In 1930s, people from China's national film industry appeared together on the Shanghai beach, with many heroes and heroines. Because apart from national capitalists, even Huang and Du are involved in the film industry. They all showed their magical powers and created the first golden age of China films, although the heyday was only seven years.
Ming-Yau Lo, an aristocratic college student, was born in a famous family, and his third uncle was the chief justice of Beiyang government. Ming-Yau Lo is very handsome, with a big rectangular face, a wide chin and chivalry. Anyone who knows a little about China's film history has probably heard the story of the fire in Ming-Yau Lo Jinghua Zhenguang Cinema: he asked his employees to save their neighbors first, and he was responsible for compensating the hospital and its employees for their losses.
Ming-Yau Lo, who graduated from Peking University, has an elegant purport, is proficient in English, and is quite close to and concerned about knowledgeable and knowledgeable people. Not all the movies can be shown in the cinema under his name. He also held a student Sunday morning show, and the ticket price was lucky. Shelter? 9 16 "nigger" Shanghai ticket price.
However, Ming-Yau Lo is not always a good man. He was the most modern film distributor in the 1930s. 1927 founded North China Film Co., Ltd., and soon there were "companies directly or indirectly managed" in Beijing, Tianjin, Northeast China, Shandong, Henan and Hebei, and film companies in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Guangzhou also had business dealings with him (History of Beijing Film Industry). His shrewdness enabled him to form this big net before he was 30 years old.
There is no doubt that Luo Ming You will enter the film industry. He is not satisfied with the quality of China's films. There are not enough good China films in cinemas. Besides, China movies can also make money. However, at that time, he didn't know much about film production, and his only familiar Shanghai friend was Li Minwei. Zhou Chengren and Li Yizhuang briefly described the encounter between Ming-Yau Lo and Li Minwei, the "father of Hong Kong films", in their article Praise and Seeking Truth.
At that time, Li Minwei was at a low tide. After he returned to Shanghai from Hong Kong, he co-founded Shanghai Minxin Film Company with Li Yingsheng, but the losses were serious and unsustainable. Ming-Yau Lo went from Beijing to Shanghai to find Li Minwei and had a long talk all night. In the end, "Luo and Li reached a cooperation agreement with 165438+ at the beginning of October, and in February, they cooperated with Minxin Company to shoot" Dream of Spring in the Old Capital "(directed by Sun Yu and written by Zhu Shilin). Li Minwei recorded in his diary on February 28th, 1929 that they went to Beijing from Shanghai via Qingdao, which was the implementation of this agreement. 1In August, 930, based on Minxin Company and Huabei Company, Li Minwei invited Shanghai Greater China Department Store, Shanghai Film Company and Youlian Film Company to join Lianhua in different ways. In addition, Huang Yicuo, who runs the printing industry in Shanghai, and Hong Kong Film Company in Li Beihai also joined in ... 65438+On February 27th, Lianhua Film Production and Printing Co., Ltd. was formally established in Hong Kong. " Lianhua * * * has set up four studios, each of which is independently produced. "Each factory basically does its own thing in terms of film themes and shooting costs, and it is actually self-financing."
Ming-Yau Lo's shrewdness also lies in that he wooed the business and political figures such as Sir He Dong, Lu Gen, Yu Fengzhi (Mrs. Zhang Xueliang) and Xiong Xiling, the richest men in Hong Kong at that time, as shareholders. These people actually don't ask about the actual affairs of Lianhua, but they all play the role of "avoiding death".
At the beginning of the film, it is naturally a mess.
When Lianhua was founded, it was also the time when China's film industry turned from "crazy fire" to relatively calm. You can see it by comparing the instructions.
When Lianhua's first film Weeds Gossip was released, it was clearly written in the manual as "a domestic blockbuster with sound", while in 1927, President Guo Hua starring Yang Naimei was described as a "romantic and glamorous movie", and all the eye-catching places were listed: "There is a fight in the water, the waves are rough and the soul is stirring, so you must watch it." "Adventure" filmed by Happy Company takes up everything: "Funny Business Card of Genie and Chivalrous Man". The burning red-violet temple is more intense. When it was released again in the late 1930s, the advertisement read "The Star Company is the only artifact in the country-the martial arts series", "The Kunlun School is different from the Kongtong School in fighting swords" and "Flying swords takes the lead in thousands of miles! Prostitution can't escape the chivalrous master! " Since she is a "slut", the price list in the manual clearly says "children are halved" Propaganda words are "straight" everywhere, revealing confusion (Zhang Wei's Past contains a lot of movie descriptions or advertisements at that time, and the words are direct and surprising).
On the surface, before the establishment of Lianhua, the national film industry in China was already very lively, but this was only an illusion caused by chaos.
In the early 1920s, Sun Yu, the later "poet director" of China film industry, was still studying in Tsinghua. He applied for the advertisement of Ming-Yau Lo, the "movie king of North China", and wrote an American film review of Coming Soul, which won the first prize. In his memoir "Road", he said that he never imagined that nine years later (1929), Ming-Yau Lo would take the script of "Dream of Spring in the Old Capital" and ask him to be a director. More interestingly, Mei Lanfang came back from the United States in the autumn of 1930, and watched the screening of "Dream of Spring in the Old Capital" at the Nanjing Grand Theatre, which actually included a section of "Farewell My Concubine" and "Sword Dance" he shot. At that time, it was already a talking movie, and the cinema used Late Night to match Mei Lanfang's figure. Although it can't be completely consistent, "this is a hard work." This shows that the filmmakers' awareness of copyright was weak at that time, and the copyright of My Daughter Scattered Flowers by Mei Lanfang actually somehow got into the hands of Hong Kong Minxin Company.
