Film Screening of The Best Secret Agent with introduction by Chris Berry

Chris Berry (King's College London)

Synopsis

During the Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), Cuiying (Bai Hong) flees with her father (Ke Youming) from the Japanese invasion. Unfortunately, Cuiying’s father dies on the road. Cuiying arrives in Shanghai alone and works as a singer in a club, where she meets Lingyun (Ke Junxiong) and Zhaoqun (Tian Qing). Zhaoqun happens to be Lingyun’s uncle. Moreover, Zhaoqun is rich and powerful because he works for the Japanese  government. Although Cuiying falls in love with Lingyun, she leaves him and marries Zhaoqun instead. Lingyun is broken-hearted and decides to study abroad.

Upon Lingyun’s return from the UK, he begins working for Zhaoqun. Zhaoqun wants Lingyun to marry his daughter, Aili (Liu Qing), and Cuiying reluctantly agrees to act as a go-between for the youngcouple. Meanwhile Zhaoqun’s work is constantly sabotaged by the Chinese resistance, led by Secret Agent Heaven No.1. Therefore, it becomes the top priority of Zhaoqun’s subordinate, Captain Wan (Hu Dou), to capture the enemy. But who is Secret Agent Heaven No.1?

Speaker Bio

Prof Chris Berry is Professor of Film Studies at King’s College London, and his academic research is grounded in work on Chinese-language cinemas. Primary publications include: (with Mary Farquhar) Cinema and the National: China on Screen (Columbia University Press and Hong Kong University Press, 2006); Postsocialist Cinema in Post-Mao China: the Cultural Revolution after the Cultural Revolution (New York: Routledge, 2004); (co-edited with Luke Robinson) Chinese Film Festivals: Sites of Translation (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017); (co-edited with Koichi Iwabuchi and Eva Tsai) Routledge Handbook of East Asian Popular Culture (Routledge, 2016); (edited with Nicola Liscutin and Jonathan D. Mackintosh), Cultural Studies and Cultural Industries in Northeast Asia: What a Difference a Region Makes (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2009); and (co-edited with Feii Lu) Island on the Edge: Taiwan New Cinema and After (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2005).

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Organiser: Centre of Taiwan Studies

Contact email: lr27@soas.ac.uk