Although huangmei opera films like The Love Eterne helped put Shaw Bros.on the map, the studio also produced musicals of a more modern, and Western, kind. Hong Kong Nocturne is a prime example. This tale of three sisters—each associated with a different primary color—looks like a pop updating of the MGM musicals of the famed Freed Unit, but the film itself is shot through not just with music but also with melodrama, and even melancholy. As the sisters perform with their father, an aging stage magician, they gradually become aware that it is their talent, not their father’s, that keeps the act afloat. The three strike out on their own only to learn (shades of Valley of the Dolls) that show business is not always as glamorous as it seems. The film’s director came from a prolific career in Japan.