# Dangerous Encounters - First Kind
**Dangerous Encounters - First Kind** (第一類型危險; also released as Dangerous Encounter – 1st Kind and Don't Play With Fire) is a 1980 Hong Kong crime thriller directed by [Tsui Hark](https://www.edgepedia.org/tsui-hark), his third feature, about three teenagers whose reckless pranks spiral into blackmail, armed robbery, and a fatal confrontation with international arms dealers. It is one of the most controversial films of the Hong Kong New Wave (late-1970s/80s movement of innovative Hong Kong filmmakers): the colonial government banned the original cut, and the film reached cinemas only after Tsui reshot and re-edited substantial portions.[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/en/web/hkfa/pe-event-2017-16-1-5.html) • [2](https://usercontent.hkiff.org.hk/Press/HKIFF48/20240308_Press_Conference/00%20HKIFF48%20Press%20Release/%2803%29%2020240216%20Chinese%20Restored%20Classics/Press%20Release/20240216%20HKIFF48%20SHOWCASES%20RESTORED%20CLASSICS%20BY%20SIX%20CELEBRATED%20CHINESE%20FILMMAKERS.pdf)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | 第一類型危險 (Di yi lei xing wei xian); English titles include Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind and Don't Play With Fire[3](https://movie.douban.com/subject/1401265/) |
| Director and writers | Directed by Tsui Hark; screenplay by Szeto Cheuk-hon and Tsui Hark[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/en/web/hkfa/pe-event-2017-16-1-5.html) |
| Production | Fotocine Film, Hong Kong, 1980; color, Cantonese[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/en/web/hkfa/pe-event-2017-16-1-5.html) |
| Principal cast | Lo Lieh, Lin Chen-chi, Che Bo-law, Lung Tin-sang, Albert Au[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/en/web/hkfa/pe-event-2017-16-1-5.html) |
| Hong Kong release | 4 December 1980, in a censored version[3](https://movie.douban.com/subject/1401265/) |
| Censorship | The original cut was banned by Hong Kong censors; the film was released only after significant reshoots and re-edits[2](https://usercontent.hkiff.org.hk/Press/HKIFF48/20240308_Press_Conference/00%20HKIFF48%20Press%20Release/%2803%29%2020240216%20Chinese%20Restored%20Classics/Press%20Release/20240216%20HKIFF48%20SHOWCASES%20RESTORED%20CLASSICS%20BY%20SIX%20CELEBRATED%20CHINESE%20FILMMAKERS.pdf) |
| Running times | Reported as 91 minutes, with a 99-minute extended restored version, and 95 to 100 minutes in other listings[3](https://movie.douban.com/subject/1401265/) • [4](https://www.blu-ray.com/Dangerous-Encounters-of-the-First-Kind/555487/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Three high school friends, Ah Kao (Paul Che), Paul (Albert Au), and Loong (Lung Tin-sang), take a stolen car on a joyride, strike and presumably kill a pedestrian, and flee the scene.[8](https://www.furiouscinema.com/dont-play-with-fire-dangerous-encounters-of-the-first-kind/) Pearl, also called Wan-chu (Lin Chen-chi), a disturbed young girl, witnesses the hit-and-run and blackmails the three into joining her in escalating crimes.[8](https://www.furiouscinema.com/dont-play-with-fire-dangerous-encounters-of-the-first-kind/) In the original version, the teenagers plant homemade bombs in public places for fun; their rampage attracts media attention and eventually brings them up against United States Vietnam veterans turned arms dealers, ending in a bloody graveyard showdown.[9](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083199/alternateversions/) • [10](https://www.screenslate.com/articles/dangerous-encounters-first-kind) • [6](https://www.hkosff.net/dangerous-encounter2024)
## Production background
Tsui Hark (born 1951) was born Tsui Man-Kong in [French Indochina](https://www.edgepedia.org/french-indochina), studied film in the United States in his twenties, and worked in Hong Kong television before directing his first feature, *The Butterfly Murders* (1979), which placed him among the directors of the Hong Kong New Wave.[5](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2010/films/dangerous-encounters-1st-kind) After *The Butterfly Murders* and *[We're Going to Eat You](https://www.edgepedia.org/were-going-to-eat-you)* (1980) failed at the box office, he turned to a gritty story of teenage rebellion and crime.[6](https://www.hkosff.net/dangerous-encounter2024) The film was produced by Fotocine, with cinematography by David Chung, who had also worked with New Wave directors on television.[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/en/web/hkfa/pe-event-2017-16-1-5.html) • [7](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/6.-Research-and-Publication/06-05_Publications/01_Hong-Kong-Filmography-Series/Vol-IX%281980-1982%29/hkfilmographyseries_09_foreword_e.pdf)
