The Chinese Mirror

The Wide-ranging Influence of《Love and Duty》

    Fans of classic movies (like myself) are always hoping against hope that some  lost film of the past will someday, somehow, magically turn up somewhere, maybe in an obscure attic or cellar, or perhaps mislabelled in a library or film archive, but existant -- a historical treasure that once found, can be lovingly restored, digitized and added to the massive treasury which constitutes the viewable history of motion pictures.  For reasons unclear (because by all contemporary accounts it was not that good a picture), Lon Chaney's 1927 horror film《London After Midnight》seems be the holy grail for silent movie fans:  rumors occasionally appear in online silent or classic movie forums that a copy has been found; while some of these reports are hope rumors, most originate with trolls.  While the actual film itself is lost,《London After Midnight》was recreated in 2007 by cable channel Turner Classic Movies, using the original script and still photos.  (This site attempts to do the same thing with some lost Chinese classics, but we're not as good at it, nor do we have TCM's resources.) 

    But once in a very great while a film assumed to be lost will actually turn up.  In Chinese movie history, such discoveries have happened more that once, and one of the most momentous occurred several years ago -- in Uruguay, of all places.  The discovery was made at the home of a former high-ranking officer in the Chinese Nationalist Army, for many years the Republic of China's consul in the South American republic, and apparently a movie fan.  After the consul's death, in going through his personal effects, a number of motion pictures were found, and while most of these were nothing special, one was a major discovery:  《Love and Duty》(also called《Love and Obligation》) , a 1931 production co-starring Ruan Lingyu and Jin Yan, and long relegated to the (regrettably) massive category of "lost silent films" (about 95% of Chinese silents are believed lost).  The discovery was of major import for several reasons, not least because it was another example of Ruan's work, but because of its unique background and its influence on later Chinese filmmakers.

    Every major filmmaking country has drawn upon literary works as source material for its motion pictures, taken from both its own literary tradition as well as foreign works.  China is no exception, but in its long tradition of tapping foreign literature for movie treatment,《Love and Duty》is unique, in that while the source was a best-selling Chinese novel, it was written by a foreigner, a European expatriate in China.

[cover of the 1931 updated edition of the novel]

    The author was a Polish woman, original name Stephanie Rosen.  In the early years of the 20th century, she was admitted to the University of Paris, and while specializing in botany, she found herself increasingly drawn to literature, which engendered a desire to write.  During her stay in France, Ms. Rosen became acquainted with a number of Chinese students at the university, and fell in love with one, a young man surnamed Hua 华.  The two students married, and in 1911 she accompanied her husband to his homeland China.  After arriving there, she officially changed her name to Hua Luochen 华罗琛, a thoroughly Chinese name without a trace of foreignness.  Also, after establishing a home there, and giving birth to a son and a daughter, Stephanie/Luochen became involved in local affairs, a frequent participant in various charity events, which put her in contact with a broad spectrum of Chinese celebrities in the Beijing-Tianjin area, notables in politics, business, arts and education.  The woman now known as Hua Luochen came to regard China as her second motherland, and felt a growing concern for her adopted country, its current situation and the lives of its ordinary people.  She now returned to the writing impulses she had felt as a student, and soon began fulfilling her literary dreams.  Starting in 1915 she published a succession of long and short stories and essays, the fiction reflecting her own experience as an educated woman, or on male-female interpersonal relationships, while her essays dealt with Chinese current events.  But her publication which had the most impact was a French language novel titled Love and Duty, published in June, 1924.  It was later translated into Chinese and published  by the Commercial Press.  The novel was very popular, and among its readers was Cai Yuanpei 蔡元培, a prominent educator and at the time president of Peking University.  Cai was hospitalized recovering from an illness, and a family member included the hit novel with other reading material for Cai to pass the time.  Cai Yuanpei was capivated by the book, which he said "lifted the spirits."  With Cai promoting it, the novel was subsequently published in an English edition.  All three language editions sold out soon after publication and went into multiple reprints.  In 1931, Hua Luochen revised the novel, added an updated introductory essay concerning the "national calamity" of Japanese aggression, and the reprint quickly sold out. 

[China's favorite screen sweethearts:  Jin Yan and Ruan Lingyu in a publicity still]

   A best-selling novel is always a prime candidate for screen adaptation, so the Lianhua movie studio's bid for film rights was a natural.  The film received critical raves and was a box office success.  In addition, it had a major imact on Chinese filmmaking, as it was the first major production without the typical situation of good confronting evil that had been dominant in Chinese movies till then.  Most earlier non-comedy Chinese movies had clear-cut heroes and villains, but《Love and Duty》stood out in that it was considerably more nuanced.  All the principals were flawed:  the heroine abandons her family to enter into an adulterous relationship; rather than a hero, her true love is a homewrecker, putting his own desires above doing the honorable thing; the couple's fathers, in thwarting their children's quest for love, are really products of their time, honest people brought up in the traditional Chinese ways of doing things; and finally, society at large condemns them to a life of poverty and premature deaths.  Indeed, the only true "villain" here would be the system which molded everyone's fates.  In particular the practice of parental arranged marriage, but in the broader view, the tradition that called for children having to conform with their parents' demands, even after those children had reached adulthood, even middle age.  The practice had been criticized on screen as far back as《Victims of Opium》(1917).  This remnant of feudal tradition had been assailed in numerous earlier films, several of which we have discussed in earlier posts.  But this was the first to hold none of the individuals involved guilty:  they were all products of their times, their fates controlled by those times.

