Mo deng bao biao

Perhaps the pinnacle of comedy writing and acting in colonial Hong Kong. Michael Hui's genius is best demonstrated in Security Unlimited, which he penned. The Chinese humour is uniquely evident: some of it is slapstick, but a great deal rests on puns and jokes which require a little more thought.

He co-stars in this film along with Sam (who also composes the theme) and Ricky Hui, his two younger brothers, all playing security guards. Michael is the senior officer to Sam, training a bunch of new recruits, one of whom (Ricky Hui) is colourblind, under the regulation height, and has only got into the force by flattery.

The timing of all the gags is impeccable and in this respect, foreign viewers will liken it to British comedy, à la Peter Sellers or even Dick Emery. However, the film and its jokes are uniquely Hong Kong Chinese.

There is no overall plot to the story: it centres around individual assignments at a fictional company, Wong's Security. The first part of the film looks at the training of the officers, and shares some oddball comedy with the later Hollywood flick Police Academy. Fortunately for Hui's reputation, this film pulls off the humour more naturally, easily resulting in more laughs.

It's little surprise to find that Michael Hui won the best actor award at that year's Hong Kong Film Awards as a result of his performance in Security Unlimited. If you get to see this in its original Cantonese and understand the language, then this is the only way to enjoy it: dubbed versions will doubtlessly leave audiences puzzled about the above comments.