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Every movie fan, sooner or later, will fall in love with Liu Beiqian (Part 1)
Every movie fan, sooner or later, will fall in love with Liu Beiqian (middle)
In 1926, at the age of 34, Liu Beiqian was elected as one of the top ten directors, alongside David Griffith, Chaplin, Kim Wido, Eric von Stroheim and others. And, in the four years since, he was the only director to maintain his rank consecutively.
In the 1930s and 1940s, Liu Beiqian was a prominent figure in Hollywood, and was one of the few directors who could enjoy full creative autonomy. He traveled to major studios, Warner Bros., MGM, 20th Century Fox, and one year became Paramount's head of production.
During this period, he made many masterpieces.
Trouble in Paradise (1932): A drawing room comedy about three characters. The triangle relationship is Liu Beiqian's favorite plot setting. A gentlemanly jewelry thief falls in love with a female con artist, a wealthy female widow who wants to buy the jewel thief's love with money, and she knows his relationship with a female liar dressed as a servant. In 1932, when hays codes did not yet exist, the film's hints of sex were bold and witty.
Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938): The film was written by the later famous Billy Wilder. The whole story is a mockery of the Puritan social climate: couples who have gone through formal formalities at the Marriage Registry are also deprived of the right to share a bed, so it is better to simply shoot the scene of Mrs. Bu refusing to round the house. The bridge section where the pants are taken off and farted is handled by other directors, but cooked by Liu Beiqian is a dish full of color and flavor.
Ninotchka (1939): When a serious Soviet female cadre meets a gentleman of the capitalist world... The heroine is played by Greta Garbo. The film has a lot of baggage, frequent jokes, and is a naked mockery of the rigid and absurd people...
"The Shop Around the Corner" (1940), a sweet light comedy in which a pair of penpals fall in love with each other, not knowing that they are colleagues who are not in good relationships in reality. The film has an optimistic and positive atmosphere of 1940s comedy, and was adapted into the film "Electronic Love Letter" in 1998.
The truly earth-shattering work is 1942's To Be or Not to Be, which deals with the history of the Nazi Party's rampage in Warsaw. Liu Beiqian's humor is at full play in this film, with witty dialogue and suggestive jokes abounding. More directly, the Nazi atrocities in Poland were exposed.
However, Liu Beiqian's expression of linking the life and death of wartime with the affair behind the scenes is not understood by the audience who are in the cloud of war. Coupled with the outbreak of Pearl Harbor before its release, People accused Liu of handling the Nazis and showing the tragedy in Warsaw in a comical way, believing that the film was "ruthless" or even "terrible". Although it was heavily criticized at the beginning of its release, it did not harm this absurd political comedy that has stood the test of time. It can be said that this film is Liu Beiqian's greatest work.
1943's Heaven can wait is still a fine work. However, after that, Liu Beiqian's health went wrong, his creativity decayed, and he repeatedly handed over the guide to others halfway.
Liu Beiqian's follower, Billy Wilder, once described his state of affairs during his time. In 1944, Liu Beiqian, who was filming "A Royal Scandal," had a serious heart attack. "This seizure... It made him panic and live in fear of another illness," said Otto Preminger, who took over halfway through, "And one night at my house, he got up and left the table and asked me to take him home immediately." He said, 'I'm dying, please get my doctor.' 'The diagnosis was only mild indigestion. ”
In 1947, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded Liu the Oscars a special prize for his contributions to the art of cinema. On November 30 of the same year, Liu Beiqian prepared to attend a presentation meeting held at Wilder's house. That afternoon, he took a shower and died of a heart attack.
He was left with an unfinished work, That Lady in Ermine ( That Lady in Fur Coat ), succeeded by Otto Preminger and released to the public in 1948.
Liu Beiqian's film is a monument to film history. Hitchcock said he was a man made purely for the film. Chaplin said: "He showed sexual elegance and humor in a way that no other director has. "Orson Wells thinks Liu Iskin is a giant whose talent and originality are amazing.
At Liu Beiqian's funeral, Billy Wilder said sadly: "There will be no other Liu Beiqian." Another director, William Wheeler, responded: "Worse, there will be no more Liu Beiqian's films." ”