[left, cover of the program for the 2010 Ruan retrospective in Beijing]

    After its discovery in Uruguay, the film was sent to the Taipei Film Archive for restoration, after which it was exhibited in Taipei in June, 2010 as part of "Rediscovering the Legend:  Ruan Lingyu and Her Shanghai," a retrospective commemorating the centennial of the actress's birth.  It was then exhibited in December, 2010 at the Broadway Cinematheque in Beijing with English and Chinese intertitles.  Other films shown as part of both retrospectives were《A Spray of Plum Blossoms》,《Return》(the directorial debut of screenwriter Zhu Shilin),《New Women》from Cai Chusheng, Ruan's two acknowledged masterpieces《Little Toys》and《Goddess》and her posthumously released《National Customs》.  At both exhibitions, the special guest speaker was Stanley Kwan, director of《Ruan Lingyu》(aka《Center Stage》, the award-winning 1992 Hong Kong docudrama about Ruan's career and her last days.

    《Love and Duty》was remade in a 1938 sound version, with Yuan Meiyun in the dual roles of tragic heroine Yang Naifan and her first daughter, and Jin Yan reprising his role as Li Zuyi.  One of the minor supporting roles in the remake was played by future star Gu Yelu, making his screen debut.  In his 1994 memoirs, Gu recalled that both versions were landmarks in his acting career:  in 1931, he was a teenager, newly arrived in Shanghai to take up an apprenticeship, and "The first Chinese movie I saw was the 1931 silent《Love and Duty》and I came out of the theater with the names of Bu Wancang, Ruan Lingyu and Jin Yan engraved on my mind.  From then on, I had a keen interest in movies."  Before long, Gu joined a drama club, then soon after that abandoned his original career plans to take up acting, and "as fate would have it, my first movie was the 1938 remake."  
--Gu, Yelu, "My Five 'Firsts'".  In:  Friends, Sorrows and Joys on Stage and Screen.  (Beijing:  China Film Press, 1994).

Correction:  an earlier version of this article stated that the novel Love and Duty was originally written in Chinese, then subsequently translated into French.  However, in a recent blog post (in Chinese), Hua Xinmin (华新民), Stephanie Rosen-Hua's granddaughter, refutes this.  Ms. Hua points out that her grandmother could not write in Chinese, but it is a common misconception (especially on the internet) that the novel was first written in Chinese, then translated into French, whereas the opposite was the case.  She traces the error's origin to a scholarly treatise published in 1998 by a respected Chinese literary historian.  We regret the error and are happy to correct it here.  

1935: Fei Mu, Lianhua, and《Song of China》

    Although regarded by modern Chinese film scholars as one of the great filmmakers of China's classical movie era, in his short life and career Fei Mu 费穆 (1906-1951) wrote and/or directed only 8 narrative films, of which only three still exist.  But one of these three,《Spring in a Small Town》(1948), is the consensus choice of Chinese film scholars and critics as the greatest Chinese motion picture ever.  It is fortunate we have this classic as proof of Fei Mu's talents, for the earliest example of his work that we have today is 《Song of China》,a pale and distorted reflection of the man's work, a victim of something that has plagued generations of Hollywood film artists:  indiscriminate and excessive editing.

[left, Chinese dvd of 'Tianlun.'  Click on any image to enlarge.]

    《Song of China》was the first Chinese movie to have general release in the U.S., and not be limited to a handful of Chinatown theaters.  Its Chinese title was "Tianlun" 天伦, and it was an "ethics film," an important genre of early Chinese cinema which reached its zenith in 1935 with this production from the Lianhua studio (aka United Photoplay Service).  (The term "tianlun" means the natural bonds and ethical relationships among the members of a family and between generations.)  Making "Tianlun" was almost an act of desperation on the studio's part.  China was suffering a serious economic recession which mandated production and staffing cutbacks that spring, then in March Lianhua's top actress Ruan Lingyu 阮玲玉 committed suicide, depriving the studio of one of its biggest box office attractions.  These pressures exacerbated some existing conflicts within Lianhua's management.  On one side was the "north" faction led by studio founder and general manager Luo Mingyou 罗明佑; on the other was the "south" faction led by the studio's business manager Wu Bangfan 吴邦藩.  By midsummer these conflicts were intensifying daily.  The Wu group was already making efforts to force out Luo, and the latter's being six months behind in paying his staff didn't gain him much support from that quarter.  Hoping for a big score that would recoup his and the studio's financial recovery, the embattled general manager began production of "Tianlun," to feature some of the Lianhua's most reliable onscreen performers and directed by himself and one of the studio's most promising young talents, 29-year-old Fei Mu.

