"Family" (1953), which launched the Union Film legacy, "Spring" (1953) and "Autumn" (1954) are adaptations of Ba Jin's highly regarded novel "Torrent Trilogy". In "Family", director Ng Wui skilfully condenses the voluminous first part of the novel into an emotionally powerful and intellectually focused story of youngsters struggling to survive oppression and repression in a feudalistic family. This well-received film quickly established the company's reputation.

Reporter Yu Mong-yuen is recovering from a leg injury in his fiancee Man-wah's apartment. Bored, he looks out the rear window and observes the life of the neighbouring building. Among the tenants are a sugar-daddy and his mistress, a middle-aged man wants to marry a young girl, but she is in love with his son. Finally, she hatches a plot and makes the man agree to her marrying his son ; a sly fortune-teller ; a lively gym, a rich widow quarrels with the trainer of a gymnasium because his dog has bitten her cat ; and an opera school, a woman signs, leaning on the balcony, and a man tries to strangle her. In fact they are rehearsing an opera…… One evening, Wah is on the night shift, and Yuen watches the opera troupe rehearse to the end. Under the influence of drugs, Yu mistakenly believes that a divorced man has murdered a taxi dancer. He alerts the police, but the whole thing is nothing more than a misunderstanding.

A boy and a girl, who are both raised as the opposite sex, see through each other's disguises and fall in love. Together, they must come up with a plan to reveal their true identities to their superstitious fathers and fight their respective arranged marriages.

The film commences with Ching (Tang Bik-wan) lamenting over her bleak life through singing: her mother died early and her stepmother (Lam Mui-mui) is wicked. The song precedes her appearance in the house while the cinematography helps to tug at the emotional heartstrings. Because of her debt-ridden father, Ching is forced by the stepmother to marry an old invalid. To prevent the marriage, Ching's lover Ho (Chan Kam-tong) raises money by agreeing to marry his own cousin (Fung Wong Nui). Ching's life is doomed, yet, when the stepmother absconds with the money. With all her hopes dashed to the ground, Ching decides to opt out of marriage for life. However, witnessing her 'self-combed' sworn sisters being bullied even to the point of committing suicide further devastates her. This tragic heroine comes to life through Tang's masterful performance both as a singer and an actor. The climatic and tear-jerking scene of Ching dying is definitely a highlight of the film.

Iron-Beaked Hen and Fatso Bo on their way to the city to help a relative out of some trouble, they run into a band of robbers. They stop over an allegedly haunted house where they save the lovers To Lok-yin and Yu Mei-yung from their attemped suicide. Hen learn their story and decide to help them out. Yin comes from a rich family, he lost his father when he was very young and was brought up by his uncle. Now that he is old enough to claim his inheritance, the guardian, his uncle, in order to keep the fortune under control, forces him to marry a girl of his choosing. The couple cannot face separation and resolve to end their lives together. Hen thinks of a way to help them, which involves Yin pretending to comply; that is, to go ahead with the marriage arrangement. On the wedding day, they swap the bride with Yung. Disguised as a matchmaker and a county official respectively, Hen and Bo reprimand To's uncle who schemes to seize To's family fortune. To and Yu marry.

Chinese Opera from Hong Kong directed by Chan Pei.

A Hong Kong Cantonese film released in September 1952