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The birth of the film completely changed people's entertainment life, on the evening of December 28, 1895, in the basement of the Grand Café at 14 Rue Capucin in Paris, France, unlike usual, there was a large white cloth hanging on the wall, and after the lights went out, the outdoor activity scene appeared on the white cloth, and on the same day, "Factory Gate", "Train Station", "Baby Lunch", "Demolition of the Wall" and other clips were played, which were from the Lumière brothers (French) of the largest sensory board maker family in Europe.
In 1894, the Lumière brothers combined the inventions of Edison and others with their own continuous cameras to develop the world's first cinema camera and cinema projector.
Two years later, they sent hundreds of photographers around the world to take 750 images. The birth of cinema rewrote the history of world imagery, December 28, 1895, and thus defined as the "birth day of cinema".
On February 13, 1895, the brothers obtained a film patent certificate, and their main achievement was to transform the "diorama" created by Edison, inventing the first generation of color film in 1903 and developing stereoscopic film in 1937.
In 1899, the Spanish merchant Gallen Bai Ke came to Shanghai, and successively screened "shadow plays" at the Shengping Tea House on Sima Road, which is now Fuzhou Road, the Zhapu Road Ice Rink and the Daxin Street "Jinxianggu" Fan Restaurant, due to the outdated plot and shortage of film sources, Bai Ke's business deteriorated, and he had no choice but to transfer the projector and film together to his fellow businessman An · Remas.
Ann's business acumen is obviously much better than Bai Ke's, and he chooses to screen in places such as Tong'an Chaju and Qinglian Pavilion on the busy Dama Road, and constantly changes the film source, and his operating income continues to increase.
In 1908, An, who had accumulated a large amount of funds, rented an ice rink at the intersection of Haining Road and Zhapu Road to build a Hongkou Active Cinema that could accommodate 250 spectators, which was the first cinema in Shanghai in the true sense.
In 1917, the "Shanghai Grand Theatre" funded by Cantonese merchants Zeng Huantang, Deng Zixi and the Italian Luo Lexuan was completed and opened at the intersection of Qiujiang Road in North Sichuan Road, because most of the shares came from Zeng Huantang, and he also became a pioneer in the film screening industry operated by the Chinese people.
In the decade from 1927 to the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, more than thirty new luxurious cinemas were built in Shanghai. According to the priority of the release of new films in Europe and the United States, it is divided into the first round of theaters, the second round of theaters and the third round of theaters.
At the beginning of the first round of theaters, there were only four: the Great Bright Grand Theater, the Cathay Grand Theater, the Nanjing Grand Theater and the Great Shanghai Grand Theater. These four companies happen to belong to two major theaters, namely the United Film Company, which is chaired by The British Cantonese businessman Lugan as the Chairman of the Chinese Side, and the Lianyi Film Company, which is hosted by He Tingran, an advertiser.
These four cinemas are like a comprehensive commercial center, in addition to watching movies, there are western restaurants, dance halls, you can drink coffee, eat popcorn, open the door with doormen, even foreign girls pull the door, and there is a special storage of coats and bags. Even Lu Xun, who was relatively wealthy at that time, had the ability to spend often go to the first round of theaters to watch dramas.
The introduction of these historical backgrounds is to let everyone understand that the status of Daguang at that time was at the top of the industry, even in the first round of theaters, the transformed Daguang was the first, it was an extremely high-consumption place, Hudak was able to obtain this project, but also proved that his reputation in Shanghai was beyond the reach of many architects at home and abroad.
In 1928, Chaozhou businessman Gao Yongqing and American businessman Albert Warner (founder of Warner Bros., the world's largest film company), acquired a joint venture to purchase real estate in the former calden ballroom site of Pike Road in Shanghai (now the South of the Yangtze River Theater on Yellow River Road), and spent another 200,000 yuan to convert the dance hall into a grand theater, named "Great Bright Theater", and registered with the State of Delaware.
At that time, the Great Bright Cinema had a dance hall, a Western restaurant, a tea room, a liquor rehearsal room, a smoking room, and a waiting room.
On December 23, 1928, Mr. Mei Lanfang, a master of Peking Opera, personally cut the ribbon for the opening of the Great Bright Theater, and held the premiere ceremony of the theater with the American film "Laughter Mandarin Shadow" as the premiere.
