In the spring of 1953, the Film Bureau assigned me another task to direct "Mei Lanfang's Stage Art", and it was Cai Lao who talked to me. To tell you the truth, my only wish is not to make me a film director, and this profession is so out of place for me that I have a headache when I hear about it. But after all, Elder Cai is a respected Elder Cai, and I can only gently say that I am not willing to take on this task. Elder Cai said: "Everyone knows that you were once a Fan of Peking Opera, and there is no more suitable candidate for this film than you." ”
Without any excuses, I had to agree. But I made a request, hoping that after the film was filmed, I would become a professional screenwriter and never be a director again, and Elder Cai actually agreed to me. Although I know that the new atmosphere of the new society is the task of the revolution that cannot be bargained. But I had no choice but to do so. It's hard for anyone to understand how much being a film director is a burden on me.
Wu Zuguang
I did have a period of life experience as a Fan of Peking Opera, but it has been a long time. When I was about sixteen or seventeen years old, I skipped school and watched Peking opera in The Guanghe Building in Beijing for nearly a year. Based on this life experience and impressions, in 1942 I wrote a drama "Returning to the People on a Snowy Night" featuring actors from danjiao in Peking Opera. Now that I am asked to be the director of the stage art film of Mr. Mei Lanfang, the master of Peking Opera who has been illuminating the world art scene for half a century, it should be said that this is not only a task, but also an honor.
From the Central Ministry of Culture to the Film Bureau, they attached great importance to the filming of this film, decided to use the best technical equipment to shoot this scene well, decided to hire Soviet photography and recording experts to guide the filming work of these two departments, and decided to make a color film, and there was not a single color feature film in the early days of liberation.
In April of that year, I went to Shanghai to visit Mr. Mei Lanfang, and Mr. Mei happily received me in his residence on Sinan Road. We had many back-and-forth consultations and decided to shoot five shows that would encapsulate the different aspects of his performing arts. The five repertoire are: "Farewell to the Overlord", "Cosmic Front", "Broken Bridge", "Drunken", "Roselle"; before the five repertoire, a film was filmed on Mr. Mei's "Life and Life", introducing the historical origin of Peking Opera actor Mei Lanfang and his life. The life section and the four repertoire are divided into two episodes, and Roselle becomes a single film.
Mei Lanfang", "Overlord Farewell"
Bringing the highly stylized Peking Opera performing arts to the screen, art design is an extremely important part, and I hired several well-known artists at that time as my art design consultants, namely Zhang Guangyu, Zhang Zhengyu, Ding Cong, and the art historian Huang Miaozi. I know that in the aspects of graphic and three-dimensional, freehand and realism in art design, that is, there will inevitably be different opinions on virtual and real, and I believe that these four experts will stand with me to resist some divergent views. Later it turned out that my arrangement was correct.
The Film Bureau sent comrade Wu Weiyun, an experienced photographer of the older generation, to this film crew. For me, the most important thing is still the need for a competent assistant director. My luck is very good, Comrade Cen Fan loves the mainland of the motherland, at that time he was in Hong Kong as a young generation of film directors, is smooth sailing to the peak of his career, and one of the most popular and colorful film actresses at that time has always had a deep affection for him and is about to form a happy marriage, but he is bent on serving the new China after liberation, eliminating all interference, and returning to the motherland. But his luck was not good, and when he came to Beijing with enthusiasm, he caught up with a political movement, and his work and career could not be talked about for a while. He was an introverted, relatively silent man, who had obviously come at the wrong time, but who would never turn back. So I got the consent of the leader, borrowed him from the Bayi Studio to the Beijing Film Studio, and once again became my assistant director. In fact, he is still my teacher.
