Comedy

The economic turbulence of the 1970s also prompted the rise of comedies, a hugely popular genre that broke many box office records. Shaw’s too produced a number of comedy films, in particular Cantonese comedies, to test market response. In the early 1970s, Chu Yuan, borrowing from a renowned Shanghai drama, made the Cantonese title The House of 72 Tenants (1973). It was a box office hit and marked the revival of made-in-Hong-Kong Cantonese films. In addition, Shaw’s took the opportunity to produce a number of films that were spin-offs of television programmes, including Hong Kong 73 (1974) and Gossip Street (1974). With the return of Li Han-hsiang from Taiwan, Shaw’s continued to produce comedies including The Warlord (1972), The Happiest Moment (1973), Love Swindler (1976), which poke fun at curious personalities and curious events in “old” China. Thus the comedy fever continued. Meanwhile, enlisting comedians Yeh Feng and Wang Sha from Singapore, Shaw’s produced the Crazy Bumpkin series, with such titles as The Crazy Bumpkins (1974), Return Of The Crazy Bumpkins (1974), and Big Time for the Crazy Bumpkins (1975). This series, which tells the story of country bumpkins trying to find their way in the city, was, in a way, a tribute to Tianyi’s comedy tradition which was spearheaded by Country Bumpkin series (which included The The Country Bumpkin Tours the City (1935), The Country Bumpkin Tours the City, Part II (1935), and The Country Bumpkin Tours the City, Part III (1935)).