Cards on the Table (Vietnamese telefilm)

In the year 1982, it was known as the time of the 5th National Congress of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam. This event has appeared in a period that is still considered to be the recession of the people's confidence in the capabilities of the leaders.^{[citation needed]} Within two years before the opening of the Congress, the propaganda agencies of the Communist Party and the Government of Vietnam have received the instruction of operating at full capacity to revive the spirit of the public.^{[citation needed]}

Telefilm Cards on the Table was originally one of the film projects submitted by the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee to the supreme agency for approval. It was a literary script of author Nguyễn Trương Thiên Lý, whose real name was Trần Bạch Đằng and a reputable historical researcher. He was also a resistance leader with an important position in Saigon.

Trần Bạch Đằng's intention was to make only a simple movie about the fate of intelligence Phạm Ngọc Thảo, who was only called as "Mr. Chín T." for contemporary safety reasons. However, when the handwritten script was sent to the filmmaker Lê Hoàng Hoa, who took the initiative to revise it into a film with many parts, and fictional more details and characters. Invisible, Cards on the Table has become an extremely attractive adventure spy series.

This project has been granted a huge amount of funding in the context of the Vietnamese economy was seriously degraded.^{[citation needed]} However, when the film was released, it caused a huge fan trend in society throughout the 1980s. Therefore, when the scenario was published in the form of a novel, writer Trần Bạch Đằng decided to use title Cards on the Table (Ván bài lật ngửa, Lê Hoàng Hoa's creation) instead of Between the Spear Sea and the Sword Forest (Giữa biển giáo rừng gươm), while retaining some details and characters from Lê Hoàng Hoa's development.

A story based on the life of sleeper agent Albert Phạm Ngọc Thảo with character Robert Nguyễn Thành Luân (Nguyễn Chánh Tín) during 1956–63.

Its title Cards on the Table stems from the habit of playing cards in Chợ Lớn residents, where filmmaker Lê Hoàng Hoa and many colleagues have been attached since childhood.

Nguyễn Thành Luân in the cover of an electric engineer who was bored of life in the forest with Vietcong, so he asked to return to the national justice. Luân, with the name of a good pious sheep, gradually received the trust of Bishop Ngô Đình Thục and his brothers in the Ngô family.

The man is forced to go between two very dangerous streams, when both the enemy and comrades do not really trust him. However, Luân, with his own career skills and his own hunches, has repeatedly escaped death to contribute to the righteous.

The ups and downs of Nguyễn Thành Luân is also almost the hot reality of Vietnamese political and social context after World War II.

1. 1982 : The Foster Son of the Archbishop (Đứa con nuôi vị giám mục)^[1]
2. 1983 : The Roving Chessman (Quân cờ di động)^[2]
3. 1983 : The Gunshot on the Highland (Phát súng trên cao nguyên)^[3]
4. 1984 : The Flood and the Tango No. 3 (Cơn hồng thủy và bản tango số 3)^[4]
5. 1985 : The Blue Sky in the Split of Leaf (Trời xanh qua kẽ lá)^[5]
6. 1986 : The Last Warning (Lời cảnh cáo cuối cùng)^[6]
7. 1987 : The High Pressure and the Freshet (Cao áp và nước lũ)^[7]
8. 1987 : The Wreath at the Grave (Vòng hoa trước mộ)^[8]

• Robert Nguyễn Thành Luân: The main protagonist, son of a Catholic landlord in Cochinchina and had graduated as an electric engineer in Paris before working for the Vietcong.
• Kiên: A silver-haired French-Vietnamese man who collaborated with the French as well as Hoa Nationalist Chinese sympathizers in Chợ Lớn, Saigonese gangsters, FULRO forces in the Central Highlands, and drug traffickers in the Golden Triangle.
• Lý Kai: A Nationalist Chinese spy under the cover of an opium addict.
• Thùy Dung: A female Vietcong spy posted to South Vietnam. She soon became Luân's wife.
• Bảy Cầu Muối: A former gangster who became Luân's assistant.

Summarize Timeline Fact Check

The first scenes began to shoot in 1981, and the final scenes were completed in 1986. This is also known as the second film (the first film is The Purple Horizon) with huge amounts of actors and weapons.

According to the memoirs of director Lê Hoàng Hoa, he was being imprisoned at Chí Hòa Prison for illegally crossing the sea in 1980. That trip even killed his wife and son. He intended to commit suicide in the grief and despair. At that moment, there was a special order at the senior agency to release Lê Hoàng Hoa. The police summoned him to make a strange suggestion: He had to return to film if he did not want to continue in jail. Lê Hoàng Hoa reluctantly approved, an action that he himself did not understand why. However, it was not until the 1990s that the truth was revealed: Party Secretary of Ho Chi Minh City, Võ Văn Kiệt, took advantage of all his influence to save Lê Hoàng Hoa and many other artists, who were included in the list of the crew of Cards on the Table.

Initially, Lê Hoàng Hoa intended to invite Trần Quang or Hùng Cường, the most popular actors at that time. However, they refused. Finally, John decided to give the main role to Nguyễn Chánh Tín, a little-known male singer. Chánh Tín was just released after his sea trip failed.

According to actor Phan Hiền Khánh's memoirs, the crew had to go to the scene under the supervision of security officers, whom without wearing their uniforms. All those who participated in the telefilm, whether they were the main or secondary, received a very low remuneration. However, they connected each other with their love for cinema. Therefore, this film opened up a period of strong development of Vietnamese cinema and made many actors becoming stars in the admiration of many generations of public.