The Natural Son

Chor Yuen started his directorial career with a bang. From its very first image, The Natural Son establishes Chor as a filmmaker of stylistic flourish, which would be sustained in various forms throughout his long tenure. Adapted from '30 cents' pulp fiction, it is a Kong Ngee melodrama made in the studio's mould, with Westernised characters and trendy middle-class lifestyles. Yet, Chor's first film is not exempt from the social urgency that characterises the Cantonese cinema of his father, Cheung Wood-yau. The film cloaks its entertainment in a moral deliberation on blood ties, its story about the raising of a bastard child a head-on challenge of archaic family values. An ostentatious start for a colourful and eventful career.

1959

1h 47min

TMDB watch Home page

Top Billed Cast

Patsy Ka Ling
Fong Man-yu
南紅
Fong Man-wai
謝賢
Chui Chung-ming
Kong Yat-fan
Mok Wai-sang
Keung Chung-Ping
Wan Sum-man
黃楚山
Fong's father
Lee Yuet-Ching
Fong's mother
楊業宏
Mok's father
Ma Siu-Ying
Mok's mother

Similar movies

The Tormented Beauty
The Tormented Beauty
09 Jan 1958
The Tormented Beauty
Guerrilla member Ting Siu-yuen works as a playwright and Lee, the leader of an opera troupe. They conceal their identities in the troupe in order to gather military intelligence. Yuen gradually falls in love with the lead actress Mui Law-heung. Ting is unsettled to learn that County Chief Fong covets Mui. He sneaks into Fong's residence and is astounded by the sight of his old lover Pak Kuen, now Fong's wife. Fong colludes with the military chief in conducting vicious schemes. With Kuen's help, Yuen is able to get the intelligence. But as Heung is not an insider, she reports to the Governor about the illicit relationship between Yuen and Kuen. Kuen backs Yuen to eliminate the conspirators and bring about the union of Yuen and Heung.
Oshidori kenkagasa
Oshidori kenkagasa
22 May 1957
Oshidori kenkagasa
No overview found
A Chaos of Flowers
A Chaos of Flowers
01 Oct 1988
A Chaos of Flowers
Set in the Taisho era, which might be regarded as Japan's Hippie Phase, Hana no ran is a story about fashionable people without impulse control. Much of the action centers on a popular woman writer, the real-life poet Akiko Yosano, and her experiences among the literati of early 20th century Japan. Because of her independent, anti-war and often erotic poetry, she was a lightning rod for revolutionaries and other extremists, many of whom were destined to glamorous, yet ultimately pointless, deaths. The closest parallels might be the Byron/Shelley group or the people drawn to the Beat Generation.
A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol
20 Nov 1969
A Christmas Carol
On Christmas Eve, an old miser named Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the spirit of his former partner, Jacob Marley.
Daisy Miller
Daisy Miller
22 May 1974
Daisy Miller
Despite mixed emotions, Frederick Winterbourne tries to figure out the bright and bubbly Daisy Miller, only to be helped and hindered by false judgments from their fellow friends.
Unholy Love
Unholy Love
08 Jun 1932
Unholy Love
An adaptation of Madame Bovary transported to Rye, New York in the 1930's. All characters have been renamed.
Table for Two
Table for Two
01 Jan 2012
Table for Two
Julia, a waitress without much going on in her life, accepts a job offer from Milo, a writer in crisis who needs an assistant to talk to. From these conversations on, she begins to perceive that love is where we least expect for.
The Pedlar
The Pedlar
29 Oct 1982
The Pedlar
The Pedlar is a dramatic film based on the short story by W.D. Valgardson, A Place of One's Own. Tired of the rootless, lonely existence of a travelling merchant, a man searches for a place to settle down, and someone to share his life.
Holden
Holden
01 Jan 1961
Holden
A rainy-night clash in a boarding-school dorm forces a swaggering teen to confront his insecurities and the price of rebellion.
Sanctuary
Sanctuary
18 Apr 1961
Sanctuary
In 1920s rural Mississippi, Nancy Mannigoe, an African-American servant, is placed on death row for the murder of Temple Drake's infant child. Temple, the daughter of the governor, pleads with her father to exonerate Nancy of the charges, explaining that Nancy acted in haste to prevent her from resuming her affair with a roguish Cajun called Candy Man. Details of Temple's sordid past are uncovered as she begs mercy for her faithful servant.
Sable Cicada
Sable Cicada
15 Jun 1938
Sable Cicada
