A lucky discovery for $3.50

Filmbrain was in Chinatown the other day, seeking out the latest Ozu releases on cheapie Hong Kong label Panorama (An Inn in Tokyo, What Did the Lady Forget, There Was a Father, and the wonderful Passing Fancy). While the quality of the Panorama Ozus is hit or miss, they are (currently) the only available option if one wishes to see these classics (with english subtitles). In one of the stores, Filmbrain spotted a basket of DVDs of classic Chinese films from the first half of the 20th century. He grabbed a handful of the $3.50 discs, even though there wasn't a word of English on any of them -- the cover photos looked interesting enough, and it would be an opportunity to put Alexander Mackendrick's theory to the test -- that one should be able to understand 60-80% of a film without subtitles. As luck should have it, the first film in the bunch happened to be the 1937 classic, Street Angel, directed by Yuan Muzhi. (Filmbrain figured this out with Google and a halfway-decent understanding of kanji.) Considered one of the greatest Chinese films of all times, it was one that he had heard of, but never seen. Digging a little deeper on the net revealed this, a set of subtitles as translated by Andrew F. Jones. Pages in hand, Filmbrain sat down and watched the film. Street Angel is certainly worthy of all its accolades. This Maoist melodrama (made shortly before the Japanese shut down most Shanghai studios) is an absolute wonder to behold, and director Yuan Muzhi was clearly influenced by American, European and Russian cinema of the time. The opening credits montage of extravagant Shanghai nightlife, with its rapid dissolves and skewed angles would have made the surrealists proud. The film itself, set in the slums of Shanghai and focusing on the lower classes, can be considered a precursor to the Italian neorealism movement. The film tells of two sisters who wind up in Shanghai after fleeing from Japanese-occupied Manchuria. Bought by an unscrupulous couple (he's a musician, she's a madam), the sisters are forced to work for their owners -- one as a tea-house singer (Zhou Xuan), and the other as a prostitute. Chen, a poverty-stricken trumpet player, falls in love with the singer, yet is crushed upon learning that her owner is about to sell her to a wealthy gangster. Enlisting the help of his fellow street friends (with whom he has signed a sworn oath of brotherhood), they devise a plan to help the sisters escape their enslavement. Of course, this ragtag team (which includes a newspaper salesman and a barber) is no match for the forces of capitalism, and the tragic ending comes as no surprise. Far less propagandistic than later Chinese cinema, it has an almost Capra-esque feel to it -- with its members of the poorest of the poor banding together to help the two sisters in spite of their own personal hardships. The depiction of the wealthy class (including a lawyer whose office is in a skyscraper that resembles Rockefeller Plaza) is hardly the stuff of revolution -- it's a far cry from Eisenstein. And though its narrative method may have been influenced by Hollywood (some claim it was inspired by the Frank Borzage film of the same name), its constantly moving camera, high contrast lighting, and fast-paced editing gives it an almost experimental feel. Street Angel is a truly a masterpiece of early Chinese cinema, and it's a shame it's not better known (in the States, at least). If you're in NYC, head down to the Bowery and pick up the DVD -- only $3.50, and region-free. On a related note, Filmbrain found a list of the 100 greatest Chinese films of the 20th Century, as selected by film professors, archivists, and critics from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Some great films on there, and many unheard of. Filmbrain's goal is to see them all. What are some of your favorites?

Comments

[Sophie N]

There was a revival of this in France some years ago, it was called "Les Anges du Boulevard" and it is a wonderful film and so full of human emotion. Thank you for the photos.

[girish]

This is embarrassing. Though the list begins in the early 20s, the earliest film I've seen is Hou's "Summer At Grandpa's" from 1983.
A long way to go.

[Adam]

Good job on getting Street Angel from the Hanzi, based on knowledge of Kanji! A good case where they are almost the same, but still!

[Peter Nellhaus]

I saw A Touch of Zen at the New York Film Festival. Of films on the list I love Actress, Comrades: Almost a Love Story and A Better Tomorrow. I also liked Rouge and A Chinese Ghost Story. Not on the list: Peking Opera Blues and Chinese Feast by Tsui Hark, City of Glass and The Soong Sisters by Mabel Cheung. Also Red Firecracker, Green Firecracker by He Ping. And The Killers and Bullet in the Head by John Woo. Too new for the list: Hero by Zhang, Time & Tide by Hark, and In the Mood for Love and 2046 by Wong. Also recommend the Hark version of Dragon Inn. Hope that's not too many.

