A Tribute To Hong Kong’s “Diamond Divo”: Movie Star Jimmy Lin

Description

Born in 1934 in Tainan to Japanese and Taiwanese parents, Jimmy Lin Chong started his career at the age of 21 as a Taiwanese film actor.

In Hong Kong, Lin is best remembered for his flamboyant and infectious portrayal of a diamond thief in The Shaw Brothers musical film The Singing Thief (1969), which earned him the nickname ‘Diamond Divo’.

Inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s 1955 romantic thriller To Catch A Thief, the film turned out to be a blockbuster and led to two sequels, The Singing Escort (1969) and Tropicana Interlude (1969), which were both tailor-made for Lin.

To honour the ‘Diamond Divo’s’ career, The Hong Kong Film Archive will bring six of his movies back to the silver screen. In addition to the aforementioned musical films, the programme includes the drama/romance movies Star of Hong Kong (1962) and Honolulu, Tokyo, Hong Kong (1963) and Woman in Danger (1967), a captivating suspense film.

Lin will meet the audience for a post-screening talk (in Cantonese) on January 5 and 12.

[Picture credit © Licensed by Celestial Pictures Limited. All rights reserved.]