If you thought TWO STAGE SISTERS was colourful, wait till you see THE LOVE ETERNE! This legendary widescreen musical made the young Ang Lee, and millions of others, cry – and made him want to get into cinema. The jewel in the crown of the famous Shaw Brothers’ studio, it retells the centuries-old Chinese legend of a wealthy girl who, dressed as a boy in order to be allowed to go to school, falls in love with a peasant boy. The latter is troubled by his apparently gay feelings but for audiences it is more complex still, since both characters were played by actresses: classically trained Le Di and Ling Po, both beautiful. The result is part Huangmei opera with its almost constant singing, part SOME LIKE IT HOT, part riot of studio set design, cherry blossom trees, gorgeous tea-houses and eye popping outfits. The ending has to be seen to be believed. One of the many remakes was action director Tsui Hark’s ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA: he gave the gender-bending a further twist by casting men in both parts.