《Spring Dream in the Old Capital》(1930)

    At the dawn of the 1930s, the Chinese film industry had undergone a shakeout, with the number of Shanghai movie studios decreasing from a high of more than 100 in 1926 to just 26 in 1930.   This was due to a combination of market saturation, the worldwide depression reaching Shanghai, and the normal economic pattern of survival of the fittest.  The big two of Chinese cinema, the Mingxing (明星 "Star") and Tianyi (天一 "Heaven") studios, continued to prosper and dominate, but seemingly bucking the downward trend, a newcomer now appeared, a new competitor which soon turned the 1930s "big two" into its "big three."

    The new studio was called Lianhua (联华), which literally translates as "United China," but used the English name "United Photoplay Service."  It was the product of a merger of Luo Mingyou's Da Zhonghua Baihe studio with that of Li Minwei's Minxin studio.  In addition to carrying over those two studios' talents, they also recruited some young filmmakers from other studios who were seeking more opportunities.  The new studio's stated objective was to make progressive films which would entertain audiences while also advancing reformist ideas.

    Lianhua commenced filming its first production in the fall of 1929, and perhaps indicative of the new studio's abundant funding resources, the entire cast and crew of the film went to Beijing for location filming.  The title of this first production was《Spring Dream in the Old Capital》, about a family man who falls under the spell of a scheming golddigger who gradually takes over his life.  He becomes a government official, then sinks steadily into a cesspool of corruption and degradation.  The film was a critique of the decline of China's traditional image of officialdom, which exhalted honest, fair and principled governing.  His success and new romance turns out to be a "spring dream," something illusory or transient, a "Fata Morgana."

    The protagonist, teacher-turned-official Zhu Jiajie, was played by Wang Ruilin (1905-1956), a young stage actor making his first of what turned out to be only two film acting roles, in "Spring Dream" and its 1932 sequel.  Wang's movie career was carried out almost entirely behind the camera, as a stage manager and assistant director, but mostly as a teacher, in charge of Lianhua's acting school.  During World War II he worked on morale-raising propaganda films and directed patriotic stage plays.  He continued producing, directing and teaching after the war, and in the 1950s went into politics at the provincial level.  Ruan Lingyu had left the Mingxing studio after 1928 because of chief director Zhang Shichuan's decision to make Hu Die the studio's top diva, consigning Ruan to permanent status as no higher than number two female in a film, the unsympathetic girl who never gets the boy, and often comes to a bad end.  She moved to the Da Zhonghua Baihe company, then came with the merger.  It is a minor irony that her first role for Lianhua was another negative character, although the principal female one.

    This week's featured star Lin Chuchu was already moving into the "dutiful wife and loving mother" typecasting that became her signature film image, as in "Spring Dream."  During location filming the crew discovered Chen Yanyan, a starstruck teenage bystander, and although her one scene in this film was deleted, she went on to become one of Chinese cinema's top stars.  Future matinee idol Jin Yan is also credited with being in this movie, although none of the written records say specifically what his role was.

 Gudu Chunmeng (1930) 故都春梦 [Spring Dream in the Old Capital]  

     Lianhua.  B&W.  Silent.  10 reels.  Producer:  Luo Mingyou.  Direction:  Sun Yu.  Screenplay:  Zhu Shilin, Luo Mingyou.  Cinematography:  Huang Shaofen.  Cast:  Ruan Lingyu (Yanyan), Wang Ruilin (Zhu Jiajie), Lin Chuchu (Wang Huilan), Luo Huizhu (Hongyu, a prostitute), Cai Zhenzhen (Yinggu), Che Keke (Meigu), Liu Jiqun (Wu Changyuan), Tang Depei (Mao Zihou), Gao Weilian (Muyou).  Also:  Jin Yan, Chen Yanyan (scene deleted).

Followed by sequel:  Xu Gudu Chunmeng (1932) 续故都春梦 [Another Spring Dream]

[left, a fateful meeting with a seductress.  Click on any image to enlarge]

    At a time when Henan province is under warlord control, village schoolteacher Zhu Jiajie's family falls into such dire economic straits he is forced to leave home and travel to the capital Beijing to find other work.

    In the capital, he becomes acquainted with well-known singing girl Yanyan, who uses her political connections to get Zhu a cushy job with the Inland Revenue service, after which he marries Yanyan as his concubine.  They move into a comfortable and well-furnished home, and he sends for his good and faithful first wife and their two daughters to move in with the new couple.

["If my friends could see me now!"  right, plush new lodgings, complete with servants]  

[left:  but of course, the rest of my family has to join us]

    Before long, elder daughter Yinggu becomes entranced with Yanyan, and often goes to see her perform.  Her mother Huilan tries unsuccessfully to discourage the relationship.  One night, Yanyan and  Yinggu go out on the town, not returning until dawn, which leads the angry mother to scold her daughter and admonish Yanyan for leading her daughter astray.  Instead of accepting her role in the household as subservient "second lady," Yanyan has a strong reaction to this, unleashing an abusive verbal assault on Huilan, who appeals to her husband, but Zhu Jiajie is so intimidated by Yanyan that he remains silent, not saying a word.  Yanyan begins exploiting her power by becoming increasingly abusive to Huilan, to the point where the mother can bear it no longer.  She packs up and prepares to leave with her daughters, but elder daughter Yinggu refuses to leave with her. 

