Acclaimed director Po Chih-Leong’s 1984 war drama, Hong Kong 1941, is the subject of the latest upcoming Blu-Ray release from Eureka Entertainment. It stars Ceilia Yip and Alex Man, and actor Chow Yun-Fat in his breakout role along with several appearances by notable actors like Paul Chun, Shih Kien, Wu Ma, and Ku Feng to name a few.
The film even cameos the director himself in a peculiar role within the backdrop of his rousing period tale, told from the perspective of Yuk-Nam (Yip) in a feature-length flashback on the pivotal year bookending both sides of Japan’s occupation of the bustling city. A coolie named Hak-Keung (Man), and a former theatre actor named Kip-Fei (Chow) form a chance friendship amdist an uprising at a rice warehouse owned by Yuk-Nam’s father, Ha Chung-sun (Kien), whose daughter happens to be childhood friends with Hak-Keung.
Yuk-Nam, afflicted with an illness that causes painful seizures hitherto treated with opium, is eager to get out of an arranged marriage set up by her rice merchant father. Together with Kip-Fei and Hak-Keung in their aspirations toward fleeing Hong Kong, friendship spawns opportunity for the trio in a moment spurred too soon by Japan’s invasion, resulting in a continued fight for survival as loyalty and friendship are put to the test.
Written by John Chan and Sammo Hung who produced via his D&B label, Hong Kong 1941 proffers a dramatic snapshot into an explosive corner of World War II, profiling an already-belagured period of cohabitation between city dwellers and mainlanders from China eager to defeat the British. As Japan’s arrival escalates the stakes, so too do the circumstances for our three protagonists.
An air of romantic uncertainty arises as well, as Hak-Keung seeks Yuk-Nam’s affections while Yuk-Nam’s feelings for Kip-Fei are all too clear, and Kip-Fei, despite his reception to it, resigned to the straight-and-narrow. There’s a discernible connection he does share with Kip-Fei, and while it could blossom into something more, their feelings are never the focus of the film, which only feels appropriate given the bigger narrative.
Thus, we’re brought back to the film’s root themes of friendship and brotherhood which are both core to the role of Kip-Fei. There’s a running gag between two scenes where he’s jumping off a boat either to evade authorities or run back to his friends. He does this once more during the film’s final act which contributes something significant to his development as the film’s foremost hero.
The action serves only to delight in just a few areas between spells of footchases and fisticuffs. One scene had me giggling where Hak-Keung is being chased by the cops after the warehouse riot and he sees Kip-Fei doing anything but running with him. Another scene which takes place in the immediate aftermath of the invasion pits Hak-Keung against a gang of bandits invading Ha’s mansion in search of a dirty cop played by co-star Chun, and giving him the right thrashing he has coming. The aforementioned Ma comes well into the middle of the film in moments leading up to a propulsive and daring rescue by Kip-Fei.
Hong Kong 1941 accomplishes a great deal with Po and the cast on hand. There’s an ease to the consistency that Po strives for in his story about three friends fighting to stick together no matter the odds, and with an explosive climax that really earns Chow the leading man status he’s gotten in the years since. If you’ve enjoyed any of his performances in the last forty years and haven’t seen Hong Kong 1941 yet, you would be in your right mind to add this to your collection.
Eureka is touting this one at only 2000 copies for its Limited edition rollout starting June 17 as part of the label’s Masters Of Cinema series. It also comes with an O-card slipcase and cover with artwork by Time Tomorrow, and collector’s booklet written by Gary Bettinson, editor of Asian Cinema journal, which I didn’t get in my copy for this review (Correction 6.14: I actually did see a booklet, I forgot I just placed it aside somewhere as I was screening the film, and it’s a fantastic booklet at that).
The disc itself is plentiful, with Hong Kong 1941 presented in 1080p HD from a brand new 4K restoration, and including the original Cantonese mono audio, and English dubtracks, and another handy commentary by Frank Djeng. The disc is also host to a bevy of features including video essay “Tony Rayns on Hong Kong 1941,” as well as an English interview by journalist extraordinaire Frédéric Ambroisine with the director, as well as “Po Chih-Leong On Hong Kong 1941 And Cultural Identity,” a masterclass hosted by the director himself during the 25th anniversarial edition of the Far East Film Festival in Udine.
Additionally, the disc includes six archival interviews, three with Yip, two with Chow (with one interview in English), and one with Chun, and closes out with the domestic theatrical trailer, and the international trailer. I didn’t see the interviews, but they all range up to either twenty or thirty minutes give or take. Fact is this disc is loaded, and delivers on its promise to phys-media collectors and Asian film fans alike.
