Author: Wei Fu Subtitle: Remembering Father Wei Heling Publisher: Wenhui Publishing House Published: 2017-10
If you look at the film performance form of Chinese male actors, it can be divided into three categories, represented by Zhao Dan (1915-1980), Shi Hua (1915-1957), and Wei Heling (1907-1979) before 1949: If Zhao Dan represents the Hollywood way of acting, then Wei Heling is more inclined to the European way of acting, the former is full of expression and drama, the latter is the expression of the hidden limb is very convergent, but the performance of the two on the screen is comparable.
On the contrary, Shi Hua's performance is locally original, with some northern atmosphere, and it is more detailed in the subtle action processing.
Zhao Dan's image in the film Road Angel (1937).
All three have been active on the drama stage, but their ways of acting on the screen are completely different.
If you put it to the present, you can also find the corresponding people, Zhao Dan and Zhang Guorong (1956-2003) belong to a type of performance, Shi Hua and Ge Youna are natural images, while Wei Heling is like Liang Chaowei - they all belong to the extremely "stingy" in the management of expressions, unlike Zhao Dan and Zhang Guorong, who sometimes have "full aura" and "arrogant to the extreme" in performance.
An image of Shi Hua in the film Mourning Middle Age (1949).
Zhao Dan once talked about the two actors he admired very much, one was Yuan Muzhi (1909-1978), who paid the most attention to character modeling design and external skills, and the other was Chen Ningqiu, who paid attention to emotional experience. He sees both of them as representatives of the two genres of performance, "performance" and "experience".
This also just proves that Zhao Dan is "performance" and Wei Heling is "experience".
Stills from the drama "The Death of a Famous Man"
Shu Xiuwen (1915-1969) recalled her early acting career in the manuscript of Memories of Childhood: "The first multi-act play I played was Mr. Tian Han's (1898-1968) Mr. Tian Han's "The Death of a Famous Man", playing the role of Liu Fengxian. In the play, liu Zhensheng is Played by Wei Heling, in the play, he is my master, and in the drama art, he is also my master who opens the door. He is a very experienced drama actor, he sincerely taught me to act, I can't sing Peking Opera, and the two plays in "The Death of a Famous Master" were also taught to me to sing. ”
Stills from the film The Beginning of Man (1935), Wei Heling (left) and Hu Ping
Here not only shows the achievements of Wei Heling's performance, but also shows that he is a sincere and loyal "big brother" like him.
After the "1.28 Incident", Wei Heling came to bustling Shanghai from the north and began his screen life.
From 1933 onwards, Wei Heling began to engage in film performance art. The choreographer Shi Dongshan (1902-1955), known for his meticulous and aesthetic sense, chose him as the main actor in his first film depicting the lives of workers, The Beginning of Man (1935).
Stills from the movie "Triumph" (1935), from left: Wei Heling, Wang Yin, Li Junpan
The protagonist of the film, Zhang Ronggen, was born from the petty bourgeoisie and became a worker after bankruptcy, Wei Heling grasped the character characteristics of the character very well, and showed his character development of initial weakness, humiliation, fantasy about the existence of the bourgeoisie, and finally awakened under the harsh facts and the education of the revolutionaries.
He made this screen image more successful, and since then, he has worked as an actor in film companies such as Yihua, Star, and United Star.
Wei Heling's image in the film Tao Li Robbery (1934).
Of all the films that I have seen wei Heling survive, the earliest impression should be that he played a small role as a security guard in "Tao Li Robbery" (1934) directed by Ying Yunwei (1904-1967), and the male and female protagonists of this film are the later "Red Revolution filmmakers" Yuan Muzhi and Chen Bo'er (1907-1951).
Images of Yuan Muzhi (right) and Chen Bo'er in the film Tao Li Robbery (1934).
For some time in early 1937, a few unusual people would come to a tavern near the Star Film Company almost every night, and the guys in the shop were familiar with them, knowing that they would come in a fixed place with a little wine and fried rice cakes, and then sat there and had a heated discussion. But the guys didn't know that these people were already small and influential stars in the film industry at that time.
