Fish Beauty

This film (drama)Also known as魚美人，is aHong Kong, ChinaProducerwomen sex，At1965Released in year 。The dialogue language isMandarin Chinese，Current Douban rating7.8(For reference only)。

This film is directed by Gao Li, with Zhang Che as the screenwriter and lyricist, and Wang Fuling as the composer. It stars the two leading actresses Ling Bo and Li Jing. In the film, Ling Bo plays the scholar Zhang Zhen in disguise, while Li Jing portrays both the Fairy of the Carp and the Golden Peony. The story describes Zhang Zhen's betrothal to Golden Peony, but due to the decline of his family fortune, his father-in-law Jin Chong disapproves of the financially struggling Zhang, insisting that he lives in a thatched cottage until he passes the imperial exams to marry. Zhang diligently studies day and night, hoping to achieve success. Beside the thatched cottage, there is a carp spirit who has cultivated for a thousand years and can transform into a human, known as the Fairy of the Carp, who develops feelings for Zhang out of sympathy. To comfort Zhang's loneliness, the fairy takes the form of Golden Peony and sneaks into the thatched cottage...This film, themed on life's philosophy, won the Best Actress award (Li Jing), Best Talent award (Ling Bo), and Best Sound award (Wang Yonghua) at the 12th Asian Film Festival in 1965. It is a significant work of Huangmei opera filmed in the later period of Shaw Brothers, both in terms of commercial value and aesthetic significance. The story is based on the Yue opera "Chasing Fish," and a film was made in the mainland in 1959 starring Xu Yulan and Wang Wenjuan. The Great Wall Company also adapted it into "Fairy Carp Couple" starring Xia Meng. In terms of casting, the Shaw Brothers version showcases Ling Bo supporting the newcomer Li Jing (this was Li Jing's first role as a lead actress), thereby successfully promoting the last Huangmei queen of Shaw Brothers (Li Jing is the last star to win Best Actress at a film festival with a Huangmei opera film, earlier there were Lin Dai, Ling Bo as Asian queens, and Le Di as Golden Horse queen). Musically, "Fish" is Wang Fuling's most outstanding Huangmei opera work. Although the film mainly features lengthy sections of the "pingci" singing style with little variation in musical vocabulary, fortunately, Gao Li's staging displays some ingenuity. One song, "Hard to Repay Yearning Debt," features Li Jing as the carp spirit gliding on roller skates across the shimmering waters of the carp pool on a snowy winter night. In the scene "Watching Lanterns," Wang Fuling adopts a fast-paced "caiqiang" to express joy in Huangmei opera, interspersed with segments of folk tunes and performances of "Cowherd and Weaving Maid," creating a lively and colorful atmosphere. The Huangmei opera from Shaw Brothers consistently maintains a basic visual aesthetic of beauty, and this film is a fine work of Huangmei opera from the second classical period.