Known for Acting
Expert of lithographic plates and counterfeit banknotes Lee Lik-hang is hunted down by the hitman Ma Biu on the orders of the gang leader Chan Lung. Cheng Wai-lun, witness to the crime and the unwitting custodian of the plate, finds himself wanted both by the police and the criminals. Seeking to unweave the web of intrigue is Kong Yin, cousin of Cheng's fiancée Cheung Mei-ling and the famed 'Lady Bond' who poses as the gambler Judy and doubles as a singer at Chan's nightclub. Kong identifies the boss as the culprit but is forced to flee following a failed attempt to obtain the needed evidence. Both Ma and detective Chow To reach Cheng who chooses police detention over abduction by the gang. Cheng evades Chan's underlings and hands the hitmen over to the authorities. Cheung's abduction results in a fierce battle when Chow and his squad arrive at the criminal den, arresting the gang leader and retrieving the lithographic plate.
The agile and cerebral fighter Kong Yin is invited to join the police SWAT team. Kong is soon sent on an undercover mission to investigate the gang operating at the Happiness Rubber Plant to coerce female workers into prostitution. An indignant Kong joins hands with fellow worker Chow Mei-ha and factory head Wong Chi-kong to expel Blackie Kei whose ruthless and blatant exploitation of the workers has been going unpunished. Facing the loss of a lucrative source of income, Blackie and his underworld bigwig boss Wu Tin-hung intercept the love letters exchanged between Wong and the wife of the general manager Ting Yuk-lan and use the correspondence to extort money from the adulterers. The fearless Chow dons a maid disguise and ingratiates herself with the gangster, followed by a police raid masterminded by Kong to crack down on the notorious gang.
In protecting a group of children from bullying and gang violence, the gallant 'Lady Bond' Kong Yin stays with the family of driver Lee Pak in order to give classes in self-defence to Pak's younger brother Calf and neighbours Tak, Ah-ling as well as the young woman Sheung, drilling them in the moves and techniques. Startled by her striking resemblance to his kidnapped girlfriend Tong Ching-yee, Tse Tsi-ming pleads with and convinces Kong to pose as the missing girl to visit her bedridden grandfather Chung-sau. The masterminds behind the abduction, Tong's stepmother and her nephew Chan Chi-biu capture also Tse and the children. Tse brilliantly manages to alert Kong. Fighting and apprehending her opponents, Kong frees the hostages and hands the criminals over to the authorities.
Female police officer Pak Yik-wah poses as a cleaner and works in a fitness centre to gather evidence of the trainer Henry Fung's criminal activities. In the company of sister Yik-mui, the detective attends the centre's anniversary ball where she meets and falls in love with Man Hing-cheong, a well mannered guest with an elegance about him. But Yik-wah is forced to quit when her conservative father Yau-yu finds out about her moonlighting activities. To help the crime leader Wu Hung evade the police, Henry hatches a plan to murder Yau-yu who, like the wanted man, has a mole on his sole. When the sisters come under attack from a mob of gangsters following Yau-yu's disappearance, Man arrives to save the day and reveals his undercover identity. The operative hot on the heels of Wu joins hands with the sisters and lays siege to the gangster's hideout in a heroic effort to rescue the hostage and wipe out the gang.
Sau-chen goes out with the tenant Wong Chun-ching over the protests of her class-conscious parents Eighth Uncle and his wife. To foot the medical bills of his mother, Sau-chen works as a promoter at the Products Expo for Lung Wah Pharmacy and attracts the unwanted attention of the boss Chin Hoi-ngan. Chin desires the woman as a concubine. Acting on the advice of his subordinate Chiu Chik, the boss invents a phantom son and proposes marriage with the offer of a handsome dowry. The employee Wong, short of cash and needs money fast, is drafted as his saviour to meet the parents when the plot is duly exposed. Teaming up with his tenants, Eighth Uncle invites the henpecked husband's termagant wife along and causes a scene. In gratitude of their efforts, the landlord and his wife give blessings to their daughter and her lover.
