In 1946, Sang Arc, the director of Wenhua Company, was introduced by Ke Ling and other friends to meet the writer Zhang Ailing and invited her to write a script. At this time, 27-year-old Zhang Ailing was at a time of emotional loss: Hu Lancheng fled to Wenzhou to hide and lived with a woman. Zhang Ailing continued to support Hu financially and deliberately kept a low profile, not publishing any works.
Zhang Ailing quickly wrote the script of "No Love": Yu Jiayin (Chen Yanyan) met Xia Zongyu (played by Liu Qiong) by chance in the theater. Later, he was introduced to a family as a tutor. The man is often absent from home for work reasons, and the hostess is in the countryside for many years. My daughter was very lonely. Later, Jiayin found that the man was Xia Zongyu. After getting along, the two gradually developed feelings. Jiayin's father abandoned the family in his early years, and now he asked his daughter to introduce him to work, and after being rejected, he even publicized that his daughter had an ambiguous relationship with Xia Zongyu. Jiayin eventually left quietly.
Sang Arc was very satisfied with the script and finished shooting in only one and a half months. When the heroine Chen Yanyan had retired for a long time, she was an actor that Zhang Ailing liked very much. Zhang Ailing thought that the comeback Chen Yanyan "still looks beautiful and young after watching the movie, plus her unique sweetness." ”
"No Love"
According to the recollection of the crew, Zhang Ailing did not go to the set on weekdays, only occasionally went to Wenhua Company for a walk, and never took the initiative to take care of others.
As the pioneering work of Mandarin Company, "No Love" was well received after its release in early 1947. Zhang Ailing also took advantage of the situation to change the script to the novella "How Much Hate".
Sang Arc's timeless and gentle lyricism dilutes the desolation and indifference in Zhang Ailing's bones, which is more suitable for the appreciation of the public class.
In December 1947, Shanghai suffered a rare heavy snowfall. But the weather did not affect people's enthusiasm for watching movies. Posters of "Long Live the Wife" were posted outside many theaters, and the major newspapers reported and promoted them one after another, and the audience came to visit.
"Long Live the Wife" brings together popular stars such as Jiang Tianliu, Shi Hui, Shangguan Yunzhu, Zhang Fa, Lin Hazel, etc., with a strong secular atmosphere, a relaxed and pleasant plot, and a happy audience.
"Long Live the Wife" became the highest-grossing film in Shanghai this year, and the limelight even overshadowed the Hollywood blockbuster "Izumi Hibiscus". Hu Lancheng also mentioned later that when he watched the film in Wenzhou, the audience in the theater was very emotional.
"Long Live the Wife" is the second collaboration between Sang Arc and Zhang Ailing. Zhang wrote the script in just two months. "Stealing joy" in "Chaotic World", she positioned her own script in this way.
In 1947, Most Chinese films took drama and tragedy as the main tone, catering to the general social psychology after the end of the War of Resistance. Sang Arc and Zhang Ailing, a light comedy about the lives of citizens, although affirmed at the box office, was attacked by left-wing film critics.
The tide of the world pointed out a way for Sang Arc jun's class: how to overthrow this existing system? Coming together with lower-class workers and peasants? ”
After 1949, works such as "A River of Spring Water Flowing Eastward" and "The Crow and the Sparrow" were affirmed, and "Long Live the Wife" was intentionally or unintentionally forgotten by the mainstream film industry.
In the 1950s, Sang Arc and Qin Yi and other colleagues were in the shadows
Two consecutive films were a great success, and Wu Shengzhu, the owner of Wenhua Company, was overjoyed and invited Sang Arc, Zhang Ailing and others to Wuxi Taihu Lake for a boat trip to taste the local special "boat dishes". Zhang Ailing was rarely invited to go with her, and later mentioned this trip to Taihu Lake, saying bluntly, "I am deeply impressed and very chic." "Boss Wu invited everyone to this banquet, and it is not known whether he has the intention of matching the two people."
