employer's success.
He had a close relationship with musical star Grace Chang, directing her in about a dozen features from 1956-64. These include some of the most delightful works of their careers, such as Mambo Girl (1957) and Our Dream Car (1959), along with one of the studio's few blockbusters, the wartime saga Sun, Moon and Star (1961, above right). Yang also proved effective in bringing out the personalities of the studio's other divas such as Jeanette Lin Tsui (Spring Song), Linda Lin Dai (Bachelors Beware) and Lucilla You Min (Happily Ever After).
The good times were not to last. The 1964 plane crash death of the studio's owner, Loke Wan Tho, led to a steep decline. Yang soldiered on, but his later output lacked magic. His muses left the film world one by one, and the new crop of leading ladies didn't fit the bill. Hong Kong's cinematic tastes were changing, with the spotlight increasingly on brawny kung fu stars. The local scene had changed almost beyond recognition by the time he retired in the early 70s, a few years before his death in 1978 at age 57.
Although he may never rank among the leading innovators, Yang's wit and intelligence mark him as a major contributor to the golden age of Hong Kong's Putonghua movies.
In the Name of Love: The Films of Evan Yang will screen at the Hong Kong Film Archive from March 28 to May 17
