Street Angel (1937 film)

Street Angel (馬路天使), also known as Street Angels, is a 1937 left-wing Chinese film directed by Yuan Muzhi (袁牧之) and released by Mingxing Film Company. Starring popular Chinese actor Zhao Dan (赵丹) and iconic Chinese singer Zhou Xuan (周璇), the story is set in the slums of Shanghai, chronicling the lives of a band of downtrodden underclass outcasts: a tea house singer, a trumpet player, a newspaper hawker, and a prostitute. The film was released towards the end of the golden age of Shanghai cinema and is regarded as a masterpiece of the Chinese left-wing movement.[1] It also alludes to some of the national struggles faced in China at the time, including issues around economic policy and military conflict.[2] In addition, the depiction of an impoverished neighborhood in a modern city is a compelling examination of how modernization had affected China spatially during this era. The film’s setting is also a comment on the combined effects of modernization and colonialism in Shanghai, specifically.[3]

For the American silent drama film, see Street Angel (1928 film).
Street Angel
Traditional馬路天使
Simplified马路天使
Mandarinmǎlù tiānshǐ
Literallystreet angel
Directed byYuan Muzhi
Written byYuan Muzhi
StarringZhou Xuan
Zhao Huishen
Zhao Dan
Music byHe Lüting
CinematographyWu Yinxian
Production
company
Distributed byUnited States: Cinema Epoch (DVD)
Release date
July 24, 1937
Running time
91 minutes
CountryChina
LanguageMandarin

As one of China’s earliest sound films, Street Angel also made a name for itself by popularizing two timeless ballads: “Song of the Seasons” (四季歌) and “The Wandering Songstress” (天涯歌女), both of which are still celebrated as classics of Chinese modern song evolution.

Plot

Set in the slums of old Shanghai, the film begins with a wedding procession. Xiao Chen (Zhao Dan), a trumpet player in the marching band, establishes a romantic connection with his neighbour, the singer Xiao Hong (Zhou Xuan), who has fled the Japanese invasion of Manchuria with her older sister Xiao Yun (Zhao Huishen). With limited resources and connections, the two sisters are taken in by a couple that owns a tea house and made to work for them. Xiao Yun is forced into prostitution to make a living, while Xiao Hong works as a singer at the tea house.

The film continues to slowly develop the flirtatious relationship between Xiao Hong and her neighbour Xiao Chen. However, one day, Xiao Chen's friend the Barber (Qian Qianli) sees Mr. Gu, a gangster and frequenter of the tea house where Xiao Hong works, take Xiao Hong out after getting a hair cut from the barbershop where the Barber works. The Barber then tells Ah Bing, the young peddler who is also friends with Xiao Chen, to follow Mr. Gu and Xiao Hong, and Ah Bing watches them buying cloth and eating together. When Ah Bing and the Barber tell Xiao Chen what they saw, Xiao Chen misunderstands and, thinking Xiao Hong is seeing other men, he runs back to his room, upset.

Later, Xiao Chen and Xiao Hong get into a fight and Xiao Hong runs back home. When Xiao Yun returns, she sees a sobbing Xiao Hong and comforts her. Later, Xiao Chen and Wang are drinking at the tea house and Xiao Chen gets intoxicated and demands Xiao Hong sing him a song. She reluctantly sings him the song, "The Wandering Songstress," but he leaves angrily before she is able to finish. Soon after, Xiao Hong overhears that her benefactors are scheming to sell her off to Mr. Gu. She runs to Xiao Chen for support, but he shuns her, still under the impression that she is unfaithful.

Eventually, Xiao Chen comes to realize that Xiao Hong only has eyes for him, and he agrees to let her seek refuge with him and Wang. After hearing of the impending transaction involving Xiao Hong, Xiao Chen and Wang go to consult Lawyer Zhang to see if they can do anything to stop it. However, they realize that they cannot afford the costly legal fees.

Without this legal help, the group flees to another district of Shanghai. Xiao Yun also escapes the teahouse to reunite with the others, and she envisions starting a new life with Xiao Chen’s friend, Wang. However, the owner of the tea house and Mr. Gu soon track them all down. Xiao Hong manages to escape, but Xiao Yun stays behind and refuses to reveal her sister’s whereabouts to her adoptive father. He heartlessly calls her a slut and throws her against the wall, to which she responds by throwing a knife at him. The knife misses and he picks it up and throws it back at her, striking her in the chest and dealing a fatal blow. The others come back only to find her half-conscious. Without any money for a doctor, however, there is little they can do but band together. She dies with the group gathered around her, mourning.