In 1930, when the Great Bright Cinema was showing the insulting Chinese film "Not Afraid of Death" starring American clown Roque, the famous dramatist Hong Shen protested indignantly and was arrested by the patrol house. Under the condemnation of the public and the resistance of the media, The Great Bright had no choice but to stop business after three years of opening.
Subsequently, Lugan, a British-Chinese known as the "King of Cinemas in South China", stared at Shanghai, which was already quite large in the film industry, and wanted to transform Daguang into a first-class cinema in the Far East.
In 1933, he not only exhausted his own capital, but also raised funds from the United States, and asked the famous Hungarian architect László Štěpánek. Designed by L.E. HUDEC.
The cream yellow façade is composed like a sail traveling in the waves, the smooth arc curve from the top of the hall around the entire theater, Italian marble into an abstract pattern, the audience hall is very grand, the spacious audience lounge is elegant and full of cultural and artistic atmosphere, the neat environment is pleasing to the eye, the most surprising design at that time was when the cinema in Shanghai was still cooling with electric fans, and The great light spent 300,000 yuan to create an air-conditioning room, and finally realized the dream of "the first in the Far East".
Tramways drive past the Entrance of the Great Bright Theater and the International Hotel The trams drive past the Entrance of the Great Bright Theater and the International Hotel
Fountain in the hall on the second floor of the Great Bright Cinema (historical information)
There is a splash-type water column fountain in the rest area of the building hall, the audience seat is divided into two floors, with more than 2,000 sofa seats, which were equipped with "translation style" at that time, watching foreign movies and wearing headphones can hear Chinese explanations, which is the first chinese Western film translation.
Lounge water column fountain
Since the premiere of Universal Pictures' film "Laughter And Shadow" in 1928, the great light has gone through ups and downs. However, as long as the light is open, its box office is always enviable, and there has been a glory of being the first in the country for 11 consecutive years. The flamboyance of the "Far East First Cinema" is still evident on Nanjing Road, the "First Street of Chinese Commerce".
From 1927 to 1928, while in the United States, Hudak observed New York's Art Deco hotels and skyscrapers. Inspired by raymond Hood's architectural works, he returned to Shanghai and devoted himself to art deco and currentist styles, and the Great Bright Theater was born as the first work of Hudak's transition to a modernist architectural style.
Before the Great Light, Hudak designed works are mostly Italian Renaissance, Gothic, Byzantine, Spanish style, neoclassicism and other styles, starting from the Great Bright Cinema, the modernist style gradually highlighted, residential design is especially "the first mansion in the Far East" - the green house as the most significant representative.
The most striking thing about the Great Light is the 16-meter-high square glass lighthouse that stands on the outside, which is equipped with three large 500-watt emitting lights; the lighthouse with the English name of the Great Light, "Grand Theatre", is open all night and can be seen for miles, which is one of the most conspicuous symbols of the Great Light.
Hudak's Design of The Great Light is a reinforced concrete frame structure of the American Modern Art School style building, the appearance of the thick horizontal straight line and large area of glass for a strong contrast. The foyer is spacious and bright, paved with steel strips polished with colored grinding stones, and the hall has a ticket hall, lounge, sales department, bar and washroom, well-decorated and well-equipped.
The design of the Great Bright Theater was successful, The fame of Hudak rose, the owners of the cinema invited him, and then he designed the Zhejiang Grand Theater, the Calden Grand Theater, the Spicy Fei Grand Theater, etc., and the projects followed.
The design style of the Great Bright Cinema was very advanced in that era
The above two old photos, taken after the completion of the Great Bright Theater in 1933, this modern design style, 86 years later, are still not conventional.
This is today's Great Bright Cinema, and the light box and sail-style façade are still the same as they were 86 years ago, on the bustling Nanjing Road, compared with the surrounding buildings, for the unsuspecting passerby, it is not at all obvious that this is the design of more than eighty years ago. This is all thanks to the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Culture, the owner of Daguang, for its willingness to spend a lot of money to restore it to its original appearance.
In 2008, Daguang Cinema spent 120 million yuan to start the restoration of the theater. The sail-shaped façade, the lotus-shaped roof, the curved hall, the lofty entrance hall, the renovated Daguang Cinema regain the "foreign atmosphere" feeling in the Ten Mile Ocean Field, and its brilliant appearance of European and American architectural styles gives the audience the illusion of being in the 1930s.