Images of Zhao Dan (right) and Wei Heling in the film Road Angel (1937).
Yuan Muzhi, Zhao Dan, Zheng Junli (1911-1969), Wei Heling... Their gathering in the tavern, at first just to pass the time, to discuss the dreams of life, love and understanding of art, came more, they felt that this was an important window for observing society, with colorful images and tragic and happy fates.
The guys in the shop were not familiar with them, but the tabloid reporter knew them all too well, and they jokingly referred to these people in the tabloids as "brothers."
Wei Heling's image in the film Road Angel (1937).
At this time, Zhao Dan was just 22 years old, one of the main actors of the star film company, and had already starred in many films such as "Pipa Spring Complaint" (1933), "Shanghai Twenty-Four Hours" (1933), "To the Northwest" (1934), "Cross Street" (1937) and many other films.
Zheng Junli, a 26-year-old actor, director and screenwriter, starred in an influential film "New Woman" (1935) in 1935, when he was seriously translating the first and second chapters of Stanislavsky's performance system theory "The Self-Cultivation of Actors".
Images of Wei Heling and Zhao Huishen (left) in the film Road Angel (1937).
Wei Heling was two years older than Yuan Muzhi at the time, a full 30 years old, and had previously starred in films such as "Tear Stains" (1933), "Peach and Plum Robbery", and "The Beginning of Man".
It was also during this period that Wei Heling formed a close creative friendship with Yuan Muzhi and Zhao Dan. In yuan Muzhi's excellent film "Road Angel" (1937), directed by Yuan Muzhi and starring Zhao Dan and Zhou Xuan (1920-1957), he played an important role as the newspaper seller Lao Wang.
In the process of filming, thanks to the help of Yuan Muzhi, he summed up the gains and losses of his 10 years of artistic practice, and deeply realized that the actor's physical actions and emotional expressions must coincide with the character's personality and inner thoughts and feelings, and adapt to the specific environment.
Since then, he has focused more on the experience of the inner world of the characters he plays, digging deeper into the real inner feelings, and abandoning the performance method that only pays attention to the design of the shape and action.
This "immersive" performance method has become his unique performance feature in the future.
Images of Zhao Dan (left) and Wei Heling in the film Road Angel (1937).
In "Road Angel", Wei Heling strives to experience and grasp the kind and simple character of the newspaper seller Lao Wang, as well as his special inner feelings in love, and truly shapes the image of a working people struggling at the bottom of society with simple, subtle and deep performances. The role play was quite successful and received wide acclaim from the audience at the time.
Stills from the movie "Sable Cicada" (1938), Wei Heling
Later, Wei Heling cooperated with Jin Shan (1911-1982), Gu Yi (1915-1970), and Gu Lanjun (1917-1989) in the movie "Sable Cicada" (1938), when Jin Shan played Lü Bu, Gu Ji played Dong Zhuo, Gu Lanjun played Sable Cicada, and he played Wang Yun. This costume film was a sensation.
At the same time, Wei Heling continued to be active on the stage. He is an active member of the Shanghai Amateur Dramatists Association, organized by the Left-Wing Drama Federation, and has played important roles in world famous dramas such as "Nala".
Stills from the drama "Nala", blue apple in the middle, Wei Heling on the right
With full enthusiasm, he performed plays such as "Chaos Bell" and "The Moon Rises" that publicized the anti-Japanese salvation. Through years of artistic practice, he played a variety of roles from the stage to the screen, from supporting roles to protagonists, from comedy to tragedy, and constantly developed his style of performing arts, becoming one of the more famous male actors at that time.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1937, he joined the fourth team of the Rescue Drama Team with Bai Yang (1920-1996), Shu Xiuwen, Jin Yan (1910-1983), and went from Shanghai to Wuhan to Chongqing. In Chongqing, he worked at the China Film Studio and the Central Film Studio.
Stills from the movie DefendIng Our Land (1938), Wei Heling and Dai Hao (right)
At that time, he and Bai Yang and Xie Tian (1914-2003) were the basic actors of "CLP", and at that time, due to the lack of film equipment in the rear, they did not have as much time to shoot movies as they did in dramas.
