Acting in a love drama with Zhao Dan
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War in 1945, Qin Yi returned to Shanghai to reunite with his family.
Soon, Wu Yonggang came to Qin Yi and asked her to play the heroine in her own screenwriting and directing "The House of Loyalty": the wife of a pilot.
"The House of Loyalty" is based on real people and real events. In the "August 13" Shanghai Campaign, the Kuomintang Air Force pilot flew an airplane into the Warship of the Japanese invaders and died heroically.
Stills from "The House of Loyalty"
In May 1946, director Chen Liting invited Qin Yi to participate in the filming of the film "Distant Love".
Chen Liting (1910-2013) main works "Li RenXing", "The Giant Palm of the People" and so on
Qin Yi and Chen Liting had worked together in the China Drama Art Society and played roles in the plays he directed, so as soon as Chen Liting issued an invitation, Qin Yi agreed without saying a word.
The signed screenwriter of "Distant Love" is Chen Liting, in fact, Chen Liting only wrote the synopsis of the story of the scene, and he asked Xia Yan to write the dialogue. Xia Yan finally handed over a complete script, with profound intentions, beautiful dialogue, and extremely literary.
Xia Yan (1900-1995)
Xia Yan: The main screenwriting works are "Blessing", "Lin Family Shop", etc
Xia Yan was modest and resolutely refused to hang up the name of the screenwriter. Out of helplessness, Chen Liting had to serve as a screenwriter and a director.
The theme of "Distant Love" is to promote women's liberation, and the plot is to the effect that Yu Zhen, a rural girl, goes to the city to help the maid and works as a little sister in the family of Xiao Yuanxi, a university professor.
Distant Love
Xiao Yuanxi verbally shouted beautiful words about education to save the country and liberate women, but in fact it was in vain. He is determined to transform Yu Zhen and possess her, and as a result, the little sister really becomes his wife. After becoming the professor's wife, Yu Zhen slowly grew up in contact with the outside world, and finally left Xiao Yuanxi and threw herself into the torrent of anti-Japanese salvation.
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Fragment from Distant Love: He's reinventing her
In the film, Qin Yi plays Yu Zhen and Zhao Dan plays Xiao Yuanxi, which is the second cooperation between the two after the drama "Before and After the Qingming Dynasty".
"Haha, Sister Qin Yi, we are together again!" When Zhao Dan saw Qin Yi, he laughed and said loudly. He has always had a cheerful personality and a passion for people.
Qin Yi couldn't suppress the happiness in his heart and said, "Adam, you should help me well!" Qin Yi said the truth, in the film performance, Zhao Dan's skill is obvious to all.
Zhao Dan believes that only by integrating the heart and appearance can the character be performed naturally, accurately and vividly.
Zhao Dan's words greatly inspired Qin Yi.
There is a plot in which Yu Zhen eats the egg ham toast that the professor did not have time to eat for breakfast, and when filming this scene, Qin Yi, while showing the little sister wolfing down, casually and exaggeratedly placed her two legs on the coffee table, highlighting the characteristics of a little girl who had just arrived in the city from the countryside.
Yu Zhen became the professor's wife, the journalist went home to interview the professor, Qin Yi designed the professor's wife in the face of the reporter's flash is very unaccustomed, whenever the flash light, she will be slightly surprised, showing that although Yu Zhen has become the professor's wife, she is after all a simple girl in the countryside and a rare feature in the world.
Qin Yi's performance in these two scenes realizes the integration of Zhao Dan's character appearance and heart.
From Qin Yi's personal feelings, she realized the importance of details in film performances.
The character portrayal of "Distant Love" is natural and realistic, lifelike, and has won the praise of the audience.
After filming "Distant Love", Qin Yi played the heroine in Ying Yunwei's "Anonymous". This film written by Yu Ling sharply exposes the darkness of society, and is tried to be harassed by the official censorship agency and cut to pieces.
Co-op Stone Swing, Miss "The Crow and the Sparrow"
In the spring of 1948, Qin Yi played her mother in "Mother", from her twenties to her seventies, and the successful shaping of this image marked her smooth completion of the transition from stage performance to film performance.
Written and directed by Shi Hui, Mother is his directorial debut.
Qin Yiyan's mother, born into a famous family, gave birth to a son and a daughter after marriage, and her husband cheated and passed away. She painstakingly trained her son to graduate from medical university, hoping that he would become a famous doctor and live a rich life.
Fragment of "Mother"
Unexpectedly, after graduation, her son was keen to provide free medical treatment for the poor, and she still lived a life of poverty.
The mother's hopes were disappointed, and she had conflicts with her son, but when she saw that her son was sincerely loved by the poor, she woke up and had a fundamental change in her thinking and understanding.
