"The river bends and bends, coldly says worry, don't go to my township, tears a string of wet clothes", people familiar with the old Hong Kong drama are not unfamiliar with this song, this song is the theme song of the same name in the 1980 TV series "Grace of the Earth". This phenomenal and excellent large-scale production has spread all over Hong Kong, and its influence has spread to the Pearl River Delta region of the mainland, and even produced comic strips. To this day, it is no exaggeration to evaluate this Hong Kong drama with a realistic epic blockbuster.
Speaking of "Grace of the Land", it is necessary to mention the years of struggle between ATV and TVB, which was the most fiercely competitive period between the two channels, and the two sides tried everything to win the TV war. In 1980, Li's Television (renamed "Asia Television" in 1982) launched a long-form blockbuster against its rising rival TVB, "The Home of The Grace of the Earth in the Pearl River", co-directed by Xu Xiaoming and Li Zhaoxiong, and starring Liu Zhirong, Yu An'an, Pan Zhiwen, Bao Qijing, Yue Hua and other leaders. The magic of this drama is that it chooses the local theme of the southern peasants as the protagonist, plus the historical background of the late Qing Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty, integrates historical events, and successful character shaping, and once it is broadcast, it will be empty of people.
In the same period, TVB broadcast Zheng Shaoqiu's "Rotation" to fight, this TV series used the wireless all-round choreographer Gan Guoliang at that time, behind the scenes there were Du Qifeng and Wong Kar-wai as choreographer blessings, in addition to Qiu Guan, there were also Zheng Yuling, Li Siqi, Sensen, Shi Xiu, Ye Dexian, Lin Zixiang, Chen Baiqiang and other luxurious lineups. The series was originally scheduled to reflect the social changes in Hong Kong from the 1960s to the 1980s with the story of five women from youth to old age, which is quite contemporary.
"Rotation" has a rating of 8.6 on Douban, which is also a masterpiece, but the bad luck met the better "Grace of the Earth", which became TVB's first TV series to be cut off. Since the opening of the stage, TVB, which has basically not lost in terms of ratings, has been crushed by ATV's "Grace of the Land", and it has to be said that this is a major event in the history of Hong Kong TV dramas.
Subsequently, Li's victory chase, and successively launched the last two "Forbidden Thunder" and "Golden Mountain Dream" of "Grace of the Earth", the story scene was moved to the city and abroad, and the first "Home in the Pearl River" became the most classic of them. "The Home of The Land of Grace in the Pearl River" is a veritable vernacular drama, taking the historical background before and after the Xinhai Revolution, through telling the tragedies and joys of Yang Dake' family, a villager in Guangxingwei, Xiangshan County, Guangdong Province, truly reproducing the style of the southern countryside at that time, and portraying the sorrow of peasant life in the turbulent situation to the fullest. The hard work and loyalty of the peasants, the oppression of the feudal landlords, the exploitation of the warlords, the robbery of thieves, plus elements such as cutting and discernment, as well as the successful character shaping of the poor mr. teaching, the godmother, the priest, the revolutionary party, and the progressive intellectuals, have achieved this huge historical drama, which can really be called the TV drama version of Lu Xun's novel.
The story begins with the villagers of Guangxingwei going down to the fields to celebrate the harvest in a year of wind and rain, but after the scene of the fiery joy, it is the farmers who carry the dried rice in baskets to the landlord Rong Laoye's house to pay rent. Although Yang Dake's family was poor, he was finally given a beard to his eldest son six pounds as his wife because he bought the thin field of old master Rong's family, and six pounds became a relative, and the family rejoiced. The second son, Jiujin, fell in love with Jiezhen, but was disliked by Jiezhen's father (private school teacher Sun Xuezhai), and Rong Chang, who was originally going to marry Jiezhen, was found to be a revolutionary involved in the Huanghuagang Uprising and executed by the Qing army. The second young master of the Rong family, who had studied in the East, accepted the idea of progress and resolutely threw himself into the revolution. Western missionaries also came to this small village to preach to the villagers.
After the success of the Xinhai Revolution, there was a storm in the village. After the drought in Guangdong, the villagers in order to grab the water source and the peasants in the neighboring villages had an armed struggle, and because the grain payment for disaster relief was withheld, they were forced to lead the villagers to rob the landlord's family of grain, and The rong family fled out of fear, but soon returned to Guangxingwei, and the nine pounds were punished and fled to Macao. Who knew that after the drought and the flood, the Yang family fled to Macau, living a difficult life, Nine Pounds sold himself to the United States to work as a laborer in order to save his family, and Yang Dake eventually died of illness. After the flood, Liu Jin returned to Quang Hing Wai with his family, and faced with the land, they were once again full of hope.
