Retrospective - Chinese Opera Masterpieces on Screen
Happiness in neither Life nor Death
Sheng si hen by FEI Mu
China / 1948 / 63' / 35 mm / Color
Screenwriter: MEI Lanfang and QI Rushan
Starring: MEI Lanfang, WANG Fuqing, JIANG Miaoxiang, ZHU Binxian, XIAO Deyin, WANG Shaoting Li Qingshan, HE Runchu, LI Chunlin
Director of Photography: LI Shengwei
Peking Opera
Background
Happiness in neither Life nor Death is based on the Peking Opera of the same name. This was the first color film produced in China. It is an adaptation of a story written by DONG Yinghan during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). This opera premiered in the Tianchan theater in Shanghai on the 23st of February, 1936 starring the celebrated opera actor MEI Lanfang, who also co-wrote it. The story is an allegory. It is a story of Tartar invasion, a story of love that endures difficulties, and a story of fight for the motherland. There is an obvious parallel with the resistance against Japanese invasion. MEI Lanfang transforms the original happy ending to a tragic end to emphasize his opposition to Japanese aggression.
The Film
The first color film in China, Happiness in neither Life nor Death was shot in 16mm and then converted to 35mm. It combines two historical figures, MEI Lanfang, a star of Peking opera, who wrote a film adaptation, and FEI Mu, the director. Production lasted six months during which FEI Mu and MEI Lanfang worked together and transformed the twenty one scenes of the original opera into nineteen scenes of the film.
MEI Lanfang (1894-1961)
MEI LANFANG is the undisputed icon of the Peking Opera. In his 50-year stage career this Peking opera legend played several hundred roles, each time enriching them with new gestures, poses and expressions. Friend with Charlie Chaplin and Eisenstein, MEI Lanfang introduced Peking Opera to the Western world. During his triumphant tour to the United States, he formed friendships with Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford. Following his triumphant tour to the US is a letter from Charlie Chaplin to Eisenstein. Chaplin was behind the arrival of his "New Theater of Ancient Forms" to Moscow in 1935. MEI Lanfang met important European film and theater artists - Constantin Stanislavsky, Vsevolod Meyerhold and Sergey Eisenstein, and finally Bertold Brecht, who was inspired to write about this meeting in order to study the effects of estrangement on Chinese acting school in his work The Effects (Life and Letters, 1936). After 1949 MEI served as director of China Beijing Opera Theater. MEI Lanfang continued performing until 1960, until the Dream of Peony Pavilion, which is also shown in this retrospective, where he relies on the tradition yet makes it evolve. Sergey Eisenstein wrote: "...He is the greatest master of forms... he knows and recreates the ancient tradition perfectly, at the same time combining it with new content." MEI Lanfang inspired many Chinese artists. In 2008, CHEN Kaige directed a film biography of his life (MEI Lanfang), with ZHANG Ziyi and LAI Leon.
Synopsis
In the XIth century, during the Song Dynasty, the Tartars capture a young woman, a noblesman's wife, HAN Yuniang. She is forced to promise to marry her captor, CHENG Pengju). Refusing, she flees to the countryside and is saved by a Buddhist nun. In her poor new home, she dreams of her noble husband and their wedding day. Finally, the husband, who has become an officer in an army that conquered the invaders, comes to her rescue only to have her die in his arms...
FEI Mu (1906-1951)
Born in 1906 in Shanghai, FEI Mu is a major figure in Chinese cinema. His first film, Night in the City (Cheng Shi Zhi Ye, 1933), he directed at the age of twenty-seven; it was produced by his friends from the Lianhua Film Company. In all his 17 films that followed he never stopped to represent progressive cinema. In 1948, he makes his Springtime in a Small Town (Ziaocheng Zhi Chun), which was declared the greatest Chinese film ever made by the Hong Kong Film Critics Association; today, this film is considered a true masterpiece of Chinese cinema.
Filmography
- Fei Mu 费穆
Director:
- Printemps Dans Une Petite Ville / Spring In a Small Town 小城之春 (Xiao cheng zhi chn) (1948)
- The Little Cowherd 小放牛 (Xiao fang niu) (1948)
- Regrets Éternels / Happiness Neither in Life or Death 生死恨 (Sheng Si Hen) (1947)
- The Magnificent Country 锦绣山河 (Jin xiu shan he) (1946)
- The Beauty 国色天香 (Guo se tian xiang) (1941)
- Hong Xuanjiao 洪宣娇 (1941)
- Les Enfants du Monde / Children of the World 世界儿女 (Shi jie er nu) (1941)
- Songs of Ancient China 古中国之歌 (Gu zhong guo zhi ge) (1941)
- Confucius 孔夫子 (Kong Fu zi) (1940)
- Gold-Plated City 镀金的城 (Du jin de cheng) (1937)
- Nightmares in Spring Chamber 梦断春闺 (Meng duan chun gui) (1937)
- Symphony of Lianhua 联华交响曲 (Lian hua jiao xiang qu) (1937)
- Martyrs of the Northern Front 北战场精忠录 (Bei zhan chang jing zhong lu) (1937)
- Blood on Wolf Mountain 狼山喋血记 (Lang shan die xue ji) (1936)
- Piété filiale / Song of China 天伦 (Tian Lun) (1935)
- Sea of Fragrant Snow 香雪海 (Xiang xue hai) (1934)
- Life 人生 (Ren sheng) (1934)
- Night in the city 城市之夜 (Cheng shi zhi ye) (1933)
Screenwriter:
- Printemps Dans Une Petite Ville / Spring in a Small Town 小城之春 (Xiao cheng zhi chun) (2002)
- Sons of the Earth 江湖儿女 (Jiang hu er nu) (1952)
- Les Enfants du monde / Children of the World 世界儿女 (Shi jie er nu) (1941)
- Murder in the Oratory 斩经堂 (Zhan jing tang) (1937)
- Onstage and Backstage 前台与后台 (Qian tai yu hou tai) (1937)
- Symphony of Lianhua 联华交响曲 (Lian hua jiao xiang qu) (1937)
- Martyrs of the Northern Front 北战场精忠录 (Bei zhan chang jing zhong lu) (1937)
- Blood on Wolf Mountain 狼山喋血记 (Lang shan die xue ji) (1936)
- Sea of Fragrant Snow 香雪海 (Xiang xue hai) (1934)
- Mei Lanfang 梅兰芳
Actor
- Rêve Dans le Pavillon des Pivoines / Deaming After a Spring 游园惊梦 (You yuan jing meng) (1960)
- Goddess Luo River 洛神 (Luo Shen) (1956)
- Regrets Éternels / Happiness Neither in Life or Death 生死恨 (Sheng Si Hen) (1947)
- Madame Shangyuan 上元夫人 (Shangyuan fu ren) (1926)
- Daiyu Burying the Fallen Petals 黛玉葬花 (Daiyu zang hua) (1926)
- Mulan, the Warrior Maid 木兰从军 (Mulan cong jun) (1926)
- Beauty Xi Shi 西施歌舞 (Xishi ge wu) (1926)
- Yu Ji Brandish Sword 虞姬舞剑 (Yu ji wu jian) (1926)
- Chunxiang Disturbs Class 春香闹学 (Chunxiang nao xue) (1920)
- Fairy Gives Flowers to the Earth 天女散花 (Tian nu san hua) (1920)
- Jiang Miaoxiang 姜妙香 (1890-1972)
Actor - Role: Cheng Pengju
- Goddess Luo River 洛神 (Luo Shen) (1956)
- Regrets Éternels / Happiness Neither in Life or Death 生死恨 (Sheng Si Hen) (1947)