A beautifully designed elegant period romantic ghost story from the Shaw Bothers that is in good company with The Enchanting Shadow and a far cousin to the later A Chinese Ghost Story. And numerous other Hong Kong films in which a man and a ghost fall in love. Either you fall in love with them or they kill you in Hong Kong films. Off-hand, I can't think of any films in which the ghost is a man falling in love with a female human - but there must be some. It is just more romantic the other way around - the woman being an ethereal graceful creature with a tragic backstory. It is based as are so many of these types of ghost stories on the writings of Pu Songling in his collection, Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, written in the 1700's. This tale is titled Lian Suo or Twenty Years a Dream.



The Shaws produced an earlier version of it in 1954 called Beyond the Grave with Lucilla You Min as the ghost Lian Suo, Chao Lei as the male and it was directed by Doe Ching. Interesting that it was a Shaw film as far back as that and that all three of these people were to become a big part of the Cathay film studio. Pu Songling's short story is rather wonderful (the collection is available on Kindle) and certainly more lascivious than the film. In one passage soon after meeting Lian Suo (Locket) "Yang wished to make love to her without further ado, but she would not. "I am a creature of the night. My dead bones are not like those of a living body. If we were to make love it would be an inauspicious union. It would bring you an early death" So Yang held back, merely toying with her breasts, which were as virginal and soft to the touch as freshly peeled lotus kernels" I have no knowledge I admit of freshly peeled lotus kernels. Much later on she asks him to have sex with her and have some of his blood. The film veers widely from this aspect of the story but sticks to other parts.


In this one Tong Fook (Lee Kwan) comes into the home of Lian Suo demanding to marry her and when refused kills her father, she kills him and Lian Suo jumps into a deep well killing herself. A few years later a rebel fighter Yang escapes from the authorities and hides out in the now ruined home of the dead girl. He comes across two lines of her poetry on the wall and finishes the couplet - bringing her out of hiding. It is clear right from the beginning that she is a ghost but she is as cute as a bumble bee, smart and wonderful company. He falls in love immediately as she does with him. But complications exist - don't they always in mixed love affairs - Lian Suo's nasty lookalike sister is still alive and is a spoiled brat, the authorities are still searching for Yang and the underworld wants Lian Suo back. It moves along very slowly focusing on the growing love between the two, playing Go, her playing the pipa and whiling away their days - no sex though! The last 20 minutes brings on the drama and it is very theatrical and visually splendid as is the ending which is totally unexpected. The sets are Shaw at their best - the ornate décor and even most of the outdoor scenes are clearly shot in the studio. This could easily be a play.



It is a little confusing at the beginning because Yang is played by the legendary Hong Kong actress Li Li-hua. She had been appearing in films since she was sixteen in 1940 when she debuted in Shanghai in Three Smiles which made her an instant star. She moved to Hong Kong in 1948 and picked up her career right away. She began working for the Shaw Brothers in the early 1960s and specialized in historical dramas or Operas such as Yang Kwei Fei, The Empress Wu Tse-tien, The Magnificent Concubine and The Grand Substitution. She also starred in the 1958 Hollywood film The China Doll. Her nickname was China's Evergreen Tree.




So when Yang first appears running away from pursuers, I thought it was a woman disguised as a man - but eventually I realize nope - she is playing a man which was not all that unusual in period films - in particular Chinese Operas (which this is not) - and that she had played a man a few times. But her character is far from manly as "he" giggles, shyly flirts and laughs throughout. On the other side of the love equation is the adorable Li Ching who was also born in Shanghai. She too became a star in her near debut, The Mermaid in 1965 and was to be a mainstay at Shaw Brothers for the next 15 years. She passed away in 2018 broke and alone in her apartment. A tragic ending. The film is directed by Yan Jun, who was married to Li Li-hua at the time. Some of his other films were Bride Napping, A Maid from Heaven, The Grand Substitution and The Jade Faced Assassin.