The history of Zhejiang movie in its real sense dated back to the movie shows by the foreigners in Zhejiang. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, some foreigners showed films in Hangzhou, Ningbo and Wenzhou and started their cinemas to show western movies to the local people. Later, some merchants in Shanghai and Hangzhou opened some teahouses and theaters to show movies.
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In the early movie history of China, the Zhejiang natives occupied about one third of the celebrities in the movie industry, among whom were such well-known filmmakers as Zhang Shichuan, Zhang Yuanji and Shao Zuiweng, and the movie artist Xia Yan.
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In 1913, Zhang Shichuan, a Ningbo native, together with Zheng Zhengqiu, a Cantonese, directed and made the movie The Difficult Couple, which was regarded as the start of the Chinese feature films. In 1922, Zhang Shichuan established the Movie Star Pictures and made the first full-length feature film Orphan Rescues Grandfather. In 1931, the company shot the first wax disc dubbed talking film, Red Peony the Girl Singer, which laid the foundation for the Chinese motion picture art. In collaboration with the enlightened artists, Zhang Shichuan produced two excellent films on the theme of anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism. During those 15 years, the company led by Zhang Shichuan made over 200 films and trained a large number of film professionals.
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In 1917, Zhang Yuanji, a Haiyan native, opened the Motion Picture Department in his Commercial Press in Shanghai. In the following 10 years, the department produced 28 feature films. In 1925, Shao Zuiweng, a Ningbo native, founded the Tianyi Film Company together with his brothers Shao Tunren, Shao Renmei and Shao Yifu. The company produced over 60 films during the following 12 years. In 1937 when the Anti-Japanese War broke out, the company moved to Hong Kong and was renamed Nanyang Film Company and later Shaw Brothers (HK) Ltd. in 1950. All of these filmmakers made tremendous contribution to the development of the early national film industry.
In 1930s, a lot of advanced Zhejiang native writers devoted themselves to the movie industry and wrote many screenplays. Xia Yan, Ah Ying and Zheng Boqi was appointed by the Movie Star Pictures in 1932 as screenwriters and advisors. In 1933, the subterranean branch of CCP (Chinese Communist Party) set up a team, with Xia Yan as the leader, to launch the left-wing movie movement in the enemy ruled territory. The team produced many revolutionary films, such as Violent Current and Spring Silkworms written by Xia Yan and directed by Cheng Bugao, 24 Hours In Shanghai and Women's Calls written by Xia Yan and directed by Shen Xiling, Cosmetics Fair and Futurity written by Xia Yan and directed by Zhang Shichuan, Boatman's Daughter and Crossroad written and directed by Shen Xiling, Disaster of the Graduates, Urban Scenery and Angels of the Street written and directed by Yuan Muzhi. These films portrayed the social problem then and were strong in their anti- imperialism and anti-feudalism standing. These artists put many new art elements in the films and made innovations in style and form, so these films had won a lot of audiences in the national revolutionary epoch.
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Taken in Shipu of Xiangshan, the locale of the film Fishing Glitter Melody in Sept. 1933. From left to right: Meng Junmo, Han Langen, Cai Chusheng, Wang Renmei, Nie Er, Tan Youliu, Luo Peng and Zhou Guang. |
During the period, many films adopted subject materials directly from the real life of Zhejiang people and some of them made Zhejiang their exteriors. Fishing Glitter Melody, directed by Cai Chusheng, music composed by Nie Er and starring Wang Renmei and Han Langen, made Shipu (a seaside town in Zhejiang) its exterior. The film portrayed the poverty of the piscatorial lives and won the Honored Award in the Moscow Film Festival of the Soviet Union in 1935. That was the first ever international movie award won by a Chinese movie. Boatman's Daughter reflected the misery of the boat-women on the West Lake and the Hangzhou workers' struggling movements. Salty Tides made Xiepu and South & North Lake its exteriors and was about how the salt processing workers struggled against the feudal system. It was directed by Xu Xinfu, written by Lou Shiyi, screen played by Ah Ying and starring Hu Die and Gu Meijun. Glory of a Mother made Hangzhou its exterior and reflected the vicissitudes of life during the conflicts of the opposite social classes. It was written by Tian Han, directed by Pu Wanquan and starring Jin Yan, Chen Yanyan and Li Zhuozhuo. Another work of Tian Han's, Triumphant Songs made part of its exterior in Zhuji. It showed that the peasants overcame the disasters and the feudal powers. The films like Tales of Iron-plate Red Tears, Bores on China Sea and Big Road were all shot in Zhejiang and with revolutionary tendencies.
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| These films related to Zhejiang made great contributions to the healthy development of the Chinese film industry. They contested with the low taste movies that aired feudal thoughts and superstition as well as some inferior occidental movies at that time, and ducated and influenced the people of the time. |
The outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War in July 1937 inflicted heavy losses on the Chinese film industry and subjected it to a great historical lapse. Though some anti-war films, such as 800 Heroes, Enthusiastic Spirits and Protecting Our Lands, were shown in the areas under the Kuomintang regime, the film industry saw a great depression, especially in the Japanese occupied areas, which was dominated by some ghost movies and blue movies like Burning the Temple of Red Lotus and Charming Corpse, and some Japanese militaristic films.
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| After the victory of the World War II, the contest between the positive movies and negative reactionary movies, between the American movies and the national movies were still going on in Zhejiang Movie industry. Such great artists like Shi Dongshan, Cai Chusheng, Tian Han and Chen Baicheng produced lots of movies like The Long Journey Under Clouds and Moon, The Spring River Floats to East, The Beauty and A Myriad Twinkling Lights of City and made important contributions to the development of the national movie industry. The movie The Spring River Floats to East, in particular, hit the record then in Zhejiang by being screened for a period of 35 consecutive days in Hangzhou. Some of the press praised the movie as follows: "Unlike the bloody and sexy Hollywood movies, this one is a meaningful, positive movie with high artistic value and throws light on the path of the development of the national movie industry." | | |
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