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An Amorous History of the Silver Screen (simplified Chinese: 银幕艳史; traditional Chinese: 銀幕艷史; pinyin: Yínmù Yànshǐ) is a 1931 film directed by Cheng Bugao for the Mingxing Film Company.

Plot

After becoming a treaty port, the city of Shanghai develops into a modern and cosmopolitan city of skyscrapers and paved streets. A thriving film industry emerges, as does a large pleasure quarters.

The courtesan Wang Fengzhen is slapped by a client after arriving late, and he mocks her tears by telling her she could be the next Lillian Gish. She decides to enrol with a major film company and soon gains recognition for her talent and range. She gains the attentions of the wealthy Fang Shaomei, who showers her with gifts and distracts her from her career. The two decide to cohabitate, but Wang begins to lose her prominent place in cinema.

Over time, Fang becomes increasingly indifferent, finding pleasure in the attentions of a dancing girl. Wang follows her paramor to a hotel and confronts him; when he is unrepentant, she swears to take control of her life and live independently through movie stardom.

Returning to the studio, Wang is warmly received. During a tour she is exposed to the updated studio, where several films – including The Burning of the Red Lotus Temple and Shadow of Red Tears – are being shot. Wang rises to stardom, again gaining the attentions of Fang. The dancing girl, seeing the power of fame, auditions for a role in a new film.

Production

Elements of the film were biographic; as with Wang Fengzhen, Xuan had been a courtesan before being discovered by Mingxing co-founder Zhang Shichuan, with her contract bought out by the studio. After portraying a wide range of roles, she had entered a cohabitational relationship with a local entrepreneur, leaving it in 1930.

Mingxing served as the set for the studio tour, showcasing itself as a "magic workshop of virtual reality" that used modern lighting, extravagant set-pieces and innovative special effects. These elements are intertwined with other signifiers of modernity, including ballroom dancing and window shopping, as well as diverse elements of film culture such as fandom and stardom.

Release and reception

One viewer from Jilin, having seen the film at a local YMCA, wrote to Mingxing and thanked the company for the behind-the-scenes look at its production processes, from the creation of weather effects to the practice of martial arts.

An Amorous History of the Silver Screen is partially lost. The first part of the film, which details the rise of Shanghai cinema as well as the blossoming of Wang Fengzhen's romance, is not known to have survived. The second part of the film, which covers Wang's decision to regain her stardom and her independence, has survived at the China Film Archive.

Scholarship on early Chinese cinema has generally ignored An Amorous History of the Silver Screen. In an analysis, the film historian Zhang Zhen describes the film as providing a "self-conscious gesture at 'writing' film history" that created attraction through its blending of romance and promotion.

References

1. Summary based on Zhang (2005, pp. xix–xxii)
2. ^ Zhang 2005, pp. xxiii.
3. Zhang 2005, pp. xxv.
4. Zhang 2005, pp. xxvii.
5. Zhang 2005, pp. xix–xxii.
6. Zhang 2005, p. xiv.
7. Zhang 2005, pp. xxii.

Works cited

• Zhang, Zhen (2005). An Amorous History of the Silver Screen: Shanghai Cinema, 1896-1937. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-98238-0.