There is not much that I can really talk about this movie. It isn't one that addresses any really serious issues. All I can really do is give one a quick run down on what it is about and some of the more interesting points in regard to it. Des Mangan, one of SBS's reviewers, absolutely loves this movie (he said so before hand) and puts it down as a cult movie. I don't think that it deserves Cult status, and has not become apart of my collection, but it is still a reasonable movie.
Peking Opera Blues is a Hong Kong movie set in 1913 during the beginning of the Chinese Republic. It is set in a town, Peiping or something like that, in South China. The current general is bankrupt and flees because he cannot pay his guards. Then a new general moves in who is involved in a conspiracy to turn South China into a military dictatorship, and his daughter is determined to stop it. Being caught up in this conspiracy is the daughter of a theatre owner, a guard who is about to be killed by his comrades, and a maid from the previous general who is trying to find the jewels she stool.
The movie seems to offer the possibility of some fight scenes, but in the end there are not that many. The only cool scene was when the guard was wielding four bolt action rifles at once and shooting all of the other guards in the corridor. There seemed to be potential for fantastic martial arts, but that never really arose. The end was promised to be a bonanza, but that never really eventuated either.
I can't really think of anything else that I can describe within this movie. There is no really overriding theme, though there is the possibility of women's rights. The women in the movie all seem to be resentful of male dominance: one wants to be an actor but can't because she is a woman, while the general's daughter cuts her hair short to symbolise her desire to be more of a man. The male heroes in the movie are sort out by the girls, and it is the girls who lose out when both of them are taken. In fact the movie seems to move more from the view of the women than the men - the men are what would be the love interests in typical American movies (and Hong Kong movies as well).
I guess this movie wasn't all that bad. There was a lot of untouched potential, and I was never actually board during it. It was interesting enough to keep my attention for the duration. The action scenes weren't fantastic but they were enough to hold me for a while.
Peking Opera Blues is a Hong Kong movie set in 1913 during the beginning of the Chinese Republic. It is set in a town, Peiping or something like that, in South China. The current general is bankrupt and flees because he cannot pay his guards. Then a new general moves in who is involved in a conspiracy to turn South China into a military dictatorship, and his daughter is determined to stop it. Being caught up in this conspiracy is the daughter of a theatre owner, a guard who is about to be killed by his comrades, and a maid from the previous general who is trying to find the jewels she stool.
The movie seems to offer the possibility of some fight scenes, but in the end there are not that many. The only cool scene was when the guard was wielding four bolt action rifles at once and shooting all of the other guards in the corridor. There seemed to be potential for fantastic martial arts, but that never really arose. The end was promised to be a bonanza, but that never really eventuated either.
I can't really think of anything else that I can describe within this movie. There is no really overriding theme, though there is the possibility of women's rights. The women in the movie all seem to be resentful of male dominance: one wants to be an actor but can't because she is a woman, while the general's daughter cuts her hair short to symbolise her desire to be more of a man. The male heroes in the movie are sort out by the girls, and it is the girls who lose out when both of them are taken. In fact the movie seems to move more from the view of the women than the men - the men are what would be the love interests in typical American movies (and Hong Kong movies as well).
I guess this movie wasn't all that bad. There was a lot of untouched potential, and I was never actually board during it. It was interesting enough to keep my attention for the duration. The action scenes weren't fantastic but they were enough to hold me for a while.