Chapter 516 515 [Two or Three Things About Chinese Movies]
Zhou Hexuan walked out of the auditorium wearing a hat, the brim of which was pulled down very low, so that he didn't have to worry about being recognized, after all his photos often appeared in newspapers and magazines.
This kind of dress is not unusual. At least 30% of the men who came to watch the movie wore hats.
Wearing a hat seems to be the trend of this era. Whether it is Europe, America or Asia, men and women like to wear hats when they go out. The "Uniform Regulations" promulgated by the Nanjing National Government a few years ago even has special regulations on wearing hats. For example, students and public servants must wear hats on formal occasions. They wear white hats in summer and black hats in winter. The wrong color will be laughed at .
What Zhou Hexuan is wearing now is a men's top hat, which is round and shaped like a flying saucer, with a ribbon around the brim of the hat. This kind of hat is very common in the film and television dramas of the Republic of China, such as the underground party joints of spy war dramas. The protagonist is often wearing a long gown and a top hat. When taking off his hat, he takes out a note from the hat and passes it quietly.
Zhou Hexuan went out with the crowd, and the audience who watched "Red Dust" looked excited, but they refused to mention the content of the movie. And those audiences who watched "Goddess" were filled with righteous indignation, and many people discussed the plot while walking.
"That hooligan is too hateful, he is simply scum!"
"Isn't it? If you want me to tell you, you should call the police and arrest him earlier."
"It's a fart to call the police. You can be locked up for a few days at most. After the heroine is released, it will be even worse."
"Ruan Lingyu acted so well. Seeing her being bullied in the movie, I couldn't help crying."
"Mr. Zhou's story is better."
"Have you read the original novel of "Goddess"?"
"I don't really understand it. It's a completely different story from the movie."
"The original novel also has this plot, but the writing is more obscure and messy, and the original heroine is worse than the movie."
"..."
Judging from the reactions of these audiences, the movie version of "Goddess" is undoubtedly a success, which greatly mobilized the emotions of many audiences. Of course, the American blockbuster "Red Dust" was also very successful, and everyone's faces were full of red, just as exciting as people watching small movies in the video hall in the 1980s.
When Zhou Hexuan took Vivien Leigh north to Tianjin, the word-of-mouth of the two films fermented, but one was in the sky and the other was underground.
Many moralists stood up and criticized "Red Dust", believing that this film promotes obscene (harmonious) ideas, and appealed to the government to ban such vulgar films. The authorities expressed their embarrassment. Due to the pressure of public opinion and the pressure of American film producers, they could only choose a compromise: "Red Dust" can only be screened in specific theaters.
And "Goddess" has been unanimously recognized by people, especially the social issues reflected in it, which has aroused extensive social discussions. Does the son of a prostitute (harmony) have the right to education? Parents have improper occupations, so will their children be bad people when they grow up?
The official publication of the Leftist League characterized "Goddess" as an anti-feudal and progressive film. Tian Han even wrote a film review himself, saying: "Films, like books and newspapers, are also powerful weapons for disseminating ideas and a good tool for transforming society. Films should not just be about love and sorrow, but should reflect the lives of the people at the bottom. Reflecting acute social issues, "Goddess" provides an excellent reference for our filmmakers."
Chinese filmmakers at this time were represented by Zhang Shichuan and Zheng Zhengqiu. Although the two co-founded the star film company, their film concepts are different.
Zhang Shichuan is following a commercial route, advocating that movies should be "interested in everything", and that audiences can shoot whatever they are accustomed to watching. His representative work is "Burning the Red Lotus Temple". Zheng Zhengqiu, on the other hand, believes that movies should improve society and educate the people. His masterpiece is "The Love of Labor".
But no matter what, the two still mainly focus on commercial films. After all, film companies need to survive, and realistic literary films are far less popular than commercial films.
Historically, until "The Goddess" was a big success, it was educational and could sell a lot of money, and finally set off a wave of filming social issues. Among them, the Left Federation was also promoting it. Left-wing writers created wonderful scripts, and Lianhua Film Company was responsible for the specific shooting and distribution.
Now that Zhou Hexuan released "The Goddess" two years ahead of schedule, it has also been recognized by countless audiences, which immediately gave Luo Mingyou great confidence. He took the initiative to go to Tian Han and others to buy the script of the social issue film.
The only thing that hinders "Goddess" from making a lot of money is the problem of screening.
The Capital Theater, a super awesome place, has installed the most advanced sound film projection equipment, so people can watch "Goddess" and "Red Dust" to their heart's content ("Red Dust" is also a sound film). But other theaters are a bit bad. Only some theaters under Luo Mingyou and a small number of theaters under Star Company can make movies sound.
The "Goddess" in the theater with sound was full of seats, and sometimes even the morning screenings were full, but the bosses of the silent theater could only be in a hurry. In the end, the only remedial method is to remake the silent film copy and add dialogue subtitles at key plots.
Zhou Hexuan could only smile wryly at this, he finally invested in making a sound film, using the most advanced sound film technology. But when it was shown in most theaters, the audience still couldn't hear the sound, as if a later generation made a 3D blockbuster, but after searching all over the country, they couldn't find a few 3D screening halls.
After "Goddess" hit the theaters, Ruan Lingyu was so popular that she overtook Hu Die to become the top actress in the film industry in one fell swoop and became the absolute pillar of Lianhua Film Company.
Different from ordinary audiences chasing stars, people in the industry pay more attention to the shooting technology of "Goddess". Because this film uses top-notch sound technology, the sound quality is frighteningly good, unlike the previous domestic sound films with various noises, and various sound and pictures are out of sync.
Zhang Shichuan and Zheng Zhengqiu hurriedly inquired about the situation, but shook their heads after knowing the price of the sound film—the cost was too high for them to afford.
It is a little strange to say that the Shaw Brothers, who have always been stingy, are also very interested in sound films, and they even sent Run Run Shaw to the United States to purchase sound film equipment. However, the "Tianyi Company" of the Shaw Brothers no longer developed in the mainland. Due to the turmoil caused by the Battle of Songhu, the Shaw Brothers decided to transfer to Hong Kong for development, and aimed at Southeast Asia.
In fact, the Shaw Brothers are really good. Only three years after they founded "Tianyi Company" in Shanghai, they quickly occupied the southern Chinese film market. Six companies, Minxin, Xingxing, Greater China, Youlian, Shanghai, and Huaju, were forced to join forces to form the "Liuhe Film Company" to jointly deal with Shaw Brothers' "Tianyi Company", which was known as the "Liuhe Encirclement and Suppression" in history.
Where can the Shaw Brothers stand? He had no choice but to go to Hong Kong to develop, and couldn't even sell films to the mainland. In desperation, he managed the Southeast Asian market carefully, and established more than 100 theaters in Southeast Asia in ten years.
In the end, everyone knows that what was lost in the East and what was gained in Sangyu, the Shaw Brothers later created the glory of Hong Kong movies by mistake.
On the contrary, those film companies that forced Shaw Brothers to leave disappeared in the long river of history one by one.