V. Wartime Cinema (1937-45)

1. V. Wartime Cinema (1937-45) • A. general comments • full scale invasion of China in 1937 • geographically division of industry (Shanghai, Hong Kong, Chongqing, Manchuria, Yan’an) as a result of the Japanese invasion • relatively little film produced in the interior Nationalist areas

2. Japanese propaganda poster promoting Chinese-Japanese unity B. Manchuria (northeast) • Manchuria Film Association, or Manying (满映), a Japanese-controlled studio produced propaganda films (for both the Japanese and Chinese markets) • sought to enter the Chinese market in Shanghai with “soft” entertainment films, many starring Li Xianglan/Yamaguchi Yoshiko/Shirley Yamaguich • after the war, Manying became the Northeast Film Studio and then Changchun Film Studio Li Xianglan (李香兰), Japanese actress who played in some Manying productions

3. B. Peking • Japan sought to use the historical settings of the ancient capital for ideological purposes (i.e., to forge a sense of a common Chinese-Japanese cultural tradition that would be the foundation of East-Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere) • the Yanjing Studio promoted “soft film” (软性电影), a term associated with Liu Na’ou (刘呐鸥), who promoted it in the 1930s

4. top: Still from Mulan Joins the Army (1939); bottom: still from Confucius C. Occupied Shanghai • second wave of Shanghai commercial film • most important genre is “costume drama,” promoted particularly by Xinhua Studio, founded by Zhang Shangkun (张善琨) • a few films, such as Mulan Joins the Army (木兰从军; 1939) and Peach Blossom Fan (桃花扇) had “hidden” patriotic themes • 1940 Confucius (孔夫子), by Fei Mu—copy newly discovered and restored • animated film: Princess Iron Fan (铁扇公主; 1941) • Butterfly love stories (e.g., Qiu hai tang 秋海棠; dir. Maxu Weibang) • Japanese efforts to spread Japanese cultural propaganda

5. Rong Xiaoyi raises a flag to lead the attack on the Japanese in March of the Guerrillas (游击进行曲; 1941) D. Hong Kong • HK film industry increasingly important after 1927 and especially after 1937 • HK and Shanghai film industries were closely interconnected • “progressive” patriotic cinema develops in the early war years until HK was occupied by the Japanese • Cantonese-language films dominated (many films of stories from the Cantonese opera repertoire); but during the war Mandarin films were introduced by leftist filmmakers • Shanghai filmmakers who went to HK looked down on Cantonese film Cai Chusheng (蔡楚生) wrote: “The backwardness of HK culture as a whole has a proportional effect on its cinema. Thus, although HK has produced many, many movies, and although so-called artists here claim that since Shanghai’s fall to Japan, HK has replaced it as the center of Chinese cinema, this is nonsense. All the movies made here are frivolous, vulgar commodities catering to the low taste of the uneducated. It is impossible . . . to find any title that has a national defense theme that would justify HK’s claim to be a cinematic center” (in Fu 2003: 70).

6. E. Nationalist (KMT) areas • by early 1939, Chongqing was the capital of the nationalist areas • two Nationalist-controlled studios: Central Film (中央电影) and China Motion Pictures (中国电影) • few features; an the whole, not much to speak of in terms of feature films, but important documentary work done

7. F. Yan’an and the Northwest • little work to speak of, except some documentaries • Yan’an Film Group (延安电影团) established in 1938 • Yan’an is important for giving rise to Mao’s “Yan’an Talks,” which set the official CCP cultural policy “The purpose of our meeting today is precisely to ensure that literature and art fit well into the whole revolutionary machine as a component part, that they operate as powerful weapons for uniting and educating the people and for attacking and destroying the enemy, and that they help the people fight the enemy with one heart and one mind” (Mao Zedong, “Yan’an Talks,” 1942)

8. G. Conclusions on War Period • outside of Shanghai, Manchuria, and Hong Kong, few films made • conditions in Yan’an and Chongqing not suitable for film production • generally, film quality was low outside of Shanghai • propaganda and entertainment dominate • yet, in Yan’an a new model for “revolutionary film” was being developed and promoted • audience changes: filmmakers make effort to direct their films at peasants, workers, soldiers

9. V. Post-War Cinema (1946-49) • Historical background • after the war, the KMT and CCP attempt to reconcile (even though they had been partners in the resistance effort, there was a deep sense of distrust between them); negotiations ultimately fail, and a civil war breaks out from 1946-49 • in the cities, there is rampant inflation, which undermines the credibility of the KMT among is principal power base • meanwhile the CCP is pursuing land reform in the territories under their control Patrick Hurley, US diplomat; Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong

10. V. Post-War Cinema (1946-49) • B. general comments • return of Hollywood after a hiatus during the war • difficult film production conditions and runaway inflation • yet, a second “golden age” in Chinese filmmaking, threatening for the first time, Hollywood’s dominance of the market • Nationalists sought to control film by controlling distribution and exhibition and through censorship, but leftists attempt to “resist” this control Still from Long Live the Mrs (太太万岁; 1947)

11. C. China Film Co./Central Film • KMT run studios • produced a lot of fluff film and openly pro-KMT films (e.g., Dark Night Till Dawn [黑夜到天明]) • some interesting films include Far Away Love (遥远的爱; 1947, dir. Chen Liting 陈鲤庭)

12. B. CCP-led Changchun St. • Manying Studio taken over by the KMT, then by the CCP • On the Sungari River (松花江上; 1947; dir. Jin Shan 金山)

13. C. Kunlun Studio and “political melodrama” • post-war malaise and reflections on the war through family melodrama and domesticity • carry on the leftist tradition of interest in class issues • Spring River Flows East (一江春水向东流; 1947; dir. Zheng Junli 郑君里and Cai Chusheng蔡楚生), a Chinese Gone with the Wind (see images right) • Myriad of Lights (万家灯火; 1948; dir. Shen Fu 沈浮) • Crows and Sparrows (乌鸦与麻雀; 1949; dir. Zheng Junli 郑君里)

14. D. Wenhua (文华) Studio and “artistic visions” • this studio tended to produce more “art” films with a more literary sensibility • Spring in a Small Town (小城之春; dir. Fei Mu 费穆, 1948): a psychological drama unparalleled in Chinese filmmaking • Lower Depths (夜店; dir Ke Ling 柯灵) • Long Live the Mrs. (太太万岁; 1947; dir. Sang Hu 桑弧)

15. E. Conclusions • “films by literature people”: screen writers played important role in filmmaking of this period and making more literary dialogue; yet theatrical and drama ties were also strong • didacticism and melodrama were important modes--what Pickowicz calls “May Fourth melodrama” • some rejected this tradition (e.g., Liu Nao’ou and his conception of “soft cinema”), but the didactic and melodramatic dominate • postwar period among the most important in Chinese film history