Fate in Tears and Laughter | |||||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 啼笑 因緣 | ||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 啼笑 因缘 | ||||||||
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Directed by | Zhang Shichuan | ||||||||
Screenplay by | Yan Duhe | ||||||||
Based on | Fate in Tears and Laughter by Zhang Henshui | ||||||||
Starring |
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Cinematography |
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Country | Republic of China | ||||||||
Language | Mandarin |
Fate in Tears and Laughter (traditional Chinese :啼笑因緣; simplified Chinese :啼笑因缘; pinyin :Tíxiào Yīnyuán) is a 1932 Chinese romantic drama directed by Zhang Shichuan for the Mingxing Film Company. Based on Zhang Henshui's novel of the same name, it follows a young student who falls in love with a singer, even as another woman vies for his attention and a relative attempts to match him with a third. Filmed in Beijing over the course of two months, Fate in Tears and Laughter was subjected to a copyright lawsuit after its première that delayed screening for three months.
During the Warlord Era, Fan Jiashu is studying in Beijing while pining after the singer Fengxi. Meanwhile, Guan Xiugu, the daughter of his friend, has fallen in love with him; her feelings become stronger after Fan helps pay to treat her ailing father. She decides to acquiesce, however, when she learns of Fan's love for Fengxi. Meanwhile, Fan's cousin attempts to set him up with the wealthy heiress He Lina.
One day, while Fan is travelling to Hangzhou, Fengxi is married to a local warlord as his second wife. Her mother asks Fan for help, and although he desires to rescue her, he sees Fengxi seemingly smitten with the warlord. Guan, seeing him fall into a depression, decides to pass as a servant and arrange for Fan and Fengxi to meet. When they do, Fan is unable to convince the singer to escape with him.
Enraged by Fengxi's meeting with Fan, the warlord abuses her to the point of institutionalization. He also begins to make advances on Guan, who strings him along before ultimately leading him to an isolated place and killing him. Fan and Guan free Fengxi from the psychiatric hospital, but she has no memory of them. Later, following a note from Guan's father, Fan travels to Western Hill, where He Lina awaits him. [1]
Fate in Tears and Laughter was directed by Zhang Shichuan for the Shanghai-based Mingxing Film Company. The screenplay was written by Yan Duhe, while cinematography was by Dong Keyi, Wang Shizhen, and James Williamson. [2] Made with an announced budget of 1.2 million yuan (equivalent to ¥97,000,000 in 2019), [3] production of the film was featured in Mingxing's 1931 film An Amorous History of the Silver Screen . [4]
Mingxing announced its intention to produce Fate in Tears and Laughter on 18 September 1930, issuing a press release that it would be adapting Zhang Henshui's novel of the same name. Serialized in the Xinwen Bao newspaper between 1929 and 1930, the novel Fate in Tears and Laughter had become a reader favourite and quickly adapted to comics, radio, and stage. [3] The company did not, however, register for legal protection of their adaptation rights. [5] Location shooting for the film took place in Beijing over the course of two months. [3]
Fate in Tears and Laughter starred Hu Die, Xia Peizhen, Wang Xianzai, Gong Jianong, and Zheng Xiaoqiu. [6] Hu performed dagu , a form of traditional narrative song, for the film. [5]
Fate in Tears and Laughter premièred at the Nanking Theatre on Edward VII Avenue in Shanghai on 26 June 1932. [2] Within three days, however, the film had been withdrawn from circulation as the rival Dahua Film Company under Gu Wuwei had pre-emptively registered a copyright on the film and was suing for copyright violation. [7] Compounding the issue, Dahua had secured support from the gangster Huang Jinrong. Mingxing thus hired another gangster, Du Yuesheng, who secured permission for Mingxing to continue its release. [8] These contestations cost Mingxing 100,000 yuan (equivalent to ¥9,100,000 in 2019) to cover the fees demanded by Du Yuesheng as well as the potential losses incurred by Dahua. [8]
In September 1932, Fate in Tears and Laughter was again screened, split into six episodes released in increments through the end of the year. Commercial performance was mediocre, and reviews criticized the film's plot and acting. [8] Meanwhile, Hu Die became plagued by rumours that she had been dancing with the warlord Zhang Xueliang in Beijing while Japan invaded Manchuria unopposed; [5] she and other cast and crew paid for advertisements repudiating the claims, calling them Japanese-sponsored slander meant to undermine Zhang and his Northeastern Army. [9] In her history of Mingxing, Huang Xuelei writes that the financial aftermath of the film's troubled production and subsequent legal woes nearly destroyed the company. [3] Unlike most of Mingxing's output, which is lost, Fate in Tears and Laughter is extant. [10]
Zhang Henshui was the pen name of Zhang Xinyuan (张心远), a popular and prolific Chinese novelist. He published more than 100 novels in his 50 years of fiction writing.
