DUKE OF MOUNT DEER (LUK DING GEY)

Duke of Mount Deer was the last novel Jin Yong wrote. After that, he went into a life of seclusion, refusing to write any more martial arts novels, much to the disappointment of his worldwide fans. Because of this, Duke remains the most popular of his dozen or so novels, but not necessarily his best. It is not hard to see what makes Duke so likeable; after all, the story revolving around a young trickster who cheats and scams his way to be the emperor's best mate and winning the hearts of seven beauties is a sort of fantasy that a lot of males would love to be in. Duke is purely a male fantasy forged by the extremity of Yong's ego. He had created a character any man would give his right testicle for: a handsome, charming, witful, deceiving scoundrel who's also a babe magnet. Add to the fact that he commands respect and loyalty wherever he goes, it is no surprise that this character is one of the best that Jin Yong has thought of.

The main character Wai Siu-bo is not the usual kind of hero featured in Yong's past works. First of all, Wai does not know any martial arts at all, and throughout the story, he relies on his quick thinking and wits to get him out of trouble. Even at the story's finale, he still isn't a martial-artist. This is a first for Yong, whose past heroes were all powerful enigmatic omnipotent heroes capable of levelling whole mountains with their super-duper internal powers. In Duke, Wai just uses his mouth and orders people to do his dirty work. Saves a lot of energy in which he can use later in bed with his seven wives. The lucky bastard. This is one of the reasons why so many people love this character - he's just a commoner.

Background

The first ever screen adaptation of Duke was in the early 80s by TVB, which starred young actors Andy Lau Tak Wah and Tony Leung Chiu-wai. Even in those early days, both Lau and Leung were quite popular with the television viewing public, and their performances in Duke made them even more famous. Needless to say, Tony Leung stole the show with his grand performance as the wisecracking Wai. The public loved his dialogue-delivery, and his on-screen charismatic portrayal was unmatched for years to come. Lau also put in an outstanding performance as the young emperor, but the acting honours really belonged to Leung. This first full version of Duke was the most faithful to the original story than the later editions, and the one the public still regards as the best. It is the only version to use relatively youngsters for the leads, and considering the actors are at the same sort of age as the characters, it adds a more realistic feel to the acting.

The next adaptation was by prolific sleaze director Wong Jing who secured the services of the then huge box-office hit Stephen Chow to star as Wai. This big-budget film version was to be made into two parts and re-titled The Royal Tramp in English. It also featured an all-star cast in the line-up which included: Bridget Lin Ching Hsia, Michelle Reis, Chingmy Yau, Ng Man-tat, Derek Wan, Sharla Cheung among others.

The story was re-edited to fit onto film, and a lot of the story threads were altered to include more gags and jokes in the movie. After all, Duke is a sort of comedy, but The Royal Tramp took that conception to extremes. Some of the main characters in Duke were notably missing from the film and the ending has that Wai become a super powerful martial artist (playing an exact copy of Invincible Asia from the film Swordsman 2, who was previously played by Bridget Lin). The Royal Tramp was more of a spoof of Duke than an actual adaptation, and so it comes as no surprise that a lot of sexual innuendos and film connotations were used. It made a ton of money at the box office because of the openly pornographic take on the Duke storyline, and because the film didn't take itself seriously.

The next proper television adaptation came a few years later in 1998 by TVB yet again and which starred the popular film star Jordan Chan as Wai. Chan has been a prolific actor in the late 90s, and to most part due to his comedic wisecracking antics and deadpan looks. However, the decision to put Chan in the role of Wai was considered dubious at the time, and when the series was shown on television, the public didn't warm to Chan's portrayal and the series received a low rating. This poor response cannot be blamed on Chan's acting, since he gave an acceptable performance. His 'Wai' was funny and likeable, but obviously the public felt otherwise. At the time, the press noted that Chan was not handsome enough to play Wai, who was supposed to be a young good-looking guy, and Chan wasn't particularly young and handsome. Also, Chan tended to frown and brood too much, which were not the characteristics of Wai. 

Return of the Duke

The latest version of Duke comes from a Taiwanese TV station. Obviously, their decision to use Hong Kong actors is a means to get the Hong Kong audiences interested. For the role of Wai Siu-bo, they secured the services of Cheung Wai-kin, a popular all-round Hong Kong entertainer. Cheung had just finished a grand adaptation of Fong Sai Yuk, whose performance in said TV series could have indeed opened the door for him to play Wai. Arguing against, Cheung isn't young (he's in his 30s) but his baby-face complexion belies that fact. The TV station probably didn't care anyway; Cheung has an excellent repertoire of talking fast and being funny, exactly what they needed.

In the other main roles, they enlisted promising actor Patrick Tam Yiu-man as the Manchu emperor. They also got Ekin Cheng in a cameo role as Chan Kan-nam, the leader of the Heaven and Earth society. Originally, the character Chan is supposed to have a larger role in the story, but because of Cheng's schedule, the producers had decided to shrink the role down. A new character was included to reinforce this situation: veteran actor Leung Kar-yan comes in to play Wu Tak-dai, another leader of the H&E society, who becomes Wai's master.