[right, mother and younger daughter begin the long trek back to the countryside]

    Mother and younger daughter return to the village, where Huilan provides them a meager income through selling handicrafts.  After they leave, Yanyan introduces Yinggu to a young man named Mao Zihou, saying he is her cousin. 

[left, he reluctantly agrees to his elder daughter's betrothal to his concubine's "cousin"]

    Actually, he is the nephew of Zhu Jiajie's political patron, the man who got the former teacher his cushy job, and is Yanyan's lover.  Zhu is confused by all this and believes her lies, so he agrees to marrying his daughter to Mao Zihou.  But before long, Zhu's political patron is exposed as corrupt, siphoning off public funds for himself and his friends.  He and those politically close to him, including Zhu Jiajie, are arrested and jailed.  At last the nephew raises enough money to repay what was embezzled, and the prisoners are released.  Zhu Jiajie returns home to find that Yanyan has cleaned it out, taking everything of value and trashing the rest. 

[right, back from jail, he dazedly surveys the ruins of his home]  

    In addition, the politician's nephew has dumped Zhu's daughter Yinggu and run off with Yanyan, resulting in Yinggu having a breakdown and being institutionalized.  Filled with remorse and realizing his time in the capital has all been a spring dream, Zhu Jiajie returns on a snowy day to his village and on his knees begs his wife's forgiveness.  Huilan generously says he is blameless, that his transgressions were caused by a corrupt society.  Husband and wife set up housekeeping again, and attempt to recover their past life. 

[still reeling over what has happened to his life, he returns home to his remaining family]

《Back Home From the City》(1925)

    In an earlier article, we discussed the career of first-generation director Dan Duyu, the portrait artist-turned-filmmaker who created and operated the Shanghai Shadow Play Company during the 1920s.  As noted then, Dan was an early practitioner of what later became known as auteur filmmaking, and some of his movies must have struck early Chinese moviegoers as strange, if not bizarre.  This 1925 effort is an example, a Chinese morality play employing allegorical characters to teach moral lessons.  As in the morality plays of medieval Europe, the "Everyman" characters here (Purity and Chastity) are the only ones to make it all the way to the end of the journey, while Beauty and Youth are soon gone and Vanity seduced by Lust.

     As in most of Dan Duyu's earlier productions, the principal character was played by his actress girl friend Yin Mingzhu (aka Pearl Ing), who he would marry the following year. It is also interesting to note in the supporting actor credits (and the technical) the names of two men who would become major Shanghai directors in the 1930s:  Maxu Weibang and Shi Dongshan.  These will both be discussed more fully in future articles. 

 

[left, Yin Mingzhu as "Purity" (or "Somegirl.")  Click on image to enlarge.]

Chongfan Guxiang (1925) 重返故乡 (Back Home From the City)

alternate English release title:  Somegirl

literal English title:   Returning Home

 

    Shanghai Shadow Play Co.  9 reels.  Premiered July 9, 1925 at the Olympic Theater in Shanghai.  Direction and Screenplay:  Dan Duyu.  Cinematography:  Dan Duyu, Dan Ganting.  Set design:  Chen Puyun.  English intertitles:  Maxu Weibang.  Drawing:  Shi Dongshan.  Cast:  Yin Mingzhu (Purity/Somegirl), He Peirong (Chastity), He Peiying (Beauty), Xie Caizhen (Vanity), Han Yunzhen (Youth), Maxu Weibang (Wealth), Shi Dongshan (Sincerity), Wang Duanchen (Chivalry), Chen Baoqi (Flattery), Jin Shengsan (Seduction), Dan Ziwen (Lust), Lei Meili (Flirtation), Cao Yaohe (Cowardice), Zhao Wanmei (Indulgence), Jiang Hanqiao (Time), Xie Yunqing (Power).

 

    In a certain village, a woman named Time has raised five daughters:  Purity, Vanity, Chastity, Youth and Beauty. She takes them on a visit to the city to meet various relatives:  Indulgence, Cowardice, Wealth, Flattery, Seduction, Sincerity, Treachery, Power, Flirtation, Chivalry and Lust.  The results:  Purity and Wealth fall in love; Beauty drinks too much and dies; Youth is taken back home by her mother; Vanity and Lust steal all of Purity's belongings and run away together; Chastity and Sincerity, who had become close friends upon their first meeting, are jailed when Purity mistakenly accuses them of the theft; the girls' Uncle Cowardice and Aunt Indulgence become fugitives; Uncle Power and Aunt Treachery have a falling out and become bitter enemies.  In the end, Purity in despair concludes her extended family is hopeless, and she and Chastity return to their native village.

《Wild Flower Among the Weeds》(1930)

[left, poster for this film.  Click on any image to enlarge.]

Ye Cao Xian Hua 野草闲花 (Wild Flower Among the Weeds)
alt English title:  Wildflowers by the Roadside 

    Lianhua.  B&W.  Silent, with dubbed song.  11 reels.  Premiered December 3, 1930 at the Palace Theater in Shanghai.  Direction and Screenplay:  Sun Yu.  Cinematography:  Huang Shaofen.  Lyrics:  Sun Yu.  Music:  Sun Chengbi.  Principal cast:  Ruan Lingyu (Lan Lilian), Jin Yan (Huang Yun), Liu Jiqun (Lan Mujiang).  Also:  Shi Chao.

