
Directing
Ho Fan
Born 1937-10-08 · Shanghai, China
A native of Guangdong born in Shanghai on 8 October 1931, Ho Fan came to Hong Kong at the age of 18 and studied in The Evening School of Higher Chinese Studies and New Asia College. Ho has dedicated much of his time to literature and photography since his school days. His photography was well-known for using light, shadow and composition to create a sense of drama, capturing the appearance of small people in Hong Kong, and has won numerous international awards. He passed away in California on 19 June 2016.
Acting credits
10.0Before director Lo Wei helped to discover Bruce Lee and the king of kung-fu comedy Jackie Chan, in Madam Slender Plum, Lo perpetuates the career of yet another Shaw's non-action, femme fatale starlet; the sleek and sexy, puppy-eyed Eurasian Jenny Hu. It's a melodrama with a touch of murder-mystery in the vein of an old Alfred Hitchcock movie where Diana Chang plays the mother with Jenny playing her oldest daughter.
Madam Slender Plum
1967
5.7Monkey King, Pig and Friar Sand must rescue his master Buddhist monk from seven witches / spiders who believe themselves to be immortal if they eat the monk's flesh. The third part of the Shaw Brothers film series about Monkey King after the novel "Journey to the West."
The Cave of the Silken Web
1967
7.1Li Qingqing, an orphan, just arrives in Hong Kong and becomes a singer who sacrifices everything for her man.
Love Without End
1961
8.0THE MONKEY GOES WEST is the first entry in the studio’s epic, four-part screen adaptation of “Journey to the West,” a 16th-century novel recounting the efforts of a Buddhist monk and his magical companions to travel to India and bring back Buddhist sutras.
The Monkey Goes West
1966
NRThe film tells the story of Xing Yonghui, a rich girl who has fun with her painter boyfriend Du Shaohua and her classmates. Chen Xiaoping and Guo Dawei fall in love and want to elope, but they are prevented from doing so; Du Shaohua and Li Zhongting fall in love with each other over a painting, causing Xing Yonghui's unhappiness, and Xing Yonghui crashes a car into a rock and wants to die together, causing serious injuries to Du Shaohua and Li Zhongting; Xing Yonghui's suicide is prevented by her shame, but Li Zhongting does not care about the past suspicion, and the two of them recover from the injuries and perform with their classmates on the same day as they had planned to do so.
The Joy of Spring
1966
6.0The Monk, Monkey and Pigsy find themselves in the title realm, where women can only give birth to women...unless loved by a man
The Land of Many Perfumes
1968
9.0Nineteen-year old Li Ching scored a major success playing the title character, Susanna. Li's youthful exuberance is given free rein in a role that embraces rebellion, love, betrayal, tragedy, and ultimately, redemption.
Susanna
1967
6.0The mythological tale of a quest from China to India to bring back Buddhist scriptures, famous for the adventures of Sun Wukong, the notorious Monkey King.
Princess Iron Fan
1966
9.0It seems that Li Zhenfei was once an imperial concubine, who often found herself competing with her rival Madame Liu for the emperor's sole, undivided attention. When Li gives birth to the Emperor's child, the jealous Liu switches the boy with a cat and commands a servant named Kou Zhu to kill the baby. However, Kou Zhu ignores the order and gives the prince-to-be to the emperor's brother, a decision which eventually leads to the boy being adopted by the emperor himself! But as fate would have it, to go along with his new son, the emperor has a new wife as well - Madame Liu! As this strange new family unit is being constructed, poor Li Zhenfei has been confined to the forbidden palace, condemned to never see or speak to her son, the prince. But destiny reunites her with her son, but will this family reunion be a happy one? And will Madame Liu finally be punished for her treachery?
Inside the Forbidden City
1965
6.0Ling Bor plays Wen Fei E who is both an excellent academic as well as martial arts expert. Since her childhood days fond of dressing up as a boy, she becomes a village scholar sharing classes with Tu Zi Zheng (Chin Feng) and Wei Zhun Zhi (Ho Fan). When Fei E's innocent father is framed and sent to prison, she rushes to his rescue saving Jing Fu Quan (Kam Fie) who is in the hands of robbers along the way. Mistaking Fei E to be a noble hero, Fu Quan has no greater wish than to get married to her savior...
The Perfumed Arrow
1966
6.6It's a powerful melodrama about a thwarted romance in 1930s Tientsin, China, during the Japanese occupation, and it stars Linda Lin Dai, one of the era's most popular stars. It was part of Golden Horse's 100 Greatest Chinese-Language Films.
