HK Film Archive to replay 12 of late actress's finest performances

Lydia Sum Tin-ha's vivacious laughter will be heard again next week at the launch of a retrospective to commemorate some of her finest performances on the silver screen.

The Hong Kong Film Archive will be showing 12 of the most memorable movies featuring Sum (also known as Lydia Shum), films including box office hits like It's a Mad Mad Mad World (1987), Double Fattiness (1988) and Mother vs Mother (1988), as well as older classics such as Teddy Girls (1969) and Dream of the Red Chamber (1962), in which Sum performed before kicking off her TV career with TVB in 1967.

Also showing are Four Sisters (1966), Master Cute and Tai Fan Shu (1966), First Love Forever (1967), The House of 72 Tenants (1973) and In-laws, Out-laws (2004), one of her last films.

Film historian Law Kar, who has been helping with the programming, said the selection covered different stages of Sum's film career, ranging from her teen years to the more mature roles.

'Sum was only a teenager when she made Dream of the Red Chamber and it was an interesting performance,' Mr Law said. 'Teddy Girls was one of her best because she shone as an actress.'

But he felt Sum's most memorable role was that of the housewife who dreamed of getting rich in It's a Mad Mad Mad World.