     A young man, scion of a wealthy family, is musically gifted.  He diligently trains for a career as a concert violinist.  But he rebels when his parents announce their intent to arrange a marriage for him. He leaves to seek his own livelihood, and his talent soon gains him employment with a marching band.   One day on the street, he happens to hear singing from a lovely female voice, and discovers its source is a girl selling flowers.  He falls for her immediately, and after making her acquaintance finds she is the sole support of her blind father and younger sister.

[upper right, a violinist's playing moves a poor flower-seller and her family.]

The young musician uses his work connections to get her an audition which leads to her beginning her own career, and she soon becomes a famous singer.  She returns his affection, but worries about his family's opposition.  When he tells his parents of his intention to marry the songstress, the family does everything they can to obstruct and end the relationship.   

[In love, but parental opposition gives her concern]

    At a time the young musician's band is playing in another city, the father secretly visits the young woman, and tells her he is convinced his son's true calling is to be a serious concert violinist, but involvement with the singer is impeding his progress and ruining what should be a glorious future.  He urges her to let his son go.  Confused, and convinced by her lover's father it is the right thing to do, she breaks off with the young man, who cannot understand the change in her.  After several more twists and turns in their relationship, the young musician learns the truth, convinces her that his career and his family are secondary to her, and all ends well. 

[right: reunited with his love, he describes to her their happy future] 

    The title in Chinese refers to a metaphor, meaning a man's having a casual romantic or sexual relationship with a woman other than his wife, a cousin to the old American expression "sowing wild oats." or the British "a bit on the side."  Its first literary appearance was in an erotic novel Ma Ling Road 《马陵道》(anonymously written, as was most classic Chinese erotica).  In the novel, a character who inquires "Where is the General?" receives the answer "He [has found] a wildflower among the weeds," meaning he was engaged in dalliance.  In time, the expression came to refer more specifically to a relationship with a prostitute.  In the movie, the father opposed the young couple's relationship because he believed a girl from so humble a background had to be a "wild flower," his son's casual affair of the moment, an infatuation that soon would pass.

[left, a violinist encourages a songstress]

    Writer-director Sun Yu acknowledged from the outset that his film was derivative, inspired by the 
classic French novel La Dame Aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas, fils (1824-1895) and the American movie
"Camille". But Sun avoided the tragic ending of the novel, giving it a love-conquers-all happy ending in
order to mold its story into a reflection of his own ideals and hopes. While "Wild Flowers" begins with a
rejection of feudal tradition and ends with a celebration of love-based marriage, at its core it expresses
Sun's sympathy for the lower levels of Chinese society and his contempt for its class structure.

    The timing of 《Wild Flowers 》was just right for its success. The second full-length feature (after
《Spring Dream in the Old Capital》) from the new and progressive Lianhua (United Photoplay) studio, it was
released just as the late 1920s fervor for swordsman fantasies had fallen off sharply. In addition, it was
the first starring role for Chinese cinema's future "Emperor" Jin Yan, and his first on-screen pairing with
Ruan Lingyu, a marquee duo that would soon become box office magic.

《The Girl Detective》(1928)

    After the Mingxing studio management accepted Zhang Shichuan's decision to promote Hu Die as the company's top actress, the future movie "Empress" garnered a succession of plum screen roles in films that were increasingly and unabashedly commercial, often patterned on those coming out of Hollywood at that time.  One such film, very successful at the box office, was a crime story featuring a glamorous amateur detective assisting the police, and in fact solving the crime, despite the opposition of the regular police.  Further twists were that the investigator's own family were the victims, and the investigator herself was in harm's way during the course of her inquiries.  Since the film is lost, we cannot be certain how graphic was the girl detective's luring of the mob boss:  from the handful of movies that survive from that era (and the written synopses of others), it is obvious that Chinese movies then were no less daring or overt in their sexuality than the pre-code Hollywood movies of that era.  In other words, the lady may have gone somewhat beyond mere flirtation.

Nü Zhentan (1928) 女侦探 (The Girl Detective)

Mingxing.  B&W.  Silent.  10 reels.  Premiered November 14, 1928 at the Palace Theater in Shanghai. Direction:  Zhang Shichuan.  Screenplay and Program Notes: Zheng Zhengqiu.  Cast:  Hu Die (the girl detective), Zheng Chaofan (chief of detectives).  Also:  Wang Jiting, Huang Junfu, Tang Jie, Tan Zhiyuan, Gong Jianong, Hu Shan, Xia Peizhen, Zhao Jingxia, Wang Xianzhai, Wang Mengshi, Xuan Ruilong.

