Chang Cheh was born in Qingtian, in Zhejiang Province, in 1923.
During the Sino-Japanese war, he took part with other exiled
students in drama and cultural work in Zhongqing, forming a social
education team organised by the local Department of Education. After the
war, he went to Shanghai to work in the promotion of cultural affairs for
the government. He became manager of a theatre called Wenhua Huitang
(Cultural Hall), which staged plays and Peking operas as well as showing
films.
In 1947, he wrote his first film script (literally, The Girl with
the Mask) for the Shanghai Cathay Film Production Company. The film made
from this script (directed by Fang Peilin and starring Gu Lanjun and Yan
Hua) was the first Mandarin film shot in Taiwan, and it was well received
in both Taiwan and Shanghai. He went to Taiwan in 1949, and there wrote,
co-directed (with Zhang Ying) and distributed the film Storm Cloud Over
Alishan, the first Mandarin film produced by a Taiwanese company. His
romanticism and his taste for action films with predominantly male casts
were already evident in this film, made at the age of 26. The film's
theme-song, Gao Shan Qing, written by Chang himself, was a great popular
success in its own right.
The political change that occurred in mainland China shortly
afterwards cut short the burgeoning film industry in Taiwan: China was
closed to outside productions as a market, and it was no longer possible
to obtain equipment from China. Chang remained in Taiwan, working in
literary and cultural fields in both civil and military circles. His
stage productions, The Recovery of Gou Jian's Kingdom and Genghis Khan,
had some impact at the time.
In 1956, he wrote the script for the suspense film, The Cruel Heart
of My Man, which was directed in Taiwan by Xu Xinfu and starred Li Mei.
The following year, Li Mei invited him to come to Hong Kong to write and
direct another starring vehicle for her, Wild Fire. Although this film
had little success, he stayed in Hong Kong, writing romance novels under
the name Zhang Yi, film reviews under the name He Guan and a column for a
Taiwan newspaper under the name Shen Si. He also wrote some martial arts
novels at this tilme.
He entered the Motion Picture and General Investment Company (MP &
GI, later Cathay) as a scriptwriter in 1960, and wrote numerous scripts,
notably, Song Without Words (1961) for Lo Wei. He also wrote scripts for
some independent companies. In 1962, he moved to Shaw Brothers, where he
was chief scriptwriter until 1967. He wrote more than 20 scripts during
this period, but also began to direct again: in 1963, he co-directed The
Butterfly Chalice with Yuan Qiufeng, then in 1964 he wrote and directed
Tiger Boy, which starred Wang Yu and Lo Lieh. He went on to write and
supervise Temple of the Red Lotus (1965), The Twin Swords (1965) and The
Sword and the Lute (1967), all directed by Xu Zhenghong, who was
cinematographer on Tiger Boy.
When he directed The One-Armed Swordsman in 1966, he both
established his position as one of the foremost directors in Hong Kong
and began an extended period of collaboration with the scriptwriter I
Kuang. Like King Hu (his contemporary at Shaw Brothers in the
mid-1960s), he pioneered a new style of martial arts film which was
instrumental in changing the face of Mandarin cinema in Hong Kong. The
fact that he worked extremely prolifically, and frequently collaborated
with up-and-coming directors like Wu Ma, Pao Hsueh-Li and Kuei Chi-Hung
(Gui Zhihong), gave him a special prominence in the industry.
Mandarin films of the 1950s and early 1960s were generally romances,
and had more female stars than male. Chang's new-style, violent kung-fu
films withnew male stars reversed this position. The actors whom Chang
helped propel to stardom included Wang Yu, Lo Lieh, David Chiang, Ti
Lung, Fu Sheng and Chen Kuan-Tai. Chang also worked with a number of
martial arts instructors who had been active in the Cantonese cinema of
the 1950s, and who transferred to the Mandarin industry when the market
for Cantonese wu xia pian declined in the 1960s. The most notable such
figures were Liu Chia-Liang and Tang Chia.
After Bruce Lee had made his impact on martial arts cinema in the
early 1970s, Chang originated another new style of martial arts film,
focussing on various authentic martial arts forms and training
techniques. In 1974, he established his own quasi-indepedent production
company (Chang's Film Company) within the Shaw Brothers organisation,
based in Taiwan. The commercial failure of a number of costume epics led
to the closure of the company, and he returned to Hong Kong in 1975. The
new approach to authentic martial arts found in such films as Heroes Two
(1973) has been taken up by Liu Chia-Liang, who now works as a director
in his own right.
Chang has directed over 70 films in the past 15 years, averaging
over four a year. The standard of his work varies widely. His most
notable films include The One-Armed Swordsman (1966), Golden Swallow
(1968), The Invincible Fist (1969), Vengeance (1970), The Boxer From
Shantung (1972), Man of Iron (1972), The Blood Brothers (1973), Shaolin
Martial Arts (1974), Five Shaolin Masters (1974) and Disciples of Shaolin
(1975).
