Jui-Fang (Chin Ping) is a blind, poverty-stricken girl living in a rundown shack with her alcoholic grandfather and nasty mother who slaps her about every chance she gets. On a rare visit to the beach, Jui-Fang overhears a beautiful voice singing from the balcony of an extravagant house. That voice belongs to Lin Wu-Sheng (Teddy Robin Kwan), a kind-hearted hunchback who, despite being rich, successful and talented, is cripplingly self-conscious about his deformity. Wu-Sheng becomes Jui-Fang’s friend and protector when her mother sells her into prostitution, but as they fall deeper in love his old insecurities resurface.
This vintage Shaw Brothers weepy marked the screen debut of one of the most fascinating talents in Hong Kong’s entertainment industry: Teddy Robin Kwan. Despite his physical disability, Kwan became a huge pop star in the Sixties with his band The Playboys then moved into film producing and scoring. As co-founder of the influential studio Cinema City he went on to produce a string of groundbreaking New Wave movies throughout the Eighties, including breakthrough hits by Tsui Hark, Ann Hui and Ronny Yu, whilst occasionally directing as with the science fiction blockbuster The Legend of Wisely (1987).
Kwan’s Latin flavoured pop songs showcased in The Price of Love rank among those more accessible to western ears and are quite lovely. The core romance is sensitively drawn and beautifully played between the leads while a powerful performance from Chin Ping compensates for the film’s tendency to ladle the heartrending sentiment extra thick. While The Price of Love kicked off Kwan’s career it also marked an auspicious farewell for his co-star. Chin Ping joined Shaw Brothers in 1963 as a Huangmei Opera star and proved a versatile actress with musical dramas (Hong Kong Nocturne (1966)) and martial arts epics (Killer Darts (1968)) under her belt. She starred in several movies opposite Jimmy Wang Yu, though her most beloved film remains the drama Swan Song (1967).
With a plot seemingly styled after the Charlie Chaplin classic City Lights (1931), it comes as no surprise that Wu-Sheng pours his vast resources into finding a way to restore Jui-Fang’s sight. Even though he fears she’ll recoil from him in disappointment. Self-pity drives the ensuing tragic events as much as adverse circumstance. Wu-Sheng is rich and has a lovely house with nice friends, but refuses to believe any woman can overlook his appearance. “Who cares that I am good and noble”, he sings. “Appearance is all that matters.” Admittedly, his self-confidence takes a shattering blow in an early scene where a potential match announces she wouldn’t want to stand near him, let alone date him. Ouch. The film underlines the era’s shocking lack of empathy for the handicapped as police urge Jui-Fang’s family to confine her indoors so she won’t be a public nuisance!
Lensed in sumptuous Shawscope the film features gorgeous photography that catches the sunlight trickling across the crashing waves. Veteran filmmaker Wu Chia-Hsiang employs some inventive editing tricks to underscore the romantic tension between his leads, but aside from some tense scenes during Jia-Fang’s abduction it’s quite a static film overall. By far the most eye-catching segment involves a dream sequence wherein Jia-Fang imagines herself singing as she wafts across a wonderland of giant pink roses straight out of The Magic Roundabout.
Born into a wealthy family, Chia-Hsiang served in the army during the Sino-Japanese war where he discovered his passion for the performing arts. He started as an actor in major Hong Kong movies like Mambo Girl (1957) and was a reoccurring face in films by the great King Hu. Shortly after making his directorial debut with Fathers and Sons (1963), he joined Shaw Brothers making everything from musical comedies (Guess Who Killed My Twelve Lovers? (1970)) to action films (Sweet is Revenge (1967), though melodrama was his forte and those who enjoy a good cry will relish this.
