One of the most successful Chinese motion pictures of 1926 was "Lonely Orchid", the Mingxing (Star) studio's biggest hit after "The Orphan Rescues his Grandfather". Several of the romance films of the time dealt with the wide gap between China's economic classes, while also suggesting that marriages were more likely to be successful when they joined families of similar social rank. "Lonely Orchid" was certainly the most influential of this genre's films. It was also another in what would become a long list of Chinese films adapted from foreign literary works.
In the early years of the last century, a popular Japanese novel, "Yureito" (幽霊塔) [The Ghost Tower] by Kuroiwa Ruikō (黒岩涙香) was translated by novelist Bao Tianxiao, at the time the editor of the Shanghai Times (时报), and published by that paper in installments. In 1915, Zheng Zhengqiu adapted Bao's translation for the stage, and in 1925, when Zheng was at Mingxing, he invited Bao to revise the stage script for a screen treatment. "Yureito" was itself derivative, being a Japanese translation and adaptation of an English mystery novel "A Woman in Grey" by Alice Muriel Williamson.
"Lonely Orchid" was a major production, filmed with some of Mingxing's top talents, both in front of and behind the camera. It premiered at the Palace Theater in Shanghai on February 16, 1926, and although it was longer than usual (20 reels, which would make it as much as 200 minutes in total running time), it was very popular and enjoyed a 10-day first run.
Kong Gu Lan, I, II (1926)
空谷兰, 上, 下集
(Lonely Orchid, pts.1,2)
literal English title: Orchid in an Empty Valley
Mingxing. Silent. 20 reels, 10 reels per part. Premiered February 16, 1926 at the Palace. Direction: Zhang Shichuan. Screenplay: Bao Tianxiao, adapted from Zheng Zhengqiu's stage play of the same title. Cinematography: Dong Keyi. Sets: Dong Tianya. Playbill: Zheng Zhengqiu. Cast: Zhang Zhiyun (Renzhu / Cuier), Yang Naimei (Rouyun), Zhu Fei (Ji Lansun), Huang Yunzhen (Madame Qingliu), Song Chanhong (Tao Zhengyi), Maxu Weibang (Tao Shijie), Zheng Xiaoqiu (Liangyan as a youth), Ren Chaojun (Liangyan as a child), Wang Xianzhai (Jin Xinzhi), Wang Jiting (Bao Zhiyu / young Longbao), Huang Junfu (Zhu Yisheng), Zhao Weisan (orphanage director), Zhou Kongkong (Li Zuiweng), Che Leduan (Madame Chunhai), Zhao Chen (doctor), H. Grubel (American doctor), L. Troitzky (American doctor).
Two Chinese students in America, Ji Lansu, scion of an aristocratic Hangzhou family, and Tao Shijie, from a more modest background, become fast friends, as close as brothers. But just as they are about to graduate and return home, Tao Shijie is stricken by illness and dies in a strange land. On his deathbed, Shijie asks that his friend deliver his personal effects to his elderly father and younger sister. On his return trip home, Lansu goes by way of Shijie's home town to fulfill the request. Tao's father is so overwhelmed with grief that his worried daughter Renzhu pleads with Lansu to stay on for a while. He does, in part from compassion and in part because he finds Renzhu's beauty and grace very attractive. He gradually falls in love with her, and when he asks for her hand her father enthusiastically gives his consent. The one person who does not share their joy is Lansu's cousin Rouyun: after the death of Lansu's father, his mother had taken the girl into their home as a companion. Over the years, the very clever niece had ingratiated herself into her aunt's affections, and always considered herself the aunt's future daughter-in-law. After the marriage, the jealous niece constantly finds fault with Renzhu, not only embarrassing Lansu, it has the effect of drawing the newlyweds even closer. Before long, Renzhu has a baby boy, which they name Liangyan.
[left, Renzhu (Zhang Zhiyun) is concerned about the flirtaceous banter between her husband (Zhu Fei) and his cousin Rouyun (Yang Naimei)
But Rouyun continues to tempt Lansu, and finally succeeds in seducing him, leading to an ongoing clandestine affair. Their conduct around each other arouses Renzhu's suspicions, which are finally confirmed at a gala party celebrating baby Liangyan's first birthday. While taking a stroll in the garden to get some fresh air, Renzhu sees Lansu and Rouyun having a tryst. Renzhu at once determines to leave and return to her home in Jiaxing, taking along her maid Cuier. But when the two women arrive at the train station, Renzhu discovers she has forgotten to pack a favorite photo of Liangyan, and tells Cuier to go back for it. On the way back, Cuier is struck and killed by a car. Because of her strong resemblance to Renzhu, her husband and her father mistakenly think Renzhu is the dead woman. They weep over the body, then select a burial site. When Renzhu's father returns to his old home in Jiaxing and finds his daughter alive, she asks him to keep her secret.
For the next three years, to ease his grief, Lansu throws himself into his work, almost to the point of exhaustion. In addition, he doesn't fit the role of single parent well, and is often quick-tempered with his son Liangyan. Lansu's mother keeps urging him to remarry, to Rouyun. After three years of mourning, Lansu agrees. But after the wedding, he soon sees the haughty airs Rouyun puts on, not at all like the gentle and kindly Renzhu, and this makes him as lonely and heartsick as he was before. In addition, Rouyun returns to her pre-marital playgirl lifestyle, frequently partying and going out on the town. She also invests much of the family's funds to set up a school she names after herself.
Several years pass, and Renzhu is now a teacher at an orphanage. The director, seeing what a good teacher and skilled administrator she is, recommends her for the principal's job at the Renyou School. Renzhu disguises herself and, always wearing dark glasses and calling herself Madame Youlan, assumes her new post. She has missed Liangyan, and takes much comfort from seeing how bright and talented her son has grown, although she chafes at her inability to tell him she is his real mother.
[right, Renzhu (in the dark glasses) cannot tell her son Liangyan (center, in knee pants) the truth about their relationship]
Rouyun has also had a baby boy she names Rouyan, but because she sees how Lansu cannot get over his first wife, she vents her anger on Liangyan, even wishing him dead. When the boy falls seriously ill, he frequently cries out for Madame Youlan, the only person who seems to care for him, so Lansu anxiously asks the school principal to visit the patient. The doctor sends some medicine with strict instructions as to the dosage, but when it comes time to give him the medicine, Rouyun intentionally prepares it so that Liangyan will receive a fatal overdose. Renzhu sees what is happening, takes off her dark glasses, and yells at Rouyun to stop. Rouyun now recognizes Renzhu, and seeing her plot has been discovered, tries to flee in a horse-drawn carriage. Her lack of driving skill panics the horse, causing the carriage to strike a tree and roll over, killing Rouyun.
With the proper dosage, Liangyan soon recovers, while Renzhu and Lansu resume their relationship. Renzhu also becomes a loving stepmother to little Rouyan.
[In 1935, Mingxing remade this in a sound version, with Hu Die in the role of Renzhu. We will discuss this film in a future post.]