Wu Zuguang and Mei Lanfang on the set
This stage art film took a long time to prepare. From all aspects, mainly Mr. Mei collected a large number of materials to compile his life and life part, the two important people who participated in this part of the work are Mr. Mei's many years of cooperation with Xu Jichuan and his younger brother Mr. Xu Yuanlai, their two brothers are Mr. Mei's living dictionary, have a wealth of knowledge and infinite enthusiasm for the art of Peking Opera and Mei himself. After working with Mr. Mei for three years, I deeply realized that the reason why Master Mei Lanfang was great was first of all because of his generosity and tolerance, the so-called "tolerance is greatness", so that he could unite these talented people who were infinitely loyal to him around him. There are many people who work for this film, far more than just the Xu brothers.
One of the important tasks is to choose actors other than Mei's, Mr. Mei has his own troupe, that is, Mei Lanfang Troupe, all the plays to be filmed have corresponding actors, no need to ask for it. Among them, only Xu Xian in "Broken Bridge" and Cao Zijian in "Roselle" are xiaosheng workers, and the xiaosheng in the troupe is the famous Mr. Jiang Miaoxiang, who will play the role of Cao Zijian, so Mr. Mei proposed that the role of Xu Xian in "Broken Bridge" should be played by Mr. Yu Zhenfei. Mr. Zhenfei is the son of Mr. Yu Sulu, a master of southern Kunqu opera, and is a leader of contemporary xiaoshengxing. However, at that time, Mr. Yu lived in Hong Kong for a long time and was not in China, and it was I who found Comrade Xia Yan, who was then serving as the leader of cultural propaganda in East China, and Comrade Pan Hannian, vice mayor of Shanghai Municipality, and brought Mr. Yu Zhenfei to Beijing through the relevant departments in Hong Kong.
After drawing up the filming plan in Shanghai, some key members of the film crew and I followed the whereabouts of the Mei Opera Troupe and did everything possible to observe Mr. Mei's performance.
It should be said that to be honest, although I had a period of indulgence in the Peking Opera field when I was a middle school student, I was infinitely fascinated by Peking Opera, but my favorite thing was lao sheng's singing, followed by Hua Face and Wu Sheng, danjiao, I loved Hua Dan's performance, and I didn't like too much for Qingyi, who focused on singing. It was only because I accepted the directorial task of the film "Mei Lanfang Stage Art" and repeatedly listened to Mei Pai's authentic singing voice that I really became an appreciator of the Peking Opera Danjiao singers, and by 1956, the cooperation with another Danjiao singer, Mr. Cheng Yanqiu, made me further love the singing of Peking Opera Qingyi.
The performance of Peking Opera on the stage is generally slower, especially the literary drama that focuses on singing, so each repertoire must be compressed to make it as refined as possible, which is the work I must do. While compressing the script, we must also take into account the literary nature of the script. The literary nature of Peking Opera has always been the weakest link in this large drama that ranks second to none in the country, and there are many plays that are perfect in terms of theatrical structure, ideological depth, and performance, but the literature is very poor, and even the words are not comprehensible, which makes people cry and laugh.
Wu Zuguang and other staff members working on the set
But generally speaking, Mr. Mei's repertoire is not like this, for decades, there are many literary people who are writers or adaptations and polishers of Mei's repertoire, and there is no need to do any more processing in this regard. I only remember one of the dramas of "Farewell to the Overlord", where Xiang Yu was trapped by Han Xin's ten-sided ambush plan. In the midst of the embattled song, Yu Ji persuaded the king to drink, and danced her sword to relieve the king's worries, singing: "... Since ancient times, it has been said that I should not be deceived, and the rich and the poor will pass for a moment..."
I said to Mr. Mei, "Xiang Yu is the overlord of Western Chu, who has experienced hundreds of battles and competed with Liu Bang for supremacy in the world. In the case of 'rich and poor', what you see is too small, so why not change it to 'rise and fall success or failure' is more appropriate for your identity? Mr. Mei immediately agreed, and when he performed the play thereafter, he sang according to this modified sentence.
