Fighting for dominance
Now an important forum for individuals from throughout the Chinese-language film industry, the Golden Horses were originally intended to honor Mandarin-language films. But they weren’t limited to Taiwanese movies even then. In fact, Taiwanese and Hong Kong movies having been vying for Golden Horses from the outset.
In the old days, Taiwan’s film industry produced primarily Taiwanese-language films. Veteran director Lee Hsing, the child of a Shanghai literati family, has spent 60 years of his life in Taiwanese film. He got into the business directing Taiwanese-language comedies like Brother Liu and Brother Wang on the Road in Taiwan, and didn’t switch to making Mandarin-language films until Our Neighbors, a 1963 movie about ordinary people.
The government’s concerted efforts to promote and encourage Mandarin-language movies in that era gradually succeeded in mainstreaming Mandarin-language film.
Meanwhile, the Hong Kong of the 60s had become home to many of Shanghai’s filmmaking elite. The combination of that talent pool with the city’s deep pockets resulted in large numbers of high-quality films, and enabled well funded studios such as MP & GI and Shaw Brothers to dive into the production of period pieces.
When the first Golden Horses were held in 1962, Mandarin-language films from Hong Kong were active participants. In fact, a Hong Kong film, the wartime love story Sun, Moon and Star, took home the best picture, best actress, and best screenplay honors.
When Shaw Brothers released the classic The Love Eterne in 1963, the film broke Taiwanese box-office records and launched Ivy Lin Po, the actress who played the male lead, into stardom.
It wasn’t until the third Golden Horses in 1964 that a Taiwanese film—Lee Hsing’s Beautiful Duckling—garnered best picture honors.
Brigitte Lin, one of the most brilliant stars in the history of Chinese-language film, made some 100 films in her 22-year career. She won the 1990 Golden Horse for best actress for her performance in Till the End of the World.