Hong Kong martial arts movie stars on what life was like living and working at Shaw Brothers Movi

Below, learn what it was like to live and work in Movietown.

Cheng Pei-pei, Shaw’s biggest female martial arts star, signed a seven-year contract with Shaw in 1963 when she was 17, and went to live in Movietown:

“There were dormitories, but if you were famous, you got a unit, a nice one – I had a two-bedroom apartment, it was comfortable, and I didn’t need to pay. My grandma was living there with me. We didn’t socialise outside, so we didn’t know how famous we were outside. I didn’t know I was famous until I was married [in 1970]! But that might have been good for me.”

“I made 41 pictures for Shaw. But as for freedom, the actors were given protection by the Shaw company. Of course, we all felt we should have been given more freedom by Shaw Brothers in those days. But after we left Shaw, we missed the big company, and we missed our years together.

“We were like a family – when we were together, we wanted our freedom, but when we were totally free, we missed the protection.

Cheng Pei-pei talking to author Poshek Fu about how the studio managed every aspect of the lives of its stars:

“It was the paradise of each and every young person who lived there in the 1960s. It was at that studio that each of us lived our dreams … Back in those days, we spent all 24 hours of the day in our paradise. We had no reason to step outside of the studio. We had movies to make, or notices of upcoming film projects [to consider]. We would receive coupons for our meals. With those, the food catering amahs would prepare us homestyle meals …

“The company [was] often worried that what went on in our private lives might influence box-office results. For instance, we were forbidden to date at a young age.”

“Popularity is useless. Some directors in the Shaw Studio are really practical. Once they saw my leg was hurt, they replaced me with other actors immediately. There are no friends in the studios.”

Ho Menghua, long-time Shaw contract director, on the centrally controlled bureaucracy of the studio:

“Under the Shaw system, everything had to be applied for. You simply could not ask for anything on the spot, no matter how trivial. Sometimes it bordered on the ridiculous … once a director was shooting a street scene and he needed a few dozen eggs. Instead of simply going to the canteen to get them, he had to stop work, go through the procurement department, and wait for the process to play out.”

“It took us three days to shoot the ‘duel for marriage’ fight scene. Each day the temperature continued to be over 30 degrees Celsius [86 degrees Fahrenheit]. We all had worn fur and thick clothes, which gave me heatstroke.

“Chang Cheh was annoyed about this and, breaking his chair, said to his staff, ‘As those actors work so hard, why can’t we give them a break and a comfortable work environment?’ From then on, I had my own chair and assistant.”

Ti Lung on training at the studio’s in-house acting school. The acting school served the studio’s policy of finding raw talent through newspaper advertisements and open auditions – it was cheaper to train unknowns than to hire established stars; the school also taught dance and martial arts:

“At Shaw, you had to learn to work several techniques like Thai boxing, karate, judo, taekwondo, mantis fist … the martial arts practices were a combination of all these techniques. We would observe some movements and try to copy them.”

“Shaw Brothers was very hard work for very cheap pay. When I started to get famous, I just got 200 dollars a month. I never even got a bonus!”

“Chor Yuen was an artist with strange behaviours – he could show up for work in his pyjamas, because he had forgotten to put his suit on.”

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tK%2FMqWWcp51kuaqyxKyrsqSVZLKvwMSrq5qhnqKyr8COmqmtoZOhsnB%2FkG9rcmxiZLWwusZmoqiml2K6or7TopilZZGnwbR5zKitop1dqMGivtJmrqGZpGK5qrLEZq6aq12htre1zaBkmqaU