Retro Review: Da Lu (1935)

In the history of Chinese motion pictures, one filmmaker who cannot be ignored is Sun Yu; nor can his 1934 classic "Da Lu"大路  ("The Big Road", sometimes billed as "The Highway").  While it shares the summit of Chinese silent film with two other 1934 films, "Shen Nü" 神女("Goddess") and "Yu Guang Qu" 渔光曲 ("Song of the Fishermen"), "Da Lu" differs from them in a major regard:  it is a "male film ".  With a cast headed by Jin Yan, China's most popular male star of the 1930s, it included such popular and well-known actors of the day as Zheng Junli, Luo Ming, Zhang Zhizhi and Han Lan'gen.  It was an all-out celebration of male strength and virility.  It is interesting to note that the male heroes all had names
very similar to the screen names of the actors portraying them:  Jin Yan:Jin Ge, Zhang Junli:Zhang Jun, etc.  [above right, laboring for national defense:  left to right, Luo Peng, Jin Yan, Zhang Yi]