THE PEACH GIRL (1931)
CAST: Ruan Ling-yu, Jin Yan, Wong Kwai-ling, Chow Lee-lee
DIR: Bu Wan-cang
35mm b/w print from the China Film Archive
90 mins at 20 fps
Considered one of early Chinese cinema's great classics. This film included the most beautiful long shot in the early chinese silent film. The life of a peach tree is used as a metaphor for the heroine's development in this tragic love story.
Peach Blossom Weeps Tears of Blood, or The Peach Girl as it is more commonly translated, is a rarely screened classic from the Lianhu Film Company, one of the most successful studios in 1930s Shanghai. Steeped in traditional Chinese imagery, The Peach Girl is the tragic tale of an innocent country girl who is corrupted by the love of a rich landowner's son. Naturalistic lighting and delicate camerawork are skillfully employed to tell a uniquely Chinese story in which class and gender ultimately determine destiny.
The lovers are played by two stars of the early Shanghai studio system: Jin Yan, considered the Valentino of his time, and Ruan Lingyu, often referred to as the Asian Garbo. Appearing in 29 films in just seven years, Ruan Lingyu received critical acclaim for her moving portrayals of prostitutes and underclass women, and developed such widespread popularity that she came to symbolize "the suffering of China." The fame and adulation she received proved to be her downfall - in 1935 she took her life at the age of 25. Widely regarded as a masterpiece of early Chinese film, The Peach Girl is your opportunity to experience one of the legendary stars of world cinema!
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A simple-mannered girl falls in love with a landlord's son, resulting in a love match of differing social levels. Ruan Lingyu demonstrated the fresh acting abilities that were different from those of conventional actresses in this film in which she was paired with the popular actor Jin Yan. The film does not stop at the level of a simple melodrama, but is filled with social commentary that includes the tragedy of feudal society and the desire of the people for independence.
This silent film features Ruan Ling-yu, described by some as "the greatest Chinese actress of the 1930s." She portrays a peasant girl who is forbidden to pursue her child's upper-class father, the son of her landlord. Ruan regularly played women caught in bad situations. Movie audiences in China identified with her because she symbolized their suffering. Director Bu Wancang creates a world for Ruan to reflect the very real pains of social inequality during that time. "Peach Girl" tells this story without being ridiculous. She conveys emotions well through her facial expressions, especially through her eyes. Her facial expressions express volumes of emotion without spoken words. Three years later, she made another excellent silent movie called "The Goddess." Like "Peach Girl," it is a story about the hardships of poverty told in an entertaining way. ?James Tabafunda
Note: The fourth Ruan Lingyu film we can see today, most of her early films were lost, but we still can see her five complete films today, "The Goddess", "Little Toys", "New Woman", "The Peach Girl" and "Love and Duty", which was luckily found and still keeping in The Hongkong Film Archive for screening in HKIFF only.