Zheng Zhengqiu was a Chinese filmmaker often considered a "founding father" of Chinese cinema.
Hu Die, also known by her English name Butterfly Wu, was a popular Chinese actress during the 1920s and 1930s. She was voted China's first "Movie Queen" in 1933, and won the Best Actress Award at the 1960 Asian Film Festival for her performance in Rear Door.
Zhang Shichuan, also credited as S. C. Chang, was a Chinese entrepreneur, film director, and film producer, who is considered a founding father of Chinese cinema. He and Zheng Zhengqiu made the first Chinese feature film, The Difficult Couple, in 1913, and cofounded the Mingxing (Star) Film Company in 1922, which became the largest film production company in China under Zhang's leadership.
Hong Shen was a Chinese playwright, film director and screenwriter, film and drama theorist, and educator. He is considered by drama historians as one of the three founders of the modern Chinese spoken drama, together with Tian Han and Ouyang Yuqian. He wrote the first Chinese film script, Mrs. Shentu.
Fate in Tears and Laughter is a 1930 Chinese novel by Zhang Henshui, set in 1920s Beiping. A few chapters were translated into English by Sally Borthwick for the anthology Chinese Middlebrow Fiction: From the Ch'ing and Early Republican Eras (1984).
Ying Yunwei born in Shanghai, was a Chinese director and writer.
Xu Xinfu was a Chinese director and producer. Born in Jiangyin, Jiangsu, he moved to Shanghai for schooling. In 1921, he became involved in the production of Yan Ruisheng, considered the first feature-length film in mainland China. Over subsequent decades, he was involved with numerous films with Shanghai-based companies, mostly Mingxing. Towards the end of the Chinese Civil War, he travelled to Taiwan on a filmmaking project; when his backer pulled funding, he sold his own property to fund the production of Storms on Ali Mountain (1950). Xu remained active in Taiwan through the 1950s, with his film Women in the Army submitted to the 1954 Southeast Asian Film Festival.
Zhou Jianyun was a Chinese dramatist and film entrepreneur. Born in Hefei, Anhui, he travelled to Shanghai in his youth for school before entering the city's drama community through the Qimin New Drama Society and press through the Emancipation Pictorial. With his fellow dramatists Zhang Shichuan and Zheng Zhengqiu, in 1922 he established the Mingxing Film Company, variously serving as its manager, finance director, and film distributor. He spearheaded the establishment of the Liuhe Film Distribution Company in 1928, and in the early 1930s he hired several Communist screenwriters. Mingxing was closed in 1939 during the Second Sino-Japanese War, and although Zhou established several further companies, these were short-lived.
Orphan Rescues Grandfather is a 1923 Chinese silent film directed by Zhang Shichuan for the Mingxing Film Company. Starring Wang Hanlun, Zheng Zhegu, and Zheng Xiaoqiu, this melodrama follows the pregnant widow of a wealthy man who, after her reputation is tarnished, is evicted from her husband's family. Ten years later, her son becomes an apt pupil who saves his grandfather from a plot to steal his wealth.
