The House of 72 Tenants

The House of 72 Tenants
The House of 72 Tenants
	Original Hong Kong Poster
Chinese	七十二家房客
Mandarin	Qī Shǐ Èr Jiā Fáng Ké
Cantonese	Cat1 Sap6 Ji6 Gaa1 Fong4 Haak3
Directed by	Chor Yuen
Written by	Chor Yuen
Produced by	Run Run Shaw; Andrew Au
Starring	Yueh Hua, Adam Cheng, Woo Gam, Ching Li, Lydia Shum, Ivan Ho
Cinematography	Wong Chit
Edited by	Chiang Hsing Lung
Music by	Frankie Chan
Production; companies	Shaw Brothers Studio; Hong Kong TV Broadcasts Ltd
Distributed by	Shaw Brothers Studio
Release date	22 September 1973;
Running time	98 minutes
Country	Hong Kong
Language	Cantonese
Box office	HK$ 5,626,675.20

The House of 72 Tenants (七十二家房客) is a 1973 Hong Kong film directed by Chor Yuen. It is a remake of a 1963 Chinese film of the same name. It was the top box office film of 1973 in Hong Kong, surpassing Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon.^[1]

Plot[]

The 72 inhabitants of a dilapidated tenement live under the thumb of a heartless landlady and her sleazy husband. The arrival of a defiant new tenant, the cobbler Fat Chai, sets their downfall in motion. The residents pool their resources to prevent evictions, deflect targeted harassment by a corrupt policeman, rescue the landlords' adopted daughter from a life of torment, and ultimately prevent their home from being sold and turned into a brothel. ^[2]^[3]

Cast[]

Yueh Hua - Fat Chai
Ouyang Sha-fei
Chan Shen - Brother Shum
Adam Cheng
Chen Kuan Tai - Police Constable (cameo)
Ching Miao
Chor Yuen - thief in market (cameo)
Ricky Hui
Ku Feng
Law Lan
Cheng Lee - Ah Heung (credited as Ching Li)
Danny Lee
Peng Peng
Shih Szu
Lydia Shum - Shanghai Po
- Chow Bing Ken
Betty Pei Ti
- Mrs. Han

Special notes[]

The House of 72 Tenants can be considered to have started a new era for Hong Kong film industry. Before the release of this movie, most high-class movies filmed in the then British colony were shot and recorded in Mandarin, while the less respected ones would be shot and recorded in Cantonese. However, since the debut of the movie, which was filmed in Cantonese, and the popularity it achieved, subsequent major Hong Kong films switched their language from Mandarin to Cantonese.

Parodies[]

Parodies of this movie are found in many of Hong Kong's films and Television shows.

In movies:

He Ain't Heavy, He's My Father: Chor Yuen, the director for The House of 72 Tenants is part of the cast.
Kung Fu Hustle

In TV shows:

Enjoy Yourself Tonight: Where Lydia Shum continues to play the role of 'Shanhai-por' from this movie.

References[]

^ Gary G. Xu, Sinascape: Contemporary Chinese Cinema (Rowman & Littlefield, 2007), 91
^ "The House of 72 Tenants". filmaffinity.com. 1973. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
^ "The House of 72 Tenants". lovehkfilm.com. 1973. Retrieved 24 May 2021.

External links[]

[1] Gary G. Xu, Sinascape: Contemporary Chinese Cinema (Rowman & Littlefield, 2007), 91

[2] "The House of 72 Tenants". filmaffinity.com. 1973. Retrieved 24 May 2021.

[3] "The House of 72 Tenants". lovehkfilm.com. 1973. Retrieved 24 May 2021.

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