Shen Fu's movie "Long Live the People"
It is based on Xiao Ying's "Blood of the Well Tower" and filmed
Chen Jiaji
On October 5, 2020, I published an article in the Beijing Evening News entitled "Li Gongpu Writes Inscriptions, Xiao Yin Writes Reports, and the Deeds of the Villagers of Jingpu Pagoda Who Resisted the Japanese Army Can Be Remembered."" In the article, the author writes:
In 1939, the famous director Shen Fu (1905-1994, who had directed films such as "North Country Jiangnan" and "New Biography of a Veteran"), after reading the reportage "The Blood of the Jingqu Pagoda", was deeply shocked, and he wrote the film script "Long Live the People" (also known as "The Smoke of the Earth") according to the content of the report, and later the film was produced by the Northwest Film Company, with Shen Fu as the choreographer and Chen Chen as the photographer. At that time, the film crew also went to shanxi along the Yellow River for exterior shooting. However, it is a pity that the Northwest Film Company that filmed this film was funded by Yan Xishan, and when the filming was 80% complete, the company was ordered by Yan Xishan to stop, and the film died prematurely. ”
The basis for this writing is based on the following paragraph of the "Lecture Notes on the Review of Chinese Film History".
"Long Live the People": Features: Documentary. Based on a report in Xinhua Daily titled "Blood in Jingquta Village". The real story and plot process are also the same as the development of the original events. ”
For more than a year, the author has searched in many ways, hoping to get more information about the movie "Long Live the People", however, the information about the movie "Long Live the People" on the Internet, including many stills (below), basically comes from several articles by Chen Fan, the son of Chen Chen, the son of this film. As for the basis of the adaptation of the script, it is not clear that "in 1939, Shen Fu wrote the script of "Long Live the People" based on a field newsletter of Xinhua Daily."
Shen Fu (right), the screenwriter and director of the movie "Long Live the People", and Chen Chen (left), the cinematographer( left)
The author did not give up until the National Day of 2021, and finally searched for the third article of "The History of the Development of Chinese Film" edited by Cheng Jihua published by China Film Publishing House in February 1963, "The New Stage of the Progressive Film Movement and the Rise of People's Films". The book has a more detailed description of Shen Fu's adaptation, director and shooting of "Long Live the People", as well as the plot of the film, and also provides several stills.
In February 1963, Cheng Jihua, editor-in-chief of The History of Chinese Film Development, edited by China Film Publishing House
Illustration of "Long Live the People" in the History of the Development of Chinese Cinema, p. 25
The book reads:
In 1939, after the filming of "Wind and Snow Taihang Mountain", Shen Fu began to direct the film "Long Live the People" (formerly known as The Land Beacon Smoke). The script was based on a newsletter report by Chongqing's Xinhua Daily at the time titled "Blood in Jingjiao Village". This is a tragic and moving real event, showing the deadly struggle waged by the people of Jingjiao Village, Shanxi Province, a base area of the Anti-Japanese Resistance Against Japan, against the Japanese invaders. The story of the film "Long Live the People" is basically based on the real course of the incident, and the hero of the film is a young farmer (Wu Xue) in Jingfeng Village, who loves labor and is also the organizer of the village militia, often practicing with the village boys, preparing to resist the enemy's aggression. There is a girl in the village, Huan'er (Jin Shuzhi), who only has a weak brother and mother in the family. Young farmers often help her family with some labor. Later they got married. Just then, the Japanese came, and the young peasants joined the anti-Japanese people's army, and Huan'er entered the mountains with the remaining peasants. Using the cave hill, he fought tenaciously against the enemy. In the end, the enemy climbed up from behind the mountain, and Huan'er, her mother and all the peasants died heroically, and only two children survived. At this time, the young peasant returned to his hometown with the troops, and the fierce struggle of his father and elder in his hometown and the atrocities of the Japanese invaders aroused even greater hatred in him. He returned to the army with his two children and threw himself into a new battle. ”
The film script "Long Live the Common People" vividly shows the strong and indomitable national integrity and the resolute and tenacious revolutionary heroism of the people in the base areas under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, and shows the confidence and strength of China's certain victory in the War of Resistance. This is the only feature film during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression that depicts the anti-Japanese struggle of the people in the anti-Japanese democratic base areas. Unfortunately, when the film crew went to the northwest to shoot the location, worked for six months and completed 80% of the whole film, the northwest film company was suspended by Yan Xishan, so that the film could not be finally completed. "
——Excerpted from Cheng Jiping's "History of the Development of Chinese Cinema", pages 70-71, with bold characters marked by the author.
The above-mentioned newsletter report of Chongqing's Xinhua Daily entitled "Blood in jingqi village" actually refers to the "Blood of Jingyuan Pagoda" (see picture below) serialized by Xiao Yin (then known as Xiao Ying) in Xinhua Daily on March 23-25, 1939, based on the fact that the soldiers and civilians of Jingquta Village fought heroically with the Japanese and were eventually slaughtered. This article was later included by Xiao Yin in the Xiao Yin Self-Selected Works.
On March 23, 1939, Xinhua Daily published Xiao Ying's "Blood of the Jingqu Pagoda" (serialized in three days)
It should be noted that the article "Blood in jingyuanta village" based on the adaptation of the script should be "The Blood of Jingyuanta".
In addition, many of the introductions that narrate the filming process of the movie "Long Live the People" have mistaken the shooting time of the film, from 1935 to 1938. In fact, Xiao Yin (whose name was "Xiao Ying" at the time of publication) wrote "The Blood of the Jingqu Pagoda" "On the night of February 13, 1939 in Zhongshi, Ji County, Shanxi", and the publication date was March 23-25, 1939.
Therefore, Shen Fu adapted the script according to the reports he saw, and said that the script could only be after March 25, 1939. According to the narration of the son of Chen Chen, the photographer of the film, the film was filmed in 1940, which is more accurate.
Unfortunately, xiao Yin only compiled the "Xiao Yin Self-Selected Works" in 1982, a year before his death, and it took several twists and turns to retrieve the "Blood of the Jingyuan Pagoda" that was published in xinhua daily that year. He did not know that his report would trigger the inspiration of the famous director Shen Fu and adapt it into a movie. This is probably something he didn't expect when he was writing.
Another regrettable thing is that this "only feature film during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression that positively depicts the anti-Japanese struggle of the people in the anti-Japanese democratic base areas" was not completed at that time, and now it may just lie quietly in the warehouse of the China Film Archive, and no one will go to see it, let alone further study it.
However, it is still very gratifying to figure out the relationship between Shen Fu's movie "Long Live the People" and Xiao Ying's report "The Blood of the Well-built Pagoda".