[Filmbrain]

I've not seen many of the pre-1960 films, but have been reading up on some of them. I hope that a few others from the $3.50 pile are on this list!

The House of Seventy-Two Tenants is really great -- the recent release (as part of the epic Shaw Brothers DVD retrospective) looks wonderful. I really should write about that one.

Peter -- I couldn't agree more about The Soong Sisters.

As for the Kanji -- fortunately, Angel is the same in Japanese -- that was a big help!

[Brian]

Have you seen the original 1948 Spring in a Small Town yet? Another one to watch with MCLC script in hand. And very beautiful. I'll check my local Chinatown for Street Angel too.

[Filmbrain]

The original Spring in a Small Town played in NYC and I missed it. Am dying to see it -- the remake was wonderful.

[peter d.]

on this list i saw King Hu's film Dragon Gate Inn... i've seen the Tsui Hark remake, but does anyone know where i can find King Hu's?

much appreciated.

[Filmbrain]

Peter -- I've been searching for the King Hu version for some time now. No luck as of yet.

[Steve]

What store did you find the Ozu discs at? One of the ones on the block of Bowery between Hester & Canal?

[phyrephox]

Yeah, I echo the above poster: where'd you get the Ozu. And, being that I know nothing of those shops, where did you get Street Angel and what does the cover look like so I can spot it?

[Filmbrain]

It took me four stores to get my hands on all of the new Ozu releases. There are three on Bowery between Hester and Canal, but then there are a few choice shops on some of the side streets. I honestly can't remember in which one I found Street Angel, but I think it was the second DVD store on Bowery when walking north from Canal.

Not one of them had the Taiwan release of Tsai Ming-liang's The Wayward Cloud -- I'll probably order it online.

[Campaspe]

Thank you for the DVD shopping tips. I hope to be in New York this fall and I will see what's left for me to browse. And Street Angel certainly sounds worth the trouble of a hand-held subtitle list. I can't bear to look at the Chinese film list, it's like knowing you're going to bomb the GREs. Just this week I saw Tokyo Story for the first time, so I am hopelessly behind with Asian cinema.

[wayne]

Another good silent Chinese film is The Goddess. The plot is a fairly standard weepie, but there's some really interesting high-contrast photography and Ru Yuanling's acting is outstanding.

[Ken Chen]

Do you mean Ruanling Yu or am I thinking of someone else?

If you're interested in 72 tenants: http://www.synoptique.ca/core/en/articles/xu_gongfu/

Also, the shops in Chinatown generally don't have Taiwanese movies, so I doubt you'd ever find a Tsai Ming liang movie there unless he somehow gets Tony Leung Cheu-wai to star in them. (For example, they usually have Flowers of Shanghai but not, say, A Time to Live a Time to die.)

[Ken Chen]

Also, I don't think there's a DVD for King Hu's Dragon Inn, but they've just re-released his (sort of) remake of Swordsman as well as Come Drink with me. Netflix has Touch of Zen, incidentally. He also did a reportedly awful film starring Joey Wong that's probably available on VCD.

[Ken Chen]

Also, I got a copy of Survive Style 5+ (and the french film you recommended) but neither have subtitles! Any advice?

[Filmbrain]

Odd about Survive Style 5+ -- the Japanese DVD certainly has English subtitles.

Thanks for the info about Hu's version of Dragon Inn -- perhaps one day.

[Matthew B.]

There's a Japanese DVD of the original Dragon Inn if you're really desperate. Google for "残酷ドラゴン 血斗竜門の宿". Expensive, and no English subs, but separate text files of the dialogue are available online. It's a beautiful film, even better than the remake.

Taiwanese movies are pretty hard to find on DVD, even in Taiwan. I wish someone would put out Edward Yang's back catalogue.

[Jarod]

I'm a film enthusiast in China, and I like your blog very much. I'm very glad that so many people like Chinese film. There are so many best Chinese films not on DVD yet, but in China we can find bootleg DVD and VCDs of them, and many free movie download webset. If you want to see Chinese, Hong Kong and Taiwan film or want to know more info about Chinese film may be I can help.