Qin Yi plays a mother in her youth, which is not difficult, but it is not the case when she plays a mother in her old age. She was only 26 years old. Many people worry that if the old mother's play is not good, "Mother" will completely smash the pot.
Strangely, Qin Yi himself especially likes to play his mother in old age.
"Mother" officially began filming, Shi Hui first filmed two scenes of his mother's youth, and then jumped to shoot the scene of his mother going to a pawnshop in the ice and snow.
Obviously, Shi Hui was also worried that Qin Yi was not up to the role of a mother in his old age.
To everyone's surprise, after watching the sample film, the image of the elderly mother is integrated from the outside to the inside, and no one will think that the actor is Qin Yi, who has black hair and red face.
The image of an elderly mother in "Mother"
Qin Yi and Shi Hui were not familiar with each other, but they admired each other and knew each other.
Shi Hui is worried about whether Qin Yi can act well in the old age drama, and Qin Yi is also worried that Shi Wei will become a director for the first time, and he does not know whether he can make "Mother" well.
Through this cooperation, the two got to know each other and have maintained a pleasant and friendly relationship ever since, without any disputes. Qin Yi was 26 years old and Shi Hua was 33 years old.
The 33-year-old Shi Wei has a relaxed and pleasant work style, can grasp the overall situation, and treats all collaborators strictly and kindly. Qin Yi felt that Shi Hui was not only a good actor, but also a good director.
Wei Yuping and Tong Baoling
It is worth mentioning that Tong Baoling, a Peking opera actress who plays her son's girlfriend in the film, was only 18 years old at the time, and later she became Shi Hui's wife.
Tong Baoling
She is Tong Xiangling's older sister and Tong Zhiling's younger sister.
Front row from left: Tong Xiangling, Tong Zhiling, Tong Baoling
Shi Hua (1915-1957)
Shi Hua and Tong Baoling held a wedding in 1953. Unfortunately, only 4 years later, Shi Hui threw himself into the river and bid farewell to the world.
For some reason, after the filming of "Mother" in 1949, it has been rarely re-screened. In terms of content, "Mother" is still relevant today.
In addition to the above four films, Qin Yi also filmed "Spring Return of the Earth" directed by Mao Yu, "The Vast Sea" directed by He Zhaozhang and "Lost Love" directed by Tang Xiaodan, a total of seven films before and after the shooting, Qin Yi fell in love with the film in his heart, and since then he has been inseparable from the movie.
As an actor, if you miss the opportunity and rub shoulders with excellent works, you will regret it for life.
However, in just one or two years of hard work, Qin Yi missed "A River of Spring Water Flowing East" and "The Crow and the Sparrow", two classics in the history of Chinese film development, and Qin Yi regretted every time he talked about this matter for decades.
At the end of 1947, Chen Baichen, an old man of "Zhongyi", told Qin Yi that he was writing the film script "The Crow and the Sparrow", and when the time came to ask her to play Yu Xiaoying, the sister-in-law of Hou Yibo, a small bureaucrat of the Ministry of National Defense, Qin Yi happily agreed.
Stills from "The Unknown"
After filming "Anonymous", Qin Yi had a short period of time, so he patiently waited for the start of filming of "The Crow and the Sparrow". At this time, Shi Hui invited Qin Yi to play his mother in "Mother". Shi Hui said very politely, Qin Yi was embarrassed to refuse, so he went to Chen Baichen to get an idea.
Chen Baichen let Qin Yi shoot "Mother" first, his script is still being revised, it is estimated that after "Mother" is filmed in two months, "Crows and Sparrows" can be started. In this way, Qin Yi took over "Mother".
Who knew that "Mother" had just been filmed for a month, Chen Baichen's book had been changed, and "The Crow and the Sparrow" was immediately started. Qin Yi could not leave "Mother" to shoot "The Crow and the Sparrow", and Yu Xiaoying was finally starred by Huang Zongying.
Huang Zongying (1925-2020)
Imagine if Qin Yi came to play Yu Xiaoying in "The Crow and the Sparrow", it should be different from Huang Zongying's style. Perhaps, that will become a breakthrough in Qin Yi's performance. After all, she had never played such a mean woman, and it was even less likely that she would have the opportunity to play such a villain after the founding of the Country. Unfortunately, missed.
On the screen, she has always been synonymous with beauty, kindness and decency. That's also doomed.
Tao Jin and poplar in "A River of Spring Water Flows Eastward"
Missing "A River of Spring Water Flowing East" was because Chen Tianguo was originally scheduled to play the male lead, and Qin Yiwan refused the invitation of the female lead. Unexpectedly, chen Tianguo withdrew later, and Tao Jin and Poplar co-shaped the classic.