Cinemas were scarced in the 60s although the many movies were starting to make headway with the Singapore audience. There were three main cinema organisations then, Cathay Organisation, Shaw Brothers Ltd and Eng Wah Organisation.

The Cathay Organisation branched out into two studio, Cathay-Keris Films, which produced Malay films, and Motion Picture & General Investment Co Ltd (MP&GI), which produced Mandarin films. Some of MP & GI's most popular stars were Ge Lan also known as Grace Chang, You Min, Lin Dai, Peter Chen Ho, Chang Yang, Loh Ti, Lin Tsui, while the most unforgettable series of Cathay-Keris Films were the five Pontianak movies - Pontianak (1957), Dendam Pontianak (1957), Sumpah Pontianak (1958), Pontianak Kembali (1963) & Pontianak Gua Musang (1964).

All these were catered to the local audience, whose medium of language at that time were Mandarin and Malay as well. These movies produced were also of different genres ranging from romances, comedies, musicals, suspense dramas, biographies, children's movies and even Chinese 'Westerns'.

Some of the more famous movies under their belt included:

OPERATION BANGKOK (1967 – action film)

Director: Tang Huang / Cast: Bai Bing, Jiang Shan

Xiaolei is the shrewd henchman of Tian Hua, head of the Thailand branch of an international drug smuggling ring. Xiaolei kills Cai, who is of a rival gang, and absconds with a shipment of narcotics to Hong Kong. Infuriated, Tian tips off the Hong Kong police. The Hong Kong Narcotics Bureau purposely lets Xiaolei go in the hope of wiping out the ring. On his flight back to Bangkok, Xiaolei runs into the beautiful Bai Lu, a Hong Kong undercover agent sent to Bangkok to work with the Thai police to smash the drug ring. – Cathay Classics

OPERATION MACAO (1967 – action film)

Director: Tang Huang / Cast: Zhang Huixian, Jiang Shan

Inspector Xie of the Singapore Police Force is searching for a missing nuclear scientist, Professor Zhao. In Hong Kong, he discovers that Zhao has been murdered and Rose, his daughter kidnapped. He is himself ambushed by several members of a spy ring. At one of the city's car dealerships, Xie meets an enchanting Alice, who has actually been sent by the spy ring to kill him. Soon to follow is a series of nerve-racking adventures with danger lurking in every corner. – Cathay Classics

WOMAN IN DANGER (1967 – action film)

Director: Yuan Qiufeng / Cast: Yi Guang, Zhao Lei

Mona, a nightclub singer, has unwittingly been implicated in a murder case. A mystery man, claiming to be the murder victim's brother, inquires about a batch of diamonds but Mona denies any knowledge of them. Mary, the nightclub proprietress, is also watching Mona as she knows that her husband, Li Tianshi, is having an affair with her. Mary's brother, a gang leader posing as a jewelry broker, is using Mary to lay hands on the diamonds. To get away from it all, Mona and Li decide to leave town. – Cathay Classics

THE HAUNTED (1967 – horror)

Director: Tang Huang / Cast: Zhang Huixian, Zhang Yang

Three tales taken from author Pu Songling's collection of famous classical ghost stories. <Pian Pian> A man shows no signs of repentance and continues to flirt even after he is married.
<Judge Lu> Judge Lu's magical powers help Zhu to get top marks in the Imperial Examinations.
<Lotus the Fairy>A student is blinded in an attempt to save a lotus fairy from a sorcerer. – Cathay Classics

THE SPIRITS (1969 – horror)

Director: Tang Huang / Cast: Li Linlin, Tian Qing

Three tales taken from author Pu Songling's collection of famous classical ghost stories. <Wu Qiuyue> Wang Ding falls in love with a ghost and fights with the guards of Hades to bring her back.
<Monk Lu Shan> A monk takes Wang Qi as pupil and teaches him the act of walking through walls.
<A Woman's Head> Li Sheng marries Ruiniang only to discover that she is a headless ghost. – Cathay Classics

ESCAPE (1968 - thriller)

Director: Yuan Qiufeng / Cast: Jiang Hong, Lei Zhen

Jianhua and Guoqiang are close friends when they are wharf coolies but fate leads them to go in opposite ways. Jianhua becomes the right-hand man of an underworld leader, while Guoqiang becomes a police officer. During an opium trafficking operation, Jianhua is ambushed and wounded by Guan, a rival gang leader. Jianhua finds refuge with Meiyu, who nurses him and advises him to leave his life of crime. Jianhua steals laundered money from Guan to finance his getaway with Meiyu. Unfortunately, he runs into Guoqiang, who has no choice but to arrest him. Fearing that Jianhua may leak vital information about the laundered money to the police, Guan plans to rescue and then silence him later. – Cathay Classics

Some Malay movies by Cathay-Keris Films:

RADEN MAS

According to legend, Radin Mas Ayu was a young and very beautiful princess. After her mother was murdered, she fled Java for Singapore together with her father, the crown prince, to avoid persecution at the hands of her uncle, the sultan. – Cathay Classics

TUN FATIMAH (1962 – action/drama)

Director: Salleh Ghani Cast: Dato' Maria Menado, Nordin Ahmad

Based on a historical figure recorded in the 17th century Malay Annals, Tun Fatimah is a high-spirited female warrior actively engaged in defending the kingdom of Malacca against the Portuguese despite her contempt for the weak, incompetent and scandalous king, Sultan Mahmud. – Cathay Classics

The Shaw Brothers Studio were famous for their Hong Kong films is noted for directors King Hu, Lau Kar-leung and Chang Cheh, of which the former is best remembered for his film Come Drink with Me , a martial arts film.

Some of the films distributed by Shaw Brothers included:

IBU MERTUAKU (My mother-in-law) (1962 – drama)

Director: P. Ramlee Cast: P. Ramlee, Sarimah, Mak Dara

Set in 1960s Singapore, the film's story revolves around the tragic love affair between Kassim Selamat, a poor musician, and Sabariah, the only daughter of a wealthy woman. The movie is notable in that the opening act starts out as a light-hearted romantic comedy, but at the 30 minute mark turns into a dramatic tragedy. – Wikipedia

Director: King Hu. Cast: Zheng Peipei, Yue Hua, Chen Honglie

THE BLACK FALCON (1967 – action/adventure)

Cast: Jenny Hu, Wang Hsia, Paul Chang Chung, Margaret Tu Chuan

A girl courier of an international detective agency is shot dead while attempting to deliver a roll of filmed evidence against Singapore's “Black Falcon” gang. A Hong Kong insurance firm hires detective Chang Chih-chieh to investigate. His orders are to contact the gang leader Chen Tsu-pei through his daughter Chen Li-szu. Chang's arrival in Singapore alerts the entire gang and two thugs are dispatched to murder him. – Shaw Brothers Ltd

The Eng Wah Organisation is among the first film distributors of Chinese movies from Taiwan and Hong Kong into Singapore. Besides being among the initial companies to bring in mega movie stars such as Fong Po Po, Ivy Ling Po, Si Kar Yin, Siu Fong Fong and Tang Lang Hua, Eng Wah also pioneered the introduction of top Cantonese opera troupes and stars from Hong Kong into Singapore.

The mega movie stars brought in by Eng Wah Organisation. Source - Eng Wah Organisation

Jubilee Theatre at North Bridge Road Source - National Archives

Two of the more popular cinema branches, Jubilee Theatre (1966) at North Bridge Road and the King's Theatre (1968) at Kim Tian Road were operated by Eng Wah Organisation. – Eng Wah Organisation