Who starred in China's first color film?

Mei Lanfang. my country's first color film was the 1948 opera "Hate of Life and Death" shot in Shanghai. It was produced by Huayi Film Company, directed by Fei Mu, and starred by Mei Lanfang. The film was shot on 16cm color film and then enlarged to 35cm standard film. Also due to the constraints of the conditions at the time, including insufficient lighting during filming, unstable color temperature and other factors, coupled with a lack of experience in shooting color films, the film was not colorful enough. However, it was indeed the first color film produced by the Chinese themselves.

"Hate of Life and Death" is a Peking Opera stage film. Until 1953, Shanghai Film Studio released the color opera film "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai" directed by Sang Hu and photographed by Huang Shaofen (starring Yuan Xuefen and Fan Ruijuan) ), it was not only the first stage opera film shot in New China, but also the first color film shot in New China.

The plot introduction of "Hate of Life and Death"

"Hate of Life and Death" is a serious tragedy. It tells the story of the Jin soldiers' invasion of the Central Plains in the late Northern Song Dynasty. The scholar Cheng Pengju and the girl Han Yuniang were captured by the Jin soldiers. After the marriage, Yuniang encouraged Cheng Pengju to escape back to her homeland, join the army to fight against the enemy, and gave Cheng Pengju one of her shoes as a token. After her husband escaped, Yu Niang went through many hardships and lived in a nunnery before returning to her hometown. Cheng Pengju used the shoes as a clue and finally found Han Yuniang, but Han Yuniang was terminally ill and died of hatred on the day of reunion.

The film retains the artistic characteristics of Yue Opera and its beautiful singing. At the same time, it takes advantage of color film, and the photography and art processing pursue the unique artistic conception of Chinese art.

After the film was released, it was not only welcomed by the audience, but also won the first prize for outstanding stage art film issued by the Ministry of Culture from 1949 to 1955, and won the Music Award at the 1954 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Film Award and Edinburgh International Film Festival Screening Award. During the Geneva International Conference in the same year, Premier Zhou Enlai screened the film for American movie star Chaplin, who called it "China's Romeo and Juliet."