"Song of Youth" Xie Fang: Use the power of youth to create a new era

Message of the times

"The important thing about an era is to rely on young people to create, and I hope that young people can take out the strength of Lin Daojing and the power of youth and strive to create a new era." ——Xie Fang

The growth of youth echoes with the revolutionary life, illuminating the darkness of decay with the blood of idealism... In 1959, the film "Song of Youth", produced by Beijing Film Studio and directed by Cui Wei and Chen Huaigao, premiered and has been engraved in the hearts of generations of Chinese audiences ever since. The film is the first stunning appearance of actress Xie Fang on the screen, and she successfully portrays Lin Daojing's transformation from an ignorant girl to a firm and mature Communist Party member.

National "audition" Lin Daojing

In 1958, Yang Mo's novel "Song of Youth" came out, which told the story of the growth of Lin Daojing, an intellectual woman, as soon as it was published, it immediately became a sensation and the response was enthusiastic. In 1959, in order to present the tenth anniversary of the founding of New China, the Beijing Film Studio decided to adapt it into a film, directed by Cui Wei and Chen Huaigao.

As the soul of "Song of Youth", who plays Lin Daojing has become the key to the success of the film. In order to find the most suitable Lin Daojing, Cui Wei not only "auditioned" the heroine in the country, but also held an audience symposium to ask the audience to make suggestions for Lin Daojing's actors, and even overseas Chinese in Indonesia also sent a list of actors, including Bai Yang, Zhang Ruifang and other big stars also took the initiative to express their yearning for this role, of which Bai Yang was particularly active, she was also Yang Mo's sister. However, Cui Wei believes that Bai Yang is older and not suitable for playing Lin Daojing, who is in his twenties.

Until the film began filming in March 1959, Lin Daojing's candidate was still undecided. At this time, Cui Wei thought that when he was the head of the Hubei Zhongnan Cultural and Labor Troupe (now Wuhan Song and Dance Theater), there was an opera singer named Xie Fang in the troupe. Cui Wei felt that Xie Fang's appearance and temperament were similar to Lin Daojing's, so she immediately informed her to come to Beijing to audition.

Any actor who can play Lin Daojing is undoubtedly a godsend, but at that time, Xie Fang was only 23 years old, her mind was simple, she only felt that the audition was the work given to her by the unit, and she did it carefully, and did not realize that this audition would rewrite her fate.

In early March 1959, Xie Fang embarked on a northbound train. "I was sitting on the train, just reading the novel, saying that Lin Daojing was a pale, very handsome female student, I said I was so handsome, I usually didn't pay much attention, when I was young, I didn't even look in the mirror."

On the day of the audition, the snow in Beijing fell a foot deep, Xie Fang first took a static portrait under the guidance of the photographer, both on the front and side, and then tried two scenes in the film, one was lin Daojing telling Wang Xiaoyan that she and Yu Yongze were divorced, and the other scene was in prison, the enemy let Lin Daojing turn himself in, she tore the surrender book and threw it in the face of the enemy. Although it was the first time to face the camera, Xie Fang was not nervous at all, "because I started acting in operas before I was 18 years old, "Little Two Black Marriage", "Cargo Lang and Miss", "Blossoming Fruit", "White Haired Girl"... The scenes are relatively heavy, and they are performed for several hours at a time. ”

After only trying two scenes, Xie Fang was identified as lin Daojing's actor. Later, I heard Cui Wei say that the reason why Xie Fang was chosen was because Xie Fang had a revolutionary temperament, because Lin Daojing was ultimately going to go to revolution and to resist Japan, to go to prison and struggle, not the ordinary "flower before the moon."

The fledgling is untethered

"Song of Youth" was filmed from March to September 1959, and in order to catch up with the National Day, it was started at five o'clock every morning and filmed until the evening. Due to the technical limitations at that time, it was necessary to wait until three days after the shooting, before the film could be washed out to see what the film was made, and if the shooting was not ideal, it had to be re-shot.

In shaping the role of Lin Daojing, Xie Fang showed excellent comprehension, she was good at independent thinking, good at pondering the character's personality and words and deeds. The nine words of "specific people, specific things, and specific performances" are her summaries of this performance. She confessed that she was "not bound at all" when shaping Lin Daojing, and she was very open.

In the film, Lin Daojing once expressed her confusion to her mentor Lu Jiachuan on the road of revolution, saying: "I have fought, I have resisted, but I still have no way out." During the performance, Xie Fang chose to say this line in a childish tone, showing Lin Daojing's naivety and Lu Jiachuan's maturity, and it turned out that director Cui Wei also whispered this line on the side to see if Xie Fang was right.