    A wealthy but dysfunctional family consists of five people:  the father, a heavy drinker; the mother, a spendthrift who squanders money on frequent and frivolous shopping sprees; their son and his wife, but she is so mistreated she decides to leave him.  The fifth family member, the daughter, is a normal young woman and student. After she graduates, the daughter takes a vacation trip, and during her absence the family home is invaded and ransacked by a criminal gang who injure the family physically and financially.  When the daughter hears the news, she immediately returns home and involves herself in the middle of a complex criminal case.  She first reports to the police station, offering to assist in bringing the gang to justice.  The chief of detectives, a handsome young man proud of having never left a case unsolved, has taken personal charge of the case, and is reluctant to bring in a well-meaning amateur. He declines her offer of assistance.  But as the case drags on he grows increasingly frustrated at the lack of progress.  The lack of success causes the girl to fear the police will fail, so she  decides to conduct her own investigation. When an underworld figure is killed, a man whose past record included offenses similar to this one, she suspects he may have been involved with the gang.  

[below left, Hu Die (right) consoles a mobster's widow (Hu Shan); click on any picture for larger image]

She visits the deceased man's  widow, and learns from her the gang leader's identity.  In the guise of a sexy playgirl, the girl goes to a night club frequented by he mob boss, meets and lures him into trusting her. Through the boss she infiltrates the gang and uncovers the evidence needed to convict them.  She contacts the chief of detectives, the gang's headquarters are raided by police, and all are rounded up.   Afterwards, the girl and the chief of detectives get together. 

[right, Sex as a weapon:  the lady sets a trap]

《Battle Exploits》(1925)

    Although not one of our award winners for 1925, this film from that year also deserves attention. We don't know how popular it was with audiences, but it was very timely, as it dealt with a topic of considerable concern in China at the time, i.e. warlordism.  (For background, consult the excellent Wikipedia article on the subject.)  By 1925 the fledgling Chinese Republic, begun with such high hopes, had suffered through nearly a decade of  continuous civil conflict, with warfare going on somewhere in the country during that time.  The central government seemed powerless to stop it, and those suffering most (as in all wars) were the civilians, and that was the movie's focus.  For in spite of its title, this was not a war movie in the usual sense, but rather a look at how war affects the ordinary people who are charged with fighting it, in this case two love stories related against the background of war.  
     From the film historian's standpoint, the film is notable for its casting, which included major stars of the time as well as several future marquee names starting out in small, even uncredited, roles.  In addition, the male and female leads, Wang Yuanlong and Zhang Zhiyun, played both pairs of lovers, a dual-role casting device which later became commonplace, but was innovative at the time.

Zhan Gong (1925) 战功 (Battle Exploits)
alt. English title:  Amid the Rattle of Musketry

    Da Zhonghua.  Silent, with Chinese and English intertitles.  9 reels.  Premiered May 9, 1925 at the Palace Theater in Shanghai.  Producer:  Lu Jie.  Director:  Xu Xinfu.  Screenplay:  San San.   English Captioning:  Su Gongjuan.  Cinematography:  Jingguangfu+.   Cast:  Wang Yuanlong (Wang Yihua/Zhu Zhuofu), Zhang Zhiyun (Zhang Yijun/Tong Yihan), Li Minghui (Wang Lihua), Hu Die (Hu Cuiying), Tang Jie (Tang Zigang), Zhao Chen (Zhao Xiaowei).
(+indicates the transliteration of a foreign name, which is unknown.)   

    Wang Yihua, scion of a noble family, and his girlfriend Tong Yihan are in love.  One day, when Yihua and his younger sister Lihua are visiting relatives in the countryside, he meets Zhang Yijun, a woman who dresses in male clothing.  The two strike up a friendship.  The siblings return to the city, and soon thereafter Yijun shows up.  She and Yihua renew their friendship, which upsets his girlfriend Yihan.  
     When their girls school holds a benefit musical performance to help people in a disaster-stricken area, Lihua and Yihan take the stage to perform.  Yihua and Yijun attend, as do Yihua's old friend Zhao Xiaowei and his friend Zhu Zhuofu.  When they are introduced before the performance, Yijun and Zhuofu appear somewhat surprised.  

[a volunteer parts from his lover; Zhang Zhiyun, left, Wang Yuanlong, right.  Click on any picture to enlarge.]

     Afterwards, Yihua and Yijun grow even closer.  But when war erupts, Yihua bids Yijun and his family farewell and joins the army.  Zhuofu also enlists, and the two leave for the front lines.  Before they leave, Yihua writes to Yihan, breaking off their relationship. 

 

    [lower right, a call to service; Wang Yuanlong, right]

    When Yihua returns from the battlefield, and his father asks about Zhuofu, the son sadly tells of how an artillery shell exploded near them, and when Yihua awoke in the hospital he could learn nothing of Zhuofu.  When she hears this, Yijun turns pale and looks horrified.  That evening, Yihua proposes to Yijun, but she sadly tells him she cannot, for she is already married to Zhuofu.  He had become a drunk, and abandoned her in the countryside.  After that, she had dressed as a man to make herself less attractive to another man who was harassing her, and finally fled the countryside for the city.  She tells Yihua, "I can only be your friend, not your wife". 
     At that time, Zhu Zhuofu, having lost a hand and a foot, crawls into the house.  When he sees Yihua and Yijun together, he makes to leave.  But Yijun stops him and brings him back, saying, "As you are today, do you really want to leave me again"?  
     At this point, Lihua brings Yihan in to welcome Yihua back.  It turns out his sister had interrupted Yihua's breakup letter to Yihan, and she has been waiting for him faithfully.  Yihua realizes where his true happiness lies, and both couples are reunited.

