【100 Classic Old Movies Tour (41)——"Honghu Red Guards"】
No.1
For the red movie "Honghu Red Guard", everyone must be very familiar with it, and for the theme song "Honghu Lake Water Waves", it is even more open to open: "Honghu Lake water waves, Honghu Lake shore is hometown." In the early morning the boat goes to cast a net, and in the evening comes back a full cabin of fish. Wild ducks and lotus roots everywhere, autumn harvest full of rice fragrant, everyone says that heaven is beautiful, how can it be better than my Honghu Lake fish and rice town..."
This song is sung by Wang Yuzhen, a famous opera performance artist and a national first-class actor, the song has strong national characteristics, divided into two parts, the upper part sings the scenery of Honghu Lake, and the lower part sings gratitude. In 1994, it was selected for the "Hundred Songs in Praise of China" Outstanding Commemorative Song Award.
Based on the opera of the same name performed by the Hubei Experimental Opera Troupe, "Honghu Red Guards" was jointly produced by Beijing Film Studio and Wuhan Film Studio, directed by Xie Tian, Chen Fangqian and Xu Feng, starring Wang Yuzhen and Xia Kuibin, and released in 1961, telling the story of Han Ying, secretary of the township party branch, who led the Honghu Red Guards to wage an arduous struggle against the enemy and defend the red regime in the revolutionary base area of western Hunan and Hubei in the 1930s.
In the movie, Wang Yuzhen plays Han Ying, Xia Kuibin plays Liu Chuang, Fu Ling plays Qiu Ju, Chen Renxuan plays Hei Mu, Zhang Jichao plays Kehu, Wang Zhengxiang plays Chunsheng, Cheng Xueqin plays Xiao Liu, Liu Shuqi plays Han Ying's mother, Zhou Senguan plays Beard Daddy, Li Jinmei plays Xiaohong, Xu Bin plays Wang San, Cheng Xiaofeng plays Xiao Bao, Peng Hongjun plays Wang Jinbiao, and Xie Tian plays Deputy Zhang.
In the negative roles, Chen Jinpeng plays Peng Batian, Cao Zengyin plays Commander Feng, Liu Li plays Lao Mo, Guo Bing plays Ma Lianchang, and Feng Shun is the enemy detective.
No.2
Among them, Han Ying, played by Wang Yuzhen, is the secretary of the Pengjiadun Township Branch, with a firm and courageous revolutionary momentum and a witty and calm command art. When the white bandits wanted to slaughter the villagers, Han Ying stepped forward and unfortunately fell into the tiger's mouth. After being arrested, she was always unyielding in the face of the enemy's severe torture, coercion and inducement. When the film was filmed that year, it was three years of natural disasters, and all the crew members, including Wang Yuzhen, could not eat enough and were hungry and puffy. We saw that Han Ying had a puffy face in the cell, which was not the effect of makeup, but indeed the result of hunger.
Liu Chuang, played by Xia Kuibin, is the captain of the Red Guard, he is brave and tenacious, but he is rude and reckless. Through Han Ying's education, he overcame his own problems and later joined the Red Army and followed the troops to a new battlefield.
The mother of Han Ying, played by Liu Shuqi, was arrested by Peng Batian to persuade her daughter to be arrested, and the old man's heart was like a knife when he saw his daughter's body scaled and wounded, but he held on to his faith like his daughter and was not afraid of the coercion and temptation of the reactionaries.
Xie Tian was both the director and the aide-de-camp of the feng regimental commander of the security regiment, but he was ostensibly a reactionary officer, but in fact an underground party member who broke into the enemy's interior, and finally died of a bullet in order to cover Han Ying's escape.
Peng Batian, played by Chen Jinpeng, is a local tycoon and bully landlord of Peng Jiadun, who colluded with the Kuomintang security group to occupy Peng Jiadun and wantonly counterattacked. Peng Batian cruelly tortured and seduced the arrested Han Ying, and tried to impress the old man with mother-daughter love, but all failed. The Red Guards, with the leadership of the Party and the support of the villagers, persisted in the struggle, and finally defeated Peng Jiadun, killed Peng Batian, and eliminated the security regiment and the local reactionary forces.
No.3
In 1959, the Hubei Experimental Opera Troupe rehearsed the opera "Honghu Red Guards" and premiered with great success. The following year, the Ministry of Culture decided to bring the opera to the big screen. For the needs of filmmaking, the main director was replaced by Xie Tian.
In terms of actors, some leaders believe that Wang Yuzhen, who plays Han Ying in the opera, has too wide a face and may not achieve the expected effect on the screen, and it is recommended to invite the famous actor Xie Fang to play Han Ying, which is sung by Wang Yuzhen. However, other leaders and directors Xie Tian did not agree to the substitution, so the female number one continued to maintain the actors in the opera. The other actors, mainly added a cameo by Xie Tian, Zhang Adjutant.
After the release of "Honghu Red Guards", it has influenced several generations, and the image of Han Ying created by Wang Yuzhen has become one of the classics of the "hero" image in the ocean of film art.
59 years have passed, and most of the cast members of that year, including directors Xie Tian, Chen Fangqian, Xia Kuibin, Zhou Senguan, Feng Shun, etc., have all passed away.
Happily, Wang Yuzhen, a famous opera performance artist born in 1935, is still alive. However, during the great movement in the 1960s and 1970s, both the stage version and the film version of "Honghu Red Guards" were regarded as "poisonous weeds", and Wang Yuzhen was implicated, often criticized and fought, and had no drama to play for many years. Later, due to the damage to his voice, he tearfully bid farewell to the singing stage.
Today, Wang Yuzhen is an 85-year-old man living with her son. She is also often concerned about the film, television and opera business, and often sees her in some activities. For example, at the Beijing premiere of the movie "Everything Like You" on September 12, 2019, she came to the scene and sang "Honghu Lake Waves", which was warmly cheered by the guests.
Hats off to the artists who contributed to the Red Guards of Honghu Lake! Wish Wang Yuzhen the elderly family health and longevity!
[Friends who like old movies and old filmmakers, this is our common home.] The author will pay tribute to the classics with you, recall the glory of the filmmakers, and relive the good times of the past together. Please remember to pay attention to the "Entertainment Entertainment Tv" our small family, the United States will be sent to your mobile phone in time, luck will always haunt you! 】