Ng Man-tat reprises the role he played in The Royal Tramp as the Grand Eunuch Hoi. Obviously, he gets longer screen time this time, but the biggest criticism is the scriptwriters idea to copy parts of The Royal Tramp and re-used it in this series. It just shows a lack of imagination.

In this new version, the story has of course been tampered with to give a new dimension to the tale. No one wants to watch the same old story again, so the producers obviously told the scriptwriters to come up with new ways of re-telling the story. The new version is more impressive than the others; it was actually filmed in the Forbidden City in the dead of winter, and all the locations were set in and around Beijing. The scenery was exotic and striking, and the fighting more intense and intriguing, largely due to modern special effects. However, the use of CGI in some of the fight scenes was so over the top it was a joke, and completely spoiled the otherwise decent fights. CGI done good looks amazing; when it's done badly, it's horrid. They should have scrapped the CGI and used conventional means of storytelling. They also changed the story so that Wai Siu-bo becomes a powerful martial artist, like Stephen Chow did in The Royal Tramp. Other alterations were made to evoke a more dramatic storytelling.

The script is also more up-to-date than the others, with the dialogue being modernised and including a lot of connotations and references from other films and current affairs. There is also a lot of buoyancy in the film, making it very light-hearted and easy on the eye. This isn’t a series to ponder over, but to indulge in the lavish sets and outrageous situations.

Overall, this new production is better than TVB's last, and the performance of Cheung as Wai Siu-bo is worth watching alone.

Original story in a nutshell

Wai siu-bo is the son of a prostitute who works in a brothel in Yangzhou. After joining the Heaven and Earth society he heads to the Capital and gets enrolled into the service of the Grand Eunuchs. There he becomes friends with the young emperor Kang Xi (Wai mistakens the emperor as another young eunuch) and falls in love with the emperor's younger sister, Princess Kin-ning. His adventures in the Forbidden City leads him into discovering the empress dowager as an impostor; finding several volumes of the prized 42 Chapters which contains the location of a treasure cave; helps the emperor kill the baddie courtier, Lord Obai; and see his position rise from humble eunuch to a grand courtier and confidante of the emperor.

As well as discovering the emperor's father is still alive and living as a monk in Five Mountains, Wai also single-handedly destroys the evil Heaven Dragon sect; unveil the plot by King Ng Sam-grai to rebel against the emperor; saves his fellow members of the Heaven and Earth society from dying a terrible death; and gets himself married to seven beautiful ladies. Not bad for a peasant boy from the south. However, his split loyalty between his mate the emperor and the Heaven and Earth society becomes a huge dilemma for him; having to choose between the two, he chooses the H&E society, yet he could not forget his friendship with the emperor, even though the emperor later wants him executed. In the end, Wai heads off with his wives for a peaceful life away from civilisation.

Cast and characters

Duke of Mount Deer 1983

Starring:

Tony Leung Chiu-wai              as         Wai Siu-bo

Andy Lau Tak-wah                   as         Emperor Kang Xi (Hong Hei)

Kwan Hoi-san                          as         Lord Obai

Carina Lau Kar-ling

Sandra Ng

Duke of Mount Deer (The Royal Tramp) 1992

Starring:

Stephen Chow Sing-chi            as         Wai Siu-bo

Ng Man-tat                              as         Grand Eunuch Hoi

Derek Wan Siu-lun                   as         Emperor Kang Xi (Hong Hei)

Chingmy Yau Suk-jing             as         Princess Kin-ning

Lau Chung-yan                        as         Chan Kan-nam

Chan Pak-cheung                    as         Commander Dor-lung

Cheung Man                             as         Empress Dowager

Lam Ching-ha                          as         Lung-yee

Michelle Reis                            as         Ah Ngor

Sandra Ng                                as         Wai’s older sister

Tong Jun-yip                           as         Prince Ng Ying-hung

Paul Chun                                as         King Ng Sam-grai

Duke of Mount Deer 1998

Starring:

Jordan Chan Siu-chun              as         Wai Siu-bo

Ma Chun-wai                           as         Emperor Kang Xi (Hong Hei)

Leung Siu-bing                        as         Ah Ngor

Duke of Mount Deer 1999 (Radio drama)

Starring:

Eason Chan Yick-sun              as         Wai Siu-bo

Duke of Mount Deer 2000

Starring:

Dicky Cheung Wai-kin             as         Wai Siu-bo

Patrick Tam Yiu-man                as         Emperor Kang Xi (Hong Hei)

Ng Man-tat                              as         Grand Eunuch Hoi

Tsui Kam-kong                        as         Lord Obai

Shu Qi                                      as         Little Fish

Annie Wu                                 as         Surn Yee

Theresa Mak Kar-kei                as         Fong Yee

Cheung Sin                               as         Muk Gim-ping

Ruby Lin                                   as         Princess Kin-ning

Athena Chu                              as         Ah Ngor

Ekin Cheng                              as         Chan Kan-nam

Leung Kar-yan                         as         Wu Tak-dai

Monica Chan Fat-yung            as         Empress Dowager/Lung-yee

CLICK HERE TO VIEW PHOTOS OF THE DUKE OF MOUNT DEER 2000