Legend of the Purple Hairpin (1977)

Flirty young Li Jin-yu is cruising the town looking for a woman. He's been told by a matchmaker that his ideal wife is a girl wearing purple and living in Shen Yen St. And funnily enough, Li spots the girl by chance. He follows the lady, named Huo Hsiao-yu, to Shen Yen St and watches her drop an amethyst hairpin on her doorstep. He picks it up and, as the story goes, "the pin-picker meets pin-owner."

Instant love! The hairpin becomes the matchmaker; Li stays the night and the following day uses the hairpin to draw blood from his finger to write the wedding vows. The hairpin must never be lost, broken, or sold they proclaim. But - and there's always a but when things are this happy in film - another girl in town has the hots for Li. Her dad, the local military chief, is all for a wedding and exiles his future son-in-law to the border regions for three years before the wedding - long enough for Huo and Li to be tricked that their marriage is over...

Whether you find out what comes next or not depends on whether you like Cantonese opera - Legend of the Purple Hairpin is 110 minutes of high-treble songs and music that are an acquired taste. It's costumed high melodrama from the start and while the story is pleasing and the finale is entertaining, it gave a bit too little in return for my attention.

DVD information: Universe have put out two editions of this title. One is subtitled and the other is not. The version reviewed here is the subtitled letterboxed edition (DVD 5202). The print is not astounding, and presents a dark picture with muted colour. The subtitles are the originals on the print. There's no point in commenting on the sound as Cantonese opera is a matter of taste anyway. Biographies for Lung Kim-sung, Mui Shet-sze and Lee Tit are provided and are informative. It's worth noting that the packaging appears to have been run up before the source materials came in ‚ the menu screens depicted on the back cover show buttons for a trailer and switchable subtitles. These features are not on the disc inside.

Credits:

Directed by Lee Tit
Starring Lung Kim-sung and Mui Shet-sze