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Statistics :
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Tu Guangqi

 
 
 
 
Other names : 屠光启
Doo Kwang Kee
Tiu Kwong Kai
Tu Guang Qi
Tu Kuang Chi
Tu2 Guang1 Qi3
 
Birthdate : 26/8/1914
Date of death : 30/5/1980
Nationality : China
Workplace : Hong Kong, Taiwan
Activities : Director (57), Writer (26), Actor (4)

Biography

Tu Guangqi was a Chinese director and screenwriter originating from Shanghai but who spent most of his career in Hong Kong where he left his mark on the Colony Mandarin cinema. Active from the late 40s until the early 70s. He worked for the Shaw brothers, Cathay and plenty of other studios.

At first, a stage actor in Shanghai, Tu Guangqi gratuated to movies while under contract for the Hua Cheng Meng company following the film director Zhu Shilin's encouragements. He soon becomes assistant director and in 1940. He and Zhu co-direct Meng Li Jun. Tu then shoots his first film in solo: New Fisherman’s Song//Xi Yuguang Qu which is well received by the critics. In 1942 he directs a film for which he also wrote the script Falling Plum Blossom/Meihua Luo. 1946 marks Tu's return to the big screen after a 4-year hiatus with the shooting of two Bejing-made movies: Code Number One/Tianzi Diyi Hao and From Night Till Dawn/Heye Dao Tianming, which becomes huge popular hits. He comes back to Shanghai where he shoots 10 films in 3 years, most of which he also wrote. In 1949, he goes into exile to persued his film career in Hong-Kong and contributes to the establishment of a new prestine mandarin-speaking cinema.

Tu works for many studios. In the early 50s he helps launch the Shaw And Sons, Ltd making for them half a dozen films within two years. That doesn't stop him from making films for other companies including productions in Cantonese. His favourite genres are melodramas and historical epics. His most memorable films at the time are: The Little Phoenix/Xiao FengXian (53) and Half Way Down/Ban XialiuShehui (1957). He keeps writing the screenplays of most of his films. He also has the merit of discovering the actor Peter Chen Ho, one of the rare great male stars in Hong Kong Mandarin cinema in the 50s and early 60s. In 1957, he is one of the three directors involved in Love With An Alien/Yiguo Qing Yuan, a co-production between Shaw and Sons and a Korean studio and the company's first film in colour.

From the early 60s, Tu turns to the Wu Xia Pian starting in the genre with The Daring Gang of Nineteen from Verdun City/Qingcheng Shiiiu Xia. In 1967, he directs Cathay studio first wuxia pian with The First Sword/Diyi Jian followed by Invisible Sabre/Yanling Dao and Violet Mansion/Yijian Qingshen. Despite his substantial quantitative contribution to the genre, he never makes truly his marks on the genre the way fellow filmmakers King Hu and Chang Cheh does. During this period he also writes many wuxia novels some of them are turned into movies.

With sixty films in three decades under his belt, Tu retires in 1972. His last film is Crush/ Tang Shou Ta Quan Dao, a kung fu film made in the same vein as Bruce Lee early hit Big Boss/Tang Shan Da Xiong, which is later parodied by the French situationist René Viénet under the name « La Dialectique peut-elle casser des briques ? » (''Can Dialectic break bricks'') Afterward Tu Guangqi writes his memoirs and also appears as an actors in a couple of films notably by King Hu'sValiant Ones. Later he immigrates to the USA and passes away in Los Angeles in 1980.

Written by Yves Gendron (December 2006)
Sources:
Hong Kong The Extra Dimension by Stephen Teo.
The Shaw Screen a Preliminary Study
A Study of the Hong-Kong Swordplay films.
 
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Filmography
 [ 1970 - 1960 - 1950 ] 
 Alternate lists by alpha / genre / year
 
Title    ( HK -  All )  Year Activity
 
 Man Of Wealth, A 1979 Actor
 Private Eyes, The 1976 Actor
 Valiant Ones 1975 Actor
 Crush 1973 Director
 Private Eye, The 1973 Actor
 Crush 1972 Director
 Many Faces Of A Diamond 1972 Director
 King's Sword, The 1970 Director, Writer
 Night Is Not Made For Stealing 1970 Director
 Way Ching Killer The Dragon 1970 Director, Writer
 Lotus Camp 1969 Director
 Violet Mansion, The 1969 Director, Writer
 Invisible Sabre, The 1968 Director
 First Sword, The 1967 Director
 White Swan, The 1967 Director, Writer
 Double Exposure 1966 Director, Writer
 Heroic Tribe (Part 1), The 1966 Director, Writer
 Heroic Tribe (Part 2), The 1966 Director, Writer
 Girl Spy 001 1965 Writer
 Zhang Ailan And The Mafia 1965 Director, Writer
 Girl's Tears, A 1964 Director, Writer
 Homeless Children 1964 Director
 How the Oil Vendor Won the Beauty Contest 1964 Director
 No. 1 Lady Thief 1963 Director, Writer
 One Murder, Five Deaths 1963 Director
 Blazing Volcano, The 1962 Writer
 Mysterious Murderer, The 1962 Writer
 Heroic Lovers From The Tomb, The 1961 Director
 Witch-Girl, He Yueer, The 1961 Director
 Bloodbath In Emerald Valley 1960 Director, Writer
 Daring Gang Of Nineteen From Verdun City, The 1960 Director, Writer
 Night Of The Long Knives 1960 Director, Writer
 Shadow Over The Chateau, A 1960 Director, Writer
 19 Heroes Of The Green Mountain 1959 Director
 Red Turn the Flowers When Down Come the Showers 1959 Director
 Love With An Alien 1958 Director
 Where Is My Bride ? 1958 Director, Writer
 You Are My Soul 1958 Director
 Great Wall Of China, The 1957 Director
 Half Way Down 1957 Director
 Love's Elegy 1956 Director
 My Lover, The Ghost 1956 Director
 Love And Duty 1955 Director, Writer
 Blood-Stained Flowers 1954 Director
 Mortal Wind, The 1954 Director, Writer
 Rose I Love You 1954 Director
 Closed Chamber 1953 Director
 General Chai And Lady Balsam 1953 Director
 Little Phoenix 1953 Director
 Meal Time 1953 Director, Writer
 New West Chamber 1953 Director
 Qiu Jin, The Revolutionary Heroine 1953 Director
 Songstress Called Hong Lingyan, A 1953 Director
 Sorrowful Glory 1953 Director, Writer
 Tears Of A Songstress 1953 Director
 Closer The Better, The 1952 Director, Writer
 Fatal Attraction 1952 Director, Writer
 Moon-Blanch'd Land, The 1952 Director, Writer
 Sweet Memories 1952 Director, Writer
 Troubled Love Of Wang Kui And Gui Ying, The 1952 Director
 World Turned Upside Down, The 1952 Director
 Modern Wives 1951 Director
 To See The Clouds Roll 1950 Director
 Twenty Four Hours Of Marriage 1950 Director
 

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