After the release of hollywood MGM's movie "Soul Break Blue Bridge", it quickly swept the world, and Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable became global public idols. With the success of the film, the Scottish folk song "Friendship Lasts Forever" was also sung all over the world. At that time, Hollywood movies were released almost simultaneously in Shanghai, Tianjin and other major cities in China, so this film also had a great impact on young people in China, and more deeply affected the performing arts industry. There have been many imitation works in China, first Yue opera, then Shanghai opera, and soon there was a remake of the film, transplanting the story of "Soul Breaking blue bridge" to China, produced by Yihua Film Company, written by Ye Yifang, and directed by Mei Yan, who went from Tianjin to Shanghai to devote himself to the drama and film industry. The male and female protagonists are Zheng Junli and Li Lihua respectively.
Mei Yan was born in Tianjin, and the Mei family has the longest roots in Tianjin, and can be said to be the largest family in the history of Tianjin. The Mei family was originally from Wujin, Jiangsu Province, and his ancestor Mei Yin was Zhu Yuanzhang's chancellor. The "New Chronicle of Tianjin County" records that after Ming Yongle set up a wei and built a city in Tianjin in the second year (1404), he also set up Tianjin Left Guard and Tianjin Right Guard, and Mei Man'er served as the commander of Tianjin Right Guard (Zheng Sanpin). Mei Man'er is the first generation of the Tianjin Mei family, and his descendants have inherited military positions, settled in the courtyard of the east gate of the old city, and have been passed down from generation to generation for five or six hundred years. The Mei family began as a military attaché, and later abandoned the martial arts to learn literature, the fifteenth Mei Luduan was good at painting Mei Lanzhu, married the daughter of Zhu Min, a famous calligrapher and painter who lived in Shuixizhuang, and had four sons and two daughters, the eldest son Chengdi, the second son Chengdong, the third son Chengye, the fourth son Chengchun, the eldest daughter Shi Chen, and the second daughter Shi Shen.
Mei Chengdong (1776-1844) was one of the most influential literati of the Qing Dynasty to Tianjin. Mei Chengdong is erudite and versatile, working in poetry, Jiaqing five years (1800) in the middle, familiar with Tianjin palm history, the poems made are mostly related to Tianjin characters, customs, collected and sorted out thirty volumes, three thousand "Jinmen poetry banknotes" has been passed down to this day. He went out with another famous Tianjin poet, the author of the "Bamboo Branches of Jinmen" and the author of the "Miscellaneous Records of Jinmen", the Qingyun poet Cui Xu, collectively known as "Yannan Erjun", and was a disciple of Zhang Wentao (Chuanshan), a titan of Qianjia poetry. Mei Chengdong was promoted to the leader of the "Plum Blossom Poetry Society" organized by The Qingjin Academy, and also founded the Furen Academy in Wenchang Palace to assist Tianjin's studies with "Ren".
▲Tianjin Old Town Xiang Drum Tower
Mei Chengdong had four sons: Baoyan, Baolu, Baoxiong, and Baochen. Bao Lu inherited the "Plum Blossom Poetry Society", and the Tianjin Drum Tower has a column-hugging link: "High and open quick to climb, see the seventy-two gu to and fro; bustling who wakes up, listen to the morning and evening bells of one hundred and eight pestles." "It is Mei Baolu's original." Mei Xi (1910-1983), a famous film actor and director who became famous during the Republic of China period, was the grandson of Mei Baolu. Mei Yan is the grandson of Mei Baochen, the fourth son of Mei Chengdong, whose father studied at Peking Union Medical College Hospital and later became a military doctor.
After the opening of the port of Tianjin, the population of the Mei family continued to increase, and some of them left the old city and moved to the concession. Mei Yan (1916-2002) was born in the Italian Concession of Hedong Grain Store Street. Influenced by his cousin Mei Xi, Mei Yan loved drama, and joined the "Lone Pine Theater Troupe" at the age of 14 when he was studying at Tianjin Municipal Normal School, when Cao Yu returned to Tianjin after graduating from Tsinghua University and cooperated with the Lone Pine Theater Troupe to put the "Thunderstorm" script on the stage for the first time. After graduating from normal school, Mei Yan worked as a primary school teacher in Tianjin for a year, and resigned to work as a screenwriter and director at Shanghai Yihua Film Company. Later, he went to the law department of Soochow University in Suzhou to study, but still had difficulty giving up movies and dramas, that is, during this time, the 25-year-old Mei Yan remade the Chinese version of "Soul Breaking Blue Bridge".
