The film:
Ah Gen’s mother died young, and the boy lives with his father, Hu Yuan, and a shrewish step-mother. Mrs. Hu #2 disapproves of her husband’s gambling, loafing, and fishing and is cruel to them both, sometimes spanking father and son and sending them to bed without supper. She also has a lover, the thuggish Li Cheng, who commits murder and plans to run away with Mrs. Hu, leaving her “turtle” of a husband to take the rap. Who will save poor daddy! Heroic son to the rescue!
This slapstick narrative film draws on stock (misogynistic) comic themes, such as the hen-pecked husband, a role that character actor Liu Jiqun was to reprise in many films for United Photoplay Service (Lianhua) in the 1930s, such as Playthings (1933). Be sure to catch the dramatic cliffside see-saw stunt during the final finale.
Pa laopo, youming Erzi yingxiong 怕老婆, 又名兒子英雄
Original English title: Poor Daddy
Directed by Dumas Young (Yang Xiaozhong 楊小仲)
Screenplay by C.C. Chen (Chen Zhiqing 陳趾青)
Cinematography by T.K. Lee (Li Wenguang 李文光)
Art direction by James Wan (Wan Guchan 萬古蟾)
Produced by the Great Wall Film Studio (Shanghai) 上海長城畫片公司
Cast: Zhang Zhede, Liu Jiqun, Xu Jingzhen, Gao Weilian, Hong Jingling, He Zhigang, He Meiying, Wang Zhengqing
Silent film with bilingual title cards
71 minutes
Original English title cards by C.Y. Sun (Sun Yu 孫瑜)
English subtitles translated by Christopher Rea
Learn more:
Watch other films starring Liu Jiqun, including Love and Duty (1931), The Peach Girl (1931), Daybreak (1933), Playthings (1933), and The Great Road (1934)
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