In 1938, he starred in China's first anti-war film "DefendIng Our Land" (1938), playing the protagonist Liu Shan, who resolutely resisted Japan and destroyed his relatives. This figure was typical to the vast number of peasants who were thrown into the War of Resistance at that time.
In this character's personality, there is a deep hatred for the japanese who destroyed the enemy of the family, a relatively sober understanding of the prospects of fighting the enemy, and a complex mixture of hatred and pity for the brother who played for the tiger and finally repented.
Stills from the movie "Children of China" (1939), Bai Yang and Wei Heling
Wei Heling takes patriotism and righteousness as the core, forms the rhythm of character development, and plays quite real and credible. This is the epitome of the peasant masses that are truly embodied on the screen and will become the main force of the anti-Japanese resistance.
After that, he participated in the filming of "Children of China" (1939), "Long Sky" (1940), "Young China" (1942), "Baptism of Fire" (1941) and other films. In the early days of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he almost participated in several films that better reflected the activities of the War of Resistance.
Stills from the movie Baptism of Fire (1941), Wei Heling and Zhang Ruifang
Especially after 1941, due to the Obstruction of the Kuomintang and the shortage of film films, the film industry was depressed.
So a large number of filmmakers turned to the stage, and there was a boom in drama. Wei Heling also became active on the drama stage with great patriotic enthusiasm. He successively participated in the China Long Live Theatre Troupe, the China Drama Art Society, the China Electric Theater Troupe and other drama groups, and performed many plays that publicized the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and other excellent plays.
Wei Heling's image in the film White Mountain Black Water Splash Red (1947).
In terms of drama, Wei Heling's main dramas include "Plugging in the Wind and Clouds", "The Supremacy of the Nation", "Long Live the Nation", "Sunrise", "Under the Eaves of Shanghai", "Zhengqi Song", "Zhongwang Li Xiucheng", "Land Rejuvenation", "Wedding March", "Victory", "Flower Splashing Tears", etc. At that time, in the rear film and drama circle, he was a famous actor in the film and drama amphibious, and the actress Bai Yang was equally famous.
Heling's image in the film White Mountain Black Water Blood Splash Red (1947).
In the second year after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he was demobilized to Beiping with the "CLP" and participated in the "CLP" Third Factory presided over by Xu Angqian.
In the first film of the Third Factory, Shen Fu (1905-1994), wrote and directed "The Tale of the Holy City" (1946), he played a village farmer Lao Liu, fully demonstrating his profound acting skills.
In addition, he played an intellectual youth and patriot in "White Mountain Black Water Splashing Red" (1947); in "Chase" (1947), which first appeared on the screen with Huang Zongying (1925-2020), he played an old industrialist; in "Happy Spring" (1949), he also cooperated with Huang Zongying and Zhang Fa (1919-2001), Huang Zongying played a growing and progressive girl, lively and angry, and he played a small staff member who was safe and self-kept.
Images of Zhao Dan (left) and Wei Heling in the film The Crow and the Sparrow (1949).
On the eve of the liberation of the whole country, Wei Heling returned to Shanghai and participated in the filming of the famous film "The Crow and the Sparrow" (1949), which recorded the fall of the Chiang family dynasty and ushered in the liberation of the people. In this film, he plays Kong Youwen, a simple but timid newspaper proofreader.
Kong Youwen, an old good man played by Wei Heling, sees through the sinister world and blindly grievances, and in his performance, he always sees a tough and solid skeleton to support his performance art.
Wei Heling's image in the film The Crow and the Sparrow (1949).
The cast of "The Crow and the Sparrow" can be regarded as a gathering of stars in the acting school. Zhao Dan, Sun Daolin (1921-2007), Wei Heling, Shangguan Yunzhu (1920-1968), Wu Yin (1909-1991), Huang Zongying... Each one is like thunder. The director arranges a well-proportioned and sufficient performance time for each role in the narrow space, and each actor contributes 100% of the acting skills. The details of each character are all in place. On the big screen today, it is really difficult to find such a wonderful confrontation and opponent.
