In its first 20 years, Chinese movie themes main trends were contemporary social issues and love stories in modern dress, with even the Tianyi studio's 1926 version of the classic "Butterfly Lovers" costuming the actors in the fashions of the mid-1920s to relate a story set in the past. But toward the end of the decade Chinese audiences were starting to tire of modern dress films with limited themes, so around 1927 a vigorous upsurge of "ancient costume movies" swept through the film community. Unfortunately, most of the ancient costume movies from those years are lost, and the earliest of these we can see today is 1927's "Xi Xiang Ji" 西厢记 (Romance of the West Chamber), directed by Hou Yao.
Observing "the ancients" filming "the ancients"
On April 6, 2001, the 25th International Hong Kong Film Festival had a lively session. In the exhibition list for the "China's Movie Classics" unit of the program, the first-named film was a 1927 Xinmin Film Company production, director Hou Yao's "Romance of the West Chamber." Because it was a silent, the sponsor took a different approach by bringing in a prominent Hong Kong organist to provide a musical background for this silent classical love story. The festival program described this showing as "observing the ancients viewing the ancients."
In a search of the literature regarding this movie, I found it interesting that there was surprisingly little written about it by Chinese scholars. In fact, the only in-depth study of this particular film I came up with was by an American scholar (referenced at the end of this post). The lack of Chinese studies is surprising, as "Romance" is perhaps the sole surviving representative of a time when Chinese movies were in the midst of an "ancient costume movement."
The statistics from the era are incomplete, but indicate that during the period 1927-1928 China's film studios produced a total of 75 movies. Of these, ancient costume films became mainstream for commercial reasons: they satisfied audience demand. From contemporary reviews, it is clear that many (if not most) of these films were coarse pot-boilers, hastily produced to meet this sudden demand. Fortunately, Hou Yao's "Romance" was not infected with this appeal to bad taste. To the contrary, with the powerful support of Li Minwei, Hou Yao was able to utilize the most advanced techniques to make a compact and lively work. He was the first Chinese director to utilize special effects, as in the scene of a pitched battle between army troops and bandits, and then when he had his scholar-hero ride through the sky on a writing brush in an imaginary battle with the enemy. This must have been an exciting experience for the audiences of that day. Since this Chinese production opened in Shanghai a mere six months after Douglas Fairbanks' very popular "Thief of Bagdad," it must have also stirred some local pride, showing that despite their late start Chinese filmmakers were not all that far behind those of Hollywood.
Xi Xiang Ji (1927) 西厢记 (Romance of the West Chamber)
Minxin. Silent. 10 reels, 5 reels extant. Premiered September 8, 1927 at the Hangzhou Theater. Direction and Screenplay: Hou Yao, adapted from the classic 13th century play of the same title by Wang Shifu (fl.1295-1307). Cinematography: Liang Linguang and Li Weimin. Cast: Lin Chuchu (Cui Yingying), Li Dandan (Hongniang), He Minzhuang (Madame Cui), Ge Cijiang (Zhang Gong), Wang Longxi (the clever monk), Zhu Yaoting (the stupid monk), Hu Chichang (the White Horse General), Li Huamin (Tiger Sun), Li Yinlan (the abbot), Huang Ke (the boy servant)
[Yingying (Lin Chuchu, right) performs her ritual mourning, assisted by her maid (Li Dandan)]
In the Tang dynasty, Cui Yingying, daughter of the late Prime Minister, travels with her maid Hongniang to an isolated monastery to conduct mourning rituals for her father. Meanwhile, Zhang Gong, a young scholar traveling to the capital to take the Imperial exams, is staying at the monastery in order to study in quiet. One day, while strolling in the garden, the two young people meet, and he immediately falls for Yingying. She rejects him at first, but with her maid acting as go-between, the two are soon in love. However, a spy at the monastery informs the local bandit chieftain, Tiger Sun, of Yingying's whereabouts. The bandit, who has long desired the girl, immediately leads his large gang of brigands in laying siege to the monastery and demanding Yingying be handed over. Zhang Gong advises the abbot to negotiate and tell Tiger that if he holds off for three days, no one in the monastery will oppose him. The bandit agrees to these terms, figuring that a few more days will not matter. The young scholar writes a letter to the general in command of the nearest military camp, asking for his intervention. The general responds to this plea by immediately ordering his forces on the march, arriving just as the bandits are about to enter the monastery. An all-out battle ensues outside the gates, with the army victorious. The lovers are united, but not before the exhausted Zhang Gong has a nightmare in which the bandits return and abduct Yingying and he must face them alone to rescue her.
[above right, the lovers and her maid mull strategies for escape]
For further reading:
Harris, Kristine. "The Romance of the Western Chamber and the Classical Subject Film in 1920s Shanghai." In: Zhang, Yingjin, ed. Cinema and Urban Culture in Shanghai, 1922-1943. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1999. pp. 51-73.
