Zhang Shichuan

Zhang Shichuan

Zhang Shichuan (1890-1953), formerly known as Weitong, was born in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province. He was one of the pioneers of Chinese film and the backbone of the first generation of Chinese film directors.

As a young man, he went to Shanghai to do business with his uncle jingrunsan, and successively worked for Huayang company and beautifying foreign company. In 1913, Zhang Shichuan directed some short feature films in the Asian film company, among which "hard husband and hard wife" is regarded as the pioneering work of Chinese feature films. In 1922, with Zheng Zhengqiu, Zhou Jianyun, Zheng Zhegu and Ren Jinping, he founded the star film company. The company later became the oldest established film company in China, occupying an important chapter in the history of Chinese film. "Burning the Red Lotus Temple", directed in 1928, caused the trend of bidding for ghost martial arts films in Shanghai film industry. In 1931, he directed China's first audio film, the singing girl red peony, which was dubbed with wax plate.

Zhang Shichuan directed more than 150 films in his life. With a good command of English, he specializes in the directing skills of western films and plays, and has made great contributions to the exploration of early film art. He died in Shanghai in June 1953.

Life of the characters

Zhang Shichuan's father died when he was 16 years old, so he went to Shanghai to join his uncle Jing runsan and became a clerk in the Huayang Real estate company run by Jing runsan. Zhang Shichuan goes to work during the day and goes to night school to study English. He will soon speak Pidgin English.

In 1913, American businessmen isher and Safir went to Shanghai to set up the Asian film company. They appreciated Zhang Shichuan very much, so they hired him as a consultant and took charge of the production business. This year, he was only 21 years old. Zhang Shichuan directed some short feature films in Asia, among which "hard husband, hard wife" is regarded as the pioneering work of Chinese feature films.

In 1916, "Asia" has long been declared to be over, and Zhang Shichuan and his friends set up a fantasy film company, which brought the civilization drama "Black Ghost" to the screen.

In 1922, Zhang Shichuan, Zheng Zhengqiu, Zhou Jianyun, Zheng Zhegu and Ren Jinping founded the star film company. The company later became the oldest established film company in China.

In 1923, with Zheng Zhengqiu, Zhou Jianyun and other star film company, general manager. It advocates the production policy of "only interests are valued everywhere", so the contents of the four films originally made by the company and directed by the company itself are not enough except for the love of the laborers. In particular, "Zhang Xinsheng" (later renamed "retribution is obvious") is full of bloody scenes, which is creepy. Even the ruling authorities at that time banned it from showing.

In 1923, he changed to make a full-length drama and directed the story of the orphan saving his ancestors, which advocated "teaching filial piety", "punishing evil" and civilian education. The film pays attention to the characteristics of film art reflecting life, shows the efforts to break free from the shackles of civilized drama, and marks the end of the hazy state of Chinese film and the beginning of the period of conscious artistic exploration.

In the following years, he and Zheng Zhengqiu co edited and directed many films reflecting and sympathizing with the tragic fate of women, such as the soul of jade pear, the weak girl of bitter son, the last conscience, a woman in Shanghai, the blind orphan, etc.

In 1928, in pursuit of box office value, he directed the martial arts supernatural being movie "burning the Red Lotus Temple" and made 18 episodes in a row. This set off a wave of film production companies competing to shoot such films. In 1931, he directed China's first sound film, the singing girl red peony, written by Hong Shen and voiced with wax plate. Later, he edited and directed "the cause of crying and laughing" (1-6 episodes).

Zhang Shichuan advocates "box office value". Mandarin duck and butterfly films make money to make Mandarin butterfly films; martial arts films sell well to make martial arts films; with the rise of left-wing films, he also made such films as "fat powder market", "future", "lucky money"; in order to cooperate with the Kuomintang's suppression of the Communist party, he also made the documentary "suppression of bandits"

After the January 28 Incident in 1932, with the deepening of the national crisis and the vigorous development of the left-wing film movement, his ideas also changed. In February of the same year, the China Film Culture Association was established in Shanghai and was elected as the executive member; the Soviet film "life road" was officially released in Shanghai, and he wrote an article to praise it. During this period, he successively directed the Anti Japanese War adventure and Xia Yan's progressive films such as powder market, future and lucky money.

In 1937, the main factory of star film company was destroyed in the war. He took some of the remaining machinery and materials with him and joined Guohua film company as a director, shooting films such as Li Sanniang, Sanxiao, splashing tears and deep night.