The Blue and the Black
1966
6.0War and time change everything. Their love becomes more than reunion, it becomes a reckoning with what was and what could've been. Part two of the wartime love story.
The Blue and the Black 2
1966
4.0After accidentally releasing seven peaches which give immense power to anything that eats them, Na Cha is sent to fight seven devils.
Na Cha and the Seven Devils
1973
5.2The tragic love triangle of early 20th century Peking Opera star Chiu Hai-tang, his beautiful stage partner, and the warlord who forces himself between them, has been a favorite with Chinese audiences for decades.
Vermilion Door
1965
5.0Some 40 years ago when warlords rode rough-shod over the Chinese people, circus acrobat Pao Te-cheng took to the hills and began robbing the rich to help the poor. His daring feats earned him the nickname of “The Masked Robber”. Trying to intercept a large sum of money to be turned over to public security chief Cheng Kuan-hsi, he is nearly caught. Partner Hsiao Chung is jubilant over his safe return. But in the government office, chief detective Ma Pu-yun frantically plots his arrest. Ma Chien-li, son of the chief detective, devises a clever trap set for Ma Pu-yun’s birthday party. Among the guests is Huang Tan-ping who is engaged to Doctor David Lee. Ma Chien-li proposes to her without knowing this.
Sweet Is Revenge
1967
10.0Shaw Brothers musical about three Showgirls chasing millionaires.
The Millionaire Chase
1969
6.5The husband-and-wife team of Ivy Ling Po and Chin Han returned to another Huangmei Opera classic after Lady General Hua Mu-Lan. Helmed by Chow Sze-loke and written by Chang Cheh, the story revolved around two intellectual siblings, Ching Feng-sheng (Chin Feng) and Ching Feng-hsiao (Ivy Ling Po), who were constantly abused by their stepmother Hsia (Kao Pao-shu). Feng-hsiao was engaged to Li Ru-lung (Chin Han) since birth, but the greedy Hsia forced him to forfeit the marriage. When Ru-lung refused, Hsia framed him for thievery and put him behind bars. To rescue her lover, Feng-hsiao dressed as a young man and went to the capital. She then used Ru-lung's name to enter the national exam and was ranked first place. Impressed by Feng-hsiao, the Emperor decided to let her wed the Princess (Fang Ying). On the wedding night, Feng-hsiao revealed the truth to the Princess...
The Female Prince
1964
4.0Two blind swords women come to the aid of a swordsman tracking down a ruthless martial arts master.
Blind Swordswoman
1971
Golden Rose, an informant for the resistance groups, kidnaps Miss Takamine, her Japanese counterpart who has received special training. Disguising herself as Miss Takamine, Golden Rose frequents the Japanese army barracks and gets information she needs.
Golden Rose
1972
Behind the camera
5.3David is sitting in a bar, musing over why he has bedded and left five or six of Asia's loveliest women in such a short time.
Hidden Desire
1991
5.4Before Michael Mak’s Sex And Zen became a cult favourite in the ’90s, there was Ho Fan’s Yu Pui Tsuen (The Carnal Prayer Mat, 1987). But without sex bomb Amy Yip, coarse humour or lesbian love affairs, Yu Pui Tsuen had to rely on the nudity and sex from his cast of relative unknowns to save the day. When a young man dreams that he drowns after a night of carnal passion, he asks a buddhist monk to translate the experience for him. The monk replies that the dream is a warning not to indulge the pleasures of the flesh to excess, but the man ignores his advice, marrying a virgin and making love to her constantly. However, after several torrid affairs, the man begins to realise the sagacity of the monk's warning.
Yu Pui Tsuen II
1987
3.0Confirmed bachelor Man Suen, a university professor, must get married by the age of 35, otherwise he and his playboy brother, Ray Suen, won't inherit his father's fortune of 50 million dollars, which will then go to his uncle. He is unaware that his colleague, the prim Miss Cheung, is in love with him and that she dreams of being rescued by her hero. His brother has met a young heiress, but his uncle has hired a sexy siren to prevent the marriage.
