On August 11, 79-year-old Famous Romanian actor Jan Calamitru was admitted to the hospital with a sudden high fever, and after nucleic acid testing, he was not infected with the new crown virus, but a staphylococcal was found in the blood samples sent for testing, which may endanger his life. So far, Kalamitru has been hospitalized for four weeks and his family does not want to make any statements about his health.
Presumably, this news also touched the hearts of many Chinese audiences, in the 43-year-old "Oak Tree, 100,000 Fires", the German major Werner played by Jan Karamitru left a very deep impression on the audience at that time.
From August 22 to 29, 1978, Chinese audiences ushered in the first foreign film week after the Cultural Revolution, romanian film week. Of the three films screened, Oak, One Hundred Thousand Fires was far more popular than Reconnaissance Heroes and Operation Car, and in some places it was a crowded and hard-to-find pomp.
In the book "Shanghai Story: Memories of the City Approaching the Distant Past", Gu Rongsheng, who was the former manager of the Shanghai Hengshan Cinema, recalled: "The Romanian Film Week screened 'Oak Tree, 100,000 Fire Rush', and on that day the entire public security system was also 'Oak Tree, 100,000 Fire Rush'. Before twelve o'clock in the middle of the night, the public security department came to my house and knocked on the door and called me, because the door of the theater was broken. By dawn, the entire Hengshan Road was full of people, estimated to be tens of thousands of people, so the public security forces that came at that time seemed to be somewhat insufficient, and later asked for instructions and sent a company of armed police fighters to maintain order. ”
In the films of eastern European socialist countries, Romanian films can best make us feel the openness of Europeans to the expression of emotions, which is why there is a saying of "Romanian cuddling". Perhaps what kind of gossip will make "Oak Tree, 100,000 Fire Rush" particularly attracting attention, thus triggering such a hot scene. However, in the version released in theaters at the time, this fiery and exciting dance passage was cut clean and was not restored until the retranslation version of the CCTV movie channel broadcast in 2019.
Even so, the audience who squeezed their heads to see this movie will not be disappointed at all, after all, this is a rare spy film, even if you are confused by the history of Romania during World War II, but the plot of the good and evil sides fighting for a confidential intelligence will still make you look frightened and addicted.
Oak Tree, 100,000 Fires was filmed in 1974 by Bucharest Film Studios Studios V to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the August 23 Uprising in Romania. The film tells the story of a faltering puppet government led by Marshal Antonescu in the summer of 1944, when the German High Command draws up a secret plan of action called "Magherita II" in an attempt to fully occupy Romania. The Romanian Communist Party sent a patriotic officer, Captain Udrea, deep into the enemy's nest, and with the cooperation of underground party member Thomas and others, he eliminated all kinds of difficulties and obstacles, and finally defeated his old classmate when he studied in Germany, Nazi Major Werner, and obtained the plan. On the basis of this information, the Romanian Armed Forces and the Patriotic Guards, which are dominated by the working class, launched an armed uprising, overthrowing the puppet government of Antonescu and beginning the struggle for the liberation of the motherland.
The film was directed by the famous director Dinu Kocha. Dinu Kocha is a prodigy of the Romanian film industry who specializes in dramatic interpretation of real historical events, and before his director", "The Good Guy in the Green Forest", was an action + legendary historical series that set the highest box office record in Romania. His other two works, "Jewels Lost" and "Postponement of Judgment", have also been released in China.
Dinu Kocha (right) directs "The Good Guy in the Green Forest"
In 1981, Dnu Kocha set out to make a film called "Water on Saturday." Telling the story of a dam under construction due to bureaucratic corruption, the film touched the nerves of those in power, and not only was it stopped halfway, but Dinu Kocha was also banned as a director. Forced into exile in France in 1985, he died of heart failure in a Paris hospital on December 26, 2013, at the age of 84.
In that year, the first person to be hired by Dinu Kocha to play Captain Udrea was Jan Calamitru. Although only 29 years old at the time, Calamitru was already a pillar actor at the Bucharest National Theatre and considered a rising star in romanian cinema, winning the Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival for his role in "Forest of the Hanging Ghosts", and starring in several films before "Oak Tree, 100,000 Fires".