Diaochan (aka Diau Charn and Sable Cicada), one of the Four Beauties of China, is supposed to be so stunningly lovely that the moon was shamed to hide behind clouds. Despite being the only Beauty among the four who is not a real historical figure but one conjured by storytelling imagination and embellished by public fascination, her story was nonetheless incorporated by author Luo Guangzhong into his popular and influential novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Her tale is one of Machiavellian intrigue, in which she schemes with her godfather Wang Yun to restore moral order to the land, sowing discord between the corrupt Minister Dong Zhuo and his adopted son Lu Bu, a man of martial and military prowess.
Winter Love
Winter Love
03 Dec 1968
Winter Love
Inside a café, on Christmas Eve. Chim Kei meets an enigmatic woman named Mimi Wong who introduces herself as the daughter of an upper-crust family. But the infatuated writer is struck by a spasm of sorrow when he later sees Mimi make her appearance as a taxi-dancer at a party. The lovers are reconciled by the story of her plight told by her sister Annie. However, Mimi goes missing on the engagement day. By a stroke of luck, Chim runs into the elusive woman again and finds out how she was forced into prostitution by her drug-addict husband, his childhood best friend and benefactor Chan Hung-kit. Chim leaves dejectedly, and has since been idling his days away. The frail Mimi confesses her love for Chim on her deathbed, and from not far away, Chan has ended his own life.
For Love Alone
For Love Alone
22 May 1986
For Love Alone
Teresa is a spirited young girl chafing under the oppressive attitudes of 1930s society, and her father in particular. She fancies her poverty-stricken Latin tutor Johnathan Crow, without realising he merely considers her a pleasant diversion and nothing more, and eventually follows him from Sydney to London. En route she meets the gentle banker James Quick. Whilst navigating her relationships in London, including with a political poet bound for the Spanish Civil War, she experiences a transformation in her understanding of love. Based upon Christina Stead's best-selling Australian novel.
Jons und Erdme
Jons und Erdme
04 Mar 1959
Jons und Erdme
Adaptation of Hermann Sudermann's novel about the troubled relationship between the strong willed Erdme and her irascible husband Jons in the Lithunian moors.
A Lovely Girl's Lovely Dreams
A Lovely Girl's Lovely Dreams
21 Oct 1958
A Lovely Girl's Lovely Dreams
Songstress Mui Yee-wah falls head over heels for painter Wai Tik-fung despite their age difference. Because Wai is a married man, Mui's mother is against the match. Mui falls ill from grief. Rich heir Siu Kar-wai seizes the chance to successfully propose to Mui. However, Siu is unable to let go of Mui's past. In a fit of anger, he fires a deadly shot at Wai.
The Dream
The Dream
01 Jan 1989
The Dream
Starring Jeremy Irons in a one-man drama, adapted from a Dostoevsky short story by Murray Watts. In his dream, the Man visits an unspoilt Garden of Eden.
A Mighty Nice Man
A Mighty Nice Man
18 Apr 2015
A Mighty Nice Man
Patricia Highsmith's haunting story of a day in a young girl's life when a kind stranger comes to town.
Human Relationships
Human Relationships
09 Dec 1959
Human Relationships
Lee Sun-fung is renowned for adapting literary classics for the silver screen. To commemorate the seventh anniversary of the Union Film Enterprise known for producing quality films and co-founded by Lee, Human Relationships is adapted from writer Ba Jin's novel into film. The Yiu family moves into a manor. Mrs Yiu, while frustrated by the way her step-son is spoiled by her husband and mother-in-law, develops a friendship with a kid (Michael Lai) who steals flowers from the mansion's garden. She later learns that he is the son of the place's former owner whose downfall at middle age is the result of being spoiled when young. Lai was only a child but gained a foothold among seasoned veterans like Cheung Wood-yau, Ng Cho-fan and Pak Yin.
Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist
28 Feb 1933
Oliver Twist
When 9-year-old orphan Oliver Twist dares to ask his cruel taskmaster, Mr. Bumble, for a second serving of gruel, he's hired out as an apprentice. Escaping that dismal fate, young Oliver falls in with the street urchin known as the Artful Dodger and his criminal mentor, Fagin. When kindly Mr. Brownlow takes Oliver in, Fagin's evil henchman Bill Sikes plots to kidnap the boy.
Jack London’s Son of the Wolf
Jack London’s Son of the Wolf
01 May 2024
Jack London’s Son of the Wolf
After winning a thousand dollars in gold in a boxing match, Jack Mackenzie and his wolf-dog trek south on a journey in hunt of a suitable wife.