Original subtitles

My name is Shih Szu.

My name is Li Ching.

My name is Ling Po.

My name is Chiang Tai-wai.

These beauties and fearsome men

are some of the stars of a cinema empire

that you might not have heard of.

The Shaw empire is located in Hong Kong

and produces 180 films a year

for 200 million spectators

in Asia.

The Shaw empire starts here.

This is one of the Shaw brothers, the youngest.

His first name is Run Run.

His office is as spacious as his car, as you're about to find out.

Mr. Shaw doesn't like people calling it an empire.

We call ourselves the Shaw organization.

We operate a chain of a few hundred cinemas.

We also run amusement parks, live shows,

banks, an import-export business

and insurance companies.

We run many businesses,

but our main business is the cinema.

This is Shaws Movie Town,

all 18 square kilometers of it.

In Hong Kong.

One square meter of living space costs 300,000 old francs.

This morning, six films are being shot at the same time.

This one tells the story of legendary hero Chiang Tsu.

His main characteristic? He kills everyone.

Blood spurts out everywhere,

even onto our camera lens.

That means "cut".

Have you seen how small the camera is?

Shaw Brothers' movies are shot on 35mm co-lour film with CinemaScope

but with no sound.

There are signs everywhere: no spitting.

The next shot is a terrifying charge.

The reason for the charge soon becomes clear.

Rice, meat and vegetables.

They get a ten-minute break

three times a day.

The back of the set.

As soon as filming is over, the sets are demolished.

Only one remains, and it's always the same.

This tower which has featured in the last 300 films by the Shaw Brothers.

It's taken a battering.

It has withstood the Hong Kong typhoon

and the most brutal attacks by heroes.

The Shaw empire's underlying principle is economics.

Office buildings are used to prop up sets.

And the builders and carpenters are poorly paid women.

There are three canteens open night and day

because filming takes place day and night.

They serve rice, meat and vegetables

to the Shaw Brothers' 4,500 employees

who make the most of any dead time to rest.

You get a good view of the Shaw empire from here.

The hill belongs to them.

The coastline belongs to them, too.

The Shaw Brothers have 30 directors who are housed and fed.

The actors and stars are housed and fed, too.

He's the Chinese Fernandel.

Silent take, ambush.

Take one.

Here they shoot without sound, as I said.

The picture is one thing.

The sound is another.

These extras are going to hand their costumes in and get paid.

The pirate film is finished.

They'll be given another costume straight away,

and in a few minutes they'll appear in another film.

Shooting will start as soon as they arrive.

They might work like this non-stop for 18 hours.

For 18 hours work they get paid 25 francs.

The Shaw Brothers have 30 scriptvvriters who are housed and fed, too.

Each of them is contracted to write a staggering ten scripts a month

so that the Shaw Brothers have plenty to choose from.

Shaw Brothers screenwriters must follow this principle:

a hero must not die.

He must never stop being able to kill,

even if he is hampered by a knife plunged into his stomach.

The heroes also appear in several films in one day.

Everything is done to make sure the fights don't endanger participants.

The sabers are wooden.

The ground is foam rubber.

But sometimes a foot might overstep the mark.

There are 100,000 costumes from every era,

all impeccable, despite the blood,

the fake blood they are constantly soaked in.

Some 30 liters of blood,

I mean fake blood,

every day.

The blood is drinkable, sweetened, and it doesn't stain.

It can be removed with a bit of water.

It's painted on.

I think the Europeans will like our films.

Because our films are different. They're exciting.

For instance, not many Europeans used to like Chinese food,

but now they all go to Chinese restaurants.

We will first introduce them to films that aren't very bloody.

And then we will gradually increase the blood.

Li Ching,

Tina Chin-Pei,

Lili H0.

Liu Wu Chi,

Betty Shu.

All lovely names.

It's an attractive proposition.

The stars sign an eight-year contract.

They earn about 50 million old francs a year,

and they are housed and fed.

They are housed here in these apartments.

Beside the filming studios.

Lily Li.

That's her name.

She's 21 years old.

She has starred in more than 50 films already.

That's a lot for someone her age.

She hardly ever appears in public

because, as Mr. Shaw said,

"|t is not my girls I want the public to see, it is my films."