Motion Picture and General Investment Co., Ltd.

Background

The Cathay Organisation, having the same Singaporean origins as its main competitor Shaw Brothers, set its foothold in Hong Kong by establishing International Films Distributing Agency in early 1950s. In 1955, it took over Yung Hwa Studios (永華片場) and rationalised its operations as Motion Picture & General Investment Co., Ltd., MP & GI for short.

1st Logo (February 16, 1956-1950s)

Visuals: There is a big building (The Cathay cinema, at the time was named Cathay Building) standing firmly on the ground. The sky background appears cloudy. Below everything is the company name in Chinese, reading right-to-left. It starts out in dark, then it brightens to see more clear.

Technique: Live action.

Audio: A somewhat mellow but triumphant orchestra fanfare.

Availability: Seen on Mandarin/Cantonese films from the company.

2nd Logo (1950s-1965)

Visuals: On a ground is the building zooming up (albeit in a redesigned form), with two big Chinese characters (written backwards), others under the building, and "MOTION PICTURE & GENERAL INVESTMENT CO, LTD". Unlike the last logo, the sky is bright here.

Variant: Later on in it's life, the background was changed to a starry sky, and the building was redesigned. The font of the "MOTION PICTURE & GENERAL INVESTMENT CO., LTD." text is also changed, being bolder and now straight up.

Technique: Live-action.

Audio: A bombastic trumpet fanfare.

Availability: See the last logo.

Motion Picture and General Investment Co., Ltd.

Cathay Organisation (HK) Ltd.

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