Mr. Canton and Lady Rose (1989)

A rose for luck!

Mr. Canton and Lady Rose aka Miracles aka Miracles: The Canton Godfather was Jackie Chan’s attempt at directing a film not entirely dependent on kung fu. This film was based on Frank Capra’s movies-“Lady for a Day” and “Pocketful of Miracles.” It’s about as good-hearted a Triad film as you are likely to find.

Kuo Chen Wah comes to Hong Kong to find work and is promptly fleeced by a conman. Almost penniless he ends up buying a rose from a street seller and his luck promptly changes. He precipitously and inexplicably becomes the head of a triad assisted by the canny Uncle Hoi. Rival gangster Tiger Lo wants half of the hotel the gang owns creating tension between the two criminal crews. Before Kuo knows it, he is turning his hotel into a club to showcase beautiful singer Yang Lu Ming. Believing the roses bring him luck he continues to buy Ms. Kao’s roses until one day he can’t find her. Turns out, the daughter she supports who lives abroad is coming to town with her fiancé and future father-in-law and they will be expecting the mother to be the fancy lady she’s described herself as in letters. Kuo and Yang decide to help the rose seller and hijinks soon occur.

This film was loaded. There was no doubt that there would be good fights regardless of the storyline as nearly every stuntman in Hong Kong was on the cast list. The fights were fewer than one would expect in a Jackie Chan film, but the ones shot were spectacular. Jackie showed that anything can be used as a weapon, even a Durian! The final fight proved that ropes and ladders worked better than chutes and ladders. Billy Chow led the baddies against Chan in the high swinging and falling stunts.

The cast was a who’s who among kung fu flicks. Lo Lieh played a bad guy even among the bad guys. Wu Ma was the shrewd #1 to Kuo’s Big Brother. This was one of his better roles. Anita Mui was gorgeous as Kuo’s love interest. Richard Ng played the morally gray police inspector and thankfully he made it through the entire film without showing his bare derriere. Mars, Fung Hak On, Billy Chow, Alan Chan Kwok Kuen, Ken Lo, and a host of other well-known fighters and stuntmen made appearances. Even prolific Shaw Brothers writer Ni Kuang made a cameo!

The biggest problem I had with the film was that it was too long. Many of the comedic moments began to feel repetitious. It could have been trimmed by 20 minutes and still maintained its narrative integrity. The film looked good and for the most part the pacing worked. The ending was very Capraesque, something unexpected but appreciated. Mr. Canton and Lady Rose doesn’t have the following that many of Chan’s films do, but for a 1989 kung fu film based on a 1933 Frank Capra film, I thought it was entertaining.

11 March 2025

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