Temptation Summary
1990
5.3Adapted from the same infamous ancient text as the popular 1992 opus Sex and Zen, this film. Mei Yeung-sun is a man of letters who is less than thrilled with his sex life with his comely young wife Ti Yuk-xiang. Yet when Mei uncovers the family sex manual, their physical relationship improves considerably. So successful is the transformation that the two spend all of their time in the sack, much to the consternation of the girl's father. Later, Mei leaves home supposedly to become an official in the big city. In fact, Mei really plans to troll around the countryside and have sex with as many women as possible. Thanks to the advice of master thief Tsoi Kwun-lung, Mei visits a noted doctor and leaves the place with a massive newly installed penis. Brimming with cocksure confidence, he soon seduces lonely housewife Yim-fong. Her thuggish husband Kuan Low-si soon gets his revenge.
The Carnal Sutra Mat
1986
7.5"Wild at Heart" is a love film directed by Ho Fan and Qian Wenji, starring Shen Guanjun, Yang Yijia, Weng Xuehua, Liu Zhi, Xu Zhen, and Chen Zihong. It tells the story of a lascivious man carrying his wife around to provoke flowers, which was finally exposed and tortured by four women.
Wild at Heart
1993
1.7Pin-up photographer meets the girl he wants to marry.
Smile Again
1985
NRHaunted by her past, an ailing young woman who recently lost her mother and the roof over her head is reluctant to accept the generosity of an older man who fell out with his own daughter whose affair with his boss's son cost him his job; her reasons are revealed only after her death and when the past is dredged up. Based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Humiliated and Insulted, the film was filmed and distributed in Taiwan however was not released in Hong Kong. It is Ho Fan’s first attempt to fulfil his vision for an art house production in mainstream cinema which breaks the mould by mixing the nuance of art films with popular culture in a confrontation between the old and the new. It was selected in the 1980s by Hsu Li-Kong, director of then Film Library of the Motion Picture Development Foundation (now Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute), as part of its permanent collection. (By Reel to Reel Institute)
The Miserable Girl
1975
10.0Tang Monk is a woman, and she was almost killed by Wukong XX when she went out, but fortunately, the spider spirit appeared immediately. After subduing Wukong, the two masters and apprentices immediately went on the road to Gao Laozhuang...
West Sex Journey
1997
8.5Lung (Tony Poon), a rookie bodyguard, falls in love with the first subject he's overseeing, May (May Cheung). She has come to Hong Kong with false hopes of being a singer, but she's unwillingly set to enter the world of prostitution instead. Into this equation comes a model agency head (Margaret Lee – We're Going To Eat You) who's determined to conquer the love of Lung.
Brief Encounter
1988
4.1Disillusioned prostitutes try a new career in pornographic films.
Temptation Summary II
1991
1.0Kong Ping has a half brother Kong Shek, a playboy, and another brother Kong Fai, who was adopted by her parents, and is an honest doctor, single. A couple of lover comes to the family Christmas party -- Fan Lin and Daisy Ha. Fan Lin maintains sexual relations with Daisy Ha, but marries Kong Ping, just for better future. As an avenger, Daisy Ha marries Kong Fai. Still, she maintains an affair with Fan Lin. Meanwhile, Kong Shek courts Daisy Ha constantly. The two gradually develop love between themselves.
Desire
1986
2.7Wang, a womanising businessman miles away from home, makes it a sport to seduce young women. After one of his conquests got pregnant with his child and died after the abortion, one after another of his lovers are found murdered. It is only when he is arrested and convicted for these crimes that he finds himself embroiled in a plot of revenge. Based on the work of Japanese novelist Togawa Masako which was previously adapted by director Nakahira Kō into The Hunter’s Diary (1964 in Japan) and the Hong Kong version Diary of a Lady-killer (1969), Ho Fan’s remake, his third film for Shaw Brothers as director, is a stylistic tour de force and a more authentic rendering than the 1969 version, grippingly suspenseful and provocative with clever shots, dark humour, and sophisticated treatment of contemporary attitudes about sexual liberation, exploring the conflicts over human nature and desire. (By Reel to Reel Institute)
The Notorious Frame-up
1978
3.6Ho Fan started his career as a Shaw Brothers actor, best known for his role as the monk Tang Seng in the classic Monkey Goes West film series. As a director, however, his forte was erotica. Like Li Han Hsiang, Ho Fan was a pioneer of the aesthetic school of erotica, known for his luscious cinematography and seductive lens. He is certainly one of the few Hong Kong erotica filmmakers to have made a respectable name for himself with Category III offerings like Adventure in Denmark, Yu Pu Tuan, and 1977's Innocent Lust. One of Ho Fan's representative works, Innocent Lust stars Ai Fei, Chan Chun Ho, and Lam Choi as college friends who are unlucky in love. They decide to go to a night club, and are surprised to discover that their innocent-looking classmate (Chan Wai Ying) works as a hostess there. When they step up to defend her from a lecherous old man, the encounter sparks off an unexpected journey of love and lust.
