By Richard James Havis
Lo Wei was one of Hong Kong鈥檚 most renowned directors in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but disparagement from Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan tarnished his reputation.
Lee hated the way that Lo, who directed The Big Boss (1971) and Fist of Fury (1972), tried to take credit for his success. Chan disliked the way Lo tried to turn him into a clone of the deceased Lee in films like New Fist of Fury (1976).
Below, film historian Frank Djeng discusses how it could be time for Lo鈥檚 voluminous body of work to be re-evaluated.
Do you think Lo鈥檚 work has been overlooked?
Yes, I think it鈥檚 time to reassess his accomplishments. He was one of Shaw Brothers鈥 most prominent directors between 1964 and 1970, directing close to 20 films there.
His The Golden Buddha (1966), which is a really fun James Bond-style film, was the first Shaw movie to take HK$1 million, and Lo was the first to be called a 鈥渕illion-dollar director鈥.
He mainly directed wuxia films in his Shaw period, riding on the coattails of King Hu鈥檚 hit Come Drink With Me. He reunited that film鈥檚 stars Cheng Pei-pei and Yueh Hua in Dragon Swamp, The Shadow Whip and Raw Courage.
Over his full career 鈥 he worked at MP&GI studios before Shaw, and at Golden Harvest after 鈥 he directed all sorts of genres.
I think that was a result of his experience as an actor. He acted in dramas, romances, the lot 鈥 he understood how to make many different styles of film.
Many modern-day viewers are unaware that Lo was a famous actor earlier in his career.
Yes, he started off as a stage actor in Shanghai and when he came to Hong Kong, he moved into films. He had a leading role in Prisoner of Love in 1951, and he became a matinee idol.
He was a prolific actor and appeared in around 135 films over his career. He would often give himself roles in the films he was directing 鈥 he usually played authority figures, like the police chief in Fist of Fury.
Lo was a solid director, but he did not really have a unique style.
He was more of an 鈥渁ssembly line鈥 director, and I wouldn鈥檛 say he had a striking visual style. But he did have a good eye for composition.
His frames are always nicely composed, and his crowd scenes are very clearly laid out. You can see all the faces of the actors in those scenes. I think he really valued actors, and he thought their faces should be shown, out of respect.
He also used the widescreen format for most of his films, perhaps because of his training at Shaw, where they used Shawscope (Shaw Brothers鈥 brand of widescreen technology). I love that, as it makes his films very theatrical. You really need to see them on a wide screen to appreciate them.
What about the action scenes in his films? Was Lo heavily involved?
I think he used to delegate that to his martial arts choreographers. Jackie Chan said Lo would take a nap during his action scenes, or go and read his horse-racing papers.
He was also known for coming in late to start shooting, and leaving early and delegating the work to his assistant director, or the martial arts choreographer. He wasn鈥檛 a slacker, but if he had a chance to do nothing, he would take it.
This actually benefited Chan: if we believe what he said, he learned how to act and direct during the times when Lo was simply not there. He would talk to the martial arts choreographer and work things out.
Lo had a massive ego and was sometimes compared to Orson Welles in that respect.
Yes, he did. Lo was from Shanghai, and the Shanghainese are known to be a bit arrogant, so that may account for it.
He was full of self-confidence, and he felt he was the one that had made Bruce Lee famous, for instance. The Big Boss and Fist of Fury both broke box office records, and he felt he was responsible for that.
He said he was responsible for Lee鈥檚 success, and of course Lee hated that, and that is what led to all the fights and ego battles on the set of Fist of Fury. Lo tried to control Lee and that ultimately led to them parting ways.
How much do you think Lo was actually responsible for Lee鈥檚 success?
Well, we really have to look at the martial arts scenes to answer that. The Big Boss was choreographed by Han Ying-chieh, who was a mentor to Bruce Lee and a revered figure in his own right. Lo had respect for him and let him do what he wanted.
By the time you get to Fist of Fury, you can see Lee鈥檚 style coming through, but Han also contributed a lot to the film. He did more than Lo, and Lee also put a lot of work in.
How about Jackie Chan? Would Chan have made it without Lo?
It鈥檚 hard to tell. Lo knew Chan was talented but he didn鈥檛 understand him. Jackie鈥檚 forte is kung fu comedy and it was [Yuen Woo-ping鈥檚] Snake in the Eagle鈥檚 Shadow and Drunken Master which had that and made him a star.
After those two films, Lo made Spiritual Kung Fu with Chan, which had some comedic elements. But I think if he had stuck with Lo, he wouldn鈥檛 have been allowed to do the things he does best.
Excluding his work with Lee and Chan, what do you think are Lo鈥檚 top five films?
The Golden Buddha for sure, as it is simply a lot of fun. It鈥檚 Shaw Brothers doing James Bond. Lo himself also plays a great villain in it. It has an imitation Bond, gadgets, and it was shot on location in Thailand.
I also really like the two films he did with Jimmy Wang Yu, A Man Called Tiger and The Tattooed Dragon. Those are a lot of fun, too.
Going back to the wuxia at Shaw, I like Dragon Swamp, with Cheng Pei-pei, Yueh Hua and Lo Lieh.
If I had to choose another, it would be The Comet Strikes with Nora Miao. Or Vengeance of a Snowgirl 鈥 that was his collaboration with Li Ching, who was a very popular actress at Shaw. It features the usual Shaw regulars, and Lo himself plays a bit part. It鈥檚 a very competently made film.
In this regular feature series on the best of Hong Kong cinema, we examine the legacy of classic films, re-evaluate the careers of its greatest stars, and revisit some of the lesser-known aspects of the beloved industry.
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