The character development of "Grace of the Earth" is very successful. Each character is vivid and distinctive. On the one hand, liu zhirong, Yu An'an, Pan Zhiwen and other popular young students were selected, on the other hand, there were powerful actors Yue Hua, Zhang Ying, Wang Wei, and there were also ashes-level old drama bones Wu Hui and Li Yueqing. The image they portray is real and appropriate, the acting skills are impeccable, and they have won the recognition of the audience.
1. Brother Jiujin - Liu Zhirong
Male No. 1 Jiujin was played by Liu Zhirong, a traffic student at the time, whose father was the son of Liu Kexuan, the main villain of Cantonese films. At first, he joined Shaw as a dragon set, and later joined Li, and became popular with the role of He Sheng in "Chameleon" (1978). The image of "Brother Jiujin" in the play is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, he is intelligent, full of sense of justice, willing to accept new things, not willing to be at the mercy of fate, and strive to survive, which is a unique existence in the feudal and backward Guangxingwei.
2. Chaste - Yu An'an
ATV has always belonged to the yang sheng yin and yang, although there are not many actresses, but they are all beautiful women with different characteristics. Yu An'an has a gentle temperament and is one of the most popular flower dans in Li at that time. He has starred in such hot dramas as "Heavenly Silkworm Change", "Chen Zhen" and "Wuxia Emperor Girl Flower". Played the role of chaste in the play, kind and sincere.
3. Six pounds - Yue Hua
Jiujin's brother Liujin is a loyal and honest farmer, which is in great contrast with the other images played by Yue Hua. Yue Hua became famous for his early years with the film "The Drunken Man" (1966) directed by Hu Jinquan, and later starred in martial arts films, such as "Twelve Gold Medals" (1970), "Affair" (1973) and "Meteor Butterfly Sword" (1976), and was a very prolific actor in Shaw films. After Shaw's decline, he turned into the television circle, mostly appearing as a supporting role, and the most impressive role in recent years is He Feng in "Pearlescent Treasure".
4. Yang Dake - Wu Hui
Wu Hui, who plays the head of the family, Yang Dake, is a director and actor during the black-and-white Cantonese film period. When he played "The Grace of the Earth", he was 68 years old, and his skinny appearance and patched clothes made him more and more of a poor peasant. And more people know him because he played Bao Longxing's father Bao in "Nine Pin Sesame Officer", at this time Wu Hui is 82 years old, but he is still good at acting, which can be described as a life dedicated to the acting career.
5. Second Young Master - Pan Zhiwen
Pan Zhiwen has always had a kind of nobility in his body, and when he was young, he was even more heroic. People in the circle call him "Pan Weng", and he is also a powerful actor with a lot of generations. In recent years, audiences have become familiar with him because of his role as duan Zhengchun in "Tianlong Babu". He played Rong Heng, the second young master of the Rong family, in "The Grace of the Earth", from a progressive intellectual who sympathized with the revolutionary party to personally throw himself into the revolution and fight against the evil forces.
6. Sun Xuezhai - Zhang Ying
In the play, there is a Kong Yiji-style character Sun Xuezhai, played by Zhang Ying. Born in 1919, Cheung Ying was a star of the Hong Kong Cantonese film era and was known as a "child with a thousand faces". He has starred in more than 400 films and can master almost all types of interpretation. Zhang Ying is a very good actor, starring as a licorice actor, receiving the finishing touch.
7. Liang Jiecao - Wang Wei
When it comes to hypocrites, people are deeply impressed by the role of Yue Buqun in Wang Wei's "Smiling Proud of the Jianghu", which shows his performance strength. And Liang Jiecao in this play is also like this, but it is called Jiecao always does shameless things, which makes people resentful.
The other characters in the play, Mr. Rong (Dong Biao), Tim Xi (Cai Qionghui), Big Miss (Bao Qijing), Third Master, Jin Bo, and Sigu, are all portrayed by the actors very vividly and truly.
To this day, the main actors in the play, Liu Zhirong, Yue Hua, Wu Hui, Wang Wei, Zhang Ying, Dong Biao, and Liang Shunyan, have all passed away, and the composer of the theme song, Mr. Li Xiaotian, also passed away at the beginning of this month, which is really regrettable. The glorious peak of ATV is long gone, but looking back on this series, people still have mixed feelings, including sadness and joy, which carry the good memories of that era. (Reported by Ching)