Beautifully engraved certificate from the Grandview Film Company, Limited - Chinese - San Francisco, California - 1938 This historic document has an ornate border around it with a vignette of the company's name in English and Chinese. This item has the signatures of the Company's officers including Chiu Shu-sun (Joseph Sunn) and is over 82 years old.
Certificate Grandview Film Company Limited was one of several companies that operated in Kowloon City. The Grandview Film Company was established in 1933. The two founders of the company, Joe Chiu Shu-sun and Moon Kwan Man-ching, had been educated in California, and, when they returned to Hong Kong, they attempted to set up Grandview along down-scaled Hollywood studio lines, raising technical standards of film-making in the process. Grandview eventually became a fairly large-scale enterprise, largely concentrated on the production of martial arts films, horror films, melodramas and filmed versions of operas. However, Grandview also made documentaries, and, after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, would go on to become the most important producer of documentary film in Hong Kong up to 1941, when the territory fell to the Japanese. From 1936 the company also produced the first magazine-type sound documentary film series to appear in Hong Kong entitled The Grandview Review. The Review covered a mixture of nationalist and colonial news. For example, the December 1936 edition contained items on 'The Funeral of Chairman Hu' (a KMT leader) and 'Appointments to the Hong Kong Government'. 66 In addition to the Review, between 1936 and 1937 Grandview also produced eleven or so individual documentary films on a variety of topics, including the local scenery, local and national festivals, the activities of celebrities, and the visits of important figures from the Chinese government. These latter films included the previously mentioned 1937 Commander in-Chief Yu Han-Mou Reviews the Troops on His Hong Kong Visit, and Provincial Government Chairman Wu Tiecheng on Transit via Hong Kong. Prior to 1936 neither Grandview nor Tianyi had produced overtly political films. However, from 1936 both companies began to produce feature films and documentaries which addressed the evolving political-military situation. Filmography Production Company A Blooming Rose (1935) Song of Sadness (1935) Yesterday's Song (1935) The Fool Goes to the City (1935) Lifeline (1935) The Modern Bride (Part 2) (1935) The Woman Who Couldn't Care Less (1936) Blood-Stained Money (1936) Queen of the Blue (1936) Resist! (1936) The Bandits of Shandong (1936) Topsy Turvy (1936) The Bumbling Detectives (1936) Fall of the Pear Flower (1936) Killing Gossip (1936) Tears of the Reed Catkins (1936) Family Responsibility (1937) Emperor Without a Crown (1937) The Shadow (1937) Shadow of the Ruins (1937) Song of Parting (1937) Bloom and Prosper (1937) Great Commonwealth (1937) Close Combat (1937) The Twelve Wives (1937) The Modern Wu Dalang (1937) Producing Citizens (1937) Rebuilding the Family (1937) The Lady From West Lake (1937) The Mad Director (1937) The Patriots (1937) The Country Woman Joins the Army (1937) Four Boys Join the Army (1938) The Twelve Wives (Part Two) (1938) Shanghai Under Fire (1938) Stage Lights (1938) The World Dances (1938) A Mother's Tears (1938) Seven Fresh Roses (Part 2) (1938) Felicity and Luck (1938) New Citizens (1938) Rich Dandy (1938) Ten Thousand Lovers (1938) The Vagabond (1938) The Lonely Son (1938) The Domestic Brigade (1939) The Jade Pear (1939) The 1939 Grand Park (1939) Professor Paramour (1939) Song Girl White Peony (1939) A Woman of Virtue (1939) Seven Fresh Roses (Part 2) (1939) The Landlord (1939) Vixen with a Human Face (1940) As the Heart Desires (1940) Light of Overseas Chinese (1940) Escape from the Law (1940) The Prince who Loves a Slave (1940) Poor Souls (1940) The Litter Tiger (1941) The Dandy (1941) Goddess of the Streets (1941) Love in the Schoolyard (1941) Good Son, Good Daughter (1941) Shadow Over Shanghai (1941) Song of Exile (1941) Roar of the People (1941) My Daughter (1948) Madame Butterfly (1948) Welcome the God of Wealth (1948) My Love Is Like the Wind of Spring (1949) The Purple-misted Cup (1949) Honeymoon for Two (1949) Heavenly Souls (1949) Romantic Adventure (1949) Ghost Woman of the Old Mansion (1949) A Baby Every Year (1949) When a Woman Enters a Man's Home (1949) Two Women After One Man (1949) The Rude Monk's Intrusion into Mount Wutai (1950) Bandits of the Water Margin (1950) The Adventures of Broker Lai and the Smart Feitian Nan (1950) The Golden Chain (1950) The End of the Year Means Money (1950) Laughter and Tears (1950) A Small Gift from Afar (1950) Phantom in the Limelight (1951) Infancy (1951) Family (1953) The Love of Susan (1954) Fairyland Romance (1954) Love's Longing (1954) Sworn Sisters (1954) A Filial Son Meets a Fairy (1958) Filming Company The Lucky Fool (1937) Song of Life (1937) At this Crucial Juncture (1938) Root of All Evil (1938) The Golden-Leaf Chrysanthemum (1938) The Light of People (1938) The Secret of a Female Escort (1939) Destroy the Corpses! (1939) The Cowherd and the Spinning Lady (1939) The Vagabond Prince (1939) Charlie Meets the Spectres (1939) Little Guangdong (1940) Tonight the Moon Is Full (1941) Welcome the God of Wealth (1948) Everlasting Regret (1948) The Crazy Match-maker (1948) Cast Aside the Beloved One (1949) Third Madame Educates Her Son (1949) Hanging on Live or Dead (1949) A Woman's Heart Is Never Mended (1949) Love and Hate on the Sea (1949) Dead End Case (1949) Love with No Result (1949) The Story of Tung Siu-Yen (1950) The Blundering Couple (1950) The Flower Drops by the Red Chamber (1950) The Misarranged Love Trap (1950) Kaleidoscope (1950) The Haunt of the Eastern Capital (Part 3) (1950) Lovers Mystery (1950) Blood-stained Azaleas (1951) Under the Moon, by the Huai River, We Meet Again (1953) The Newly-Weds (1953) The Valiant Dog Saves Its Master (1953) Orchid of the Valley (1954) The Romance of Lychee and Mirror (Part 3) (1954) The Romance of Lychee and Mirror (Part 1) (1954) History from Wikipedia and OldCompany.com (old stock certificate research service)