Images of Zhao Dan (right) and Wei Heling in the film The Crow and the Sparrow (1949).
Director Zheng Junli also fully "trusts" several leading actors, often without rehearsal, trying several times to start shooting, so that the actor's performance has more improvisational performance factors; especially Zhao Dan plays the role of "small radio", swinging freely, reaching a state of immersion.
In particular, Zhao Dan and Wei Heling's several rival scenes were watched, following the number of his two performances in "Road Angel", one singing and one harmony, Zhao Dan was looking for trouble in front, and Wei Heling was low-key to put out the fire.
The others, their acting skills are also amazing. Shangguan Yunzhu's wife Hua was trapped in chai rice oil and salt but did not lose her elegance. Huang Zongying's sister-in-law Yu Xiaoying, with all her hands and feet revealing the cunning and arrogance of the role's charming, Huang Zongying himself said that the bad guys are the most "enjoyable" to play.
In 1956, the New Chinese Ministry of Culture decided to award films since the founding of the People's Republic of China. "The Crow and the Sparrow" won the second prize, and Premier Zhou Enlai was quite dissatisfied when he learned of this result: "Why is there only a second prize for these people who risk their lives?" When the word reached Chairman Mao Zedong, he also agreed with Premier Zhou's opinion, feeling that the film should be given a deserved position, so he re-evaluated it and finally won the first prize.
Image of Shi Hua (right) and Wei Heling in the film My Life (1950).
Wei Heling's image in the film Can't Go That Way (1954) was one of the more intense performances of his acting career
After the liberation of the whole country, Wei Heling first worked in the United Film Studio and then entered the Shanghai Film Studio as an actor.
In 1956, Wei Heling participated in the filming of both "Home" (1957) and "Blessing" (1956), creating two completely different screen images, namely "Home" in "Home" and He Laoliu in "Blessing".
Wei Heling's image in the film Home (1957).
The tall old lady in "Home" is the authoritarian patriarch of the feudal family.
Wei Heling quite accurately grasped the character characteristics of this character, acting tepidly, and in just a few scenes, he showed his stubborn character of trying to maintain feudal orthodoxy, seemingly dignified, but actually decadent and brutal.
The image of this feudal old ritual defender left a deep impression on the audience.
The screen image that marks the high achievement of Wei Heling's performing arts is He Laoliu, who he portrayed in "Blessings". He Laoliu did not have much ink in Lu Xun's original work, and he also appeared in the film limitedly, but he created the image of this mountain peasant very well with his superb acting skills.
When Wei Heling showed his love for life, his love for his children, and his rebellion against his creditors, he was at ease and just right. Especially wonderful are the performances of the chapel and the early morning scenes.
Wei Heling's image in the film Blessing (1956).
When Xiang Lin's sister-in-law was tied up, plugged her mouth, and dragged out of the flower palanquin, she struggled hard, witnessing the confused expression of He Laoliu who witnessed such a scene;
When Xiang Lin's sister-in-law was set up in the chapel, she shouted and scolded in every way, and the uneasy look of He Laoliu next to her;
When Xiang Lin's sister-in-law worshiped heaven and earth with him in a coma, He Laoliu was embarrassed and dazed;
The guest dispersed, He Laoliu looked at the snatched comatose wife out of his mind, that kind of simple and complicated feelings;
When Xiang Lin wanted to escape and did not pass out, he first showed great sympathy, and soon, uneasiness and disappointment filled his heart, he frowned slightly, sighed softly, lay down on the firewood pile, helplessly put his hand under his head, and looked out the window at the moonlight and pondered;
The next morning, when Xianglin's sister-in-law pleaded, "You let me go back," he began to show obvious disappointment, and then made an unexpected answer to Xianglin's sister-in-law: "Where do you go to Luzhen, or go to your mother-in-law's place, I will send you back." ”
These few short sentences, he spoke so frankly, sincerely, and sincerely, deeply touched the heart of Xiang Lin's sister-in-law.
