Patricia Lam Fung: An Odd Film

"Eight dine together; but actually they are played by only four persons. This is enough reason to call the film odd." (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

I was very happy to find this article in Screenland No. 27 (December 1961) about The Mysterious Family (1962), aka Romance in the Manor House. Not only does it look like a cool movie, but it's also one of the five films made by the Merry Film Company, Patricia Lam Fung's very own production company which she started after leaving Shaw Brothers in 1961. A scan of the original article is available here.

An Odd Film
"The Mysterious Family"

This is the third film of the Merry Company, made after its first, "Sha Sam-siu", and second, "Three Grooms for Three Brides".

The reason that "The Mysterious Family" is called an odd film you can actually see for yourself in the pictures on these two pages. You will undoubtedly notice that most of the stars appear dually in the same scene. This is true. For in fact, every actor, from the leads to the co-stars, plays more than one role in the film.

The film stars Patricia Lam Fung, Ng Cho-fan, Wu Fung, and Yung Siu-yi. Patricia Lam Fung plays three roles as a mother and two twin daughters. Ng Cho-fan plays a dual role as father and son, with Wu Fung as two twin brothers and Yung Siu-yi as a mother and a daughter.

It was extremely difficult not mixing everything up while making this film and cost director Mok Hong-si plenty of brain work. As to the story, it is too complicated to explain here but will be told in our Movie Story pages.


One of the Wu Fungs is happy while the other one is jealous.

There is another film made by Pat's company that also sounds good: The Princess and the Magnificent Seven (1962). It co-stars my favorite fatty, Peng Peng, and the "Seven Little Fortunes". I'm not sure if little Jackie Chan appeared in the movie, but Sammo Hung, Yuen Wah, Ng Ming-choi, and Yuen Qiu were among the cast. How cool is that!