James Yi Lui

Acting

James Yi Lui

Born — Died

1939-12-13 — 1999-02-16

Place of birth

Guangdong, China

Known for

Acting

Credits

53 titles

James Yi Lui was born in 1943, the son of famed comic actor Yi Chau-shui. At age 17, he joined Shaw Brothers as a bit part actor, starting with Sweet Girl in Terror in 1958. A breakout role in Teddy Girls (1969) moved him up to lead and major supporting roles until he achieved stardom with his comedic turn in Adventure in Denmark (1973). He continued to appear in films (nearly 100 total) until 1989 and also formed his own production company, Daai Sing, which enabled him to direct and produced several films. He retired after directing and starring in the ghost comedy Excuse Me, Please! in 1989 and passed away ten years later from heart disease.

Known for

Film credits

1980s · 17 titles

The Haunted Cop Shop II poster
5.5

Specially trained government troops are sent to clean out a city that is plagued by vampires, ghosts and cannibalistic zombies.

The Haunted Cop Shop II

1988

Flaming Brothers poster
6.4

Two blood brothers, who have grown up on the streets of Macau, are bound together by a special code of honour. However, this bond ultimately leads them into brutal conflict when they struggle to leave the violent world they live in.

Flaming Brothers

1987

Hex vs. Witchcraft poster
5.1

A compulsive gambler weds a ghost who helps and hinders him in both horrid and hilarious ways.

Hex vs. Witchcraft

1980

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star poster
5.7

A second-rate private eye sees a woman's UFO abduction claim as his ticket to fame and fortune.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

1983

Mistaken Identity poster
9.5

Mistaken Identity is a Hong Kong Crime-Comedy directed by Tsui Siu-Ming and starring Richard Ng.

Mistaken Identity

1988

Framed poster
7.3

Simon Yam plays a cop that has just been released from jail after serving some years there. He claims he is innocent of all charges, and was in fact "framed".

Framed

1989

My Darling Genie poster
6.0

Out of the Shaw Brothers vaults comes My Darling Genie, an amiable early-eighties comedy starring the enchanting Cherie Chung. Derek Yee is Cheng, a brusque construction worker who discovers a magical umbrella on a routine dig. When the umbrella is opened and sprinkled with water, a 200 year-old genie arrives to grant the owner's wishes. As if that weren't enough, this genie happens to look like Cherie Chung! Cheng has been given a virtual ticket to Heaven, but he's more annoyed than grateful, and uses the Genie to perform mostly menial tasks.

My Darling Genie

1984

Money Is Lovely poster
NR

A movie company secretly films the lives of two conmen.

Money Is Lovely

1981

Operation Pink Squad poster
4.6

The Pink Squad is comprised of four strong, tough women (Sandra Ng, Ann Bridgewater, Suki Kwan in her film debut, and Elsie Chan) who do their police work efficiently and successfully. As a result, their chauvinistic superiors in the police department are always scheming to try and get them fired.

Operation Pink Squad

1988

Excuse Me, Please! poster
7.0

A group of flim-flam friends are chased by the mob and then by ghosts in this horror comedy.

Excuse Me, Please!

1989

The Lost Generation poster
3.7

The plot follows a group of women who struggle in Hong Kong, most of them illegal immigrants from mainland China.

The Lost Generation

1983

The Red Panther poster
6.5

A cop suffering from "posterior ulcers" tries to catch a serial killer who seeks out victims with medical problems. One suspect is a man who makes pies from guts, which the cop inadvertantly eats. Eventually the hero cop finds himself tied to an operating table with the killer preparing to deal with his "posterior ulcers"!

The Red Panther

1983

Carry On Police poster
4.0

Hong Kong comedy film.

Carry On Police

1982

Wedding Bells, Wedding Belles poster
8.0

A romantic comedy directed by Hong Kong New Wave filmmaker Yim Ho.

Wedding Bells, Wedding Belles

1981

Food For The Sharks poster
8.0

No synopsis available yet.

Food For The Sharks

1982

十三号地区 poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

十三号地区

1984

To Sir with Troubles poster
6.2

In the pressure-cooker environment of Hong Kong’s education system, students grapple with a relentless barrage of exams and mind-numbing lectures. The strain becomes so overwhelming that it leads many students down the path of rebellion. Mr. Tai (Lui Wai-hung) is a dedicated, albeit nerdy, high school biology teacher who finds himself with his hands full, contending with a group of troublesome teenagers. These unruly students go to great lengths to make Mr. Tai’s life a living nightmare, often with comically disastrous consequences. Amidst this chaos, Ye Feng plays the role of the father of the protagonist. He inadvertently gets caught up in the raucous antics and pandemonium that unfold within the school. This film marked Ye Feng’s final appearance in cinema.

To Sir with Troubles

1981

1970s · 26 titles

The Call Girls poster
10.0

A story of female sex workers across all social strata.

The Call Girls

1973

Foxbat poster
5.7

In Hong Kong, a Chinese cook swallows a microfilm by accident and becomes a target.

Foxbat

1977

The Crazy Instructor poster
4.2

A bumbling martial arts teacher has the skills but lacks the confidence to use them. Run out of town by some ne'er-do-wells, he sets out on some comic adventures as he travels the countryside. Taking up some companions that are as bumbling as he is, the group seems to stumble into one misadventure after another. Will our hearty band eventually prove their worth with their skills and bring their enemies to justice?

