Why does the story of the movie San Mao Wandering originate from human tragedy, but it ends with a star feast?

The famous female writer Chen Maoping, why is her pen name Sanmao? There have been many versions of this explanation. One version is that she liked to read the works of cartoonist Zhang Leping since she was a child. Later, she went to visit Zhang Leping in her later years and recognized him as her adoptive father.

The work that influenced Chen Maoping was San Mao's Wandering Story, which influenced several generations in China.

Our familiarity with San Mao basically began with the film "San Mao's Wandering", which was filmed on the eve of liberation and left many amazing stories in the film industry in China.

This article will review this famous film which lasted only one hour.

1. The comic creation background of San Mao Wandering is a human tragedy.

Sanmao's wandering story was shot in the spring of 1949, but the cartoon about Sanmao existed as early as 1935. In the cartoonist Zhang Leping's works, Sanmao was a kind, funny and eccentric ordinary citizen child at first. He is eccentric and helpful, but he often jokes.

After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Zhang Leping asked Sanmao to join the army, and after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, he created the satirical cartoon Sanmao Joined the Army.

1947 at the beginning, Shanghai in winter is chilly in spring. On the way home, Zhang Leping saw three street children in rags huddled in front of a stove for baking sweet potatoes, which had been put out to avoid freezing their hands.

The next morning, Zhang Leping passed by again and found that two of the three street children had frozen to death last night. The driver who was lying down the street threw the child's body into the carriage like a piece of wood and took it away.

There were many such street children in Shanghai at that time. On weekdays, they beg, pick up cigarette butts, sell newspapers and push carts to earn change and food. In order to survive, they were bullied by various forces. In winter, children freeze to death almost every day. Zhang Leping felt this kind of human tragedy, and began to create a satirical cartoon "San Mao Wandering" reflecting the life of street children in Shanghai.

From June 65438 to June 0947, Sanmao's wandering story began to be serialized in Ta Kung Pao, which became a hot cartoon in Shanghai at that time.

Second, the background of the film "San Mao Wandering" and the struggle of a group of rookies.

1948 In the autumn, an independent filmmaker named Weber decided to put Sanmao's wandering story on the screen. With the help of Shang Guanyunzhu, he bought the copyright with his own funds, and then started to form a shooting team. His cousin is also a famous movie star.

You may not know Weber, but you may know that he has a son, William, a famous director of Bayi Film Studio, who has directed films such as Acacia Minefield, Armageddon and The Great Turn.

Interestingly, William also made a guest appearance in San Mao's Wandering Story, that is, the little boy with a melancholy face. At this time, he is sitting in a rickshaw that San Mao is trying to sell.

Although Webb is determined, he is a novice after all, and his friends also recommended the famous writer Yang Hansheng for him. Yang Hansheng not only wrote a script for San Mao's Wandering Story, but also recommended two novice directors, Zhao Ming and Gong Yan, to Webb.

Later, because of the difficulty of shooting, the official did not support it very much. Webber even received threatening letters and bullets. Yang Hansheng suggested that the film should be handed over to the Kunlun Film Company he founded, and Webb and the director still held specific jobs.

Kunlun Film Company, a film company with underground background, once contributed to the Hunan Uprising. They hid the radio station in a camera box and took it to Chen Mingren's house. The company made a series of progressive films, such as The Crow and the Sparrow.

After Kunlun Pictures took over, Webb, Zhao Ming and Gong Yan still performed their respective duties. In addition, Zhang Leping, who joined the crew, participated in filming for the first time. In this way, a group of film rookies officially started shooting.

Third, the old actor, Xiao Sanmao.

Sanmao is the core figure of Sanmao's wandering story. Finding the actor who plays San Mao is the most important thing. In order to find "San Mao", the film was postponed for two months. Although many rich people use various channels to recommend their children to film companies, it is impossible for these well-off young people to enter the eyes of the crew.

