Following the huge popularity of 1973’s
Outside the Window in Hong Kong and elsewhere in Asia, 11 more films saw Brigitte Lin star in adaptations of romance novelist Chiung Yao’s work. Among them,
Cloud of Romance stands out not just for Chiung’s extra involvement – the 1977 movie was the first work from her Hong Kong-based Superstar film company – but also for its dark turns in the plot department.
The picture begins on a cheery note, with happy-go-lucky Tuan Wan-lu (Lin) running home from university and crashing into journalist Meng-chiao (Charlie Chin) on the street. Attraction between them is immediate, but there’s a snag: Wan-lu’s childhood friend and longtime admirer Ku Yu-lan (Chin Han) has returned after four years away, and he wants to date her too. A love triangle takes shape complete with Wan-lu double-dating, shooting from dance hall to cafe one evening to see both men. But things take a bad turn when an attempt by Meng-chiao to introduce Wan-lu to his mum falls apart, and tensions grow over years as Wan-lu’s love trouble with both men worsens.
Newly restored by the Taiwan Film Institute,
Cloud of Romance opens as a light and frisky piece, with early scenes lifted by lively chatter and a Mandopop theme song performed by Fong Fei-fei (and with lyrics by Chiung Yao). But melodrama grows quickly as the romantic tangle gets knottier. Tears start flowing when a mystery woman turns up to complicate matters, scenes with Meng-chiao’s stern mother escalate to inadvertent comedy and, though the film is billed as romance, the men can be jarringly rough at times. Chen Hung-lieh’s direction veers from straightforward to pop to visually striking, while some of helming flourishes are very much of their time, including heavily diffused lensing in outdoor strolls and snap triple zooms at moments of tension.
Brigitte Lin was well into her acting career when she joined the production – she had 12 films come out in 1976 alone – and her performance shows a great dramatic range. Lin’s early scenes have a refreshing playfulness, while later moments of setbacks and torment come across powerfully. The picture was also notable for pairing Lin with both Charlie Chin and Chin Han – two superstars who, along with Brigitte Lin and Joan Lin, were part of the popular “Two Lins and Two Chins” of 1970s Taiwan cinema. Both men capably echo Wan-lu’s trajectory as their characters shift from being youthful romantics to tortured souls. While the direction of
Cloud of Romance may look rudimentary at times to modern viewers, it’s the performances that often leave the strongest impressions – especially Lin as the centre of attention.
Chen Hung-lieh
Chen Hung-lieh (1943-2009) signed with the Shaw Brothers studio in 1964 after completing its actor training course. He gained attention with his performance as the villain in King Hu’s
Come Drink with Me (1966) and became popular in Hong Kong and Taiwan. After leaving Shaws in 1971, Chen continued to act and took up directing with 1974’s
The Inheritor of Kung Fu, before shifting to TV acting in his later years.