In 1962, people read a best-selling novel "Wildfire Spring Wind Fighting Ancient City". Yan Jizhou didn't care too much at first, and then he heard the praise for this novel in his ears, which aroused his curiosity, so he also bought a book to read, who knew that this reading could not be put down.
Director Yan Jizhou
The novel depicts the Communist Party's arduous struggle against the Japanese and the Pseudo-Japanese on the hidden front during the War of Resistance Against Japan, and celebrates the glorious image of these Communists who put life and death aside.
At this time, bayi film studios are also preparing to put the novel on the screen, not only with the novel's author Li Yingru, but also he hopes to be good at military themes Yan Jizhou, not only as the director of the film, but also to participate in the creation of the script.
Fiction author Li Yingru
Immediately, the group came to Baoding, which is also the location of the story. Before liberation, Li Yingru was engaged in underground work here. Under his leadership, he visited the various attractions provided by the novel, so that the creation had a deep experience and emotional cognition.
It is not easy to condense a novel of more than 300,000 words into a vivid and tortuous feature film. The result of the joint consultation between director Yan Jizhou and screenwriter Li Yingru was to extract underground party members such as Yang Xiaodong and Yinhuan from the complex plot of the novel to fight for and disintegrate the uprising of Guan Jingtao, the commander of the legion, as the main line running through the whole play. It also focuses on the most concise, vivid, powerful and most suitable dramatic plot of the novel to shape the means of performance for adaptation.
The protagonist of the novel is yang Xiaodong, the leader of the underground party, all through a series of activities he carried out in the ancient city, and now the adaptation is to follow the struggle for Guan Jingtao's uprising, so the material provided for Yang Xiaodong in the original work is not full enough.
In this way, the protagonist of the film had to fall on the character of silver ring. In the process of script creation, Yan Jizhou produced a similar appearance to the silver ring and gold ring in the play. But the idea that sisters with very different personalities will be played by an actor.
In the 30s, Yan Jizhou saw a movie "Sister Flower" in Shanghai, played by the popular movie queen Hu Die, who played the two sisters, and after its release, it caused a sensation in the Ten Mile Ocean Field. Not to mention the film he just directed, "Brothers Are Good", Zhang Liang played two roles by himself, and also obtained better results, while also accumulating some experience and experience.
In the casting process, director Yan Jizhou first considered the candidates who played the silver ring and the golden ring. "The character of Silver Ring should be enthusiastic, quiet, gentle, and clever, but he lacks experience in his work and seems a little naïve. The Golden Ring is different, gritty, sharp, sophisticated, and composed. She walks with a gust of wind, speaks unforgivingly, does not drag mud and water in her actions, plays the golden ring to show her strength, and plays the silver ring to show her taste. ”
Perhaps the impact of the novel is too great, and some colleagues have contributed ideas to Yan Jizhou. Cui Wei of the North Film Studio suggested using Xie Fang, who had just finished filming "Song of Youth" and became famous, and Director Xie Jin of the Shanghai Film Studio suggested using Xiang Mei, who had filmed "Women's Basketball No. 5" and "The Red Women's Scouts". Just when the chess game was undecided, it happened that Wang Xiaotang returned from Guizhou after participating in the Four Qing Movement. Because they have cooperated in the shooting of several films such as "Hero Tiger Guts", Yan Jizhou is convinced of her plasticity, and Wang Xiaotang has a persistent momentum in filming, believing that she has the ability to complete this task.
Sure enough, in the filming, Wang Xiaotang successfully played these two characters to life. Therefore, in the 1964 "Hundred Flowers Award" selection won the best actress, and the vote rate is 100% of the unanimous vote is also rare, due to the influence of various political factors at that time, that year's "Hundred Flowers Award" could not be carried out as scheduled, can not be said to be a pity.
In addition to the golden and silver rings played by Wang Xiaotang, Wang Xingang was also selected to play Yang Xiaodong, an underground party member, Wang Runsheng to play Guan Jingtao, the commander of the pseudo-public security corps, and Chen Lizhong to play Yang Xiaodong's mother.
Man has feelings, animals with seven passions and six desires, joy, sorrow, exuberance, and lowness, which can convince the audience. Originally, the emotional clues between Yinhuan and Yang Xiaodong in the novel were much clearer than those shown in the movie, but at that time, in the passionate era of "talking about love color change", I did not dare to describe it clearly. Therefore, it can only be vaguely and vaguely mixed with feelings in the plot. This kind of artistic creation seems incomprehensible today, but it was a last resort in those days.
Director Yan Jizhou recalled the filming past of the film, "because this film is not known for its twists and turns, not for thrilling victories, but about people's encounters, people's feelings, and people's fate, which is an epic feature film with a thrilling plot." Therefore, when I made this film, I did not expand the thrill, but used a real and simple narrative method, thick line outline and work description to reproduce the long volume of struggle at that time. ”
The shooting scene was Yan Jizhou, Wang Xiaotang, Zhao Ruping
Filmed in 1963, Wildfire Spring Breeze Dou Ancient City is still frequently featured on television screens more than fifty years later. The reason why it still has a strong vitality is because the main creators who participated in the film are familiar with life, they all have a revolutionary enthusiasm, regardless of conditions, regardless of remuneration, regardless of personal gains and losses, condensed into a rope, with one heart and one mind, only to achieve this classic film.