Because of the need to discuss the script, Sang Arc and Zhang Ailing often met. The scandal of the two falling in love appeared in the gossip tabloids. The truth is a matter of opinion.
Gong Zhifang, one of the founders of Wenhua Company, once recalled that from the perspective of others, the two were very compatible. In fact, although Zhang Ailing and Hu Lancheng broke up in 1947, the healing of inner pain did not happen overnight. Sang Arc is introverted and restrained, and it is unlikely to extend topics other than work with Zhang Ailing.
Zhang ailing
Sang Arc's friend and modern literature expert Wei Shaochang mentioned in the article "Comrade Xia Yan's Two and Three Affairs": "Before Zhang Ailing left Shanghai, Xia Yan entrusted Gong Zhifang to persuade her to stay, and at the same time, Wu Shengzhi, the owner of Wenhua Company, and others also asked Gong to want to match her with Sang Arc... Once Sang Arc invited me to his house for dinner, Zhang Ailing also came. The relationship between the two is very good, if Zhang can not leave, and there is a destination, it is not a beautiful thing to have both. However, she was silent in front of Gong Zhifang for a long time, and finally said: I am afraid that these two things are unlikely. ”
Although there are rumors, the cooperation between Sang Arc and Zhang Ailing has not stopped. In 1948, they prepared to adapt "The Golden Lock" into a movie. The heroine is set to be Zhang Ruifang. According to Zhang Ruifang's self-report, she suffered from tuberculosis at that time and was forced to stay in bed for treatment, and could only quit her role. The selected male protagonist, Jin Shan, is also politely rejected. The film died prematurely, and the written script was not known.
In 1984, "Love in the City" was made into a movie by Xu Anhua
In 1949, the plan to adapt "Allure of Love" was also aborted by the turbulent times.
"Mourning Middle-Aged" set photo, the middle two are Sang Arc and actor Han Fei
In 1949, Sang Arc's "Mourning Middle Age" was released. There are rumors that Zhang Ailing was partially involved in the screenwriting, and some said that the script was written by Zhang Ailing. Sang Arc did not respond to this matter, and in 1990 Zhang Ailing clarified in a letter to the editor of a Taiwanese newspaper: "I have a vague impression of it, which is also attributed to the fact that the story theme comes from the director Sang Arc, and it is always the film with the least component of mine." Although I was involved in the writing process, I was just a consultant and took some screenwriting fees, not named. ”
On the set of "Mourning Middle Age", Sang Arc said drama for the male and female protagonists Shi Hua and Zhu Jiachen
After the liberation of Shanghai in May 1949, Zhang Ailing used the pseudonym "Liang Jing" to serialize her new work "Eighteen Springs" in the newspaper. Sang Arc wrote in the name of "Shu Hong" and gave it a very high evaluation. The following year, Sang Arc directed "Taiping Spring", and Zhang Ailing also published a film review to express praise.
In July 1952, Zhang Ailing went from Shanghai to Hong Kong and later settled in the United States. Since then, the two have been separated by one side, and the mountains and rivers have been far away.
In the second half of Sang Arc's life, the topic of Zhang Ailing was secretive. Before 1976, the reason why he did not mention Zhang Ailing could be imagined. The films they cooperate in belong to petty-bourgeois sentiments, and coupled with the relationship between Zhang and Hu Lancheng, keeping silent is the best self-protection. In the 1980s, Zhang Ailing was discovered and respected in the mainland, and as a well-known director, he may have had another concern.
A few years later, Zhang Ailing's novel "Little Reunion" was published, and the last character to appear in it was called Yanshan. The book reads: "But he was able to stand out, slender and long stripes, a sweet square face, thick eyebrows, big eyes, long eyelashes, and a small flower tip in his hair." Many people think that the prototype of this person is The Mulberry Arc.
Mulberry arc
When this work was published, both Sang Arc and Zhang Ailing had passed away. Their stories remain on film and between the lines, for speculation and conjecture, vaguely, and endlessly.