Cast
  • Zhou Xuan as Xiao Hong, a tea house songstress
  • Zhao Dan as Chen Shaoping, also known as Xiao Chen, a trumpet player and Xiao Hong's love interest
  • Zhao Huishen as Xiao Yun, a prostitute and Xiao Hong's older sister
  • Wei Heling as Wang, a newspaper seller and Chen's best friend
  • Feng Zhicheng as Gu, a wealthy gangster
  • Liu Jinyu as Madam, the wife of the teashop owner
  • Wang Jiting as Fiddle Player, the owner of the teashop who takes in Xiao Hong and Xiao Yun
  • Qian Qianli as a Barber, a friend of Xiao Chen
  • Shen Jun as Ah Bing, a young peddler and friend of Xiao Chen
  • Qiu Yuanyuan as Unemployed Person, a mute and friend of Xiao Chen
  • Tang Chaofu as the Barbershop owner
  • Sun Jing as Zhang, a lawyer
  • Chen Yiting as Henchman
  • Yuan Meishao as Young Widow
  • Han Yun as Police Officer

Reception

Street Angel, as a film of 'new citizens,' represents Left Wing film and also reflects the National Defence Movement. The thematic music, singing and dancing present in the film solidified the mainstream status of 'new citizen' films around 1937 when the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out. The film’s year of release was in fact the same year that Japan launched its full-scale attack on China.[4] The film also strengthened classical production types and promoted the national spirit by successfully encouraging Chinese citizens and filmmakers to bypass the destruction the war brought to national culture and to the styles of the films in Japanese invaded areas. As a result, 'Street Angel' laid a foundation of thought and art for the rapid restoration of post-war Chinese film.[5] Street Angel is now considered a vivid portrait of Shanghai street life in the 1930s, "capturing the earthy energy and wild collective mood swings" that existed in Shanghai culture prior to the onset of the Second Sino-Japanese War.[6] This landmark work that male lead Zhao Dan described as "'a film about the lowest strata of society in Shanghai” has now become one of the classics of the "leftist" filmmaking period in China, which reached its peak in the 1930s.[7] In 2005, Street Angel was selected as one of the Best 100 Chinese Motion Pictures by the 24th Hong Kong Film Awards, ranked 11th.

Analysis

Street Angel, a story of solidarity, friendship, and love amongst the dregs of urban society, has been interpreted in different ways. The film successfully "describe[s] the wide gulf between rich and poor in the city".[8] According to the Encyclopedia of Chinese Film, the film is "certainly a critique of Shanghai's semi-colonialist society... it has even been described as a Chinese forerunner of Italian neo-realism. A canonized leftist film, it combines Hollywood and Soviet film techniques with traditional Chinese narrative arts." [9] Some scholars believe the film to have been inspired by American director Frank Borzage's 1927 Seventh Heaven, though the title recalls Borzage's film of the same name from 1928, Street Angel.[6] In addition to the clear American influence, the notable Soviet influence appears in such formal choices as the extensive use of quick cuts of close-ups, and in the visually-captivating opening sequence. These techniques are often seen in other classic films such as City Scenes (Dushi fengguang) in 1935.[10] Accordingly, the dazzling three-minute opening sequence of the 1937 Street Angels displays “a key trope of the cinematic portrayal of 1930s Shanghai: the simultaneous existence of competing forces from different colonial powers. Tensions among various visual and aural elements are arranged in an ostensibly chronological order, a form also popular in the European avante-garde cinema of the 1920s.” [4]

Zhou Xuan as Xiao Hong in Street Angel

Alexander Des Forges of the University of Massachusetts-Boston argues that Xiao Chen, not Xiao Hong, is "the primary recipient of the heterosexual gaze" throughout the film, as Chen captures the attention of not only his eventual wife Xiao Hong, but also Xiao Yun and two of his landladies. Like Jin Yan in the 1934 Chinese classic The Big Road, Zhao Dan represented a different kind of male star, with a "jokey and hyperactive sexuality" and masculinity, unlike the more effeminate Chinese male stars of an earlier age.[11]

Left Wing Movement

The Left Wing Movement began in 1930, although it was officially founded in 1932. The movement emphasized anti–imperialism and class struggle. The movement also led to the foundation of the China Film Culture Society (Zhongguo dianying wenhua xiehui) in February, 1933. Some capitalist film studio owners and petty bourgeois filmmakers had the idea to resist Japanese aggression and change society, to a certain degree paralleling the paradigm of the left wing. Consequently, the “Chinese Film Culture Movement (Zhongguo dianying wenhua yundong)” replaced the “Chinese Left Wing Film Movement,” as increasing numbers of professionals in the film production industry joined the China Film Culture Society. The themes of films considered left-wing were usually associated with class struggle; this concretely became the major theme as the movement progressed. Films about class struggle were often filmed from the perspective of laboring people. Until early 1936, left-wing organizations in literature and art circles were dissolved because of the intensified Japanese aggression. The Mingxing studio was closely tied to left-wing film production. Mingxing’s films, aimed at revealing the dimensions of class conflict, caused great responses among viewers.[12]

