In the third year of high school (1938), Inoue and other classmates attended the funeral of film director Masao Yamanaka. At that time, Mei Ci did not know who this person was, let alone how he died. A few days after the funeral, the Kyoto AsahiKai held an exhibition of Masao Yamanaka's masterpieces, which was the first time Thatmeji saw "The Paper Wind Boat of Human Feelings", "I was deeply moved, and for the first time I felt that the movie was such a beautiful thing." Inoue said so.
Just as he didn't know his fate with movies, he wouldn't have imagined that one day he would go to The Shaw Company in Hong Kong to start another film career.
Meiji Inoue and Run Run Shaw were introduced through photographer Masashi Nishimoto. In 1965, Run Run Shaw went alone to Tokyo to meet MeiJi, hoping that he would work in Hong Kong the following year. At the beginning, it was said that two movies would be made every year, and the visa would be three months each time. When I reported to the Japanese Tax Bureau, I needed to check the contract, so I asked Zou Wenhuai for help, who knew that he actually changed the contract to a hundred.
▲ Photographer Masaru Nishimoto, known as the "father of Hong Kong color cinema"
In 1966, Shaw sent fifteen people to visit the shochik set in Japan, including two directors, three cinematographers, two art directors, five lighting engineers, two assistant directors and one translator. After the death of Chairman Lu Yuntao, Cathay Pacific's business declined, and Shaw took the opportunity to monopolize Hong Kong production. Unfortunately, Shaw has first-class equipment and lacks available talent. Because, Shaw's directors are mostly actors or laymen who work concurrently. For example, production director Zou Wenhuai is a journalist. They wanted to learn efficiency and high-quality shooting techniques from Meiji Inoue. On Shaw's days, Mei Ci entered the factory on time at 9:10 a.m. every morning and started work earlier than the others.
▲ At that time, Shao set off a boom in Huangmei and martial arts films
Before coming to Hong Kong, Inoue Hades had never seen a Hong Kong movie. Zou Wenhuai and Wang Xiaosong were in the editing room, showing Mei Ci a movie trailer, which was Mei Ci's first contact with Hong Kong films. The name of the movie, he did not remember, the impression was some horses and the masses of the shots, the battle is not small. At first, Mei Ci was surprised, but later after watching the finished film, he realized that the shooting was very poor, and only a few scenes were worth watching. He felt that he had come to the right place, and that he was needed here.
▲ Zou Wenhuai and Bruce Lee
At that time, there were not many excellent Hong Kong filmmakers, and the pipe fittings were very hardworking, and Inoue Even wanted to bring him back to Japan, including Nishimoto's photography assistant Huashan (after becoming a photographer, he slowly embarked on the path of directing and made many films), and Meiji felt very responsible. But in Japan, seven or eight out of ten people were decent, there would be two or three talents, and Hong Kong at that time, he felt that only one in ten people was excellent.
As a result, Inoue needed to bring a lot of Japanese film professional filmmakers to Hong Kong to assist in filming. Initially there were only seven people, in addition to Meji himself, including cinematographer, art director, production director and three assistant directors. When the song and dance film was made, ten more people were added, including composers, line dancers and dancers. Then, the martial arts instructor also brought two groups of dragon and tiger martial artists from Japan, which was not over, there was also a demand for lighting, so he brought eight lighting engineers from Japan, before and after, this is about 50 people, at that time on the set was really lively. Interestingly, there was a time when Japanese cinema went downhill, and shochiku's Assistant Japanese Director came to Hong Kong to learn the art, but none of them became directors.
▲ Inoue Meiji's "Kaoe Flower Moon Night", the actor in the middle is Zheng Peipei
Inoue Meiji likes to cultivate new people, and taiwanese actress He Lili left a deep impression on her at that time. Once, Shaw wanted to remake his "Night to Dance" (1963, which is "Xiangjiang Flower Moon Night" in the stills above), asked Mei Ci's opinion, and asked him if he wanted to use a new person. So Mei Ci selected three actresses He Lili, Zheng Peipei and Qin Ping. Shaw wanted to photograph He Lili's sexy side, but she refused, crying and going home. Her acting skills are also very young, and it takes three hours to shoot a scene, which makes Mei Ci stay in Hong Kong for an extra three months. Mei Ci taught He Lili how to act from the beginning, fortunately, He Lili was still smart and perceptive, and the state of the two after a few days was judged. Therefore, Ho's mother regards Mei Ci as a great benefactor.
▲ Inoue Meiji's work "Legacy of 500 Million Yuan"
Wang Ping, also from Taiwan, made her debut as a blind woman in Meiji Inoue's film "Legacy of 500 Million Yuan", and she won the Golden Horse Award for Best Actress in 1982 (playing Pan Jinlian in the movie "Wu Song"). At that time, Wang Ping had just made her debut, and when she attended Shao's party, she was dressed very plainly, so Mei Ci took her to the neighborhood to buy decent evening clothes.
