Xiqu film is the product of the combination of traditional Chinese opera and film art means, and it has formed a unique film genre in Chinese cinema. In 1905, Ren Qingtai of Fengtai Photo Studio filmed his first film,"Dingjun Mountain," which opened the history of Chinese cinema and also set a precedent for Chinese opera cinema.
However, opera and film have their own artistic principles and artistic characteristics, the two in the process of integration must have the problem of who to center, especially as the essence of the country, Peking opera, broad and profound, accumulation and thickness, in the process of being adapted into a film will inevitably damage its essence, if the parties lack enough mind, can not see the sublimation that the combination of opera and film can bring, the conflict will be triggered, Gai Lingtian and Cui Song failed to reach a cooperation on "Wu Song" is an example.
Gai tianyuan name Zhang Yingjie, a native of Gaoyang County, Hebei Province, entered Tianjin Longqing Like class to learn martial arts since childhood, he gradually formed a unique "Gai Pai" performance art with rich martial arts and the shape of the characters, and because of the long-term performance in Shanghai, and good at performing the whole "Wu Song", there is a reputation of "Jiangnan Living Wu Song".
In 1952, the first national opera observation and performance conference was held in Beijing, and Gai Mingtian performed the very difficult "Wusong Dadian One Fold". This is a play that comprehensively tests the basic skills of short-form martial arts students, and Gai Mingtian has played it to the fullest, and the unique performances of those Gai factions have also made their northern counterparts refreshed, and even Chairman Mao, who came to watch the performance, could not help but give a standing ovation. Gai Mingtian never closed the curtain in the old society, but from that time on, he felt that he had been respected, and he would inevitably end the curtain three times every time he performed in the future.
Gai called Tian and Mei Lanfang
At this year's performance viewing conference, 7 people won honorary awards, namely Mei Lanfang, Zhou Xinfang, Cheng Yanqiu, Yuan Xuefen, Chang Xiangyu, Wang Yaoqing and Gai Mingtian, of which the oldest Wang Yaoqing had long bid farewell to the stage and devoted himself to passing on the art, followed by 64-year-old Gai Mingtian and 58-year-old Mei Lanfang.
After the meeting, in order to protect the outstanding opera heritage of the motherland, the Ministry of Culture decided to shoot mei Lanfang and Gai Mingtian's stage art into a documentary, and the task was given to the North Film Studio and the Shanghai Film Studio respectively. Responsible for the filming of "Gai Mingtian Stage Art" is the Shanghai Film Studio, before the Shanghai Film Studio filmed the first color opera film in New China "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai", not only famous throughout the country, but also famous internationally, this time they organized a strong shooting team, with Bai Shen as the director, Huang Bao as the writer, photography Zhu Jinming, artist Han Shangyi, composer Chen Gexin, big star Shu Xiuwen as the narrator.
Bai Shen has just returned to the motherland from Hong Kong, and during his time in Hong Kong, he co-directed Ma Lianliang and Zhang Junqiu's "Fisherman Hate", Zhang Junqiu and Yu Zhenfei's "Yutang Spring" and Ma Lianliang's "Borrowing the East Wind", in this film, he selected eight classic plays of Gai Mingtian, namely "White Water Beach", "Seven Xiong Juyi", "Maozhou Temple", "Splitting The Mountain to Save the Mother", "Heroic Righteousness", and "Wusong Fighting Tiger", "Lion Building" and "Cross Slope Play shop" in "WuSong", except for the role of Wu Song, who was divided by Gai Mingtian and his son Xiao Gai, The rest of the characters of Mu Yujie, Chao Gai, Xie Hu, Shen Xiang and Shi Wengong were all played by Gai Mingtian himself.
The film basically covers the essence of Gai Mingtian's stage art, but after its release, it was not recognized by experts, and the famous playwright Chen Xiting published an article in popular film magazine, believing that the film had great shortcomings. Chen Xiting is the screenwriter of the play "Seven Heroes juyi", and Gai Mingtian has a deep cooperative relationship, in his opinion, the director of the film does not understand the art of Gai Mingtian, and lacks profound understanding and research on the characteristics of the art of Peking Opera, four of the eight repertoire are cut to no plot, no dramatic conflict, only to show the martial arts of those knives, guns and sticks, but ignore the integrity of art, especially the ability of Gai Mingtian to portray and shape characters from a meticulous and plain place.