Innocent Lust
1977
4.2The setting of the Black Brick Castle that harvests poppy seed. But times are tough as the wait for a ship that is picking up the latest batches has either been intercepted by robbers or won't come at all and the boss of the castle, Chen Tsao, once was part of the robbing gang before inheriting the family business slowly loses his mind. Despite the copious amount of concubines around him, he is not able to impregnate a woman. and he made Chen Mao, a worker impregnate a concubine to have a heir. His father's outgoing ways with several concubines and opium smoking, seems to somewhat stop at him. But worldly circumstances possibly having to do with poverty and famine outside of the castle walls doesn't make matters stop at him to turn around in a positive way. On the other hand Chen Mao, has an eye for one of the female workers who is married to abusive Kui Kong who thinks she brings bad luck to him, although she struggles to raise her two children with this curse she's said to carry.
The Sichuan Concubines
1994
4.3A compelling study of three girls and the paths they choose to stardom when they cross paths with a womanizing artist.
Erotic Nights
1989
NRA sex comedy by the Shaw Brothers studio.
Hello Sexy Late Homecomers
1978
NRHong Kong movie
The Devils
1973
4.0Dana is the long-haired temptress who sends a married rogue from a swinger’s bed to a hospital bed.
Girl with the Long Hair
1975
NRThe psychotic son of a rich man continues to get away with raping young women, with the help of an unscrupulous lawyer. A journalist working for a women's magazine becomes involved when her friend becomes a victim. Because of her campaigning efforts, the journalist herself becomes a target of the vicious brat's attentions.
Expensive Tastes
1982
9.0Hong Kong 1972. Shiu Pang is a poorly paid photographer with a very jealous fiancee. One day he meet an innocent girl and he falls in love with her. His fiancee decides to give a lesson to the young girl by sending a bunch of youngsters beating her and things goes worse and worse, the photographer's best friend dies in fighting the gangsters and the girl loses his mind, ending up in an asylum.
Love and Blood
1972
NROne day, due to carelessness. Ah Chung is fired from his job as a toilet attendant. Out of sympathy, Ah Lien, a waitress who he secretly admires, gives him financial help. When the much indebted Ah Chung found another job, he went to return the money to Ah Lien but was disappointed to learn that she had left and married. Years later, their paths cross again in a strip-tease joint.
Body for Sale
1976
3.0Two Chinese men go to Copenhagen for some reason. While one of them philanders around with various Danish and Asian women, the other falls in love with his Chinese tour guide, but takes time to have various drawn-out kung fu battles with a seemingly endless amount of thugs sent by his partner's overweight and very jealous girlfriend back home.
Adventure in Denmark
1973
8.0Caught between two entirely different women, an artist finds himself in conflict between the spiritual and the sensual, and at the same time lost creatively in the cultural clash between East and West. Based on Ho Fan’s 1966 experimental short Assignment, Part One, Lost depicts the artistic and carnal obsession of the modern creative mind. A departure from mainstream Cantonese and Mandarin films with European and Japanese new wave influences, it is shot with the colours of the 1960s and Lishan, Taiwan as backdrop. Sun Po-ling, an artist in her own right, co-directed and invested in the film, acting also as producer and make-up artist. She took the film to premiere in Cannes in 1970 and then screened it in Germany and the United States, while her ambition to release it locally in the foreign films theatre circuits did not materialise. Lost for half a century, this pioneering independent feature in the 1960s resurfaced in a print found in Taiwan by Reel to Reel Institute (Hong Kong).
Lost
1970
8.0Caught between two entirely different women, an artist finds himself in conflict between the spiritual and the sensual, and at the same time lost creatively in the cultural clash between East and West. Based on Ho Fan’s 1966 experimental short Assignment, Part One, Lost depicts the artistic and carnal obsession of the modern creative mind. A departure from mainstream Cantonese and Mandarin films with European and Japanese new wave influences, it is shot with the colours of the 1960s and Lishan, Taiwan as backdrop. Sun Po-ling, an artist in her own right, co-directed and invested in the film, acting also as producer and make-up artist. She took the film to premiere in Cannes in 1970 and then screened it in Germany and the United States, while her ambition to release it locally in the foreign films theatre circuits did not materialise. Lost for half a century, this pioneering independent feature in the 1960s resurfaced in a print found in Taiwan by Reel to Reel Institute (Hong Kong).
Lost
1970