## Censorship and the two versions
**The banned cut.** Hong Kong censors prohibited the original version. The [Museum of Modern Art](https://www.edgepedia.org/museum-of-modern-art) identifies two grounds: the depiction of nihilistic, thrill-seeking teenagers and the use of graphic photographs of the 1967 riots, which had threatened British rule in Hong Kong.[11](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/9307) A contemporary student report in *The Young Reporter* (January 1981) adds that censors considered the story unrealistic in showing secondary school students, rather than post-secondary students, planting bombs.[12](https://sys01.lib.hkbu.edu.hk/scadb/bujspa/detail/0013439/) The film company protested without effect.[7](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/6.-Research-and-Publication/06-05_Publications/01_Hong-Kong-Filmography-Series/Vol-IX%281980-1982%29/hkfilmographyseries_09_foreword_e.pdf)
**The released version.** Tsui shot new scenes and re-edited the film, and the [Television](https://www.edgepedia.org/television) and Entertainment Licensing Authority allowed public screening after the drastic changes.[7](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/6.-Research-and-Publication/06-05_Publications/01_Hong-Kong-Filmography-Series/Vol-IX%281980-1982%29/hkfilmographyseries_09_foreword_e.pdf) The revised version did away with the bomb game but added footage of bloodshed and murder.[12](https://sys01.lib.hkbu.edu.hk/scadb/bujspa/detail/0013439/) The original Chinese title was also slightly amended.[7](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/6.-Research-and-Publication/06-05_Publications/01_Hong-Kong-Filmography-Series/Vol-IX%281980-1982%29/hkfilmographyseries_09_foreword_e.pdf) The two versions differ by more than the removed scenes: a [Letterboxd](https://www.edgepedia.org/letterboxd) reviewer estimates around 15 minutes of material differ, since a new central storyline was created to satisfy the censors.[13](https://letterboxd.com/saithkar/film/dangerous-encounters-of-the-first-kind/)
**Restoration.** For decades the film was known mainly in altered versions. A restoration overseen by Tsui himself, drawn in part from footage that survives only on VHS, screened at MoMA in February 2024 as part of its film preservation festival, and a 2K digital restoration by Spectrum Films circulated at festivals including HKIFF48 and the Hong Kong On Screen Film Festival.[11](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/9307) • [2](https://usercontent.hkiff.org.hk/Press/HKIFF48/20240308_Press_Conference/00%20HKIFF48%20Press%20Release/%2803%29%2020240216%20Chinese%20Restored%20Classics/Press%20Release/20240216%20HKIFF48%20SHOWCASES%20RESTORED%20CLASSICS%20BY%20SIX%20CELEBRATED%20CHINESE%20FILMMAKERS.pdf) • [6](https://www.hkosff.net/dangerous-encounter2024) Because the objectionable material survives only on VHS, the restored cut shows a sharp drop in quality wherever it replaces the cut theatrical footage.[13](https://letterboxd.com/saithkar/film/dangerous-encounters-of-the-first-kind/) Cult Epics released the film on Blu-ray in a limited edition of 3,000 two-disc sets and 1,000 DVDs on June 23, 2026, including both versions.[8](https://www.furiouscinema.com/dont-play-with-fire-dangerous-encounters-of-the-first-kind/) • [9](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083199/alternateversions/)
## Themes and style
The Hong Kong Film Archive describes the film as a severe indictment of modern civilization, finding malice in individuals, in collectives such as families and societies, and in the globalization already taking shape in 1980, told with an absurdist realism.[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/en/web/hkfa/pe-event-2017-16-1-5.html) The Archive's filmography history records that its pessimism and film noir elements were rarely seen in Hong Kong films at the time.[7](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/6.-Research-and-Publication/06-05_Publications/01_Hong-Kong-Filmography-Series/Vol-IX%281980-1982%29/hkfilmographyseries_09_foreword_e.pdf) The International Film Festival Rotterdam called it one of the first examples of punk rock cinema, a venomous kick at the established order.[5](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2010/films/dangerous-encounters-1st-kind) An academic reading of the opening scene, in which a bag of blood bursts in a public housing estate yard, identifies the hands on screen as a metaphor for the invisible force of Hong Kong society crushing unknowing adolescents.[14](https://scholars.lib.ntu.edu.tw/bitstreams/c296e27e-399f-4e5c-8aff-408d0753612b/download)