▲ The Chinese version of "Soul Breaking Blue Bridge" male and female protagonists Zheng Junli and Li Lihua
The protagonists of the Chinese version of "Soul Breaking Blue Bridge" are all Chinese, and the story takes place in Hangzhou's West Lake, where Mei Lan, a dancer of the Silver Light Song and Dance Troupe, and Lu Ning, a pilot of the Aviation School, fell in love at first sight. Lu Ning was ordered to fly to a foreign country, and Mei Lan went to bid farewell and delayed the performance, and was fired by the song and dance troupe. Soon after, the newspaper suddenly published the news of Lu Ning's death, Mei Lan was heartbroken, and she was forced to go to the song hall to become a dancer because of her life. But Lu Ning did not die, he returned to Hangzhou to look for Mei Lan, the two recounted the old love, talked about marriage, Lu Ning's father opposed his son's marriage, secretly found Mei Lan to persuade her to leave Lu Ning. Mei Lan felt desperate and committed suicide by throwing herself into the West Lake, and mei lan had stopped breathing when Lu Ning arrived, and her lover was forever separated from the end of the world.
The theme song of the Chinese version of "Soul Breaking Blue Bridge" follows the melody of "Friendship for a Long Time", and Mei Yan, who has a family history, filled in a chinese ancient poetry style lyric "Reminiscences of the Past", and asked the famous composer Chen Gexin to arrange the music, and the singer was Li Lihua, who played Mei Lan in the film. The lyrics are infinitely mournful: "Hate this dynasty, meet too late, this dynasty is separated, the water whimpers, the flowers fall like rain, infinite pity to leave." Bai Shi is the basis, the bright moon testifies, my heart has long been promised, in the future, the end of the world, I wish to remember each other, love will never move. Cut off the intestines for the king, break the soul for the king, forgive the king to know it early, hate is as heavy as a mountain, life is as thin as a silk, and the white head is more difficult. White stone for the sake of evidence, the bright moon to testify, my heart has long been promised, heaven and earth, may we always remember each other, love will never move. ”
Although the impact of this "Soul Breaking Blue Bridge" was not large, the participants later became the top figures in the Chinese literary and art circles. Zheng Junli is the Taishan Beidou of Chinese film history; Li Lihua was born in Shanghai to the son of Li Guifang, a famous Peking opera actor who is a famous actor in the north and south of Weizhen, and his mother is Zhang Shaoquan, who specializes in Lao Dan. She has starred in more than 140 films, including "Laughter Karma", "Three Laughs" and "Fake Phoenix", and won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 52nd Golden Horse Awards in August 2015 and the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 35th Hong Kong Film Awards in January 2016.
Mei Yan has choreographed and directed more than ten films such as "Female Emperor", "The Second Generation", "Man Tingfang", and later became a pioneering director of Beijing Renyi, choreographed and directed nearly thirty plays, he adapted and directed "Camel Xiangzi" and "Xianheng Hotel", and co-directed "Tiger Rune" and "Wu Zetian" with Jiao Juyin. He is also the general director of the TV series "The Last Emperor".
▲ Above: Mei Yan (center) and Su Shuyang so Zheng Rong, etc.; Bottom: Mei Yan (right) and Niu Xingli Jin Yaqin, etc
At the beginning of the establishment of the Beijing Renyi Institute in 1952, the whole academy divided the actors and stage designs into four groups, and went to the factory and the countryside to experience life, when Mei Yan led the team back to his hometown Tianjin to experience life in tianjin cotton spinning factory. He is a person who is cold on the outside and hot on the inside, never gives a demonstration to the actors when rehearsing plays, and the habitual action is to rub his hands vigorously. Mei Yan has a strong memory. Beijing Renyi screenwriter Liang Bingkun recalled that they went to listen to the report together, and everyone else took a notebook to record it, but Mei Yan did not remember it. Liang asked, "Why don't you take notes and don't have a notebook?" Mei Yan smiled and replied, "People with good brains don't need a notebook!" ”
Mei Yan was versatile, and because of his family's studies, he liked to draw, and later became a good painter. In 2002, Mr. Mei Yan died, and the theme song of "Soul Breaking Blue Bridge" was still played at the funeral, "Friendship lasts for a long time". (Text: He Yuxin)
▲ Paintings by Mei Yan