It's a Great, Great World
It's a Great, Great World (Chinese: 大世界; pinyin: dà shì jiè) is a Singapore film directed by Kelvin Tong. It is set in the Great World Amusement Park and was released in Singapore cinemas on 27 January 2011.[1] The film features an ensemble cast of local singers, established MediaCorp artistes, a number of celebrities from Hong Kong and Taiwan and getai group "Babes in the City". A noted feature of the film is the heavy use of common Chinese dialects and many actors had dialogues in dialects they were not familiar with.[2][3]
| It's a Great, Great World 大世界 | |
|---|---|
Theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | Kelvin Tong |
| Written by | Kelvin Tong Ken Kwek Marcus Chin |
| Screenplay by | Kelvin Tong |
| Music by | Alex Oh Joe Ng |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Golden Village Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 91 minutes |
| Country | Singapore |
| Languages | Chinese（Mandarin 、Hokkien 、Teochew 、Cantonese 、Hainanese 、Hakka 、Shanghainese） English Thai language |
Plot
It's A Great Great World is set in Singapore's legendary amusement park named Great World, which was also known to locals by its Hokkien name 'Tua Seh Kai'. Spanning from the 1940s to the present day, the film presents four tales centred on attractions within these once famous walls.
At present time, Ah Min finds four old pictures in her mother's photography studio and seeks out her mother's old friend Goh Ah Beng, who tells her the stories behind these photographs. These four stories include:
- A clown on a quest to have his photo taken with English movie star Elizabeth Taylor and tells his experience to his ageing mother.
- The tale of a carnival shooting gallery operator who experiences her first teenage love with a Malaysian medicinal oil seller's son.
- A washed up diva of the Flamingo Nightclub who used to sing for her lost love, and rediscovers true support by her audience and her manager.
- A lok-lok seller who narrates the story of his wedding dinner with his mute wife the night the Japanese invaded Singapore during World War II.
Interwoven into the film are stories of a multitude of characters that lived, worked, played, sang danced and even fell in love in Great World.
Cast
- Yvonne Lim as Tan Ah Huay
- Ben Yeo as Ah Siong
- Olivia Ong as Ah Min
- Nancy Sit as Mrs Tan
- Lin Ruping as Ah Beng's neighbour
- Chew Chor Meng as Goh Ah Beng
- Henry Thia as Ah Boo
- Lai Meng as Ah Boo's mother
- Chen Tianwen as a Bellboy
- Tay Yin Yin as Ang Moh
- Sam Tseng as Tiger
- Gurmit Singh as a Security Guard
- Joanne Peh as Mei Juan
- John Cheng as Yeo, an oil seller
- Zhang Zhenhuan as Ah Leong, Yeo's son
- Justin Ang as an Ah Beng
- Ng Hui as Ah Ting
- Zheng Geping as ghost train ride operator
- Xiang Yun as Rose
- Paige Chua as Mu Dan
- Babes in the City
- Huang Wenyong as Peter
- Guo Liang as Henry
- Chen Shucheng as Towkay Lim
- Apple Hong as Lim Bee Lian
- Bryan Wong as Ah Kiang
- Zhang Yaodong as Ah Dong
- Marcus Chin as Ah Chuen (head chef)
- Kym Ng as Molly
- Ix Shen as Delivery Man
- Dennis Chew as Aunty Lucy
Minor cast
- Kimberly Chia as Ah Luan
- Benjamin Heng as Ah Ting's boyfriend
- Kelly Schuster as Elizabeth Taylor
- Vincent Tee as Towkay at Nightclub
- Ken Kwek as Kicthen Helper
- Emma Yong as Mother at Photo Studio
Historical References
- Televised broadcast of Lee Kuan Yew's emotional speech after Singapore's separation from Malaya on 9 August 1965
- During the wedding banquet towards the end, Aunty Lucy runs to the restaurant kitchen to warn Ah Chuen and the others that the Japanese are bombing Singapore. With the air raids going on, the kitchen staff reminisce and have one last dinner together knowing that this may be their last as colleagues and friends. After that bombing of Keppel Harbour on 8 December 1941, Singapore fell to the Japanese just months later in February 1942.
- In the nightclub scenes, Rose is frequently asked by guests to perform "Rose, Rose, I Love You", which was a popular song written by patriotic Chinese songwriter Chen Gexin during World War II.
Variety shows
There are two variety shows that relate to the movie. The first show was "Amazing Great World" (精彩大世界) which was broadcast on 24 January 2011 on Mediacorp Channel U and another was "Great World Once More" (情迷大世界) which was broadcast on 27 January 2011 on Mediacorp Channel 8.
Box office takings
As at 21 February 2011, the movie has earned more than S$2 million at the Singapore box office and attained viewership of 250,000.[5]
Television broadcast
The movie was telecast on Mei Ah Movies Channel in late 2011. In 2013, Channel 8 broadcast the movie as the Day 1 movie during Chinese New Year with dubbing. Chinese dialects were dubbed except for Aunty Lucy's Shanghainese dialect. On 8 Jan 2019 and 5 May 2020, it was shown on Channel 5 in its original languages.
See also
References
- ^ . SingTel Digital Media Pte Ltd. Archived from the original on 13 January 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2011.
- ^ . xin.msn.com. 7 February 2011. Archived from the original on 14 January 2014. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
- ^ . Nanyang Siang Pau. 6 August 2011. Archived from the original on 13 January 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
- ^ . Archived from the original on 14 January 2014. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
- ^ ""It's A Great Great World" breaks S$2m box office mark". Channel News Asia. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
External links
- It's a Great, Great World at IMDb