In the chapel and several scenes in the early morning, He Laoliu's actions are few, there are not many words, but a series of complex and subtle changes have occurred in his inner feelings, which is very difficult for the actor's performance.
With his profound understanding of the character and accurate inner experience, Wei Heling shows the waves of the character's inner feelings in depth, meticulously and fully with his personality performance, so that people can glimpse the kind, simple and noble soul of He Lao.
Images of Wei Heling and Bai Yang in the film Blessing (1956).
We can learn from Wei Heling's letter to his wife Yuan Rong (1919-1995) on September 10, 1956, that the intensity of filming "Blessing" was at that time: "Blessing did not go well, encountered many problems, and the time was so rushed. Both the ministry and the bureau have instructions that it must be staged on the twentieth anniversary of Lu Xun's death in October and a half. But Beiying is self-made, and everything depends on the new shadow to support..."
"This is the first colorful film produced by China itself, although technically I went to the Soviet Union to study, I am still a novice, and there are often accidents in the printing department." There are still unsatisfactory aspects of artistic treatment, so while talking and shooting, overtime and even sometimes working up to twenty hours..."
"After shooting during the day, I edited it, and at night I had to make up the dubbing, which made people dizzy and exhausted." When the weather is good, you have to grab the exterior, and most of the location in Hangzhou has to be reworked. The filming location is not concentrated, and the east shoots one and the west shoot one. Generators, machinery, lamps, moving this and that seems to be very tense, but the harvest is not big. ”
These are just some of the details of this classic film, and there are many more unimaginable efforts that few people know.
The image of He Laoliu, which Wei Heling successfully created, is the crystallization of his many years of artistic performance experience and shines with the brilliance of his artistic style. In 1957, the film Blessing won the Special Prize at the 10th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. In 1958, "Blessings" won the Silver Hat Award of the Mexican International Film Week. The film won this honor, which is inseparable from Wei Heling's hard work and successful performance.
Wei Heling's image in the film The Legend of Lu Ban (1958).
In addition, the love of dozing is Wei Heling's old problem, just because he loves to doze off Wei Heling has also made a lot of jokes.
At the beginning of the liberation, Wei Heling went to Beijing to attend the first national literary congress, and as soon as Zhou Enlai saw him, he asked with concern: "Old Wei, are you still dozing off?" Have you forgotten your lines?" It turned out that Zhou Enlai, who was working in Chongqing at the time, also knew about this problem of Wei Heling, remembered this interesting story, and always cared about him.
Wei Heling smiled thickly and nodded honestly.
In 1954, Wei Heling was with some of the actors of the Shanghai Film Troupe: Feng Xiao, Sun Daolin, Hongxia, Jin Yan, Ayishamu Kerim (the heroine of the movie "Oasis Triumph"), Bai Yang, Qin Yi, Slajidin Slayin (the male protagonist of the movie Oasis Triumph), Huang Zongying, Wang Danfeng, and Wang Bei
Zhou Enlai patted him on the shoulder with concern, telling him to pay attention to his body and play more for the people.
Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai received him twice and took a group photo with him. Before the meeting, Wei Heling was afraid that he would also doze off at such an important moment, and he told Zhao Dan and other old friends who were being received to be sure to screw him hard before he wanted to doze off!
Indeed, Wei Heling's acting skills are really multifaceted. He was familiar with the life forms and expressions of all classes, and his low voice revealed the breath of the northern countryside.
He can play the youth of the city, he can play the celebrities in history, and he can show the souls who are tortured and grow up in the countryside.
He seems to have an inseparable blood relationship with rural China, and urban audiences appreciate him, while rural audiences have a more intimate sense of him.
Stills from the film Counter (1965), Wei Heling and Zhang Xiaoling – this is also his last work on the screen
His lovely character as a straightforward northerner fully represents a person who grew up in the countryside and comes from the countryside, but he is not bound to a small world, which depends entirely on his accumulated experience with the character and a deep understanding of the character's heart.
After surviving the "catastrophe", he thought that he could still emit residual heat on the screen, but due to physical reasons and the worries of his family, he missed the movie "Sari Marco" (1978).
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