The Immortal Movie King—Ou Wei

The era of Taiwanese movies --Ou Wei’s days in Hwa Sin Studio

The Story of Sit Ping-Kwai and Wang Bo-Chuen, directed by Ho Chin Ming in 1956, opened the era for Taiwanese movies. Until 1980, over 1000 Taiwanese films had been produced; many directors having great influence in Taiwan movies, like Li Hsing, were among those who had made Taiwanese movies. However, it is a pity that only 231 are left now.
Mr. Ho founded Hwa Sin Motion Picture Company after the first successful Taiwanese movie, Lush Mountain & Royal Blood --The Wushe Events , which gave birth to the actor Ou Wei. During this period, Li Quan-Xi was the one directing the most Taiwanese movies; he was also the director who shot the film in which Ou Wei was the playwright.

Healthy Realism Era—a nobody and its big story

At the beginning of 1960, there were 3 motion picture companies in Taiwan— Central Motion Picture Company, China Motion Picture Company and Taiwan Movie Factory, all of which were operated by the government.

At that time, Central Motion Picture Company promoted a different genre—the movie depicting the plain life in the countryside for people of no importance--to differentiate from the local drama in Hong Kong and those about urban love stories. The studio produced Oyster Girl, which won the Best Film in the 11th Asian Movie Exhibit, opening a new era for the movies in Taiwan. Due to the film, Ou Wei was awarded The Most Promoting Actor-- the Golden Knight Award-- from American Individual Film Association.

Movie entertainment industry-- the permanent tough man

The Taiwan society transition in 1970s turned the agricultural life style into industrial one. Watching movies became the main entertainment for people, and therefore different movie genres were developed to meet the needs of the society—patriotism, love stories, martial arts, Chinese acrobatic combat and comedies. Ou Wei also took part in a variety of films; his famous classic Execution in Autumn was born at this time. But it was a big loss to the movie circle that he was seriously ill and then passed away soon after reaching the climax of his acting career, leaving a permanent image—a man of strong will—in his spectators’ mind.