Lee Kei-hau is happily married with a son. His wife Wong Tai-chu, who has been complaining of discomfort lately, goes to see a doctor where her friend Wong Mau works as an assistant. Wong mixes up her report with that of a cancer patient. Believing her days are numbered, Tai-chu discusses with her mother to choose a second wife for Lee and finds the nurse So Lin-yung, Mau's girlfriend. Mau feels obligated to adhere to her request to hire So as family nurse. Lee urges his wife to make regular exercise a habit to improve her health but when his advice falls on deaf ears, he spurs her to action by dating the nurse. Infuriated by his wife's unexpected exhilaration, Lee accuses her of having an affair with Mau. Tai-chu retaliates by displaying great affection towards a man, her girlfriend Judy in disguise. Lee chases after the beau relentlessly and is told the truth by Judy. Mau's blunder is patched up with a smile, for his lover So, and for the reconciled couple Tai-chu and Lee.
Lui Yik-pang is reduced to his wits' end to rein the Golden Butterfly. Chong Tak-ming emerges as the suspect. The friendship and ties between former classmates Lui and Chong date back years ago. When the impoverished Chong turned to banditry, Lui abided by the law and arrested Chong. Chong repented and bore no grudges. Chong's daughter Ching-han and Lui's son Siu-man are lovers. Ching-han reinvents herself as a chivalrous bandit and robs the rich to help the poor after the imprisonment of her father and the death of her mother. Endowed with her father's gifts, Ching-han remains out of the law's reach, until she is tailed by the father enlisted in the police service. A bitter row ensues; the father's underling Sung Sing-biu snatches the stolen goods and activates the security system. Ching-han is prepared to turn herself in when Sung surrenders himself as a gesture of gratitude to his benefactor. Attending the wedding banquet, Lui brings his son and daughter-in-law a golden butterfly.
Dirt-poor painter But Ka-sing lives under the same roof with Tang Chan-sin and Lee Tai-hak. Smitten with Tse Mei-chen, the penniless suitor resorts to staging a suicide and makes a fortune of his paintings which are sold at sky-high prices after his feigned death. Reinventing himself as a doctor, But competes with the rich heir Fung Chak-chak to win Tse's heart with an avalanche of gifts and money. However, Tse rejects the suit of the philistine. But gives up his windfall and tells the truth at his memorial exhibition. Thrilled, Tse pledges her love and marries the painter, for better and for worse.
The Diary of a Husband serves as an illustration for the arrival of the white-collar economy, in which the extended family is replaced by the smaller nuclear family. It is a story about four pals who work at the same office, which, like other white-collar workplaces, has become the men's primary site of life, where livings are made and friendships fostered. Meanwhile, their wives have fostered something of their own—a brigade to catch cheating husbands. Much comedy is then generated by the cat-and-mouse game between the men and the women...The battle line drawn here between the sexes remains for years, to the extent that this very same story has been retold many times in Hong Kong films, including Men Suddenly in Black, the 2003 Pang Ho-cheung film with a similar Chinese title.
Sit Muk-fu covets the beauty of the maidservant Ku Kar-lin. Ku concocts a scheme with her husband Wong Hoi to swindle money out of the lascivious man and has to flee into hiding with Sit being stabbed to death during their secret liaison. Detector Lui Hak investigates into the murder at Ku's house and arrests the husband who has a sharp knife in his possession. Bearing witness to the murder, their daughter Bo-bo fights to prove her father's innocence. Upon receiving a score of mysterious phone calls revealing Ku's whereabouts, Lui lures the woman out with Bo-bo as bait, subduing and detaining the suspect. The detective fathoms the mystery of the murder case which leads him to another suspect, But Kei. But has been extorting money from Sit and forces his daughter, the sole heir to his inheritance, into marriage in return for concealing his murder-for-money scheme. But submits to arrest without resistance while Ku and husband walk free, acquitted of the charges.
