Plunder of Peach and Plum

The Eight Hundred Heroes

800 Chinese soldiers guard the important warehouse district against the invading Japanese Army. Re-imagination of a famous (bordering on legendary) episode from the battle of Shanghai: 800 soldiers of the 88th regiment against what feels like the whole of Japan’s Imperial Army - think Thermopylae, Chinese version. A splendid, visually amazing gem which, in its own way, is also a last stand: of silent cinema, Shanghai style. (iffr)

Unchanged Heart in Life and Death

Probably the most sheerly entertaining of all the films made in 1930s Shanghai by 'underground' leftists, this riff on The Prisoner of Zenda is funny and engaging from first to last. The irresistible Yuan Muzhi (director of Street Angel the following year) plays both Li Tao, a revolutionary on the run, and Liu Yuanjie, an American-Chinese teacher visiting China with his fiancée. Liu is mistaken for Li and thrown into jail; Li teams up with the fiancée (Chen Bo'er, Yuan's real life wife) to get him out of prison and into the spirit of revolution. Ying Yunwei (who started out playing female roles in Chinese opera) uses chiaroscuro lighting, highly mobile camerawork and zippy pacing to give it maximum impact, but it's Yuan who really keeps you watching.

The Winter of Three Hairs

San mao (3 hairs) was a very popular Chinese comic strip first published in 1935-37, continued from 1948 into the 1990s, about a young orphan boy struggling with life in Shanghai.

Can't Follow Along That Path

Set in the period of land reform movement, a poor peasant Zhang gets a fertile land. But he doesn't work seriously on it, then loses money and runs into debt. Song wants to buy Zhang's land but his son thinks that they should help Zhang.

Storm on the Border

一帆风顺

Businessmen in a War

宋士杰

周信芳的舞台艺术

Chasing the Fish Spirit

Lackluster scholar Zhang was pulped for the marriage to grand councilor Jin's child when his parents were alive. But when Zhang's parent were both dead and their family became impoverished, Jin disliked Zhang and ordered him to study in a humble lakeside cottage. Jin said that the marriage should be reconsidered when Zhang gains official career and fame. Zhang is sad and talks to the lake about his miserable encounter under the moon. A carp spirit is touched by him and plays as Jin's daughter Peony to meet him in late night. The two then fall in love.

武松