Zheng Zhegu was a Chinese actor and entrepreneur. The son of a Qing official, he served in the military before joining the anti-Qing movement. Forced into hiding, he joined the Republic of China military after the 1911 revolution but left government service and moved to Shanghai after growing disillusioned. Long interested in Peking opera and other forms of drama, Zheng joined several troupes while also gaining a reputation as a stage performer. In the late 1910s, he also became involved in publishing through the Xinmin Library.
The King of Comedy Visits Shanghai, also known as The King of Comedy Visits China, is a 1922 slapstick comedy directed by Zhang Shichuan for the Mingxing Film Company. Depicting a fictional visit by Charlie Chaplin to Shanghai, the film starred Richard Bell in the titular role and drew from Chaplin's popularity in the Republic of China. Released as a double feature with Labourer's Love, the film screened for four days at the Olympic Theatre but did not find broader distribution. It is a lost film.
Sing-Song Girl Red Peony is a 1931 film directed by Zhang Shichuan for the Mingxing Film Company. It follows the actress Red Peony, played by Hu Die, who is trapped in an abusive marriage but feels obligated to persevere. The first sound film made in the Republic of China, production took six months and involved an expansive crew, including language coaches, to surmount the technical difficulties. The film, now thought lost, was well received by audiences.
Zhang Xinsheng, also known as Retribution is a lost 1923 crime film from the Republic of China. Directed by Zhang Shichuan, it was adapted by Zheng Zhengqiu from a real-life patricide in which a deeply indebted man had killed his father for his inheritance. Emphasizing verisimilitude in its production and advertising, Zhang Xinsheng was initially a modest success but was later censored for its graphic violence.
An Amorous History of the Silver Screen is a 1931 film in two parts directed by Cheng Bugao for the Mingxing Film Company. Starring Xuan Jinglin, it follows a courtesan who rises to stardom in the Shanghai film industry, endangers her position for romance, and ultimately decides to earn an independent living through acting. This film, which used Mingxing's studios as part of its setting, has been read as a metafilm featuring biographic elements. Part of the film has been lost, with only 52 minutes of the second part surviving.
Lonely Orchid, also known as Orchid in the Valley, is a 1926 silent family drama film directed by Zhang Shichuan for the Mingxing Film Company. Adapted from a British novel via several intermediary translations, it follows a married couple who are separated after the husband falls for a seductress, but reunite when his disguised first wife returns. The film changed several settings and plot elements to better suit Chinese audiences, and was a commercial success upon release. Now lost, Lonely Orchid was remade by Mingxing in 1935.
The Mingxing Film Company, also credited as the Star Motion Picture Production Company, was a production company active in the Republic of China between 1922 and 1937. Established by a consortium of creative professionals, including film director Zhang Shichuan, dramatist Zheng Zhengqiu, and critic Zhou Jianyun, Mingxing initially produced comedy films that drew little audience attention. Facing insolvency, in 1923 the company used its last capital to produce Orphan Rescues Grandfather, which released to massive commercial success and provided the company with the revenue needed to expand and hire new talent.
Wu Suxin, also credited as White Rose Woo, was a Chinese actress of the silent era. Trained at the Far East Film College, she completed seven films for the Tianyi Film Company between 1925 and 1927 before migrating to the Huaju Film Company. There, she became the company's lead female star, appearing in all of its films – generally as a wuxia heroine. After Huaju closed, Wu worked briefly with the Dahua Film Company before focusing on the stage.
Zhang Zhiyun was a Chinese actress. Born in Panyu County, Guangdong, she moved to Shanghai in her youth. Hired by the Greater China Film Company through a general casting call, she later transferred to Mingxing, with whom she made the commercially successful Lonely Orchid (1926) and was crowned "Movie Queen" in a newspaper poll. She left the film industry after beginning a relationship with Tang Jishan, and when they severed ties she was unable to regain her stardom despite making several films. Zhang moved to Hong Kong in her later years, where she is reported to have died homeless.