Production

Produced by Mingxing Company, the film was framed and photographed in Shanghai. Director Yuan Muzhi used much of the city of Shanghai itself, such as Shanghai’s grand colonial buildings, as well as the neon street lights of the 1930s. These visual features serve to contrast the succeeding display of areas of Shanghai marked by narrow streets and neighbourhood poverty.[13] Street Angel was released during a time of increasing censorship by the Nationalist government, and general conservatism in films. The Central Film Censorship Committee (CFCC) and more restrictive censorship laws instituted by the KMT, forced many left-wing films to either ‘fix’ certain lines of dialogue and plot elements or be banned. Subsequently, films like Street Angel borrowed "acceptable" elements from Hollywood in order to circumvent censorship.[14][7]

Music

During the 1930s, Chinese filmmakers were inclined to view cinema as a Western invention. Despite this view, filmmakers in China felt the need to incorporate indigenous and cultural elements that would be deemed more appropriate for Chinese audiences, and they did this mostly through the soundtrack inclusions.[15]

As one of the early sound films in China, Street Angel is often praised for its innovative use of music, as well as its unique mix of melodrama and comedy. One sequence in particular, where Xiao Chen and his friends attempt to act as barbers, reveals a moment of slapstick or physical comedy in the otherwise dreary third act. The film also features several significant musical interludes.

The two original songs featured in 'Street Angel' are "Song of the Four Seasons" (四季歌) and "The Wandering Songstress"(天涯歌女), both composed by He Lüting, with lyrics by Tian Han. Like the character Xiao Hong, Zhou Xuan herself had barely escaped being sold: at the age of ten, she narrowly avoided being sold to a brothel, and was instead apprenticed to a song and dance troupe based in Shanghai. She went on to become known as the "golden voice," and after she performed the two abovementioned songs in the film, they became popular and are still recognized as musical expressions of the turbulent 1930s era of Chinese history.[16] Today, these two songs continue to be considered two of the most famous songs in modern Chinese culture. The use of these popular songs, amongst other popular songs of their era, were used to express and emphasize national Chinese characteristics, distinguishing Chinese culture from that of the West.

"The Wandering Songstress" was derived from tanci (a traditional story–telling performance originating in Suzhou). It combined a traditional element, in that it was accompanied by a Huqin (a two–string bowed instrument).[17]

While both songs were essential to the film’s success, “Song of the Four Seasons,” specifically, was pivotal in that it was performed alongside pseudo-documentary war footage. “Song of the Four Seasons” offers an insight into this era's circumstances of suffering that led to people’s plight: it compels the audience with its lyrical description of a maiden driven away from her home, the musical tale accompanied by a montage of war images that evoked Japan’s invasion of Manchuria.[18] Because the footage was played alongside the performance of a love song, the film was able to deliver a message condemning the Japanese invasion without arousing the censors. In late 1930s Shanghai, the National Party exercised strict control over cultural production, meaning that any reference to the Japanese invasion was prohibited, to prevent provoking the masses to rise against Japan’s military aggression.[19]

According to scholar Jean Ma, the differences in the two songs present two separate fates for Xiao Hong: she could either become the possession of the wealthy teahouse client, Mr. Gu, or the lover of the poor musician, Xiao Chen. There are also differences in the film's thematic articulation of the songs, as Xiao Hong offers her values and affection in her performance of "The Wandering Songstress," but shows more resistance in her performance of "Song of the Four Seasons".

Theatrical elements

'Street Angels' constructed a theatrical-style mise-en–scéne by using the distinctive element of a back alley, or lilong (里弄), in Shanghai. Lilongs are a typical architectural feature in Shanghai that can be dated back to the city's founding. People’s gaze in the illustrations directed the viewer’s attention from a higher position to a lower position. The lower buildings became the focus, as they are the object of the woman’s gaze in the illustration. This type of composition can be seen in periodicals from the 1880s onwards, as well as in collections such as 'An Illustrated Explanation of Local Customs' (風俗志圖說, Fengsu zhi tushuo) and 'A Hundred Beauties of Shanghai' (海上百艷圖, Haishang baiyan tu). The theatre is used as model to represent the urban streets and alleys of Shanghai. People’s downward gaze from the box seats is similar to that of the characters in the picture: over–looking alleys from the second floor. Therefore, Shanghai's alleys are fundamentally theatrical in nature. In 'Street Angels,' the setting enhances the mise– en–scéne in the way that it features people leaning out of windows and watching alleys. When the shot return to the balcony, it signals the narrative beginning. Many shots in 'Street Angel' are from second–storey windows, reminding viewers of the composition of the lithographed illustration and the view from the box seats in stage theatres. Also, the shots between Xiao Hong and Xiao Chen’s second–floor rooms maintain the practice of theatrical spectatorship. The equal attention devoted between Xiao Hong and Xiao Chen, which is created by a 180 pan, is similar to the exchanges between men and women in box seats in the theatre.[20]

