This year is the lunar calendar year of the ugly year and the year of the ox, and the last ugly year dates back 60 years. In 1961, when there were three years of natural disasters, although there was a shortage of food, people's spiritual food was very rich, which was fully reflected in the cinema of the Spring Festival that year.
The Xinmin Evening News, published on February 7, 1961, reported on the grand release of new films in the Spring Festival that year under the title of "Silver Flowers to Be Seen in the Spring Festival", and there were 6 new films mentioned in the article, namely "Revolutionary Family" of Beiying Studio, "Lin Hai Snow Field" and "Five Red Clouds" of Bayi Factory, "Changing the Human World" of Changying Film Factory, "Beacon Train" and "Ma Lanhua" of Haiyan Factory.
Among them, "Lin Hai Snow Field" is undoubtedly the most anticipated, Qu Bo's original book has sold more than one million copies nationwide since its debut in 1957, with a huge readership. Although the story of the film is known to all ages, people still can't wait to see the images of Yang Zirong, Shao Jianbo and Xiao Bairu, who are portrayed by Wang Runsheng, Daniel Zhang Hand and Shi Wei respectively.
"Revolutionary Family", starring Yu Lan and Sun Daolin, two major stars, was also adapted from the best-selling book, and the autobiographical novel "My Family" by "Revolutionary Mother" Tao Cheng was included in the middle school textbooks at that time, and had a wide influence among young readers.
"Ma LanHua" is a Spring Festival gift for small audiences, adapted from the first large-scale children's drama in New China, "Ma Lan Hua Ma Lan Hua, the wind and rain are not afraid, hard-working people are talking, please blossom now ..." The song is widely circulated and familiar.
"Changed People", which depicts the new and old social changes of miners, and "Beacon Train", which depicts the theme of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea, have also attracted much attention because of the appearances of stars such as Guo Zhenqing and Li Yalin.
In addition, the puppet film "Shepherd Boy and Princess" released at the same time, the animation film "Shy Yellow Warbler" and the Shao opera drama film "Sun Wukong Three Dozen White Bone Essences" are rich enough to feast the eyes.
"Honghu Red Guards", jointly produced by The North Film Studio and the Hubei Factory, took the last train of the Lunar New Year at the last moment and was scheduled to be released nationwide on February 15, the first day of the Chinese New Year.
"Honghu Red Guards" was filmed very hard, when the Honghu area was extremely short of food, and all the cast members only had a daily target of seven or two meters, often starving. Many actors have puffiness caused by hunger. Wang Yuzhen, who plays Han Ying, is getting fatter and fatter when filming because of edema. In order to prevent her from continuing to "fat" and affecting her image, the crew can only give her a plate of soybeans every day to supplement her nutrition.
Xia Kuibin, who played Liu Chuang, was very heavy due to his workload, and he quickly lost weight, and his weight dropped from more than 150 pounds to more than 110 pounds, so thin that even his cheeks were sunken. In order to highlight Liu Chuang's tall image full of spirit, Xie Tian had to let Xia Kuibin stuff cotton into both cheeks to make him "fat", and as a result, a few days later, Xia Kuibin's mouth was grinding out blood bubbles.
Also in the case of lack of materials to shoot, the villain actors in "Lin Hai Snow Field" have an advantage. Li Po designed a detail for the stupid big man he played: he came down from Weihu Mountain and went straight to the River Temple, and Dinghe Lao Dao saw that he was tired and tired, so he took out a few bone sticks to eat the rest and let him chew. Director Liu Peiran approved of Lipo's design, and found a superior to approve four pounds of sauce stick bones, and Li Po began to eat from rehearsal, and ate until the end of this scene, and there was no four pounds of sauce stick bones left. Only then did Liu Peiran suddenly realize: Hey, you want to eat meat.
When it comes to the climax of the whole film, the hundred chicken feast, it is even more lively. Although the hundred chicken feast in this movie does not live up to the name, it looks like there are not even fifty chickens, and the eyes are full of wine jars, but this condition was also quite good at that time. Because this scene was filmed in the studio of bayi factory, many actors and staff of bayi factory heard the news and came to "help" play a bandit, where Yang Zirong and the small team met the hundred chicken banquet, which simply became a big party in bayi factory.
Presumably, the audience at that time also salivated when they saw this scene. In fact, many people still feel good feelings when they recall the Spring Festival that year, although they are hungry, they still feel unspeakably satisfied when they hear "wild ducks and lotus roots everywhere, and the autumn harvest is full of rice and grain".
In 1961, the Spring Festival New Year film also won a lot of money in the first popular film Hundred Flowers Awards the following year, "Revolutionary Family" won the Best Screenplay Award, "Honghu Red Guard" won the Best Composition Award, and "Ma Lanhua" won the Best Artist Award.