Middle Eastern folktale collection One Thousand and One Nights has been greatly treasured by Western storytellers who are fascinated by the fantastic world within. The exoticism conveyed in Western film adaptations greatly appealed to Cantonese opera and film writer Ma Si-tsang, who adapted The Thief of Bagdad (1924) into Cantonese opera The Prince of Thieves, set in an ancient empire influenced by both East and West. In 1958, director Luk Bong adapted the play into a film, turning the thief of the original film into a Robin Hood-esque hero who poses as a prince to compete for the princess' hand in marriage. Packed with a thrilling treasure hunt and a damsel-in-distress rescue as well as eye-catching special effects, Prince of Thieves is 100% a romantic swashbuckler.
Lau Mung-mui chances on To Lai-leung and their encounter transcends to a rendezvous in their dreams. They admire each other, but they do not know each other's names and addresses.
Yiu But-fan marries on the day his father Yan-kit retires as a distinguished swordsman when Yan-kit's nemesis 'Ghostly Mother Blue Flower' Chiu Choi-wan and her foster son Lai Chun-wah gatecrash the party, striking dead the elder and But-fan's wife with the White-bone Soul-thrashing needles.
A disfigured musical genius, hidden away in the Paris Opera House, terrorises the opera company for the unwitting benefit of a young protégée whom he trains and loves.
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.
After ten years of marriage, a woman decides to tell her husband about her libertine past. A cascade of revelations follows, all as unexpected as they are funny.
Popular movie trailers from 1958
These some of the most viewed trailers for movies released in 1958:
1958: during the Russian campaign, a military priest is called upon to assist Private Baranowski, who has been sentenced to death for desertion, on his last night.
Jean-Paul is a Frenchman who yearns to live in communist Czechoslovakia. His wish is granted when, mistaken as a masseur of a French boating team, he manages to elude the democratic authorities long enough to scamper over the Czech border.
Two fairies, Terencja and Felicja are in posession of the Lucky Rain Boots, which they intend to give to the most deserving person in the city of Kraków.
This melodrama tells the tale of a great battle between the French Foreign Legion and the rebellious Arab tribe, the Tuaregs, who fight it out upon the blistering Sahara sands.
Comments
Have you watched Prince of Thieves yet? What did you think about it?
