In the 1930s, people of China's national film industry appeared together on the Shanghai beach, and there were a lot of heroes and heroines. Because in addition to national capitalists, even Huang Jinrong and Du Yuesheng are involved in the film industry. They all showed their abilities and created the first golden age of China films, although the heyday was only seven years.
Ming-Yau Lo, a noble college student, comes from a noble family, and his third uncle is the chief justice of Beiyang government. Ming-Yau Lo is handsome, with a big rectangular face and a broad jaw, which is chivalrous. Anyone who knows a little about China's film history has probably heard the story of the fire in Beijing Zhenguang Cinema in Ming-Yau Lo: he asked his employees to save their neighbors first, and he was responsible for compensating the loss of the hospital and its employees.
Ming-Yau Lo graduated from Peking University, with elegant purport, proficient in English, and quite close to and caring for knowledge and knowledgeable people. Not all movies can be shown in the cinema under his name, and he opened a Sunday morning show for students, and the ticket price was lucky. Shelter? 9 16 Shanghai ticket price for the performance of "Black Ghost".
However, Ming-Yau Lo was not always a good person. He was the most modern film dealer in the 1930s. 1927 He founded North China Film Co., Ltd. Not long after, he had "companies directly or indirectly managed" in Beijing, Tianjin, Northeast China, Shandong, Henan, Hebei and other places, and film companies in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Guangzhou also had business dealings with him (Historical Records of Beijing Film Industry). His shrewdness enabled him to form this big net before he was 30 years old.
It is certain that Ming-Yau Lo will enter the film industry. He is not satisfied with the quality of Chinese films, and there are not enough good Chinese films in the cinema. Moreover, Chinese films 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 meeting between Ming-Yau Lo and Li Minwei, the "father of Hong Kong films", in the article Praise and Seeking Truth.
Li Minwei was at a low ebb at that time. 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. Finally, "Luo and Li reached a cooperation agreement at the beginning of 1 1 February, and/kloc-0 cooperated with Minxin Company in the name of North China Company to shoot" Dream of Spring in the Old Capital "(directed by Sun Yu, written by Ming-Yau Lo and Zhu Shilin). Li Minwei recorded in his diary of 19291February 28th that they went to Beijing from Shanghai via Qingdao, which was the implementation of this agreement. 1August, 930, based on Minxin Company and North China Company, Li Minwei invited Shanghai Greater China Department Store, Shanghai Film Company and Youlian Film Company to join Lianhua in different ways after discussion. In addition, Huang Yicuo, who runs the printing industry in Shanghai, and Hong Kong Film Company in Beihai Li joined ...1On February 27th, Lianhua Film Production and Printing Co., Ltd. was formally established in Hong Kong. " Lianhua * * * has set up four studios, each of which produces independently. "Each factory basically does its own thing in terms of film themes and shooting costs, and is actually responsible for its own profits and losses."
Ming-Yau Lo's shrewdness also lies in the fact that he wooed Sir He Dong, the richest man in Hong Kong at that time, Lu Gen, Yu Fengzhi (Mrs. Zhang Xueliang), Xiong Xiling and other business and political figures as shareholders. These people actually don't ask about the actual affairs of Lianhua, but they all play the role of "gold medal for avoiding death".
At the beginning of the film, the nature is chaotic.
When Lianhua was founded, it was also the time when China's film industry turned from "crazy fire" to relative calmness. You can see it by comparing the instructions.
When Lianhua's first film Gossip about Weeds was released, the instructions clearly said "domestic talking blockbuster", while 1927, for example, Yang Naimei's "President of the Flower Kingdom" was described as "a romantic and glamorous movie", and all the places that could attract people's attention were listed: "There are fierce fights in the water, the waves are soaring, and the soul is stirring, so you must watch it." The "Odd in Wonder" filmed by Happy Company takes up everything: "the funny business card of the Genie and the Chivalrous Man". Burning Red-Lotus Temple was even stronger. When it was shown again in the late 1930s, the advertisement read "Star Company was popular in the country's only magical organ, the martial arts series", "Kunlun School and Kongtong School fought with different swordsmen" and "Flying swords thousands of miles away to get the head! The practice of obscenity can't escape the master of chivalrous men! " Since she is a "slut", the price list in the manual clearly States that "young children will be halved". Propaganda words are "straight to life" everywhere, revealing confusion (Zhang Wei's "The Past" contains a lot of movie instructions 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 just 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", wrote a film review of the American "Laihun" and won the first prize. In his memoir "The Road", he said that he never expected that nine years later (1929) Ming-Yau Lo would take the script of "A Dream of Spring in the Old Capital" and ask him to be the director. What's more interesting is that Mei Lanfang/Kloc-0 came back from the United States in the autumn of 930 and watched the screening of Spring Dreams in the Old Capital at the Nanjing Grand Theatre, which actually included a section of "Farewell My Concubine" and "Sword Dance" filmed by him. At that time, it was already a sound film, and the cinema used "Deep Night" to match Mei Lanfang's figure. Although it could not be completely consistent, "it was a painstaking effort." This shows that the filmmakers' awareness of copyright was weak at that time, and the copyright of Mei Lanfang's "My Daughter Scattered Flowers" actually did not know how to get into the hands of Hong Kong Minxin Company.
