Screen adaptations help to make novels more accessible
Louis Cha’s literary masterpieces are easily accessible, even to those who have never read a word of them, thanks to a number of screen adaptations made over half a century.
According to mtime.com, a popular website that specializes in reporting film news, the writer’s martial arts novels have been adapted for about 120 feature-length movies and TV dramas since the late 1950s.
Cha began to write martial arts novels in 1955, and three years later his work Legends of the Condor
Heroes was adapted for a two-part Cantonese movie, Story of the Vulture Conqueror.
With his knowledge of Chinese history, a distinctive narrative style and in-depth examination of humanity, Cha interwove fictional roles with historical events set in various dynasties to create literary epics.
From the late 1960s until the early ’80s, Shaw Brothers Studio — one of Hong Kong largest and best-known for its martial arts blockbusters — shot nearly 20 films adapted from or loosely inspired by Cha’s novels.
Renowned directors who helmed movies adapted from Cha’s works include Chang Cheh and Chor Yuen, two leading figures who pioneered Hong Kong wuxia, or martial arts, films — a significant genre that took Chinese stories to the West.
With the rise of emerging talent and technical progress amid Hong Kong’s New Wave movement in Chinese-language cinema, movie adaptations of Cha’s novels opened a new chapter in the 1990s.
Directors Tsui Hark and Wong Kar-wai used strong personal styles to adapt Cha’s stories. In Tsui’s 1990s hit The Legend of
Swordsman, inspired by Cha’s namesake novel, the film boldly used actress Brigitte Lin to play Dongfang Bubai, a male genius who castrates himself for practicing the most powerful martial arts skills. Wong’s award-winning 1994 film Ashes of Time, loosely inspired by
Legends of the Condor Heroes, gathered superstars such as Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung Ka-fai and Maggie Cheung to tell complex, emotional romantic stories.
In an earlier interview with Chinese media, Wong said that in Ashes
of Time he blended the nostalgia of his adolescent years and the influences of John Wayne’s western movies.
Tan Fei, a Beijing filmmaker and critic, said: “Cha had a huge impact in reshaping Hong Kong cinema. A lot of the film and TV industry insiders in the city were fans of his wuxia tales.”
However, as most of Cha’s classics are long novels featuring many characters and plot twists, the normal length of a film — about two hours — is a little too short for faithful adaptations.
Compared with films, TV dramas made on the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore over the past three decades have played a more influential role in etching Cha’s novels in the minds of generations of readers.
One of the highest-rated TV series is 1983’s Legends of the Condor
Heroes, starring Felix Wong Yat-wa and Barbara Yung.
Aside from the millions of Chinese fans spanning several generations, the writer’s popularity also extended to the English-speaking world.
Indian superstar Aamir Khan said that during his trip to Beijing last month that one of his favorite books is The Deer and The Cauldron, Cha’s last masterpiece, which tells the story of a boy growing up in a brothel who rises to become the favorite official of Emperor Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
Khan wrote on Sina Weibo: “I’m very saddened to hear the sad news that Louis Cha has died. His book
The Deer and The Cauldron gave me a lot of joy. I read it just a few months ago. I wish I could have met him. He has given so much joy to so many generations. I am a big fan of his.”
Last year, Tsui announced a remake of The Return of the Condor
Heroes as a trilogy. He is selecting a cast from around the world and plans to shoot it next year and in 2020.
In 2014, veteran Hong Kong director Gordon Chan said he would remake Legends of the Condor
Heroes, but further details have yet to be released.
Jiang Yong, a Beijing critic, said: “Cinema has a bigger impact than TV dramas. As only a few of Cha’s novels have been translated into English, his overseas popularity will probably grow if more cinematic remakes can be released in foreign markets.”