Those old cheena and ang mo movies

I was an avid movie-goer. That was the past. Even my wife has stopped grumbling that we don’t visit the cinemas anymore. Must be the over-arching effects of looking after ah girl…..

The good ole cinema days.... dimming of lights, the never ending commercials, the “compulsory” in case of fire, how to run out of cinema ad, and so on, and on, and on…. then, the interval time, everyone goes for pee break.

Screening resumes, still, no movie. It goes like for eternity… longer than Ben Hur, Gone with the Wind and Godfather Part I, II and III combined. Until the last frame of the final tedious commercial, then the film bops out.

Love those days, my grandma, aunties, mother, cousins and siblings all in tow to watch the latest mushy movies acted by Zhen Zhen, Alan Tang, Qin Han, Lin Feng Jiao, Ku Ming Lun and many others. I remember the free seating, now defunct Kok Wah cinema at the old fifth mile, in the Serangoon area. I love the delicious yong tau foo push cart stall there and the hot tau suan.

In my younger days, there was also the black and white Cantonese Tornado Palm re-runs on telly. This set of 50’s film series, chronicles the adventures of an overweight swordsman called Long Gim Fei. It had those goofy “cling cling clang clang” swordsplay, actors in gorilla suits, and those 50ish state of the art effects – animated flying poison darts painted to the film footages. The cast includes the evil Shek Kin, Chan Poh Chu and Siu Fong Fong.

Education opens me up…new horizons. No lah, I only got more exposed to ang mo-ish culture. After some six years in primary school, I am quite tuned to or I say, become suitably westernised. I started to listen to Casey Kasem’s America Top 40. I begin to like Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady and Al Pacino in Godfather. I discovered Alfred Hitchcock, in turn I got scared stupid seeing Norman Bates in Psycho. I love the fuss that John Travolta did in Saturday Night Fever. I also love Kevin Bacon’s dancing in Footloose.

I’ve had got out of this twilight zone now. It’s hard to find a fellow old-time English movie buff with whom I can strike a meaningful conversation. Life gets lonesome when one keeps watching video re-runs of those each and every Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Liz Taylor, James Dean, Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly classics.

My wife is no old time English movie buff. Ha ha… I wonder how we could end up together. She’s more to the Chinese movie type. Tell her about classics like Giant, Roman Holiday, Indiscreet or Singing in the Rain would draw a blank face from her. It’s okay. I love her dearly. We can still catch up and watch ChungKing Express or The Millionaire’s Express. I love those Chinese movies too and can be more in-sync with her.