Because of his love for movies, Hong Shen, a famous playwright in Yu Sun, recommended himself to enter the film circle. The star said to "think about it" and Sun Yu left. Two days later, he went to Shenzhou, the manager of another film company at that time. "I'm sorry to tell me that there has been a great recession in domestic films, and 100 film companies have closed down one after another, and China is coming to an end."
At that time, Sun Yu also wrote down a detail he saw: Pingqian Li, already a well-known director, was standing alone on a long board, playing around in boredom.
Although the film industry is difficult to enter, Sun Yu joined the Great Wall Film Company at 1927, only to find that he was facing a false prosperity. As a result of Yan and the orphans saving their ancestors, hundreds of leather bag companies were established, which were shoddy and changed places with one shot. Some "art for life" companies are short of money, such as "Great Wall" and "Shenzhou". Both the local audience and Nanyang market like "burnt films" and "ancient costume films". Sun Yu wrote in the book: "It is said that for martial arts films, the criteria for filmmakers in Nanyang Islands to evaluate the purchase of films are: ten out of ten films are first-class; Only eight of the ten films are B-rated films; As for ten books, there are only four or five, and even if they fail, they should be sold at a low price. "
What Sun Yu saw was the disorderly and vicious competition of national capital at that time. Lu Hongshi quoted the data of China Film History1905 ~/China Film Yearbook published in 1949: "By the end of 1926, there were 179 domestic listed film companies, including 4 American companies,1926. It increased to 16, while in 2003, almost 80 years later, there were only 140 domestic films in China, and it only rose to 240 in 2004. This shows how lively the movie market was at that time, although it was fake. Objectively speaking, the status of domestic films has improved at this time.
Zhang Shichuan also contributed to this scene of "burning the Grand View Garden". Many people attribute the "burning wind" caused by burning red-violet temple to people's escape from the political environment, but it is undeniable that national capital has a strong speculative instinct in order to survive. In the capitalist economy of China in the 1920s, the share of national capital never exceeded 18% (China Film History 1905 ~ 1949). In order to survive, nature will shoot whatever it is that makes money. Zhang Shichuan took 18 episodes of "Burning Red Lotus Temple" in one breath, and the miscellaneous people were riddled with holes on the screen. In addition to the original peace Jiang Bu Xiaosheng's "Legend of the Wonders of the Jianghu" is a little close, which is simply Zhang Shichuan's own imagination. Documentaries in the film circle of the Republic of China listed a bunch of "burning": burning Qingliu Temple, burning Jiulong Mountain, burning Baique Temple, burning Seven Star Pagoda and so on. There are also some companies, such as Yueming and Youlian, which specialize in making such films.
It's all because movies have changed from gadgets to money-making gadgets.
19 13, Zhang Shichuan, Zheng Qiuzheng and others set up Xinmin Company to shoot "It's Hard to Be Monogamous" for the Asian Film Company in Ise, USA, which had no influence at that time. After filming Zheng Qiuzheng, we went on to shoot a civilized drama. Zhang Shichuan has only made some short films, that is, working for foreigners.
19 18, the Commercial Press established an independent film department, which was the first film institution wholly owned by state capital. The film and television department filmed Mei Lanfang's "Chun Xiang Noisy School" and "My Daughter Scattered Flowers", but they were only fragments.
When State-owned assets first set foot in the film industry, their basic achievements were unsuccessful: 19 16. Zhang Shichuan founded the Magic Fairy Company alone, but it was difficult to continue after filming The Murder of Men in Black. 19 19 Zhang Jian, a top scholar in the late Qing Dynasty and a famous industrialist, also joined some shareholders to raise 65,438+10,000 yuan to set up China Film Manufacturing Co., Ltd., which closed down two years later.
There are a group of "ticket friends" who have made a lot of money. Chen Shouzhi, Shi, Xu Xinfu, Liu Jie are all comprador, working in a foreign firm, and they all like watching civilized dramas. Yan has been performed for half a year, which makes them think of making it into a movie. They also have this ability. So they rented the equipment and talents of the film department of the Commercial Press, and Chen Shouzhi played Yan himself, while a kind-hearted prostitute played Yan. In Dust of the Past, Zhang Wei recorded the opinions of some people at that time: China people should try their best to study hard and make progress day by day. "Can't they keep up with westerners?" "Yan" still has a strong character of playing with tickets, because these people have no intention of making persistent efforts after filming this film.
Yan stimulated Zhang Shichuan, Zhang Shichuan and Zhengqiu Zheng to form a star company again. Return engagement filmed "Orphans Save the Ancestors" on 1923, which gained a good reputation and rich profits. 1923 65438+February 18, the film was shown in Shanghai Aipu Road Cinema. The next day, someone came to buy 8,000 yuan for the screening right in Nanyang (China Film History 1905 ~ 1949: Narration and Memory of Early Movies in China).
Many capitals, large and small, swarmed in and finally embarked on the road of martial arts monsters.
Because of the unrest, most production companies were eliminated. Many people lament that the two companies "Shenzhou" and "Great Wall" failed because they adhered to the concept of educating society. 1926, although the "cause" increased its capital and became Guoguang Film Company, it closed down three years later because of losses.