Chow Yun-Fat
chong shang de gu si
bed-top story
Bed For Day, Bed For Night
principal cast:
nbsp;nbsp;Chow Yun-Fat
nbsp;nbsp;Chen Xi Lian
nbsp;nbsp;Fung Yee Chau
The story goes that a year or so ago the Gouw family gave CYF the opportunity to buy the rights to his old
films made for Goldig Studios... or they would release them and make money that way. Nothing
like friendly persuasion. Apparently CYF didn't take them up on their offer, as some of the
moldy Goldig oldies are making their way onto disc.
Some of the other films, like Massage Girls and The Reincarnation, surfaced on
video back in the '80s after CYF rose to super-duper stardom. This one though, Bed For Day,
Bed For Night, as far as I know anyway, never even made it that far. Released on March 31,
1977, it's the fifth film CYF made for Goldig. All five films to date had been made in the space
of one year - not to mention the television work CYF was doing at the time for TVB. Busy lad.
Not that it would take a herculean effort of artistry to make one of these films. They weren't
made to win awards, obviously, unless one considers the Razzies to be the sort of thing one has
in mind when making a film. These are quick 'n' dirty jobs that were made to (hopefully) flare up
at the boxoffice for a week or so and then fizzle out to make way for the next one.
CYF didn't have all that much work to do in this one, so hopefully he got some rest. A series of tepid
bedroom stories, he appears for only a few minutes and walks around looking pensive for almost all
of that.
One can only suppose that this tittering film was modelled on the American TV series Love, American Style
which aired in the US from 1969 to 1974. If you've ever seen that show, you'll realize it's not
exactly a compliment to be compared to it, and yet Bed For Day, Bed For Night makes Love, American
Style look like Citizen Kane.
CYF portrays a furniture salesman in what is supposed to be a high-end retailer but looks more
like an Unclaimed Freight. At any rate, a beautiful young lady comes in to shop for a bed, as
she is about to be married. There is an instant chemistry between the lanky salesman and
the bride-to-be. Much zooming of cameras between the two ensue and when the lady returns CYF has
marked down the bed to half price in order to please her. He loses his job for this, and as
he walks along, feeding his face and emoting as a voice-over drones on, he comes across the young
woman leaving the church on the arm of her happy husband - a man who is the ex-salesman's double except
one of them has a moustache (as seen above, under the title). They're exactly alike, except one of them has a bride and
a new bed to put her in. Oh, that.
Af CYF fans, we won't even bother with the other dismal "sexy" stories; unless you find hairy
armpits and nylon nightgowns alluring, the rest of the movie is, especially for those of us who are Chinese
language-impaired, at times boring and at times revolting.
This is another one of those widescreen movies that has been filmed WITHOUT the benefit of pan-and-scan,
so you end up with bizarre shots of dining room tables with disembodied voices floating from stage
right and left and other impressive stuff. The subs are burned on (traditional chinese only).
The picture is fuzzy. The colors are bad. This transfer, in a word, sucks.
CYF's appearance in this dud is short, which can be viewed as merciful I suppose. Ignoring that
(and the sets) (and the script) (and the wardrobe) (and the gawd-awful transfer to disc) (and
the burned-in subtitles) (and everything else, pretty much) CYF is cute in his tight flared-leg
pants as he strolls along eating something sticky out of a bag. I know that doesn't sound like
Bed For Day, Bed For Night has a lot to recommend it, but on the plus side... Sorry, couldn't think of anything.
If you want to pick one up for your collection, I bought my disc from YesAsia. I think it was US$8.
Released by Maga Base Technology (no, that wasn't a typo, it reads "Maga Base" on the back of the
keepcase). Disc #MBDVD0340. All region disc, "full screen" (HA! And again I say, HA!), runtime
88 long, long minutes.
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