[This picture does not fit in with the above narrative, but I have included it anyway.  The Chinese source for this labels it a still from the movie, but since it was by no means a comedy, it was Hu Die's first movie appearance -- in a supporting part -- and the two wounded soldiers (Zheng Xiaoqiu, left, and Gong Jianong, right) were in uncredited minor roles, it was more likely an outtake of clowning around on the set.]

"Burning of the Red Lotus Temple": an expert's view

[left, Professor Jia Leilei]

[The following is a translation of an interview with Jia Leilei (贾磊磊)，  Associate Director and Research Fellow at the Chinese Academy of Television Arts, as well as professor and doctoral advisor at the Nanjing Normal University’s College of Liberal Arts and Literature.  He is one of China’s leading film historians, with research specialties that include the history of martial arts movies.  Among his more than 200 published books and articles is The History of Chinese Martial Arts Films (Zhongguo Wuxia Dianying Shi 中国武侠电影史 Beijing:  Culture and Arts Press, 2005).  This interview originally appeared in the Beijing newspaper New Capital Times (Xin Jing Bao 新京报), May 9, 2004.  As of August, 2009, the original was still online.  The interview was conducted for the New Capital Times by journalistic intern Zhang Yue (张悦).] 

   After the “ancient costume fervor” of the mid-1920s had cooled, the Mingxing studio moved down a different path, and ignited the first spark in the next conflagration – the martial arts/swordsman/gods-and-spirits fantasies:  “Burning of the Red Lotus Temple.”  This initial spark produced a new fervor that dominated the Chinese movie scene for the next four years.  We discussed the film and its impact with Jia Leilei.

Q:  Before the emergence of martial arts “gods and spirits” films as a genre, there had already been Chinese films which had swordsmen as their simple theme; was “Burning of the Red Lotus Temple” a commercial innovation built on that foundation?

Jia:  Swordsman films were not something that just burst suddenly from someone’s imagination, or from some studio’s.  It was the result of a gradual process.  There were two principal factors in the emergence of swordman films:  the first was the influence of American Western movies and the enjoyment Chinese audiences took in watching them, and that inspired Chinese filmmakers; the second was China’s deep store of chivalrous fiction, a mature source of material appropriate for the camera lens, and fully prepared for the screen.  Before “Burning of the Red Lotus Temple” there were martial arts movies like “Railway Robbers” and “Four Heroes Named Wang,” but these didn’t have much impact.  But “Burning” touched off a surge of enthusiasm for the genre.

Q:  After “Burning,” swordsman films had several waves of popularity in China’s first century of cinema.

Jia:  That’s right, “Burning of the Red Lotus Temple” touched off the first surge of popularity for the swordsman genre, with each major Shanghai company picking up on its commercial possibilities.  The second surge came in the 1960s from Hong Kong and Taiwan, although filmmakers at that time were fully aware that [bringing back the genre] was a high risk venture, a speculative commercial product.  But this era gave us a succession of classic movies, violent ones like Chang Che’s, which emphasized male bonding and then gradually transitioned from “swords” to “kicks.”  The third surge came at the start of the 1980s, in movies from the Chinese mainland, beginning with “Mysterious Buddha” 《神秘的大佛》, then such films as “Wudang” 《武当》，and “The Magic Braid”《神鞭》reaching its peak in 1982 with “Shaolin Temple” 《少林寺》.  The fourth surge came at the end of the 1980s and beginning of the 1990s, with swordsman films that were cooperative China-Hong Kong-Taiwan ventures, for example “New Dragon Gate Inn” 《新龙门客栈》

But while it was very successful, I don’t think “Hero” 《英雄》 should be included in that last surge:  it’s a unique phenomenon, a category in itself.

One of 1928's Best:《Burning of the Red Lotus Temple》

  As Chinese filmmaking continued to mature, the products of Shanghai studios increased in quality as well as number.   One of the most successful products of that era is the series we are discussing this week, the multi-part wuxia classic, "Burning of the Red Lotus Temple."  While all of its 19 parts are lost, the written records regarding cast, major technical credits and plot synopses are available to us.  The plot of Part I is given here, to provide some flavor of what these early films were like.  For an overview of the wuxia genre, check out the Wikipedia article.

 

Huo Shao Hong Lian Si I-XIX (1928-31) 火烧红莲寺 

(Burning of the Red Lotus Temple, pts.1-19)

 
    Mingxing.  B&W.  Silent.   Part 1 premiered May 13, 1928 at the Palace Theater in Shanghai.   

