'Stool Pigeon' is a 1982 song by Kid Creole & The Coconuts. It was the second single to be released from the group's third studio album Tropical Gangsters.It reached a peak of #8 on the UK Singles Chart and #25 on the US US Club Play Chart. August Darnell, the lead singer of Kid Creole & The Coconuts, was a great fan of the 1940s dress style, which for gangsters was double breasted pinstriped. Directed by Lon Chaney. Warren Kerrigan, Vera Sisson, George Periolat, Lon Chaney. Walter Jason, a young man from the country, comes to the big city to find a position, but fails to do so.
The Stool Pigeon | |
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Directed by | Dante Lam |
Produced by | Albert Lee Wang Zhonglei Cheung Hong-tat |
Written by | Jack Ng |
Story by | Dante Lam |
Starring | Nicholas Tse Nick Cheung Gwei Lun-mei Liu Kai-chi Miao Pu Lu Yi |
Music by | Henry Lai Wan-man |
Cinematography | Kenny Tse |
Edited by | Chan Ki-hop Matthew Hui |
Production company | Emperor Motion Pictures Huayi Brothers Sil-Metropole Organisation |
Distributed by | Emperor Motion Pictures |
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112 minutes | |
Country | Hong Kong China[1] |
Language | Cantonese |
Box office | US$10 million[2] |
The Stool Pigeon (simplified Chinese: 线人; traditional Chinese: 綫人; pinyin: Xiàn Rén; Jyutping: Sin3 Jan4) is a 2010 Hong Kong-Chinese actionthriller film directed by Dante Lam and starring Nicholas Tse, Nick Cheung and Gwei Lun-mei. The film is about police detective, Don Lee (Cheung), who uses informants to gain information about gangsters. Lee begins to feel guilty when his informants are caught, but sends out a street racer named Ghost (Tse) as an informant to gain information about a gangster name Barbarian (Lu Yi).
The film was released in China on August 24 and two days later in Hong Kong. The film performed well in the Hong Kong box office, though it has received mixed reviews.
Don Lee (Nick Cheung), a police detective in Kowloon whose reliance on informants leaves him struggling with a guilty conscience. Lee's previous stool pigeon's cover was blown and was attacked, leading him paranoid and driven from his wife and home. Lee begins to doubt his own methods. Lee recruits a street racer named Ghost (Nicholas Tse) as his latest stool pigeon who is assigned to infiltrate a gang led by the notorious armed robber Barbarian (Lu Yi). Ghost accepts Lee's offer so he can rescue his sister from a life of prostitution as well as help his father's one-million dollar debt. Ghost joins an illegal street race to gain acceptance into Barbarian's gang. Lee also has personal problems of his own, as wife Cher (Miao Pu) who he is separated with tried to commit suicide a few months previously and has since had amnesia. Lee begins to realize how wrong he is by exploiting his informants and desperately tries to right his wrongs before Ghost is in serious trouble.[1][3][4]
Production on The Stool Pigeon began on November 2, 2009.[5] Early during the production of the film, the Chinese film conglomerate Huayi Brothers signed on to take an equity stake and a production credit for the film.[6]Despite having much of the same cast of his previous hit film Beast Stalker, Dante Lam said The Stool Pigeon is not a sequel.[7] Dante stated that he 'felt the pressure when I was working on the new movie because The Beast Stalker did so well and received a lot of positive feedback. I did not want the new film to live in its shadow because it is an entirely different movie, except with the same cast.'[7] Dante Lam chose the theme of an informant in the film, stating that there is 'Hong Kong shoot-out film on this theme yet. It's a good subject for exploring human nature and I have done research with involved people in real life'.[8]
Actor Nick Cheung stated that he felt much more relaxed working on Stool Pigeon than he did previously on The Beast Stalker as he had worked with the cast before. Some reports noted that Cheung was unhappy that his screen time is shorter, Cheung denied this saying he was misquoted off his Twitter by the Hong Kong media and paparazzi.[9]
The Stool Pigeon was released in China on August 24, 2010 and in Hong Kong on August 26.[1] The film was shown in Japan at the Tokyo Filmex festival.[10] The film premiered at number two in the Hong Kong box office where on its opening week. It was beaten by The Expendables.[11] The next week it placed at number one on the chart. It has grossed a total of US$1,598,123.[12]