Until one day, director Gong Yan saw some children playing pinball in front of the film company. The youngest won, but the tall one cheated. Put the big one down when the small one goes up. His stubborn personality was photographed by Gong Yan. He was seven or eight years old, with a big head, a weak body and a small neck, which was simply a hair.

This child is Wang Longji, the son of film musician Wang Yunjie. Wang Longji himself is a fan of Sanmao and wanted to volunteer, but his father worried that he couldn't control the role of Sanmao and stopped him until he met the director.

In fact, although Wang Longji's family was OK at this time, before he was five years old, his life was very poor. In order not to let him starve to death, his parents prepared to send him away twice. In Wang Longji's words, what makes him better than Sanmao is that he has parents.

Crucially, although Wang Longji is only eight years old, he is already an old actor. Because of his father, he played a small role in several films before. He is no stranger to making movies and has a sense of lens.

Even so, the director and Zhang Leping strengthened their guidance to Wang Longji. They eat and sleep with him and often take him to slums and under bridges to meet real street children. Wang Longji is also very competitive. In the months of shooting, no matter what the weather is like, he has been barefoot like Sanmao.

The audience is more concerned about whether Sanmao's hair and nose are real, of course not.

Sanmao's hair is wrapped in copper wire and fixed on her scalp with plaster. In order to stick it firmly, Wang Longji had to shave his head once a day, which caused him to lose sight of the razor when he cut his hair later.

Sanmao's other iconic round nose is much better. It is cooked with imported bubble gum and then re-kneaded. There are many, so if you look closely, you will find that Sanmao's nose is slightly different every time.

In the film, Wang Longji had two profound experiences, one was to drink paste. Of course, it was not paste, but lotus root starch. In order to encourage him, director Gong Yan drank half a bucket of lotus root starch himself.

On another occasion, Sanmao picked up her wallet and returned it to passers-by, only to be beaten by passers-by. Passers-by actors are temporary and have no performance experience, so it doesn't matter. Wang Longji recalled that he was really beaten like San Mao in a cartoon, and his eyes were full of stars.

I have to say that Sanmao will be a handsome young man when he grows up, as can be seen from the photos of Wang Longji 18 years old.

After San Mao, Wang Longji won great honor, but he didn't choose to stay in the film industry. As an adult, he became an expert in the field of radio in China.

4. Is Sanmao's wandering a comedy or a tragedy?

Some people say that "San Mao Wandering" is too broken, and the plot is always one card at a time. There is some truth in this statement, because Sanmao's wandering is composed of four short stories, which is the original ecology of the film.

Is Sanmao's wandering story a comedy or a tragedy?

Fundamentally speaking, comics are comedies in nature, but the theme of "wandering" is too cruel and realistic, so San Mao's Wandering seems to be a tragedy.

In addition, the film also has a characteristic of that era and the cartoon itself, irony.

In movies, images of contrast abound.

Sanmao was stopped from drinking paste by the poster. He pointed to the poster on the wall and reprimanded San Mao: Pay attention to hygiene and don't go in cold.

The most ironic place was the Children's Day Parade at that time. The boy scouts in the parade wore straight uniforms, and the leader shouted the slogan: Children are the future of the country, and we should protect them.

Here San Mao mixed in the team, shouted along, and then was thrown out of the team. Even the street children organized a small team to play and were scattered.

Sanmao sold himself for 10 thousand yuan (legal tender, at that time, even a box of matches could not be bought).

In the store behind Sanmao, the price of imported dolls is10 million. Can a doll buy 1000 San Mao?

The director's career is not only reflected in these places, but also in some inconspicuous details. Look at this invitation, the names of two rich people who adopted Sanmao, and then look at the addresses of the rich people. No wonder Webb and Zhang Leping received the threatening letter "Watch your head".

Speaking of this invitation, I have to mention the dazzling ending and star feast of Sanmao's wandering story.