However, after reading the script, Calamitru became intrigued by the role of Major Werner. Before this, no German Nazi officer had been portrayed so three-dimensionally and complexly as Major Werner, on the one hand, he swore allegiance to Hitler, his father was a senior German general, who was executed for participating in the murder of Hitler, but he was not dismayed by this, but thought that his father's death was conducive to the survival of Germany. He also strictly abided by his own moral code, and tried to maintain a clean and innocent body in the upper class of drunken gold fans and sound dogs and horses. Creating a character with such a complex personality is an opportunity and a challenge for any actor.
In the end, Tennu Kocha agreed to let Calamitru play Major Werner, one of the important reasons was that Kalamitru was a Romanian-born Macedonian, and his temperament and appearance could give the role a certain exoticism without the ability to hire a German actor.
"Postponement of Judgment"
It turned out that Calamitru managed to portray the character with his outstanding acting skills, for which he won the Romanian Award for Best Actor of the Year. Two years later, he worked again with Dinu Kocha to play the young Chief Justice Moga in the latter's "Postponement of Judgment," which was also released in China.
Karamitru's fame in Romania was not limited to the stage and screen, as an important member of the National Salvation Front organization, he participated in the Romanian Revolution of 1989, and after the armed seizure of Romanian television, he was the first to announce the fall of Ceausescu's regime to the whole country through television. He has been active in politics ever since, serving as Romania's Minister of Culture from 1996 to 2000.
In 1991, Calamitru was invited to play anarchist in Steven Soderbergh's "Kafka", and since then he has started his career as an international film star, successively participating in the filming of "Citizen X", "Dr. Danny's Lover", "Mission Impossible", "Witness" and other films.
As a cultural ambassador to Romania, he was also awarded the Chevalier des Lettres des Arts et des Beaux-Arts of France and the Order of the Order of the British Empire.
In Oak, One Hundred Thousand Fires, Captain Udrea is the traditional male number one, and after Calamitru changed to Major Werner, Tennu Kocha decided to play the calm and witty lone hero with a new face, and eventually he gave the opportunity to Konstantin Dipran.
Deplan was already well-known in the field of radio and television dramas, but was still a newcomer to moviegoers. In the film, Captain Udrea and Major Werner are classmates at the Tank School in Frankfurt, Germany, but in life, Diplan is 5 years older than Karamitru, and they are also actors in the Bucharest National Theatre.
Duplan did not face to create a heroic character, on the one hand, he played Captain Oudrea calmly, dashing and free, more in the psychological confrontation with the opponent, on the other hand, because of the opposition to his sister marrying Toma, he and Toma had an endless fight when they met, but the quarrel was quarrelsome, which did not prevent them from being born into death together to perform combat missions, this extremely life-like plot setting made this character very full of image, so that after the film was released, Local media would give him the title of "Boy Next Door."
Diplan also starred in "Postponement of Sentence", and as he grew older, he gradually turned to his better comedy performance, and the comedy he starred in, "Bucharest Resident Card", was released in China.
Diplan was recognized as having a large mouth that could not be covered, and because he was not accustomed to Ceausescu's cult of personality and family rule, he gave Ceausescu the nickname "New Tsar", which spread more and more widely, and as a result brought him unnecessary trouble. Before Ceausescu stepped down, he had a U.S. visa. He immigrated to the United States shortly after the 1989 Romanian upheaval, and now lives in montgomery village in Montgomery County, Maryland, at the age of 84, occasionally returning to work on films.
During romanian film week in 1978, Elena Patricuscu was undoubtedly the biggest star, not only because she was featured in both Oak Tree, 100,000 Fires and Operation Car, but also because she was an old acquaintance of Chinese audiences.
As early as 1960, at the age of 19, Patricuscu played captain Mihayi's new wife Anna in "The Wave of the Danube", when she was a student at the Bucharest Drama and Film Academy, but she had thousands of fans in China.