After about 1953, Mr. Mei moved from Shanghai to Beijing and settled down at No. 1 HuguoSi Temple in Xicheng. At that time, There was a famous Peking Opera actor Mr. Mei's disciple, Mr. Yan Jupeng's daughter-in-law Yan Huizhu, who lived in the Mei family. Yan Huizhu has acted in movies, may have acted in dramas, and can also write articles. She lives in Mei's house for one purpose, that is, she hopes to play a role with her teacher in this film. Her ideal is to play Qing'er in "Broken Bridge", and when she knew that this role had been decided by Mr. Mei to be played by her son Mei Baojiu, she said to me: "Let me play the dumb slave in "Cosmic Front". "The mute slave is a character who can't say a word and only makes a little gesture, and it is obviously inappropriate to be played by such a famous actor.
At a time when I was hesitant to decide, Mrs. May very seriously suggested to me that it must not be done. Master Mei's tone is very heavy, and I can't help but respect Master Mei's opinion. I feel sorry for Huizhu, but later in 1958, the late director Xu Ke filmed "Dream of Visiting the Garden", and Yan Huizhu finally got the opportunity to co-act with the teacher, making up for this shortcoming.
Smart, enthusiastic and versatile, Yan Huizhu married Mr. Yu Zhenfei in the late 1950s, both of whom are talented and accomplished theatre artists, and are an ideal couple. But in the early days of the subsequent decade of catastrophe, Hui Shu was bullied by the so-called revolutionary rebels and committed suicide. Her personality is narrow-minded, easy to get excited, before and after the liberation of the country, due to reasons of unsmooth life and career, there were two or three suicides, rescued to survive, and finally in the "Cultural Revolution" to take her own life, died in anger, which is lamentable.
Mr. Mei Lanfang came from a pear garden family, and his grandfather Mei Qiaoling was a famous Danjiao actor in the last years of the Qing Dynasty, who was highly regarded in the folk and in the Qing Palace. His father is also a Danjiao actor, unfortunately died early, Mr. Mei is the third generation of actors of the Mei family, Mei Baojiu is the fourth generation of Danjiao actors, and Bao jiu's sister Bao Yue is an actor who sings Lao Sheng.
Mei Lanfang, Mei Baojiu, "Broken Bridge"
In this film, Mr. Mei plays the white lady, and it is natural that the role of Qing'er will be played by Bao Jiu. However, after meeting Bao Jiu several times, our colleagues in the film crew generally felt that Bao Jiu did not love his career, and the objective factors in his work in the Peking Opera Danjiao line were far greater than his subjective wishes. He likes to drive cars, fiddle with tape recorders, cameras, and all kinds of machinery, and so on, and he goes far beyond the peking opera performing arts he is engaged in. One of the most prominent things is that after a long period of preparation, before the film is about to start shooting, each play needs to be rehearsed once, which will be the most important preparation before the official shooting. On the day of the rehearsal of "Broken Bridge", all the crew arrived on time, including two Soviet experts specially invited, and no one from the Mei Troupe had waited for a long time. After a long time, Mr. Mei and his party came to the studio, but they did not see Baojiu, and Mr. Mei, who has always been gentle and stable, had a displeasure on his face, and after asking a certain Jun who came with him, he knew that Baojiu had gone to Tianjin to play...
Bao Jiu is very smart and talented, that is, the genetic quality of being a Dan actor. However, he had little interest in acting, acting with intelligence, not like his father who had worked hard, and the subsequent ten years of catastrophe wasted his most precious golden age of acting. When I write this, I know that his first performance in Hong Kong has been very successful, which makes people happy, and Bao Jiu is now middle-aged.
The art design of the film is an important task, on this issue I have the most differences with Comrade Cai Chusheng, who presides over the art committee of the Film Bureau, who is relatively unfamiliar with traditional opera performances, and is always afraid that the background is too simple and the effect of shooting is monotonous.
And I insist that the virtual and freehand technique of traditional opera performance is the most intelligent performance method that breaks through time and space and induces the audience to gallop their imagination. Three-dimensional sets and bulky props can only tie the actor's hands and feet... The final design was implemented after much deliberation. The Soviet photography expert Yakovlev did not understand this originally, and I explained it repeatedly before I could gradually accept it.
Shoot the set photos of Roselle
The art design is a famous artist Han Shangyi specially invited from Shanghai, and the background is Hu Ruosi, a famous Chinese painter who is good at golden landscapes in Shanghai. It was a pleasure to work with both of them.