Part 1  (1928):  10 reels 

Part 2  (1928):    9 reels

Part 3  (1928):  10 reels  

Part 4  (1929):  10 reels

Part 5  (1929):  10 reels

Part 6  (1929):  10 reels

Part 7  (1929):  10 reels

Part 8  (1929):    9 reels

Part 9  (1930):    9 reels

Part 10 (1930):   9 reels

Part 11 (1930):   9 reels

Part 12 (1930):   9 reels

Part 13 (1930):   9 reels

Part 14 (1930):   9 reels

Part 15 (1930):  10 reels

Part 16 (1930):   9 reels

Part 17 (1931):   9 reels

Part 18 (1931):   9 reels

Part 19 (1931):   9 reels

 

Direction:  Zhang Shichuan.  Screenplay:  Zheng Zhengqiu (Part 1), Zhang Shichuan (Parts 2-19), based on a novel "Strange Swordsman Story," by Pingjiang Buxiaosheng (pen name of Xiang Kairan, 1889-1957).  Cinematography:  Dong Keyi.  Art:  Zhang Yuguang.  Sets:  Dong Tianya.  Program notes:  Zheng Zhengqiu (Parts 1,16), Zhang Shichuan (Part 2).  Illusions:  Wan Dihuan, Qiu Yiwei.  Assistant director:  Wang Jiting.

 

Cast: 

Zheng Xiaoqiu (Gui Wu, Yang Jixin), parts 1-19 (19)

Xia Peizhen (Gan Lianzhu, Yang Jixin's wife), parts 1-6,8-19 (18) 

Wang Xianzhai (Wang Qinghe), parts 1-4,6-19 (18)

Wang Jiting (Gan Liuzi), parts 1-6,8-19 (18)

Gong Jianong (Yang Zanting), parts 1-6,8-19 (18)

Tang Jie (Chang Deqing), parts 1-2,4-10,12-19 (17)

Wang Mengshi (Yang Zanhua, Yang Zumi), parts 1,3,5-19 (17)

Hu Die (Red Girl), parts 3-6,8,10,12-19 (14)

Dong Xiangping (Red Cloud founder), parts 1-4,6,9-16,18,19 (10)

Wang Zhengxin (Plum Blossom Daoist), parts 1,3-4,6,11-16 (10)

Gu Youmin (prefect), parts 1-4,6,15-17,19 (9)

Tan Zhiyuan (governor), parts 1,4-6,15-19 (9)

Xie Yunqing (teacher), parts 1,3,4,11,15-17 (7)

Zhu Xiuying (prefect's wife), parts 1,4,6,16-19 (7)

Liang Saizhen (prefect's daughter), parts 1,6,16,17,19 (5)

Wu Wanxiang (Dayuan – "ape"), parts 1,13,14,16,17 (5)

Zhao Jingxia (Yang Zumi's wife), parts 1,4,5,16 (4)

Wang Weixin (Plum Blossom Daoist), parts 17-19 (3)

 

Also, characters unknown:

Xiao Ying, parts 2-6,13,15 (7)

Huang Junfu, parts 2-3,5,6,15 (5)

Zhu Fei, parts 7-10 (4)

Gao Lihen, parts 2,3

Ye Liangde, parts 2,3

Zha Ruilong, parts 2,3

Zheng Chaofan, parts 5,6

Han Yunzhen, parts 9,10

Zhou Wenzhu, parts 12,14

Zhang Aizhen, part 2

Feng Zhicheng, part 5

Zhang Minyu, part 5

(plot synopsis after the bump)

 

《Burning of the Red Lotus Temple》(1928-31)

    From such 1960s classics as 《A Touch of Zen》 and 《Come Drink With Me》  to such more recent productions as《Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon》 and 《Hero, swordsman films have for the past few decades been the image of China in the eyes of foreign audiences.  But when Ang Lee was expressing his gratitude for being honored with an Oscar, he should have included on his list of thank-yous a much older movie, from 80 years earlier:  《Huo Shao Hong Lian Si》  《火烧红莲寺》(Burning of the Red Lotus Temple).

    While not the first swordsman film,《Burning》was the one that initiated a fervor for the genre among Chinese movie fans, the principal ancestor of the modern works listed in the first paragraph.  The genre itself was an old, established one, deriving from traditional Chinese operas that highlighted the military achievements of legendary Chinese heroes and heroines, both historical and fictional.  But 1928's 《Burning" was the starting point for swordsman films as a mania, and all the familiar cliches of the genre, its flying heroes and heroines, seemingly invincible to harm and destroying evildoers with a single stroke, all date from that pioneer effort of eight decades ago.

    
    Suppose that humanity disappeared completely from the planet, and the only evidence remaining that we ever existed was motion pictures.  Some extra-terrestrial archaeologists might conclude from this evidence that at the end of the 1920s, the world's highest form of life had evolved in China – the "girl in red."  I base that judgement based on a comparison with the most prominent Hollywood character types of that time:  the cynical, fast-talking reporter of the screwball comedy; the gun-toting, square-jawed cowboy of Westerns; the tough-talking cops and snarlingly defiant gangsters of detective movies; and the love-obsessed young playboys and wise-cracking flappers of the musical.

[left, Hu Die as the "Girl in Red"]

    So what was this "girl in red" like?  Well, just like the heroines in "Burning》, she could fly through the clouds and across the treetops, outracing and repelling armed adversaries.  This ability to "fly" clearly set the Chinese girl of 1928 apart from the rest of the world's inhabitants.  At a time when the angels of the West wore pasted-on wings, the Chinese had attained the status of the "flying immortals" pictured in the cave murals at Dunhuang.