There is also a scene where Lu Jiachuan gives Lin Daojing some secret propaganda materials for her to keep, and Lin Daojing opens the baggage and finds that it is written "Long live the Chinese Communist Party!" With the slogan, Cui Wei asked Xie Fang to stand up with a lofty mood at this moment. Xie Fang wondered in her heart, how to convey this lofty emotion? She thought of the Internationale, and the melody silently sounded in her heart, and naturally stood up.

"Song of Youth" ends with Lin Daojing's political maturity, and in the magnificent "12.9 Movement", she and Jiang Hua stood on the front line of the struggle. In order to film the climactic scene of the last demonstration, the crew used thousands of young students from Tsinghua university and Peking University, hundreds of police officers to participate in the filming, thousands of onlookers of the public, and some people sent their cherished cheongsam to the crew. In the film, Xie Fang's scene of climbing on the tram and shouting at the parade is frozen as a classic and becomes the iconic scene of the film. But at that time, there was only a side-of-picture soundtrack, specific lines shouted, and the script was not written. "At that time, there were so many people, I couldn't always run to director Cui Wei and asked me how I should act, so I designed my own line, 'Students, don't be afraid of this white terror, we all unite', and the shooting effect is particularly good," Xie Fang said.

The all-star team is full of stars

Crying drama is the biggest challenge when Xie Fang performs. "Other expressions are easy to do, but the tears have to come." Xie Fang said that this requires the actor to be very rational and self-controlled, when filming the crying scene, first quietly brew emotions in a place, and the crew is ready to shoot, waiting for the director to ask "Xie Fang, is it good", and then go to the camera to shoot. "The greatest happiness of the actor is to feel my tears and the camera shots go down in sync."

In "Song of Youth", Lin Daojing and Yu Yongze eventually parted ways due to different beliefs and pursuits, and there is a scene in the script where Yu Yongze slammed the door and left, and Lin Daojing's tears slowly flowed down. Xie Fang did not have a similar experience, she imagined Yu Yongze as her real-life lover Zhang Mu, if Zhang Mu slammed the door and left, what if she ignored herself? Just thinking about it, the tears really came out.

In today's terms, "Song of Youth" can be said to be an "all-star team", and the supporting roles around Lin Daojing are all carefully selected big-name actors at that time: So He plays Yu Yongze, Kang Tai plays Lu Jiachuan, Yu Yang plays Jiang Hua, Qin Yi plays Lin Hong, a communist party member, Zhao Lian plays the traitor Dai Yue, Ge Cunzhuang plays the teacher Li Zhiting, and even the landlord with only one line is played by the old actor Zhao Ziyue.

The first time she made a movie, she worked with so many big stars, and Xie Fang said that she was not afraid of the stage. "I didn't think that the other party was a big star or anything, and my mentality was relatively calm. And many of my scenes are close-ups and close-ups, when shooting there is no one in front, only the camera black shots are facing me, mainly relying on their own imagination. ”

Lin Daojing is popular at home and abroad

The movie "Song of Youth" was a great success after its release. After the release, the theaters in Beijing were full, and many theaters even screened continuously for 24 hours. It was a difficult period of three years, and many people lined up to buy tickets even if they didn't have enough to eat. The film's interlude "Flowers in May" also became popular throughout the country with the screening of the film. After the film was released in Japan, North Korea, Vietnam and other countries, it also caused a sensation. In 1961, Xie Fang went to Japan with a delegation, and as soon as he got off the plane, enthusiastic Japanese students shouted, "Lin Daojing, sign me!" There are also huge stills of the one-story "Song of Youth" on the street.

Xie Fang, who plays Lin Daojing, naturally became a hit and became the screen representative of the first generation of intellectual women. Her several sets of clothes in the film alone have made people talk about it for a long time, especially the blue cloth cheongsam and white scarf, which became the object of imitation by many women at that time. Xie Fang's short hair in the film was also given the reputation of "Lin Dao JingTou".

At that time, the costumes of the actors were designed and produced by the artists, and after the shooting, the actors could keep themselves, but Xie Fang returned all the costumes to the crew. Looking back on it now, she also felt a little regretful. "It seems like one should be kept as a souvenir... I'm in my eighties and there are a lot of memorable things that have not been preserved, which is a bit of a pity, but all of them are left in the camera. "Song of Youth" records my most beautiful years. ”

Later, Xie Fang successively filmed films such as "Early Spring February", "Stage Sisters", "Second Handshake", but in her heart, the status of "Song of Youth" is irreplaceable, she said: "I still remember almost every detail of the shooting that year, and many lines can be memorized casually. This movie changed my life. For the sake of "Song of Youth", I have constantly spurred myself on and improved myself until now. ”

Beijing Daily reporter Yuan Yun'er