Talk #296

"Croupier"--- What is a croupier ? It turned out to be a British term for a dealer in a casino. I must confess my ignorance of not having heard of this name before. This 1998 film had no US distribution until recently and there is no video made thus far. Why did I go to see this film? I don't know. Perhaps it has to do with LA Times movie review asserting that it was good. I always thought LA Times was off base for my movie taste, and wanted to prove it again.

"Croupier" is far more intriguing than a whole lot of action and
crime movies combined, perhaps, at a similar intriguing level as " The Spanish prisoner". The budget of Croupier was probably even lower than "Spanish",which took probably very little to make. The story was about an aspiring writer, Jack, from South Africa making a living as a croupier in London. This guy is a cold, detached, unconcerned, always observing, never involved, tough son of a bitch. He is tougher than a few hundred Ethan Hunts (as in MI-2) put together, and about as tough as Maximus (in Gladiator), but Jack is only a card dealer, for crying out loud. One cold look from him is worse than getting one from 007 ( originated from the one and only Sean Connery). In fact, Clive Owen ( jack the croupier) may be an ideal choice to play the serious 007, as in " From Russia with Love". He is not good looking ( at least not to me), but he always gets the girls. He is a dealer, but he never gambles, ----until one day he is tempted. If you see this film showing in your town, don't miss it. A no-name, low budget film can be very very good. It is all in the directing, script writing and acting. It is all in the creativity of these talented people putting things together, arranged them in the right order for visual reception and mental imagination, arriving at the final "grand escape" for the movie goers.

In thinking on how to achieve the " grand Escape", we may find ourselves slipping into a cruel nightmare and woke up to revelation by reading " a dangerous Corner", a "time" play just introduced to us by Peter Tong on our web. "Time" plays let you see what COULD happen in the future, but NOT NECESSARILY what WOULD happen. A recent movie " The sliding doors" took a similar but not identical approach. The theatrical approach to the three-time plays was original and creative. Several months before Peter showed me the book, he asked me if I remembered the play at PC, I barely knew the name, but nothing much ( Tony may remember this play better, since he most likely worked on the set). When I got to read the play, it slowly came back to me. As a rule I do not read plays, since they are difficult to understand without the benefit of theatrical dramatics, i.e. the expression of the actors, timing of the speech, intonation of the conversation, and the dramatical effect of the set. When I read this BOOK, I needed to read certain parts time and again to understand the significance of the conversation and the brief remarks by the author to elucidate the situation. After finishing all three plays, I wish I
had three more to read on and on. Peter did a very good job in
describing the story of " Corner" and discussing the essence of the play in his article for us. after his discussion, it is easy to see what the play was all about. I thank him for sharing the book with me.

The production of " Corner" at PC made me realize the depth of our school teachers and the breadth of our education at PC. Peter and I believe that Mr. kwan translated the play from English to Chinese, we have not seen nor heard of any other Chinese translation of this play ever. Even if he didn't, the choice of the play for production was bold and a reflection of his literary taste and culture. Who would translate a time play and put that into production in the 1950s in HK? One certainly would not expect this from a high school teacher. Mr. Kwan did and he had the confidence in us to appreciate the play. His confidence was not totally misplaced in some of us. Peter
remembered and understood the time element of act three and, of course, the significance of the "sleeping dog" . Can you image the effect of this kind of lesson of life has on a young mind? It made all understanding young minds wonder and grow, even not all the dramatic implications of the story were understood by the young minds. Pui-Ching gave us an education far more than just learning what was in the textbooks. It incited growth in all aspects in life. PC did that by having very very good teachers ( that money CANNOT buy) , whose depth in culture, knowledge and insights we began to appreciate many years after leaving PC.

Mr. Kuan passed on alone in HK. I was told that Chung King-Fei (class of 55, Chung Share) stayed with Mr. Kuan's body all by himself for nights at the funeral home, and served as Mr. kuan's grieving son at the burial. Chung king-Fei, went on to Yale University's renowned Drama school and is currently in HK , heading a professional drama school, I believe.

Bit-tai wrote an article in remembrance of Mr. Kwan not too long ago, published on our webpage.

Going to PC was probably the most significant thing we have done so far.