## Reception and influence
The film premiered in Hong Kong on 4 December 1980 and underperformed at the box office, but it established Tsui's reputation: the [South China Morning Post](https://www.edgepedia.org/south-china-morning-post) wrote that Hong Kong's cinematic New Wave "reached a crest" with this third feature, a work so unsettling that censors deemed it too dangerous for local audiences as originally envisioned.[3](https://movie.douban.com/subject/1401265/) • [7](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/6.-Research-and-Publication/06-05_Publications/01_Hong-Kong-Filmography-Series/Vol-IX%281980-1982%29/hkfilmographyseries_09_foreword_e.pdf) • [15](https://www.scmp.com/article/969028/dangerous-encounter-1st-kind) Its nihilistic depiction of disaffected youth departed from earlier Hong Kong [teen films](https://www.edgepedia.org/teen-film), in which justice eventually prevailed, and its characters were forerunners of the aimless kids in later 1980s films such as Patrick Tam Ka-ming's *Love Massacre* (1982) and Lawrence Ah Mon's *Gangs* (1988).[15](https://www.scmp.com/article/969028/dangerous-encounter-1st-kind) The film has since been acclaimed as a milestone of Hong Kong cinema and is included in the Hong Kong Film Archive's "100 Must-See Hong Kong Movies" selection.[2](https://usercontent.hkiff.org.hk/Press/HKIFF48/20240308_Press_Conference/00%20HKIFF48%20Press%20Release/%2803%29%2020240216%20Chinese%20Restored%20Classics/Press%20Release/20240216%20HKIFF48%20SHOWCASES%20RESTORED%20CLASSICS%20BY%20SIX%20CELEBRATED%20CHINESE%20FILMMAKERS.pdf) • [16](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/5.-Exhibition-and-Screening/100_Must_See_Booklet.pdf) On Douban it holds a rating of 7.6 from 5,379 users.[3](https://movie.douban.com/subject/1401265/)
## References
1. [Dangerous Encounter – 1st Kind, Hong Kong Film Archive](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/en/web/hkfa/pe-event-2017-16-1-5.html)
2. [HKIFF48 Showcases Restored Classics by Six Celebrated Chinese Filmmakers, Hong Kong International Film Festival press release (16 February 2024)](https://usercontent.hkiff.org.hk/Press/HKIFF48/20240308_Press_Conference/00%20HKIFF48%20Press%20Release/%2803%29%2020240216%20Chinese%20Restored%20Classics/Press%20Release/20240216%20HKIFF48%20SHOWCASES%20RESTORED%20CLASSICS%20BY%20SIX%20CELEBRATED%20CHINESE%20FILMMAKERS.pdf)
3. [第一类型危险 (豆瓣)](https://movie.douban.com/subject/1401265/)
4. [Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind (1980), Blu-ray.com](https://www.blu-ray.com/Dangerous-Encounters-of-the-First-Kind/555487/)
5. [Dangerous Encounters: 1st Kind, International Film Festival Rotterdam 2010](https://iffr.com/en/iffr/2010/films/dangerous-encounters-1st-kind)
6. [Dangerous Encounter – 1st Kind, 3rd Hong Kong On Screen Film Festival](https://www.hkosff.net/dangerous-encounter2024)
7. [Po Fung, Foreword, Hong Kong Filmography Vol. IX (1980–1982), Hong Kong Film Archive](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/6.-Research-and-Publication/06-05_Publications/01_Hong-Kong-Filmography-Series/Vol-IX%281980-1982%29/hkfilmographyseries_09_foreword_e.pdf)
8. [Don't Play With Fire / Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind, Furious Cinema](https://www.furiouscinema.com/dont-play-with-fire-dangerous-encounters-of-the-first-kind/)
9. [Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind (1980) – Alternate versions, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083199/alternateversions/)
10. [Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind, Screen Slate](https://www.screenslate.com/articles/dangerous-encounters-first-kind)
11. [Di yi lei xing wei xian (Dangerous Encounters: 1st Kind), original uncut version, MoMA](https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/9307)
12. [The Young Reporter v.13 no.07 (January 1981), HKBU Journalism Student Publications Archive](https://sys01.lib.hkbu.edu.hk/scadb/bujspa/detail/0013439/)
13. [Review by Nick Langdon, Letterboxd](https://letterboxd.com/saithkar/film/dangerous-encounters-of-the-first-kind/)
14. [Corpo-reality in the Hong Kong New Wave, NTU Scholars](https://scholars.lib.ntu.edu.tw/bitstreams/c296e27e-399f-4e5c-8aff-408d0753612b/download)
15. [Paul Fonoroff, Dangerous Encounter: 1st Kind, South China Morning Post (29 May 2011)](https://www.scmp.com/article/969028/dangerous-encounter-1st-kind)
16. [100 Must-See Hong Kong Movies booklet, Hong Kong Film Archive](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/5.-Exhibition-and-Screening/100_Must_See_Booklet.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 1980s films*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license