Lianhua Film Company
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The Lianhua Film Company, full name "Lianhua Film Production and Processing Company, Ltd." (Lianhua yingye zhipian yinshua gongsi), was one of two major production companies based in Shanghai, China during the 1930s, the other being the Mingxing Film Company. It is also referred to as Lianhua Productions or by a number of translated names, notably United China Film Company and United Photoplay Service.
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[edit] History
The brainchild of Hong Kong businessman, Luo Mingyou (Law Ming-yau), Lianhua was formally registered in March of 1930 in Hong Kong by Luo and his partner, director Li Min-wei (Lai Man-Wai). By 1931, however, the entire enterprise had transferred operations to the bustling city of Shanghai. The studio itself consisted of four branches studios: Minxin (which was also founded by Li), Dazhonghua Baihe, Shanghai Yingxi, and Xianggong Yingye; all four had been independent studios during the 1920s before being co-opted by Luo in the early 1930s.
By the mid 1930s, however, Lianhua's fortunes had declined, as the war with the Japanese took its toll on both the company and the city. Japanese bombardment destroyed numerous Lianhua holdings including its Studio No. 4, and soon the company was losing money with each film produced. By 1936, Luo had left Lianhua's management, and Li Min-wei had reformed Minxin Film Company as an independent studio using Lianhua's Studio No. 1. When the Nationalist forces withdrew from Shanghai in late 1937, it signaled the final collapse of the company. By the end of the war, Lianhua had generally been supplanted by other film companies, notably the Xinhua Film Company.
Like its competition, Lianhua employed directors who were part of the leftist film movement, and while in existence, produced and premiered many of the most significant films of the period, such as Fei Mu's debut film, 1933's Night in the City, Wu Yonggang's 1933 Goddess and Cai Chusheng's 1934 New Women, the last two of which starred resident Lianhua actress Ruan Lingyu.
[edit] Talent
Lianhua, like other early studios had an in-house talent pool of directors, actors, actresses, and screenwriters. Many, in fact, had been talent under contract with one of the four branch studios while they were still independent (such as Ruan Lingyu who was with Dazhonghua Baihe). The following is an incomplete list of such talent.
[edit] Directors
- Bu Wancang
- Cai Chusheng
- Fei Mu
- Shi Dongshan
- Sun Yu
- Tan Youliu
- Wu Yonggang
[edit] Actors and Actresses
- Lily Li
- Ruan Lingyu
- Zheng Junli
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Pang, Laikwan (2002), Building a New China in Cinema: The Chinese Left-Wing Cinema Movement, 1932-1937, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., ISBN 0-7425-0946-X
- Fu, Poshek (2003), Between Shanghai and Hong Kong: The Politics of Chinese Cinemas, Stanford University Press, ISBN 0-8047-4518-8