The hiring of two Soviet experts, on the whole, played a role in completing the task. On the one hand, it shows the importance that the leaders attach to this film, but after more than half a year of cooperation, they do feel a lot of unnecessary waste, including time, energy and economic waste. The economic waste is remarkable, the two specialists, both carrying their wives, are a large expense in terms of salary and living; everything in the work is through the translator, and the two translators are busy and very tired all day. Among them, the recording work is relatively simple, but the photography is much more complicated, this expert is also more stubborn, often in a certain processing method of conflict, the reason between the two sides does not make sense, it is really "show to meet the soldiers, there is no reason to explain clearly", stalemate, bitter.
In fact, if we don't hire experts, I think we have the ability to do a good job. Moreover, we are not the first color film in New China, and the Yue opera stage art film "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai" of the Shanghai Film Studio is also a color film, which was filmed before the mei film, and did not invite any foreign experts, and after the film was completed, it won an international reputation, which is enough to explain the problem.
Because of the disagreement and even controversy with Soviet experts in cooperation, this should have been a very normal phenomenon, but in the "anti-rightist movement" in 1957, after being "exposed" by some comrades in our film crew, my attitude toward Soviet experts was "anti-Soviet"! Therefore, to oppose the Soviet Union must be anti-communist, and to oppose communism must be anti-Soviet, which is a crime that I absolutely could not have predicted in advance.
Cen Fan, Mei Lanfang, Yakov Lev, Liu Lianrong, and Wu Zuguang were filmed on the film
In fact, I have great respect for soviet experts, and if Comrade Yakovlev were still alive — he was not young at the time — he and the recording expert Golden would remember our friendship. I once entertained them at home, and when I left, I gave them both a large-scale painting of the old man of Shiraishi. I also believe that he will never consider the debates that arise between us as a result of disagreements.
Another example is the show "Broken Bridge", after I watched the sample film, I always felt that the focus was not real, and the image was not clear enough. But due to the difficulty of printing, remakes are more difficult. A truly strict director has the right to offer accountability and rework and remake. But I only mentioned that because of the respect for experts, and no one else even included superior leaders to propose, it will be enough. It's hard to imagine how tense my relationship with the experts would have been if I had proposed a reshoot. However, based on my sense of responsibility, twenty-seven years have passed, and I am still grumpy.
After nearly two years of preparation, filming began in the spring of 1955 and ended near the end of the year. It should be said that the work is basically smooth. Mr. Mei Lanfang is open-minded and approachable, and his greatest superiority and touching point is that he is so modest, sincere, and kind to others. He listens to anyone's opinion with an open mind and takes the initiative to seek the opinions of others at any time. When filming "Broken Bridge", he humbly said that his knowledge of Kunqu opera was not deep - in fact, this is his frequent repertoire, people know that he had a teacher in Kunqu and worked hard, when Mr. Yu Zhenfei's wife Huang Manyun was still alive and accompanied Mr. Yu to the studio every day. Mr. Mei repeatedly asked Mrs. Huang Manyun to perform for him before filming, and he stood by the side and watched intently, as pious as a respectful and earnest young student. Who would have thought that this was the most revered Peking Opera performing arts master in contemporary times? From here, I found the secret of Mr. Mei Lanfang's lifelong persistence in progress and eternal artistic youth: humility. This is a moving scene that will never be forgotten.
Another thing that is difficult to forget is when filming the "Golden Temple" in "Cosmic Front", while shooting a panorama, the lights in the entire studio are all turned on, and the shooting is in progress, suddenly exploding a large light bulb of ten thousand lights, the sound is frightening, the broken glass pieces are splashed down, the whole audience is surprised, and Mr. Mei Lanfang, who is singing in the performance, is not at all moved, and concentrates on finishing the play. This is called "Taishan collapses in front of the same color", without superior courage, a high degree of cultivation and a sense of responsibility for the cause it is also difficult to do.
("In Control of Destiny")