Five, dazzling star feast

In Sanmao's wandering story, the main actor is not a big star. Except for the old actor Guan Hongda, who is a familiar face, most other actors are unknown. Those wandering partners like San Mao are orphans in children's welfare homes.

The famous actress we can notice is the guest star Shang Guanyunzhu, who is the cousin of producer Webber. She is very helpful to this film.

In the film, the beautiful girl kissing Sanmao is Shang Guanyunzhu's daughter Yaoyao. Also, the pianist who accompanied Yaoyao was Wang Yunjie, the father of Sanmao Wang Longji.

In fact, at the most magnificent and noisy banquet at the end of Sanmao's wandering story, almost all the most famous movie stars in Shanghai gathered.

From the instant footage of the film, we can see Sun Daolin, Moyu Lin, Shuhuang Zhong, Wu Yin, Zhao Dan, Huang Zongying and others.

In fact, there were more than forty stars in the whole banquet, recorded by producer Webb: Shuhuang Zhong, Wang Jing 'an, Cinnabar, Zhu Lin, Sally, Ruan Fei, Lin Zidan, Jin Shuzhi, Wu Yin, Moyu Lin, Menshi Qi, Xu Man, Xu Huan, Rongyuan, Sun Daolin, Gao Zheng, Guo Ling, Huang Zongying, Huang Wenru, Liang Ming and Gao Yiyun.

It is also worth mentioning that, first of all, these big stars didn't just come for one day, but came every day, and the whole scene was filmed for more than a week.

Secondly, all stars don't need a penny, or bring their own clothes, design their own identities and make up themselves.

Among them, the image of Moyu Lin holding a cigarette holder is particularly conspicuous. She said that she designed herself as a widow of a rich family.

In the film, there is a scene in which Wu Yin violently beats the street children who break into the banquet. Don't get me wrong, this is not what Wu Yin wants to play, but the behavioral characteristics of her own identity, because she plays Miss Kong Er.

Interestingly, these stars actually confused the shooting time when recalling this star feast. Some people say that it was taken before the liberation of Shanghai, while others say that it was liberated when it was filmed.

In fact, their memory is correct. The movie "San Mao Wandering" ends just in time for the liberation of Shanghai. The film magically crossed the old and new times.

Six, two endings of Sanmao's wandering story

The original ending of Sanmao's wandering story is: after the noisy star banquet, Sanmao abandoned his identity as a giant moth, put on his linen again, and returned to the streets with his wandering children to continue their wandering life in the snow.

At the end of filming, Shanghai was liberated. On the day of liberation, the photographers of the crew spontaneously took to the streets to record the images of the PLA entering the city. We can also see these precious historical scenes in San Mao's Wandering.

Sanmao's wandering story has a new ending: Sanmao and the wandering children were afraid to participate in the parade for some time because of their previous experience in the Children's Day parade. Finally, with everyone's encouragement, they finally joined the team, learned to dance yangko with confidence, and turned right with excitement.

Some people on the internet criticized the ending, thinking that it ruined the atmosphere of the whole movie. The author wants to say, first of all, this ending has a strong echo to the previous shots. Secondly, San Mao's Wandering Story has a happy ending that most audiences want to see, because San Mao is worth it.

What kind of child is Sanmao?

Wang Longji said that after he filmed San Mao's Wandering Story, the whole person was different, and he learned a lot from San Mao.

Director Gong Yan said that he and Wang Longji went to the bridge where street children gathered to observe their lives. Wang Longji also made friends with these children. They found that many street children have the idea and ability to make a living by themselves. Although some people tempted them to steal, many children consciously resisted the temptation.

Sanmao has a lot of human brilliance. He is very kind and never forgets to change. He is brave. He dares to resist bullying. He has a backbone and is unwilling to give up his dignity and friends for material life.

In a word, Sanmao is a child with an independent personality. He has rare excellent qualities. He should have a bright future, and his future is also our future.