Vermilion Door
Within the first 10 minutes the end of the film is clear. Or, if not exactly clear, it’s limited to one of two options. This is a tragedy, a doomed romance, a weepie. Guessing that a character will die — painfully — is easy. Guessing which character, however, requires the flip of a coin.
But, then, no one went to see Oedipus Rex expecting to be surprised by the ending; similarly, Hong Kong audiences of the 1960s knew the story of Vermilion Door long before the film’s release. Like many Shaw plots, the story was a perennial favorite that had been produced many times before. Tragedies, for some masochistic reason, work exactly because the ending is so predictable. There are no surprises.
If she were still alive, Linda Lin Dai would likely have starred as Luo Xiangyi, whose buckets of tears and refined resignation to tragedy cries out for Dai’s presence. If she had been in the film, Shaw Brothers would have achieved dream casting. Not only would Dai have reunited with Kwan Shan from Love Without End, she would have appeared with rising star Ivy Ling Po.
But that was not to be and another popular Shaw actress, Li Lihua stars as the doomed Luo, an opera performer in the 1920s who, although engaged to fellow thespian Chiu Hai-Tang, catches the attention of warlord Ruan Shaowen, sealing the lovers’ tragic fate.
With the ending almost resolved, the film still manages to fill the middle 100 minutes with a number of surprises. Ruan, ostensibly the film’s villain, is superseded by his henchman Ji (Lee Wan Chung, who would go on to play a string of memorably slimy lackeys, most notably Smiling Tiger in Come Drink With Me), who is just as quickly replaced. And the film, unlike earlier Shaw female-focused tragedies like Love Without End, abruptly switches from the woman’s point of view to the man’s about halfway through the film, resulting in an almost two-part story that provides double the tragic fun!
Ivy Ling Po provides some fine operatic moments. She was one of the few Shaw performers whose singing was not dubbed by famous performers and the difference is unmistakable. Her songs are rawer and more in character than the dubs.
Yes it’s overwrought, manipulative and excessively tragic. But what you expect? It’s a weepie. But, even if there’s no mystery about the ending, Vermilion Door can still surprise; unless you’ve already memorized the story, in which case being surprised doesn’t matter.
Ian Whitney
Published: 2004-04-19