Chinese Film Classics, 1922-1949

396 Pages·2021·70.782 MB·English

by  Christopher G Rea

CHINESE FILM CLASSICS, 1922–1949

CHINESE FILM
CLASSICS,
1922–1949
Christopher Rea
Columbia University Press New York
Columbia University Press wishes to express its appreciation for assistance given by the
University of British Columbia and by the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International
Scholarly Exchange and Council for Cultural Affairs in the publication of this book.
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup.columbia.edu
Copyright © 2021 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Rea, Christopher G., author.
Title: Chinese film classics, 1922–1949 / Christopher Rea.
Description: New York : Columbia University Press, [2021] |
Includes bibliographical references, filmography, and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020035683 (print) | LCCN 2020035684 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780231188128 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780231188135 (trade paperback) |
ISBN 9780231547673 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Motion pictures–China–Reviews. |
Motion pictures–China–History–20th century.
Classification: LCC PN1993.5.C4 R43 2021 (print) | LCC PN1993.5.C4 (ebook) |
DDC 791.43095109/042–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020035683
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020035684
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent
and durable acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America
影
Cover image: Art Deco rendering of the Chinese character “Ying” (film), from
the masthead of the Nanking University–based monthly magazine Film & Radio (Ying yin)
6, nos. 5/6 (August 1947). Artist unknown. Courtesy of the C. V. Starr East Asian Library,
University of California, Berkeley
Cover design: Milenda Nan Ok Lee
Contents
List of Figures ix
Acknowledgments xv
INTRODUCTION 1
PART ONE Silent Films
CHAPTER ONE
勞工之愛情
Laborer’s Love (Laogong zhi aiqing )
(Zhang Shichuan, director, 1922) 21
CHAPTER TWO
小玩意
Playthings (Xiao wanyi )
(Sun Yu, director, 1933) 38
CHAPTER THREE
體育皇后
Sports Queen (Tiyu huanghou )
(Sun Yu, director, 1934) 56
CHAPTER FOUR
神女
Goddess (Shennü )
(Wu Yonggang, director, 1934) 78
CHAPTER FIVE
大路
The Great Road (Dalu )
(Sun Yu, director, 1934) 97
CHAPTER SIX
新女性
New Women (Xin nüxing )
(Cai Chusheng, director, 1935) 117
PART TWO Sound Films
CHAPTER SEVEN
夜半歌聲
Song at Midnight (Yeban gesheng )
(Ma-Xu Weibang, director, 1937) 139
CHAPTER EIGHT
馬路天使
Street Angels (Malu tianshi )
(Yuan Muzhi, director, 1937) 158
CHAPTER NINE
木蘭從軍
Hua Mu Lan (Mulan congjun )
(Richard Poh, director, 1939) 176
CHAPTER TEN
太太萬歲
Long Live the Missus! (Taitai wansui )
(Sang Hu, director, 1947) 198
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Spring River Flows East
一江春水向東流
(Yi jiang chunshui xiang dong liu )
(Cai Chusheng and Zheng Junli, directors, 1947) 217
CHAPTER TWELVE
小城之春
Spring in a Small Town (Xiaocheng zhi chun )
(Fei Mu, director, 1948) 237
vi Contents
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Wanderings of Three-Hairs the Orphan
三毛流浪記
(Sanmao liulang ji )
(Zhao Ming and Yan Gong, directors, 1949) 256
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
烏鴉與麻雀
Crows and Sparrows (Wuya yu maque )
(Zheng Junli, director, 1949) 275
Abbreviations 297
Appendix 1: Other Significant Extant Chinese Films, 1927–1949 301
Appendix 2: Selective Name List of Film Personnel 313
Filmography 325
Bibliography 335
Index 351
Contents vii

Figures
Figure 1.1: Harold Lloyd 23
Figure 1.2: Carpenter Zheng (Cheng the Fruit-Seller) 24
Figure 1.3: Point-of-view shot 25
Figure 1.4: Connection device 26
Figure 1.5: Never Weaken (1921) 27
Figure 1.6: The Haunted House (1921) 28
Figure 1.7: Splitting the melon 31
Figure 1.8: Building the staircase-slide 32
Figure 1.9: Matte shot 33
Figure 1.10: A “two-me’s photo” 33
Figure 1.11: Assembly line of patients 34
Figure 2.1: Virtual toy shop 41
Figure 2.2: Pull-string toys 42
Figure 2.3: Sister Ye and Yuan Pu 44
Figure 2.4: The stolen son at the toy factory 46
Figure 2.5: Graphic matching of toys and weapons 47
Figure 2.6: A toy for extending one’s grasp 49
Figure 2.7: Giving the dead daughter’s favorite toy to the stolen son 52
Figure 2.8: Sister Ye warns the public 52
Figure 2.9: The public applauds Sister Ye 54
Figure 3.1: Li Lili: “You have a body—put it to work!” 59
Figure 3.2: Magazine sportswomen 60
Figure 3.3: Lin Ying climbs a smokestack like a tree 61
Figure 3.4: The newspaperman’s trophy 63
Figure 3.5: Sun Yu as a destitute former champion sprinter 64
Figure 3.6: Scouts of China in Sports Queen 66
Figure 3.7: Women’s dormitory sequences in The Kid
From Spain . . . 69
Figure 3.8: . . . and Sports Queen 69
Figure 3.9: Li Lili pitches Lux Toilet Soap 70
Figure 3.10: Posing for the cameras 72
Figure 3.11: Mass calisthenics at the end of Sports Queen 73
Figure 4.1: Relief of naked woman and child 81
Figure 4.2: Police sweep 83
Figure 4.3: The principal lectures toward the camera 84
Figure 4.4: Three shots from a sequence introducing
a daily routine 85
Figure 4.5: The “Chinese Garbo” next to an ad for Garbo
Cigarettes 87
Figure 4.6: Woman and city of night beckon 88
Figure 4.7: Framing male domination 89
Figure 4.8: The domestic goddess 90
Figure 4.9: The aura of the gaze 92
Figure 5.1: “Roadbuilding Pioneers” 99
Figure 5.2: The Great Road zoo 101
Figure 5.3: Orchid and Jasmine banter with rolling pin
and corn 104
Figure 5.4: Orchid and Jasmine sweeten the tea 105
Figure 5.5: Cuddles and love-talk 107
Figure 5.6: Watching the bathers 109
Figure 5.7: The ghost steamroller 112
Figure 6.1: Superimposition: Wei Ming’s memories 121
Figure 6.2: The nightclub scene: chained dancer 122
Figure 6.3: The nightclub scene: hallucination 122
Figure 6.4: The nightclub scene: ice 123
Figure 6.5: The “never-fall woman” toy 124
Figure 6.6: “Never-fall Film Directors” 125
Figure 6.7: “Miss” Wei Ming, author 126
x Figures