In contrast, The "Stage Art of Mei Lanfang" of the North Film Studio is not only a color film, but also divided into upper and lower sets, director Wu Zuguang has been a fan of Peking Opera since childhood, and has watched the performances of Fu Liancheng's class for a long time, plus he has previously written a drama "Returning to the People in the Night of the Wind and Snow" with peking opera Danjiao actors as the protagonists, and has an in-depth study of Mei Lanfang.
The film excerpts five classic plays such as "Farewell to the Overlord", "Cosmic Front", "Broken Bridge", "Drunken", "Roselle", etc., making full use of the performance characteristics of the film, which not only preserves the original appearance of the performance, but also makes up for the restricted places on the stage, and the use of close-up shots vividly presents Mei Lanfang's delicate facial expressions on the screen, increasing the artistic appeal.
In addition, the film also devotes a lot of space to introducing Mei Lanfang's artistic origins and his life outlook, especially the meeting between Mei Lanfang and Qi Baishi, which is a good story, adding extra brilliance to the film. Compared with the two, "The Stage Art of Covering the Sky" is much thinner.
In 1960, Gai Mingtian was in the outer building of Hangzhou with Premier Zhou Enlai and Vice Premier He Long
The filming of "Wu Song" was initiated by Premier Zhou. Premier Zhou had seen Gai Mingtian's plays as early as the 1930s, and had heard about his encounters in the old society, and after liberation, he repeatedly urged the leaders who presided over the work of the Drama Association to pay more attention to old artists like Gai Mingtian. In 1961, Premier Zhou, who accompanied foreign guests to Hangzhou, made a special trip to the "Yannan Jilu" to visit Gai Mingtian and consulted his opinion on using color films to film the whole Wusong drama for future generations to observe and learn from, and the 73-year-old Gai Mingtian gladly agreed. Premier Zhou then entrusted the task to the Ministry of Culture and named Cui Wei of Beiying to shoot the film.
Cui Wei, one of the 22 stars and known as the "Great Marshal", has a strong interest in traditional opera, as early as when he was the dean of the Central South Academy of Literature and Art and the director of the Central South Culture Bureau, he personally grasped the Han opera "Cosmic Front", "Playing Flower Drum", Chu opera "Ge Ma", Gui opera "Picking Jade Bracelet", Xiang opera "Pipa on the Road" and other drama reform work, and sorted out the script of Hebei Zizi's "Butterfly Cup" for Changying. In 1957, Cui Wei stepped down from his leadership position and transferred to Beiying as a director.
In 1959, he cooperated with Chen Huaigao to put the newly compiled Peking Opera "Yangmen Female General" of the Four Troupes of the Beijing Opera House on the screen, and used a number of young actors such as Wang Jinghua, Yang Qiuling, Liang Youlian, Guo Jinhua, Sun Yue and other young actors from the Beijing Peking Opera House to play roles in the play, and made in-depth exploration and attempts at the integration of traditional opera techniques and modern film expression methods. In the selection of the first "Hundred Flowers Award" in 1962, "Yangmen Female General" won the Best Opera Film Award in one fell swoop, representing the highest achievement of the creation of New Chinese Opera Films, and Premier Zhou was very satisfied with the film, praising it as a "good play that is rare in a hundred years." ”
Premier Zhou hopes that there is another layer of consideration for the filming of "Wu Song" by Beiying, that is, he wants to use the channel of Beiying to cooperate with Hong Kong to make films, and spread the art of Gaipai on a larger scale. Originally, "The Lady of Yangmen" was screened at the "Chinese Opera Art Film Exhibition" held in Hong Kong, which not only set a record for the highest grossing film released in Hong Kong, but also won the first place in the 1960 "Top Ten Business Cards" election held by Hong Kong's "New Evening News". At the request of the Leftist Film Agency in Hong Kong, Beiying decided to shoot a new opera film in the name of cooperating with the Hong Kong company. If all goes well, then the film should be "Wu Song".
