Jiang Wen is so crazy, but he falls in love with one person

01

The movie poster above is from "Middle Age" released in 1949. It currently has a Douban score of 9.1.

This kind of rating is basically a god-level work.

You can count the number of domestic films that can achieve this kind of score with just one slap.

Hong Kong director Li Hanxiang praised it as:

One of the most valuable films at that time.

Hong Kong critic Liu Chenghan commented:

A Chinese film that is close to perfect in content and technique

It is also a radiant work in the 1940s< /p>

What’s more worth mentioning is that although the story of this movie about a mid-life crisis was conceived by director Sang Hu, it was actually written by Zhang Ailing

> But in order to avoid unnecessary trouble, she only received royalties but did not sign her name. The characters inside are vivid and full of joy and sorrow in her descriptions. Her own understanding of the movie is:

The so-called happy middle-aged people probably mean that their joy is always mixed with a bit of bitterness, and their sorrow is not completely without comfort.

02

The story takes place in Shanghai in the 1920s and 1930s. Chen Shaochang, who founded a primary school for many years, lost his wife early in life and raised two sons and a daughter alone. After seeing her best friend's beloved daughter Liu Manhua being abused by her stepmother, she gave up the idea of ??continuing their relationship.

Ten years later, when I met Man-wa again, I learned that her father had passed away. Man-wa had grown into a new woman who was independent, self-reliant, yet virtuous. Unable to bear the pressure of her stepmother to marry, she ran away from home and proposed herself. He went to Shaochang School to teach.

Soon after Shaochang's eldest son started working in Jianzhong, he became the son-in-law of Chenglong, a bank manager, and gradually became a celebrity in the city.

The Jianzhong couple felt that Shaochang’s status as the principal of the primary school had disgraced them, and persuaded him to retire and become an old man at home. Shaochang, who entrusted the school to Manhua but was unemployed at home, felt frustrated and had more and more conflicts with Jianzhong and his wife.

Another year during the Qingming Festival to pay homage to his late wife, Shaochang met Minhua who came to pay homage to his mother. Minhua persuaded him to go back to school to teach.

Sneaking back to school from home every day, Shaochang stood on the podium and regained the long-lost fulfillment and happiness.

Later, he accidentally discovered that he and Manhua had already been in love and decided to marry her. This incident made the Jianzhong couple very angry and prepared to interfere in the matter...

03

Many professional film critics have already made extensive descriptions of the film’s advanced techniques and ideas, so I won’t go into details here.

What I want to focus on today is Shi Hui, who plays the male lead.

The relaxed, gentle and caring principal with some cute silly and silly side was played vividly by him.

It is no exaggeration to say that he is the soul of the whole show.

Most young film lovers may have never heard of the name Shi Hui.

But in that era, his title was

"The Emperor of Drama"

He wrote, directed, and acted in "Home", "Thunderstorm", and "Sherlock Holmes" 》 and a large number of famous works.

Shi Hui, who is only 23 years old, rose to prominence with the role of the servant Lu Gui in "Thunderstorm".

"Shi Hui's performance is better than what I wrote."

People at the time said of Shi Hui,

He could play the protagonist even if he stood without speaking. robbed of all its brilliance.

His later appearance in "Qiu Begonia" was even more sensational.

It was performed continuously for four and a half months, with a total of 180 performances, which was unprecedented at the time.

When people in Shanghai go to watch a drama after dinner, when they greet each other they don’t say “Go and watch the drama” but say “Go and watch Shi Hui”!

Shi Hui had to take 12 curtain calls before exiting the show. He was ill and had to be replaced by B character, and the audience had to refund their tickets.

Decades later, we will not have the opportunity to appreciate Shi Hui's grace on the stage of a drama. Fortunately, he also left a pivotal mark in the history of Chinese films.

04

Shi Hui is not only a top actor, he has also directed many excellent film works, including "The Match" and "The Letter" and other well-known works.

Everyone knows how crazy Jiang Wen is.

However, when he was invited to reinterpret Shi Hui's role in the movie "My Life", he declined.

He said,

"Fifty years later, Shi Hui's performance is still difficult to surpass."

In "My Life", a masterpiece directed and performed by Shi Hui, Shi Hui plays from the age of 22 to 60. The fate of a low-level patrolman reflects the unchanging fate of the common people under the changing times. Sad fate.

Shi Hui’s superb character creation helped to accurately convey the connotation of the film.

Watching Shi Hui today, there are some exaggerated traces of drama performances in his performance, but compared to most actors at that time, Shi Hui was quite natural and comfortable when facing the camera.

And this dramatic performance method is not entirely Shi Hui's problem.

Director Xie Jin recalled that the film shooting technology at that time was very crude and required actors to perform under assumed conditions.

For example, when filming a scene where A and B are having a conversation, you can only shoot one first and then the other. When A is filming, B may not be there, so A can only look at the director's palm and speak, assuming that it is B.

At the same time, it was also limited by the aesthetics of the time. At that time, actors paid attention to lines, action styles, makeup and costumes. Dramatization was the best art.

And now, with several cameras set up at the same time, and playing with people instead of playing with slaps, how many people can do it to the level of Shi Hui?

However, this amazingly talented man ended up with a crime and ended his short but colorful life.

05

In 1957, Shi Hui was labeled as a rightist.

This arrogant "drama emperor" put on a beautiful brown woolen coat and his famous watch that only cost 6 yuan in Shanghai.

He kissed his wife of three years goodbye, went to the bank to transfer the last payment to his mother, and then told an acquaintance on the road, "I can no longer act in the future."

He boarded the prop ship of the last movie "Night Voyage in the Sea of ??Fog", jumped into the sea, and chose the most suitable place for his life.

Seventeen months later, people found Shi Hui's body on the beach.

In the play "Sunrise", Shi Hui once wrote:

"The sun has risen, and the darkness remains behind,

But the sun is not Ours, we're going to sleep."

At this moment, he really fell asleep.

Decades later, people discovered him again from the black-and-white film and yellowed text.

In March 1982, at a retrospective exhibition of Chinese films held in Italy, French film historian Mitry also said:

"I discovered Chinese films and also discovered stone. "

In 1995, the China Film Century Award Jury awarded Shi Hui

the "Chinese Film Century Actor Award."

Studying Shi Hui has become a required course in film schools.

And the works he left behind are also the most precious gifts for us who like movies.

A large number of materials come from the Internet