Liang Shan Bo yu Zhu Ying Tai (1963)

Liang Shan Bo yu Zhu Ying Tai: Directed by Han Hsiang Li. With Betty Loh Ti, Ivy Ling Po, Li-Chu Chang, Yanyan Chen. The story about the life of the students at a university in Hangchow. Chu Ying-Tai is a female who has to be disguised as a man in order to gain entry into the school.

“The beautiful Betty Loh Ti (and also tragic. Like others who were in that era, she was a young suicide) plays Zhu Ying Tai, a 17 year old girl who longs to get an education. In order to do this, she has to disguise herself as a boy. This film is a musical, with her sweet voice singing the plot as it goes along. She meets Shan-Bo, who is a boy who, unbelievably to me, doesnu0026#39;t know she is female (that part of it is minimally disconcerting, at best). Based on a Chinese folk tale (which should give you a hint to what could be), this is an absorbing drama, with a lavish group of sets, as well as two very appealing leads. There are class differences in this film, with Ying Tai being rich, while Shan Bo isnu0026#39;t. There were a number of these adaptations of folk tales at the time (The Kingdom And The Beauty, starring the beautiful and also tragic Linda Lin Dai immediately springs to mind) and this one is very good. If you like musicals with pageantry, here it is. Watch it on a big screen television, its better. I watched it from a VCD and the beauty of the film still grabs you. Rest in peace, Betty Loh Ti.”