The China Post gave the film three stars out of five stating praising a car race scenes set to the song 'White Christmas' while stating that the action scenes are thin. The China Post also noted that there were 'a few unnecessary subplots' and that overall 'the story is gripping and entertaining throughout.'[4] Film Business Asia gave the film a rating of eight out of ten also praised the 'White Christmas' race scene. They compared the film to Beast Stalker, stating it was 'less dark and claustrophobic than Stalker..But it's more deeply characterised from top to bottom, with much better chemistry between Tse and Cheung than between Leon Lai and Richie Ren in [Fire of Conscience]. Only the subplot of the detective's private life seems pasted into the overall drama.'[1]The Hollywood Reporter compared the film negatively to The Beast Stalker, stating that The Stool Pigeon 'falls short in tension and stylistic brio if judged as a sister film..The narrative could benefit from more tautness. As if worried about the audience's attention span for drama, action scenes are intermittently inserted throughout but they don't build to one big momentum.'[13]Time Out Hong Kong gave the film three stars out of six, finding the film far too similar to Dante Lam's other works.[14]
Awards | ||||
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Ceremony | Category | Name | Outcome | |
5th Asian Film Awards[15] | ||||
Best Cinematography | Kenny Tse | Nominated | ||
30th Hong Kong Film Awards[16] | ||||
Best Film | The Stool Pigeon | Nominated | ||
Best Director | Dante Lam | Nominated | ||
Best Screenplay | Jack Ng | Nominated | ||
Best Actor | Nicholas Tse | Won | ||
Best Actor | Nick Cheung | Nominated | ||
Best Supporting Actor | Liu Kai-chi | Nominated | ||
Best Film Editing | Matthew Hui, Chan Ki-hop | Nominated | ||
Best Sound | Kinson Tsang | Nominated | ||
17th Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards[17] | ||||
Film of Merit | The Stool Pigeon | Won |
The Stool Pigeon | |
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Directed by | Lon Chaney |
Produced by | Victor Film Co. |
Written by | Harry G. Stafford |
Starring | J. Warren Kerrigan Vera Sisson |
Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
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2 reels (20 minutes) | |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent English intertitles |
The Stool Pigeon/catch-the-pigeon-song-download.html. is a 1915 American crime film directed by Lon Chaney and starring J. Warren Kerrigan, Vera Sisson and George Periolat. Chaney did not appear in the film himself. The film is considered to be lost.[1]
The Stool Pigeon was Chaney's debut film as a movie director. Chaney directed a total of six silent films for the Victor Company, all released in 1915. (The other five were For Cash, The Oyster Dredger, The Violin Maker, The Trust and The Chimney's Secret. Sadly none of the six films exist today[2].)
This film should not be confused with The Stool Pigeon (also 1915) which was directed by Paul Powell.
Walter Jason, a young man from the country, comes to the big city to find a job but fails to do so. /pigeon-games-imessage.html. Oswald Trumble is well known in high society, but he is in reality the leader of a criminal gang. Trumble spots Jason down at the river's edge appearing depressed, and prevents the young man from committing suicide. He buys Jason food and some new clothes, and sets him up in a nice apartment, in order to win Jason's friendship. Trumble introduces Jason into high society where he meets Mildred Moore, the beautiful daughter of the wealthy Mrs. Crosby Moore. Trumble has been planning to steal the rich old lady's jewels.
Jason is attracted to Mildred, but meanwhile Trumble comes up with a daring plan for the heist. His plan is to abduct Mildred and replace her with a lookalike; Jason will unknowingly lead the fake Mildred back into her house, where the lookalike will grab the old lady's jewels. The plot goes as planned, except that Jason notices that the woman he is with is suddenly missing a beauty mark she had earlier in the evening. He tips off the cops and they capture the impostor.
The police give the girl the third degree, and she confesses the entire plot. A trap is set and Trumble's whole gang is rounded up. Jason forces Trumble to reveal where the real Mildred is being held, then rescues the girl. Jason confesses his past criminal activities to Mildred and her mother, and they forgive him. His engagement to Mildred is soon announced.
'A crook story of unusual interest in two reels..The story is cleverly worked out and holds the interest firmly.' --Moving Picture World
'This is Lon Chaney's first picture made with the Kerrigan-Victor company, and his success with it marks him as a capable director. The story is replete with situations of a tense character, and is so constructed that the climax can hardly be foretold until it arrives, a great point in its credit. That it will be heartily appreciated by the most critical audience is certain.' ---Motion Picture News[3]