The Arch (1968 Shu Shuen & scr)

Seventeenth Century South-west China. A captain is billeted in the schoolroom belonging to a widow, who lives with her mother and daughter. The widow takes a shine to the captain, and he to her, but she pulls back (maybe because remarriage was frowned upon). The captain ends up with the daughter and when her mother dies, the widow is left alone, though she receives the recognition (and some silver) of having an arch dedicated in her honour.

Interesting, subtle film with some brilliant sequences, such as a multiple dissolves sequence in the classroom, or when she goes crazy over her threading machine to abrupt flashbacks and dissolves, speedy editing and jump cuts. Edited, interestingly enough, by Les Blank (who went on to edit and film documentaries, including the one about the making of Fitzcarraldo, Burden of Dreams) and C.C. See. Shu (Tang Shu Shuen) is a woman, this one of only four films she made, the second being the similarly acclaimed China Behind (1974). She was the first Far East female film-maker and this is widely recognised as the first Far Eastern arthouse film. She left Hong Kong in the seventies and became a restaurateur with the acclaimed Joss on Sunset Boulevard!

Beautifully acted particularly by Lisa Lu, and Hilda Chou Hsuan, Chiao Hung, Li Ying (Old Chan), Wen Hsiu (Grandmother). Lu was in Saint Jack, Hammett and The Last Emperor - most recently in Crazy Rich Asians!

Dr S S Kwong wrote the captain's beautiful verse:

"The rice fields reach like threaded gold, far into the autumn sky;
In the courtyard she stands, as distant as the frozen mountain wind.
Across empty stones the soldier strides, awestruck by the piercing splendour,
Awestruck by that face of a goddess.
Helplessly he admires her majestic grace,
And adores her constant dignity.
But alas, cold are the vaults of her memory,
Unable to feel the flame of his feeling.
To whom, then, does the warrior burst his sorrow,
To what lonely peak does he wail his lament?
The leaf-fringed windows are closed between us,
The vacant courtyard is silent with dust.
Deep in the night are my yearnings.
Dim are the flickering of my hopes."

Photographed by Subatra Mitra (studio, Hong Kong), Chi Ho Che (exteriors Taiwan).

Music written and performed by Liu Tsun Yuen very nicely underscores the action, e.g. thoughtful scene of flowing river.

I wonder if Lisa and Shu hang out together still?

It's a yes from me.