In the Face of Demolition

This early leftist social drama from Hong Kong offers a panoramic portrait of a crumbling apartment complex and its downandout denizens including a taxi driver an unemployed teacher a professional reduced to selling his blood and of course a venal landlord In addition to establishing an omnipresent theme in Hong Kong cinema the plight of the urban poor the film is also a prime example of the popular melodramas of the time which featured displaced Mainland film stars