Cinema
Romance of the Western Chamber
西廂記
Hou Yao and Li Minwei · 1927
Synopsis
A young scholar on his way to the imperial examinations stops at a temple where Cui Yingying, daughter of a late Prime Minister, and her mother are lodging; he neglects his studies to catch a glimpse of her. A bandit chief besieges the temple to abduct the young woman, and the mother promises her hand to whoever saves them; with the help of a friend, the scholar succeeds, but the mother goes back on her word. In a dream sequence, the scholar's brush grows until it serves him as both mount and weapon.
Context
The film was released on 8 September 1927, produced by Minxin from a screenplay by Hou Yao; the direction is credited to Hou Yao, to Li Minwei by a university film archive in Los Angeles, and to both by the European Audiovisual Observatory. The company made a shortened version for Europe, shown in Paris at the Studio 28 according to the University of Southern California; it was released in France under the title La Rose de Pushui, and the Centre Pompidou makes it the first Chinese film shown in Geneva. Of the ten original reels, only five survive, with French intertitles.
Who it is for
A silent film of forty-five minutes in its surviving version; a 2007 American DVD accompanies it with new music.
Prizes and reception
The Los Angeles film archives count it among the most lavish Chinese productions of its time and see in it a precursor of Tsui Hark.
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