It is reported that respecting and restoring the original appearance of history is the principle adhered to in this restoration and transformation, and the original screening hall, the old lounges on the first and second floors and the façade have been preserved and comprehensively restored. During the restoration process, many historical photographs and pictures were consulted in order to restore the overall impression of the great light of most of the elderly. Among them, the top surface of the hall, entrance hall and lounge are all laid with 24K gold leaf, and the entrance hall and lounge are all made of copper flower handrails, creating the original golden and brilliant effect of the great light.
The gold leaf top of the hall
After walking up the stairs, look down at the current hall and the main entrance of the Great Bright Cinema.
Stylish staircase full of American industrial style (old photo)
Staircase corner (present)
The Great Bright Theater has changed its owner several times, and the road is smooth and arduous. The original Registered Capital of United Film Company was 3 million taels, while the paid-in capital was only 1,917,000 taels, with a difference of 1,083,000 taels, which was all purchased by The Manager of the American International Mortgage Company, Granmark, who became the shareholder and chairman of the United Film Company.
This top light box was restored according to the original design of Hudak, which is unified with the towering lighthouse style outside the cinema, echoing inside and out.
Since Lugan had invested part of his capital in the construction and purchase of real estate for cinemas, he was often unable to pay the rent due to insufficient working capital when operating. In September, the original land owner demanded that Lugan return the land according to the contract for the four months of land rent owed by the Great Bright Theater for a total of more than 30,000 taels.
Now the photos
Contrast between the old and new halls
Old photos
At the same time, Chairman Granmark also complained to the US envoy in Shanghai on the grounds that Lugan could not do his duty, so that the company's debts could not be fulfilled, and demanded that the inspectorate be sent to take over and clean up the United Film Company industry. Soon, the Great Bright Theater was taken over and managed by the United States Under the Inspection Bureau, and the arrears were paid with operating funds.
In 1941, United Pictures merged with Lianyi Film Company to form the Asian Film Company, and Great Light was again owned by the Asian Film Company.
In 1942, it was forcibly occupied by the Japanese and pseudo-Japanese, and then subleased to the China Film Company.
Huaying has pocketed twelve theaters in Shanghai
In 1948, the China Film Company was dissolved and returned to the Guoguang Film Company.
In 1953, it was taken over by the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Culture and renamed the Great Bright Cinema, which is now managed by the Shanghai Film Distribution Company.
After the transformation, the big light has formed a screening pattern of "1 big plus 5 small". The screening hall, which originally could accommodate 1,900 people, was reduced by 600 seats, and the original two-story setup remained, with more than 800 on the first floor and more than 500 on the second floor. In addition, the Great Bright Cinema has also developed 5 new small audience halls, including a VIP hall, so that the audience has more choices in the theater.
In particular, the space on the ground floor of the theater that was originally used as a separate evacuation channel has also been utilized, and this passage has been carefully designed as a cultural corridor showing the 80-year history of the Great Bright Cinema for free admission. The color of the promenade takes gray and white colors, creating a simple and elegant atmosphere, showing the theater's yesterday and today through lighting, pictures, text, physical objects and other techniques. This practice is the first time in the country, so that the audience can appreciate the 80 years of the great light in addition to enjoying the movie.
The Great Bright Cinema is one of the oldest surviving cinemas in China. It is China's first widescreen cinema, the first stereo cinema, the first four-star cinema, the first xenon cinema, the cinema ahead of all kinds of Excellent Chinese and foreign films, attracting two million viewers every year. The box office revenue of The Great Bright Cinema was the highest in the country in the calendar year (before the 1990s), reaching 3 million yuan in 1994.
"Big Bright Cinema", Zhang Anpu, pen watercolor
The painter Zhang Anpu, because he liked The Hudak's architecture since childhood, immediately painted a series of Hudak's buildings with pen and watercolor, and published a collection of works.
Today, as the oldest cinema in China, the Great Bright Cinema, still stands in the lot of Shanghai Diamond (more central than the golden lot), on Nanjing Road, the first street of Zhonghua, at the junction of Nanjing East Road and Nanjing West Road. The sail-style building façade, like a "sail" swimming in the torrent of history, has become a special "exhibit" that records history!
We'll talk about it tomorrow.
May the world be better! Less suffering! Guotai Min'an!