From the left, Cui Wei, Gai Mingtian and Zhao Yanxia
In the spring of 1962, the Ministry of Culture notified Gai to call Tiantian to Beijing to shoot "Wu Song". In early June, Gai summoned Tiankai's wife Xue Yijie and granddaughter Zhang Mingzhu to Beijing. At the instruction of the premier, the Ministry of Culture attached great importance to this matter, and the head of the ministry, Qi Yanming, appointed Ma Yanxiang to be responsible for the reception. The Ministry of Culture held a tea talk forum for filming, and Qi Yanming, Xia Yan, Tian Hanhe and other leaders all attended the forum. At the meeting, Tian Han introduced Cui Wei to Gai Mingtian, and Shandong Han Cui Wei has always been straight-talking and fast-talking, and said loudly: "Elder Gai, under the instructions of Premier Zhou, we have the opportunity to cooperate, I have a few thoughts, I want to hear your opinions, see how to shoot well?" Saying that, he handed the shooting plan to Gai Tiantian with both hands. Gai Lingtian took a look at it and returned the plan to Cui Wei: "I have sung for half a lifetime, I don't understand movies, you are an expert, I listen to the prime minister, I listen to you, and I listen to all the staff." When the meeting was adjourned, Cui Wei still handed the plan to Gai Mingtian again: "I have to take it back to see, what problems we will discuss again!" "Because Gai Mingtian didn't read much, knew little about film art, and couldn't give any opinion on the filming plan, "Wu Song" soon began to shoot.
Since Gai Mingtian came to Beijing alone, in addition to him playing Wu Song, directors Cui Wei and Chen Huaigao invited Zhang Yunxi and Zhao Yanxia from the Beijing Opera House and the Beijing Opera Troupe respectively to play Ximen Qing and Pan Jinlian respectively, Wudan Yan Shaoquan, who had been cooperating with Gai Mingtian before liberation to perform in plays such as "Playing Shop" and other dramas, played Sun Erniang, and Qian Haoliang, a young actor from the China Academy of Opera Experimental Peking Opera Troupe, who was heavily used by Jiang Qing during the Cultural Revolution for playing Li Yuhe in the model play "Red Lantern".
Unlike the "Stage Art of Gai Mingtian" 10 years ago, it is just a documentary, all the performance parts are completely copied from the stage performance, "Wu Song" is a drama film, Cui Wei and Chen Huaigao have accumulated a more mature set of film language for traditional opera through the filming of "Yangmen Female General", forming a set of rules in the scene scheduling and the pushing and pulling of the camera. Although Gai Mingtian performed in front of the audience on stage, he was always embarrassed to stand in front of the camera and face the directors and staff who pointed out the instructions under his feet. Shooting this shot for a while, and jumping on that shot for a while, especially when shooting close-up shots, the glare of the mercury lamp hit his face, making him feel that his eyes were scattered, and his emotions were really incoherent and uncontrollable, and he couldn't get into the scene.
Gai Mingtian is the famous straight personality of Pear Garden, how can he be at the mercy of such a situation, and as a result, within a few days of cooperation, he and Cui Wei quarreled. Gai Asked Tiantian to ask Cui Wei bluntly: "Shoot it in the east and shoot it in the west, and the spirit is all scattered, if you continue to act like this, where is it still like a Wu Song?" After all, Cui Wei was a leader, and at first he was patient and tried to persuade Gai From the perspective of film art: "Gai Lao, now you want to shoot a close-up of your eyes, you insist on a few more minutes, the eyes are good, and your spirit will be complete." ”
Cui Wei's pursuit of opera films is a real scene, and the Lion Building must have a "building", but on the stage, the Lion Building's drama is to cover the legs of the heavens, and the upstairs and downstairs are all watched by the performance on his legs. It is the handling of this scene that Gai Mingtian and Cui Wei completely fell out, and one insisted that "I am shooting a stage art film!" Another insists that "stage art films are also movies and cannot be limited by the stage!" Neither of them listened to the other's opinions, neither of them was convinced of the other, and the cooperation broke down.
