John Woo S A Better Tomorrow

Has the creative period of the New Hong Kong Cinema now come to an end? However we answer this question, there is a need to evaluate the achievements of Hong Kong cinema. This series distinguishes itself from the other books on the subject by focusing in-depth on individual Hong Kong films, which together make the New Hong Kong cinema.

This work examines film series. Some are representative of three periods in American film history--silent cinema, Classic Hollywood cinema, and the post-Classic or New Hollywood cinema. And some are in the tradition of other national cinemas, including those of France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan and India. The series are examined from a variety of cultural and critical perspectives. In the initial chapter the editor analyzes the series form. Part One examines early cinema, outlining the events and situations after 1907 that allowed early filmmakers to begin creating series based on the complex narratives of popular fiction. Part Two explores the cultural implications of such series as Tarzan, Nancy Drew, and Maisie. Chapters in Part Three analyze James Bond and Star Wars, two of the most widely recognized series in Hollywood history. Part Four examines mid-century Germany's Fridericus and France's Angelique and Caroline. The final part presents studies of the postwar Japanese series Godzilla and Tora-San, the popular Better Tomorrow series from Hong Kong, and several Hindi series from postcolonial India.

Thanks to the successes of directors and actors like John Woo, Jackie Chan, and Chow Yun-Fat, the cinema of Hong Kong is wildly popular worldwide, and there is much more to this diverse film culture than most Western audiences realize. Beyond martial arts and comedy, Hong Kong films are a celebration of the grand diversity and pageantry of moviemaking—covering action, comedy, horror, eroticism, mythology, historical drama, modern romances, and experimental films. Information on 1,100 films produced in British Hong Kong from 1977 to 1997 is included here.