In 1942, he served as the director and director of the branch of China United Production Co., Ltd., directing such films as "the return of the swallow", "grass and blood", "hero and beauty".

After 1946, he everlasting longing for each other, and directed the film of the Hongkong and Shanghai Datong film company.

Zhang Shichuan is one of the pioneers of Chinese film. In his life, he directed about 150 short and long feature films with different themes, most of which were romantic films. His experience as a filmmaker, his thoughts have ups and downs, and his works have the characteristics of complete structure, strong story and easy to understand. In the course of 35 years, he has edited and directed 156 films, which is unique in the history of Chinese film.

In 1948, Liu brothers (Liu Zhongliang and Liu Zhonghao) regained their momentum and set up two companies, Cathay Pacific and Datong. Zhang Shichuan was invited to be the director of the production of Datong. When he managed to make "women in troubled times", he could not make any more films.

In 1950, Zhang Shichuan moved to Suzhou and soon returned to Shanghai. After three years in hospital, he died in Shanghai in June 1953 at the age of 62.

Character evaluation

As a film entrepreneur, he established "star film company" into a famous film company, occupying an important chapter in the history of Chinese film. He founded the star monthly in order to strengthen the film publicity.

He set up the earliest film performance training class in China, focusing on training and discovering new people. As a film entrepreneur, he pays attention to both social and market benefits, focusing on entertainment films, teaching in entertainment. His management of the company and his cooperation with colleagues are also very humanized. Every time he plans to make a new film, he will gather all the cast members of the factory to read and discuss the script, and then put it into shooting once all of them pass. He also attaches great importance to friendship, advocates benevolence and righteousness, and cares for the cast members. In addition to film production, he also attached great importance to distribution, focusing on the development of cinema. He also improved his shooting equipment to meet international standards.

In 1937, when the Japanese army attacked Shanghai on August 13, the "star film company" was destroyed in the war, and Mr. Zhang Shichuan's hard work was also destroyed. He once tried to restore the "star film company", but with the change of the current situation, the change of personnel, and the exhaustion of financial resources, he did not have the strength to return. After that, he had to work as a director in other film companies in order to survive.

Looking back on the 90 year history of Chinese films, we can't help but think of many film predecessors who have made contributions to Chinese films, among whom Zhang Shichuan is one.

Zhang Shichuan has always been a controversial figure in the history of Chinese film. Some people think that he is a profit oriented producer, a commercial film director who only pursues interests everywhere, and a traitor in the enemy puppet period. Others think that he is a pioneer of Chinese film and has made many contributions to the development of Chinese film.

Main works

Directing works

1913: five blessings descend upon the house, and the two hundred and fifty are white. Town God's Temple is a night of anxiety, killing a son, telling a shop owner to lose a ticket, a bicycle running into trouble, and playing the City God, the old and the young are easy to get married.

1916: Black Ghost

1922: Funny King's journey to Shanghai

1923: orphans save their ancestors

1924: the soul of Yuli is bitter, the weak girl is a good brother

1925: the last conscience: a blind girl in Shanghai

1926: amorous actress, good man, rich man's daughter, her painful love and gold unsung hero

1927: sacrifice meihualuo for relatives (cooperate with Zheng Zhengqiu) Tian Qilang's true and false qianjinwei's professional chivalry

1928: little grandmother's fan Cai Zhuangyuan builds Baiyun tower of Luoyang Bridge (before and after, cooperating with Zheng Zhengqiu) burns Honglian Temple (1-3) love of classmates (cooperating with Hong Shen) Revenge of great Xia (before and after) female detective

1929: repentance burning Honglian Temple (4-9 episodes) new journey to the West (1-3 episodes)

1930: burning Honglian Temple (10-16 episodes) bandit filial son

1931: singing girl red peony burns Red Lotus Temple (Episode 17, 18)

1932: the resurrection of my mother's national soul

1933: the future of fat powder Market

1934: Mrs. Mai's daughter Jing (cooperating with Cheng Bugao, Shen Xiling, Zheng Zhengqiu, etc.) kongulan

1935: Blood loyal soul (cooperating with Zheng Zhengqiu, Xu Xinfu, etc.) big family

1936: Begonia red feminism

1937: New Year's money, the flower of society

1938: Song Er saves his mother

1939: red flower vase Li Sanniang (cooperating with Zheng Zhengqiu), Yang Naiwu, qichongtian, Li Amao and Miss Tang, Dong Xiaowan

1940: Heroes in troubled times

1941: red apricot out of the wall