In an earlier article, we discussed the career of first-generation director Dan Duyu, the portrait artist-turned-filmmaker who created and operated the Shanghai Shadow Play Company during the 1920s. As noted then, Dan was an early practitioner of what later became known as auteur filmmaking, and some of his movies must have struck early Chinese moviegoers as strange, if not bizarre. This 1925 effort is an example, a Chinese morality play employing allegorical characters to teach moral lessons. As in the morality plays of medieval Europe, the "Everyman" characters here (Purity and Chastity) are the only ones to make it all the way to the end of the journey, while Beauty and Youth are soon gone and Vanity seduced by Lust.
As in most of Dan Duyu's earlier productions, the principal character was played by his actress girl friend Yin Mingzhu (aka Pearl Ing), who he would marry the following year. It is also interesting to note in the supporting actor credits (and the technical) the names of two men who would become major Shanghai directors in the 1930s: Maxu Weibang and Shi Dongshan. These will both be discussed more fully in future articles.
[left, Yin Mingzhu as "Purity." Click on image to enlarge.]
Chongfan Guxiang (1925) 重返故乡 (Back Home From the City)
literal English title: Returning Home
Shanghai Shadow Play Co. 9 reels. Premiered July 9, 1925 at the Olympic Theater in Shanghai. Direction and Screenplay: Dan Duyu. Cinematography: Dan Duyu, Dan Ganting. Set design: Chen Puyun. English intertitles: Maxu Weibang. Drawing: Shi Dongshan. Cast: Yin Mingzhu (Purity), He Peirong (Chastity), He Peiying (Beauty), Xie Caizhen (Vanity), Han Yunzhen (Youth), Maxu Weibang (Wealth), Shi Dongshan (Sincerity), Wang Duanchen (Chivalry), Chen Baoqi (Flattery), Jin Shengsan (Seduction), Dan Ziwen (Lust), Lei Meili (Flirtation), Cao Yaohe (Cowardice), Zhao Wanmei (Indulgence), Jiang Hanqiao (Time), Xie Yunqing (Power).
In a certain village, a woman named Time has raised five daughters: Purity, Vanity, Chastity, Youth and Beauty. She takes them on a visit to the city to meet various relatives: Indulgence, Cowardice, Wealth, Flattery, Seduction, Sincerity, Treachery, Power, Flirtation, Chivalry and Lust. The results: Purity and Wealth fall in love; Beauty drinks too much and dies; Youth is taken back home by her mother; Vanity and Lust steal all of Purity's belongings and run away together; Chastity and Sincerity, who had become close friends upon their first meeting, are jailed when Purity mistakenly accuses them of the theft; the girls' Uncle Cowardice and Aunt Indulgence become fugitives; Uncle Power and Aunt Treachery have a falling out and become bitter enemies. In the end, Purity in despair concludes her extended family is hopeless, and she and Chastity return to their native village.