Hearing this news, Premier Zhou felt very sorry, and he personally summoned Xia Yan, Yang Hansheng, and other relevant leaders of the Ministry of Culture to discuss the filming of "Wu Song." Considering that the pinpoint of Gai Mingtian and Cui Wei's personalities was to Mai Mang, it was difficult to form a good atmosphere of cooperation for a while, Premier Zhou agreed to put this matter aside first, and let Xia Yan, Liu Zhiming and Ma Yanxiang come forward, on the grounds that the northern winter was too cold and afraid that Gai Lao would not adapt, he notified the suspension of filming, and then went to the Chongwenmen Xinqiao Hotel for Gai Tiantian and his wife.
Gai called Tianhe and Lady Xue Yijie
Before getting on the train, Gai Mingtian tried his best to control his excitement and said to his wife Xue Yijie: "This time it has been planted again, and Beijing is not the place where we stand after all." There is a reason why he said this, Gai is called the Tianzhi Haipai, who used to perform in Beijing, and for a variety of reasons, the attendance rate was not as good as that of the famous characters of the Beijing Faction. However, this time the situation was different, he was invited by the Ministry of Culture to Beijing, not a spontaneous performance, and the results still do not prove that he can gain a foothold in Beijing. He felt that his self-esteem was greatly hurt, and when he returned to Hangzhou, he fell ill.
Under the supervision of Premier Zhou, the Ministry of Culture finally decided to hand over a piece of "Wusong" to Shanghai Tianma Factory for re-shooting after consultation. In December 1962, Xia Yan entrusted Ma Yanxiang to go to Shanghai to arrange work. Ma Yanxiang summed up the lessons of the previous failure of the North Film shooting, and decided to invite his friend who had worked with him on the stage for thirty years, Ying Yunwei, then the director of the Jiangnan Factory, to personally go out to remake "WuSong" for Gai Lingtian.
Although Ying Yunwei has directed "Zhou Xinfang's Stage Art" before, his experience in directing opera films is not richer than cui wei, but he has a big advantage, that is, he is good at observing people's expectations and flexible methods. Considering that Gai Yingtian was 75 years old and had inconvenient legs and feet at that time, after consulting with another director, Yu Zhongying, he found Zhang Erpeng, the son of Gai Tiantian, from the Suzhou Peking Opera Troupe to perform a drill for his father, and then asked Gai Tiantian to appear when the actual shooting was made. During the filming of a scene of "Blood Splashed Mandarin Duck Building", Gai Mingtian insisted on adding a waist drum stool in the close-up, but in this way, the composition of the picture was destroyed, the photographer resolutely disagreed, and the air at the scene where the stalemate was very tense. Ying Yunwei on the side signaled everyone not to move this prop, immediately took place, and officially started filming. After Gai Zhitian entered the role intently, Ying Yunwei signaled the prop personnel to quietly move the waist drum stool out of the camera and successfully finished the scene.
"Wu Song" was filmed in 1963, and its greatest achievement is to leave behind a precious opera stage art material that can be passed down to future generations, but there is not much breakthrough in the innovation of opera films, and it cannot but be said that it is a pity.
In contrast, Cui Wei and Chen Huaigao's "Wild Boar Forest", which followed the suspension of "Wu Song", created another peak of Peking Opera opera films, and with the full cooperation of the famous Peking Opera Wusheng Li Shaochun and the full cooperation of yuan Shihai, Du Jinfang and other famous characters, the film went a step further in replacing the opera expression method with film language, and the whole film designed and built 13 sets and shot 388 shots, which greatly exceeded the limitations of the original stage performance and the number of shots of the stage documentary. In particular, the addition of the long pavilion farewell and the addition of a large section of anti-erhuang singing in the hay field are two changes that cannot be done on stage, because the actors cannot be competent for such a difficult and heavy singing in a late performance, but making opera movies makes this possible. Although Li Shaochun also gave up the colorful segments of stage performances such as "Vegetable Garden Dance Sword" in order to make the film more refined, the film is still a classic of the fusion and interplay of opera and film, and some people even think that the achievements of this film cannot be surpassed so far.