In terms of actors, Chen Hou, who starred in Theaji Inoue films, has the deepest friendship with him. Chen Hou died of bowel cancer in 1970. During his illness, Mei Ci avoided the media and brought medicines to Chen Hou.
▲ Chen Hou's appearance in Meiji Inoue's "Girls' School Spring Color"
Regarding the remake, Mei Ci said that "The Young Drum King" is not as good as the Japanese version of "Summoning the Wind Man", but he believes that "Xiangjiang Flower Moon Night" is better than "Night to Dance", no wonder Zheng Peipei, who starred in this film, believes that this is the best song and dance film ever in Hong Kong. Regarding the ballet in this film, it is also necessary to talk about Mei Ri's disobedience. The American 1948 film "Red Diamond", with fifteen or six minutes of ballet segments, was written by the dancer Moira. Mei Ji thought that she could shoot better, so she had the thirteen-minute scene in the film "The Winner".
1968's "Flower Moon" is a remake of the 1954 Japanese film Tokyo Cinderella by Meiji, which was tailor-made for actress Li Jing, because Li Jing wanted to star in the film directed by Meiji Inoue. "Tokyo Cinderella" focuses on family affection, while "Flower Moon" focuses on love.
▲ Stills of "Flower Moon Night"
Inoue attached great importance to film scores, and especially liked to use modern music, especially jazz. So he asked Shaw to bring in japanese composer Ryoichi Hattori to compose music for his film work in Hong Kong. Once, when Hattori Ryoichi was composing music at the hotel, the electronic keyboard did not use a transformer and almost caught fire.
▲ The only man in the photo is composer Ryoichi Hattori
The reason why Inoue Meiji is interested in jazz is because when he was in Japan, he went to jazz almost every night. Ginza used to have a Jazz Bar for Tennessee, and Inoue Megumi's "Summoning the Wind Man" filmed in Japan was set up according to the layout there. After the war, jazz became popular in Japan, with Frankie Sakai, George Kawaguchi and Hideo Shiragi being known as the three drummers. Inoue doesn't like rustic song and dance films, he wants to make gorgeous and novel things. Japanese song and dance films in the past have no rhythm in Meiji's eyes.
▲ Hideo Shiraki's album
After all, Run Run Shaw is a businessman, and he attached so much importance to Inoue Meiji because of the special environment of Hong Kong movies. During that period, the more you shoot, the more you earn. Inoue is a director who can make two films in three months. Shaw would, of course, reuse it. At that time, in Southeast Asia alone, a movie could earn 30 or 40 million yen. Some Shaw directors may not be able to finish one film a year, which naturally cannot be compared with Inoue Meiji. And he is not only fast, can ensure quality, but also knows how to control costs. Originally, Mei Ci would only go to Hong Kong from January to April (the weather was too hot in May and August), but Shaw would even send actors to Japan and invite Mei Ci to make a few more movies for them.
Of course, everything is not forever. In the year the Asian Film Festival was held in Hong Kong, Toho's Matsuoka Konoru and Shochiku's Shiroto told Japanese media at Haneda Airport: "The reason why Japanese films are becoming less and less popular in Southeast Asia is because he has taught Shaw all the japanese film techniques." ”
▲ Inoue Meiji, who works on the set
In fact, it was a japanese manga movie that foreigners couldn't understand at all, and as a result, Japanese filmmakers put the blame on Meji Inoue. Soon, Shochiku called to say that Johto wanted to see Umeji, and he didn't complain about Umechi, but just wanted him to continue filming for Shochiku. However, a high-ranking official named Mishima revealed to Meiji that Johto's words meant that he did not want him to go to Hong Kong to shoot films again. Of course, there are other factors, such as Zou Wenhuai's departure from Shaw, Fang Yihua's takeover, etc., in short, Mei Ci ended his years in Shaw, and did not realize the plan of making a hundred films for Shaw at that time.
To Inoue's regret, Taiwanese newspapers have repeatedly reported on his contributions to Hong Kong cinema. It is precisely the Hong Kong people who do not say anything about him, because Shaw does not want to mention the involvement of Japanese directors, and even asks Mei Ci to use the name Chinese, which Mei Ci rejected, once upon a time, Japanese realism and naturalistic films had a huge impact on the world. Inoue chose to shoot vibrant films during the Japanese revival period, and the films made in Hong Kong confirmed that his films can be suitable for viewing in different countries, which as a filmmaker is the most commendable and remembered in the history of cinema.