The Crazy Instructor

1974

Bald-Headed Betty poster
4.8

Poor Betty gets drugged and kidnapped at a teen beach party and finds herself in clutches of a sleazy prostitution ring. After trying to escape, her head is shaved as punishment. Soon enough, she's the star of the stable for all the local bald freaks.

Bald-Headed Betty

1975

The Extras poster
7.5

Hakky Ho (James Yi Lui) holds on to his love of acting and dreams of being a star despite the chaotic, brutal, low-paying, hilarious reality of life as an extra. He falls in love with fellow extra Siu-Fong (Idy Chan), but the star (Kenneth Tsang) wants her for his next extra-marital conquest.

The Extras

1978

A Haunted House poster
5.0

No synopsis available yet.

A Haunted House

1975

Love and Blood poster
9.0

Hong 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

The Ghosts and I poster
NR

Comedy / fantasy involving ghosts.

The Ghosts and I

1979

Maria poster
NR

Romantic tragedy based on John Lo Mar's story "Love Under the Cross".

Maria

1971

Black List poster
5.4

Two brothers, one wrongly accused of a crime, go on a mission of vengeance to find the men who framed him.

Black List

1972

Bus Stop poster
8.0

A gangster thriller.

Bus Stop

1971

Tiger poster
9.0

Hapkido Master Kim Jin Pal takes on a mass of Japanese bushido experts in occupied China Bolo plays Zatoichi hired by the Japanese as a last resort to take on the might of Kim's boot.

Tiger

1973

Death Comes in Three poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Death Comes in Three

1973

No artwork available
8.0

Hong Kong comedy film.

The Money-tree

1973

Body for Sale poster
NR

One 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

The Discharged poster
NR

Hong Kong action / crime / drama.

The Discharged

1977

No artwork available
10.0

Hong Kong comedy film.

My Darling Slave

1974

Back Street poster
NR

Two rival street gangs from Kowloon go to war over turf and bar girls so as to dominate the area and maximize their takings; however things go from bad to worse as the girls start to get involved in the bloody feud.

Back Street

1973

3 Pussycats poster
3.5

Hong Kong drama film.

3 Pussycats

1973

Adventure in Denmark poster
3.0

Two 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

No artwork available
NR

Sequel to the comedy movie Lam Ah Chun

Lam Ah Chun Blunders Again

1979

The Clumsy Gambler poster
8.0

Hong Kong comedy

The Clumsy Gambler

1977

No artwork available
NR

Two fellows who make friends under the funniest circumstances cause a riot through a series of jobs that they take on and lose at an alarming rate.

Gee and Gor

1978

No artwork available
NR

Hong Kong movie

The Simple-Minded Fellow

1976

Lam Ah Chun poster
10.0

Looking for a job, Ah-chun is sent off into the countryside to a seemingly haunted mansion.

Lam Ah Chun

1978

The Winner Takes All poster
NR

Directed by Sum Cheung.

The Winner Takes All

1975

1960s · 4 titles

No artwork available
NR

Hong Kong's Ironman stepped up to the plate when Dr. No (1962) took the world by storm in the 1960s. Tso Tat-wah, the quintessential tough guy of Cantonese cinema who had appeared in dozens of popular action films, was licensed to spy in several 007 imitations. Here, he is Agent 303, the lucky number "3" a vivid sign of East-West integration. Presented in glorious widescreen, the film is garnished with secret weapons and ominous hideouts, mind games and technological intrigues, violence and sex, the latter in the form of a silhouette striptease!

The Secret Agent 303

1966

No artwork available
NR

During World War II, spy Wu Lai-sheung is instructed by her superior Fan Yeung-shan to murder spy number 13 Cheung Chi-ping. While Wu establishes a relationship with Sakei, the assistant general of the Japanese army, she also gets acquainted with Cheung. Cheung and Wu fall in love. Wu recommends Cheung to become Sakei's driver. Cheung pretends to court the Japanese spy Siu-kuen, but Siu-kuen arranges to kill the spies contacting with him. Cheung has seen through Kuen's identity for long. When Kuen is going to kill Wu, Cheung kills Kuen, Fan compels Wu to kill Cheung. Wu follows the instruction to murder Cheung. After the murder, Wu disappears. After the war, Fan discovers Wu ends up in asylum. When he visits Wu, he tells her of Cheung's innocence. This breaks Wu's heart. Cheung turns out to have seen through Wu's identity for a long time and pretended to have been killed to cover up his identity and facilitate his work. With the truth known and the war ended, Cheung and Wu married.

Spy No. 13

1964

No artwork available
NR

The delinquent gang 'The Seven Brigands' consists of the unruly rich heir Peter Ko, sister Connie, classmates Lisa, B.B. Jane and sister Angel, Tommy and Tong Wong. The good-natured Peter and Lisa want to put the gang back on the right track, but with Lisa falling out with the group following a row, Peter reverts to his former self.

Social Characters

1969

Horror by the Sea poster
NR

HK horror film.

Horror by the Sea

1964

Series credits

Behind the camera