Back in the early 1960s
it was Huangmei Operas that were the moneymakers at Shaw Brothers. Beginning
in 1957 with Diau Charn and followed by The Kingdom and the Beauty in 1958
these types of films became very popular till the mid-1960s. Li Han-hsiang
had been the director of both those films and continued to make then till
he left Shaw in 1963 whereupon Kao Li who had been his assistant began directing
them. This is one of his films. The films were lavish, filled with music,
drama, tragedy, torture and usually dealt with Chinese royalty in periods
past. They were often based on folktales and part of their appeal to Hong
Kong and Taiwanese audiences was this depiction of a Chinese past that glorified
their previous homeland. Much to my surprise I have gotten to quite like
these films and have adapted my ears to the high-pitched singing. The melodies,
lyrics and orchestration are lovely. And I am a sucker for all the grandeur
with the palaces, the costumes and the royal intrigue and court customs.
This is based on the tale "Civit for Crown Prince" in which a scheme is hatched
to switch the new born Prince for a skinned cat. This was a story that was
in "Three Heroes and Five Righteousness's" written in the late Qing Dynasty.
The writer of this script is none other than Chang Cheh right before he was
to begin directing his masculine male hero films. But before those he in
fact directed a Huangmei, The Butterfly Chalice, in 1965. Inside the Forbidden
Story is a great story of betrayal, usurpation, murder, justice and redemption
- organized in an interesting way and often but not always told in song.
The characters are real historical figures but this story is fiction. As
far as we know.
It begins with Governor Bao Zheng (999 - 1962) traveling through the countryside.
Bao is a famous historical personage who was known for his fairness, integrity
and willingness to go wherever the evidence took him no matter what. Bao
has shown up in a few other films - The Crimson Palm, The Mermaid, King Cat
and Hail the Judge by Stephen Chow. He (Ching Miao in near black face for
some reason) is stopped on the road by a man (Chiang Kuang-chao) who demands
justice for his blind mother who is living in poverty. Bao goes to see her
and she unravels a fascinating story of when she was a concubine to the Emperor
Zhenzong. He had two main concubines and promised that whoever gave him a
son first would be queen. Li Cheng-fei (Ou-yang Sha-fei) has a son but the
other concubine (Kao Pao-shu) and her eunuch replace the baby with a dead
cat and tell the Emperor that Li is cursed and he banishes her to a palace.
The baby is given to a maid to drown in the river but she is unable to and
the baby is given to the Emperor's brother to be brought up - with no one
knowing who he really is or his mother.
The maid is played by Ivy Ling-po and she is the star of the film. Ever since
The Love Eterne in 1963 she was a huge star and appeared in many Huangmei
films - she also did her own singing while everyone else was generally dubbed.
After hearing Li's story Bao decides to take the case to court no matter
if it means death to him. The old Emperor has died, the new one is the baby.
It is all very dramatic and ornate with a lovely trick being played at the
end in which Li Ching has to impersonate a ghost to get a confession.