Because of his love for movies, Sun Yutuo's famous playwright Hong Shen introduced himself to the film circle. The star said that he should "think it over carefully" 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 was a great recession in domestic films, and more than 100 film companies closed down one after another, and Shenzhou was about to end."
At that time, Sun Yu also wrote down a detail he saw: Pingqian Li, who was already a well-known director, was standing alone on a long wooden board, playing around in boredom.
Although the film industry was difficult to enter, 1927 Sun Yu joined the Great Wall Painting Company, and only then did he find himself facing a false prosperity. As a result of Yan Ruisheng and The Orphan Save the Ancestor, 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 local audience and Nanyang market like "burning films" and "ancient costume films". Sun Yu wrote in the book: "It is said that for martial arts films, the criteria for film producers in Nanyang Islands to evaluate the purchase of films are as follows: ten out of ten films are first-class films; Only eight out of ten copies are B-rated films; As for only four or five of the ten books, even if they fail, they have to be sold at a low price. "
What Sun Yu saw was the disorderly and vicious competition of national capital at that time. Lu Hongshi quoted1905 ~1949 in China Film History: "By the end of 1926, there were/kloc-in China, including four American companies. In 1923, there were only five domestic feature films of normal length, but 1924 increased to 16, 1925 and 1926 surged to 5 1 and respectively. Almost 80 years later, in 2003, the number of domestic films in China was only 140, and it only rose to 240 in 2004. This shows how lively the film market was at that time, although it was false. 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 Lotus 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 China's capitalist economy in the 1920s, the share of national capital never exceeded 18% ("China Film History1905 ~1949"). In order to survive, it is natural to shoot whatever makes money. Zhang Shichuan took 18 episodes of "Burning Red-Lotus Temple" in one breath, and all sorts of people got into a ball on the screen. In addition to the initial and a little close to Pingjiang Buxiaosheng's "The Legend of the Wonder Man in the Jianghu", it was simply Zhang Shichuan's own imagination. The Documentary of Film Circles in the Republic of China lists a bunch of "burning": Burning Seiryuji, Burning Jiulong Mountain, Burning Baique Temple, Burning Seven Star Tower 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 and Zhengqiu Zheng and others set up Xinmin company to shoot "It's hard to find a wife" for the Asian film company in Isher, an American, and it didn't have any influence at that time. After filming Zhengqiu Zheng, I went on to make a civilized play. Zhang Shichuan only made some short films, that is, he worked for foreigners.
19 18, the Commercial Press established an independent film department, which was the first film institution wholly owned by national capital. The film and television department has filmed Mei Lanfang's "Chun Xiang Noisy School" and "My Daughter Scatters Flowers", but they are only fragments.
When national capital first set foot in the film industry, the basic result was that it failed: 19 16, Zhang Shichuan founded the Magic Fairy Company by himself, and it was difficult to continue after filming "Ghosts of Black People". 19 19 was the champion in the late Qing dynasty, and Zhang Jian, a famous industrialist, also joined some shareholders to raise100000 yuan to establish China Film Manufacturing Co., Ltd., which closed down after two years.
There are a group of "ticket friends" who have made a lot of money. Chen Shouzhi, Shi Binyuan, Shao Peng, Xu Xinfu, Kengfu Gu and Liu Jie are all comprador, working in a foreign firm, and they all like to watch civilized dramas. "Yan Ruisheng" has been performed for half a year, which made them think of making it into a movie. They also have this ability. So they rented the equipment and talents of the Movies Department of the Commercial Press, and Chen Shouzhi personally played Yan Ruisheng, while Lianying Wang was played by a prostitute who was a good person, and Yan Ruisheng was made. Zhang Wei recorded some people's views at that time in "The Past Dust": Chinese people should do their best to study hard and make progress day by day. "Can't they keep pace with westerners?" "Yan Ruisheng" still has a strong character of playing with tickets, because these people have no intention of making persistent efforts after filming this film.
"Yan Ruisheng" stimulated Zhang Shichuan, who re-established a star company with Zhengqiu Zheng and others. return engagement, 1923 filmed "The Orphan Save the Ancestor", which earned a good reputation and excellent profits. 19231February 18, the film was shown at Shanghai Aipulu Cinema, and the next day, someone came to buy the screening right in Nanyang for 8,000 yuan ("China Film History1905 ~1949: Narration and Memory of Early China Films").
Many capitals, large and small, flocked to the scene, and finally they all embarked on the road of martial arts monsters.
Most of the production companies have been eliminated because of the disturbance. Many people lament that the two companies "Shenzhou" and "Great Wall" failed because they adhered to the concept of educating society. 1926, although "Business" became Guoguang Film Company with additional capital, it closed down three years later because of losses.