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紅白牡丹花 (1952)
Red and White Peonies


Reviewed by: dleedlee
Date: 02/29/2004

An enjoyable but run of the mill story of a daughter who discovers that her mother and father and not her true birth parents.

Hung Sin-Niu is perpetually morose as the oldest daughter of Dr Sima (Ng Cho-Fan). Pak Suet-Sin plays, Pak-Ling, the daughter who betrays the truth and also hankers for Hung-Ling's boyfriend (Cheung Wood Yau).
Pak-Ling eventually repents. Lam Kar Yee plays Kam-Ling the spunky youngest daughter. Wong Man-Lei plays the mother.
Ma Sze-Tsang is the smuggler now mahjong parlor operator who intends to reclaim his daughter but changes his mind after seeing how well Sima has raised Hung-Ling. He gives the best performance of the lot and is the most sympathetic character.

Despite the stellar cast, the film doesn't pull at your heartstrings the way a good melodrama should.

Hung Sin-Nui and Pak Suet-Sin each sing a song in this film.

Reviewer Score: 5