Patrice's beauty even caught the attention of Hollywood agents, but soon after she landed in Hollywood, the bad news came that her parents were killed in a traffic accident.
After returning home, Patricuscu regained her strength, and in 1969 she won the Best Actress Award at the Moscow International Film Festival for her starring role in Rogue Boy, which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 42nd Academy Awards. In this film, Patricuscu is regarded as the first sexy star in romanian film history for his bold performances.
When she starred in the role of violinist Colina in "Oak, One Hundred Thousand Fires", Patricuscu was 33 years old, but the charm still existed. She plays Colina, a Jew who is unwarrantedly involved in the espionage war and throws herself into the camp of justice out of disgust for the frenzied pursuit of her German supreme commander, Baron von Kyle.
But she did not escape the German bullets in the end, and she fell into the rose bush under machine gun fire, forming a tragic and poignant passage in the film that is unforgettable.
Patricuscu had a brief marriage at a young age, and since then, despite numerous suitors, she has not remarried. In 1980, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent surgery. She starred in 29 films in her lifetime and is still considered one of Romania's greatest actresses. She died on 19 March 2013 at the age of 72 at the Elias Hospital in Bucharest.
Among the supporting actors of "Oak Tree, 100,000 Fires", Anze Peilin, who plays Toma, is the one most familiar to Chinese audiences, and his appearances in "The Adventures of Babushka", "Dakia", "Brave Mihayi", "Regime Truth", "The Last Bullet", "Revenge", etc. have all been released in China, especially Uncle Marin played in "One Night Rich Man" has left us with an unforgettable impression.
"The Night Man"
Anze Peilin was also one of Romania's most recognizable post-war actors, leaving behind many classics on stage and on screen. Unfortunately, he died on December 12, 1983, at the age of 52.
Luminica Gyorgiu plays Toma's wife, Knelia, Captain Udrea's sister.
Born in 1949, Gaiorgiu is her screen debut in Oak Trees, One Hundred Thousand Fires. In 1985, she suffered a major blow in her life, the eldest daughter died of illness at the age of 6, and the pain of losing her son almost made her give up her acting career.
Today, Georgiu is still active on the silver screen, and in 2007, she won the Los Angeles Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in "Two Days in Three Weeks of April".
Playing Baron Von Kyle is 50-year-old Theatre actress Vasily Kosma of the National Theatre of Craiova.
Cosmafei, the greatest Shakespearean actor in Romania, has portrayed 12 Shakespearean characters on stage, such as Paichuchu, Othello, King Lear, Falstaff, Macbeth, etc., and with such a dazzling resume, it is no wonder that he can portray a womanizer so brilliantly.
Joe Barton, who plays Colonel Stopolovanu, is the oldest actor in the film, having been a comedy and operetta actor before the war.
Barton also starred in Dakia and Grand Duke Stefan, where he died on June 10, 1982, at the age of 70.
"Oak Tree, 100,000 Fire Rush" is also a representative work in the transition from internal reference films to public films, and is a collective appearance of three generations of voice actors, among which Qiao Hazel and Wu Wenlun of the Shangying Actors Troupe are voiced by Captain Udrea and Major Werner respectively, and this combination of male one and male two is also continued into the later Japanese film "Life and Death Love". The female no. 1 Colina undoubtedly belonged to Hua Dan Li Zi, the head of the translation factory at that time. As a new generation, Liu Guangning only got the secondary role of Captain Oudrea's sister Knelia in this film, and Tong Zirong has not yet been reused, with only the announcer on the radio.
The role of Toma is a good fit for Beck, but because he is the main actor of "Car Action", this role invites Conte, who is also full of sound in the studio, and Baron Von Kyle and Colonel Stopolovanu are played by two veterans, Ding and Furunsheng, respectively. Interestingly, Qiu Yuefeng only made a cameo appearance in the film as a theater clown who satirized Hitler, and his few words showed his master's style-
"When it comes to life, it's like a ladder that gets you up and down. I only say such a person, he has a small beard, always climbing the ladder, where do you climb, God is waiting for you! ”