The 1918 establishment of a department within the Commercial Press with the specific mission of producing movies marked a new stage for the Chinese movie industry. Unlike the earlier Asia Film Company, which was largely foreign invested and had the trappings of a speculative venture, the new motion picture department was funded with the Press's own capital, had a firmer technical foundation, a set management system, and more concrete ideas of what it wanted to produce. Its establishment was the actual beginning of Chinese motion pictures on an industrial model.
Since the filming of the Feng Tai Photography Studio's 1905 "plaything," Chinese movies had definitely moved up a level, and people were starting to discover the movies' potential strength both educationally and commercially.
Its unexpected good fortune in 1917 allowed the Commercial Press to get into movies at lower cost. The company's founders had no idea that their publishing house would write such an important page in the history of Chinese cinema, and they obviously could not have expected that the Press would so thoroughly influence what would rapidly grow into China's most important cultural industry.
At the beginning of the last century, just as China was starting its movie industry, motion pictures were already showing the trend to globalization that is the norm today. While imported foreign films were absolutely dominant, not all foreign investors were finding the China market profitable: as already noted, the Commercial Press – China's first major player – made its breakthrough by purchasing the equipment of a nearly bankrupt American movie business, and got into movies from this.
The story of how the Commercial Press got into production of theatrical films makes an excellent footnote to the company's overall history. Once the Press's Motion Picture Department was established, it rapidly assumed a position of strategic importance in China's film industry. The outstanding young people like Ren Pengnian who were already on the staff formed the backbone strength of the new department, and with "resist the viruses that come from abroad, strive to aid in the people's education," and "extol our national culture," as their goals, and by producing dozens of films on travel and current events (news), education, classical drama (opera) and new dramas, they quickly hoisted a new banner in China's national cinema.
The Commercial Press was China's first large-scale
publishing organization in the modern era, and with popular culture and
educational development as its objectives, moviemaking became a branch of the
company. A clear indication of the
Press's committment to maintaining Chinese traditional culture was its
production of "Chunxiang Disturbs the Study" and "Heavenly
Maiden Spreads the Flowers," two classical operas featuring the legendary
Mei Lanfang.
[right: Mei Lanfang in costume as the "Heavenly Maiden"]
While the Commercial Press's top management were firmly committed to promoting national culture, they also realized that movies were a burgeoning form of entertainment, so new dramatic films were also appropriate. So in order to get more cultural content into newer dramas, in 1920 they filmed a new screenplay "Thieves on a Train," a 7-reeler which proved very popular with audiences, and was also China's first genre film. But while the Press's management was completely satisfied with the success of "Thieves," they also considered it a silly farce which contributed nothing to the "common education."
But the nature of the movie industry had decided its future direction early on, that the main goal of the industry would be the production of mass entertainment, and that other types of film, like artistic and educational films, would always be secondary. This was the situation a century ago when movies were in their infancy, and it has not changed since. But making entertainment films which could turn a profit was not the direction the Press's management wanted to go, so in 1926 the Motion Picture Department was spun off into an independent company, the Guo Guang (National Light) Film Co. But a year later, after making five films, Guoguang announced it was ceasing operations.
In 1931, the Japanese Army contrived an armed confrontation with Chinese forces in Northeast China (Manchuria). In January 1932, to divert international attention from this engagement, the Japanese opened a second front by attacking Shanghai. During the fighting, all the Commercial Press's copies of its films and nearly all documents related to its motion picture activities were destroyed.[1] In a matter of minutes, nearly all traces of the Press's cinema history were erased, an ironic ending, given the company's steadfast committment to movies as an instrument for popular education.
While its time as a movie studio was short, the Commercial Press left a remarkable legacy for future filmmakers. And, viewed from today, its most valuable single film might be its short 1920 effort, "Thieves on a Train," which in addtiion to being China's first movie in the detective genre, was also the first to employ the acrobatic fighting so popular in Chinese classical opera and dance.
The movie was adapted from a Chinese translation of one chapter in an American detective novel. The English title of the original is unrecorded, but the Chinese translated title was "Jiaotoulan'e" 焦头烂额 (to be "burned" or be in a tough spot). As with the detective movies of later generations, the plot is simple: two robbers just released from prison decide to return to crime. They sneak aboard a train carrying a number of wealthy passengers and stealthily steal money and jewels, then hide the loot in a cellar. The case is eventually solved by a famous detective, aided by a girl flower-seller.
This first detective film was welcomed by audiences, and set
the course for future Chinese films: entertain the viewer. Several
years later, in 1928, the director of that first detective film, Ren
Pengnian, would direct the first in what eventually became a 13-part series,
"Guandong Daxia"关东大侠 (Swordsman of Northeast China), making Ren the
director of China's first swordsman film as well as its first in the detective
genre. Ren Pengnian continued his
prolific output in Hong Kong after World War II, directing films in Cantonese
as well as Mandarin, and including a fair number of swordsman epics which had a
major impact on turning the Hong Kong industry in the direction of commercialization. [left: Ren Pengnian]
[1] Not even still photos remain from the Commercial Press's historically important output. The only visuals we have today are from Mei Lanfang's personal collection, two studio ports of the legendary opera star in costume for the two films he made for the Press's Motion Picture Division.
