Beauty in the Mist (1968) Director: Chan Wan Cast: Connie Chan, Lui Kei, Nancy Sit Publisher: Pearl City; Format: VCD, DVD (Region 0, PAL) English subtitles: No Full credits and synposis from the HKFA online catalog In Beauty in The Mist Connie plays a young girl named Anna, who died 30 years ago at the hands of Fan Kwai-lee who owns the theater where she performs and wants to force her into marriage. Because of her tragic death and because she did not complete her life as she wanted, she comes back as a ghost to fulfill her dreams. She wants people to know of her tragic story, and she wants to know what is love, because she never experienced that during her short lifetime. So, in the beginning when Anna returns as a ghost and meets Huern Yang (Lui Kei), she is just 10 years old. She tells him that at the end of the month she will audition and invites him to come. That time arrives, and Anna is now 18 years old. She takes Huern Yang, his sister Ping (Nancy Kit), and his friend Mow Dai Cut (Yu Ming—“mow dai cut” means “squat and cough” in Chinese) to Wellington Street to pick up a pair of shoes and then go to the theater. The owner Kwai-lee (Mak Kei) doesn't like Huern Yang hanging around with Anna. When Huern Yang, Ping, and Mow Dai Cut sneak a peek at Anna’s audition, Kwai-lee and his hoodlums shoot at them. Suddenly in the next scene you see them wake up in a cemetery—mmm, you wonder if the theater used to be where the cemetery is now. Mow suddenly remembers that Wellington Street no longer exists. So you start to wonder at this point—what is Anna’s purpose in coming back? After all of this, some friends of Huern Yang (played by Law Lan and Ai Dong Guai) tell him that he has seen ghost and that she is sucking the life out of him and must be driven away. There is a funny scene with a Taoist priest (Ko Lo-chuen) trying to get rid of Anna. Suddenly, Kwai-lee and his gang arrive to capture Anna. It seems that his spirit owns her spirit. Anna must leave Huern Yang so he will be safe. Towards the end of the movie, you find out how Anna really died. She did not die in the theater fire as it seemed in the beginning. She escaped with the help of the theater caretaker and was later saved by nuns. She becomes a nun, but then she drowns in the ocean when Kwai-lee tries to take her away in a boat. Her ghost would come back every July 14th, which marks the day when ghosts are free to roam the earth. Huern Yang finds Anna and tell her that he loves her. She loves him too, but they cannot be together. She tells him that she came back to feel what love is. She wants people to know her story. Huern Yang finally learns to let go and tells her story through his artwork. The songs sung here are very nice. You have one in the beginning that sounds like “Swiss Alps” music; the second is a duet with Connie and Nancy; the third by Lui Kei is called “Anna”; and the fourth is a duet with Lui Kei and Connie. Some of the dance sequences remind me of something from West Side Story. Connie is beautiful here with her long black hair and beautiful smile. Since this movie came out in 1968, she is no longer a cute young girl but a beautiful woman. Lui Kei is very melodramatic in all his movies, but he is actually very good in this one. Beauty In The Mist has drama, dancing, singing, love, sadness, happiness. It doesn’t make you cry but makes you think about life and how you must treat it as sacred. At least that’s what I got out of it; there is always some moral to a Chinese movie. All in all, it’s a wonderful heart-felt movie. Reviewed by Sue Guttilla Connie Chan is the “beauty in the mist.” Lui Kei and his ghostly girlfriend Connie. Mak Kei is up to his usual no-good. Things aren’t what they seem in Beauty in the Mist. Connie is chased by evil spirits. Separated from the one he loves. A love that cannot survive in the material world.