IN 1994 they evidently saved the worst for last. In what has been an annus horribilus for the Cantonese film industry, 1941 Hong Kong On Fire easily ranks among the bottom of the lot. This dramatisation of the Japanese occupation of the colony in December 1941 is pure exploitation, so shoddy an effort that it is an insult to the memory of that era.
The first two or three minutes are promising enough, but unfortunately prove to be the highlight of the entire picture. This pre-credit sequence features documentary-style interviews with three older members of the Hong Kong movie community: Tso Tat-wah, Wong Tin-lam (father of the movie's executive producer Wong Jing), and Lo Dun. They recall memories of the Japanese invasion and atrocities, including the rape of popular leading lady Mui Yee.
It's then downhill all the way as director Chin Man-kay takes the viewer on a journey that mixes lowbrow humour, synthetic sentimentality, and crudely-staged sex and violence all in the name of revealing Japanese crimes against Hong Kong. The first scenes are played for laughs, as pawnbroker Law Ka-ying (who overacts mercilessly, but one really can't blame him) cheats a poor widow out of her priceless antique painting.
The following few reels detail the cruelty of Law's second wife towards her stepdaughters (Chingmy Yau Suk-ching and Veronica Yip Yuk-hing); and the sisters' romantic yearnings towards a patriotic young man (Tuo Chung-wah). The imminent invasion is mentioned every now and then, but the film-makers spend more screen time with such antics as Veronica Yip dropping a chamber pot on her father's head.
A ball is held to raise funds for the Chinese army, but any patriotic sentiments are submerged by Law's leering over a buxom blonde beauty, culminating in a close-up of him squeezing her derriere. It's but a mere foreshadowing of the depths to which the movie is about to submerge.
The sisters, excited over meeting their movie idol Mui Yee, are working as film extras when the Japanese suddenly invade the studio. Never mind that this is historically inaccurate - the studio, located near Kai Tak Airport, was actually destroyed by Japanese bombs. One suspects the entire scene is merely a pretext to stage some gratuitous sex, Mui's clothes are ripped open and the semi-nude actress is raped by Japanese soldiers. There are other rape scenes in the movie, shot in slow motion with plenty of emphasis given to the ladies' breasts.