Further reading
  • List of films in the public domain in the United States
  • JSTOR 834436 Reconsidering the Past: Zhou Xuan and the Rehabilitation of Early Twentieth-Century Popular Music
  • Scaling the Skyscraper: Images of Cosmopolitan Consumption in Street Angel (1937)[21]
  • Chinese left cinema in the 1930s Poisonous weeds or national treasures
  • Forges, A. D. (2010). Shanghai Alleys, Theatrical Practice, and Cinematic Spectatorship: From Street Angel (1937) to Fifth *Generation Film. Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 39(4), 29–51. doi:10.1177/186810261003900402
  • C. M. Yau (1993) International fantasy and the “New Chinese cinema”, Quarterly Review of Film and Video, 14:3, 95-107, DOI: 10.1080/10509209309361409
  • Guo-Juin Hong (2009) Meet me in Shanghai: melodrama and the cinematic production of space in 1930s Shanghai leftist films, Journal of Chinese Cinemas, 3:3, 215-230, DOI: 10.1386/jcc.3.3.215/1

References
  1. Jones, Andrew F. (2009). Yellow Music : Media Culture and Colonial Modernity in the Chinese Jazz Age. Duke University Press Books. OCLC 743399389.
  2. "20th CENTURY: China in Revolution, 1912-1949 | Central Themes and Key Points | Asia for Educators | Columbia University". afe.easia.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2020-06-14.
  3. Guo-Juin Hong (2009) Meet me in Shanghai: melodrama and the cinematic production of space in 1930s Shanghai leftist films, Journal of Chinese Cinemas, 3:3, 215-230, DOI: 10.1386/jcc.3.3.215/1 p. 217
  4. Guo-Juin Hong (2009) Meet me in Shanghai: melodrama and the cinematic production of space in 1930s Shanghai leftist films, Journal of Chinese Cinemas, 3:3, 215-230, DOI: 10.1386/jcc.3.3.215/1 p. 216
  5. Malu Tianshi: Classical Film of New Citizens in the Context of Left Wing Films and National Defence Films 袁庆丰(Qing-Feng Yuan)
  6. "Street Angel (China, 1937); Song at Midnight (China, 1937) | UCLA Film & Television Archive". www.cinema.ucla.edu. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  7. "Street Angel | US-China Institute". china.usc.edu. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  8. Zhou, Cui (2016). "Scenes of The Turbulent Days: On The 1930s Chinese Leftist Film Movement". Retrieved June 13, 2020.
  9. Summary by Zhiwei Xiao, Yingjin Zhang Encyclopedia of Chinese Film page 321
  10. Pang, Laikwan. Building a New China in Cinema: The Chinese Left-Wing Cinema Movement, 1932-1937. MCLC Resource Center Publication, Oct. 2007, http://u.osu.edu/mclc/book-reviews/building-a-new-china/.
  11. Forges, Alexander Des (December 2010). "Shanghai Alleys, Theatrical Practice, and Cinematic Spectatorship: From Street Angel (1937) to Fifth Generation Film". Journal of Current Chinese Affairs. 39 (4): 29–51. doi:10.1177/186810261003900402. ISSN 1868-1026. S2CID 145517930.
  12. Hu, J. (2003). Chapter 4: Class Nationalism Versus Traditionalist Nationalism (1931 - 1936). In Projecting a nation: Chinese national cinema before 1949. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
  13. "Street Angel 馬路天使 (1937)". The Chinese Cinema Blog. 2017.
  14. Wang, Chaoguang (July 2007). "The politics of filmmaking: An investigation of the Central Film Censorship Committee in the mid-1930s". Frontiers of History in China. 2 (3): 416–444. doi:10.1007/s11462-007-0022-8. ISSN 1673-3401. S2CID 195070026.
  15. Yueh-yu, Yeh (2002). "Historiography and Sinification: Music in Chinese Cinema of the 1930s". Cinema Journal. 41 (3): 78–97. doi:10.1353/cj.2002.0012. ISSN 0009-7101. JSTOR 1225700.
  16. Stock, Jonathan (21/1995). "Reconsidering the Past: Zhou Xuan and the Rehabilitation of Early Twentieth-Century Popular Music". Asian Music. 26 (2): 119–135. doi:10.2307/834436. JSTOR 834436. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. Chen, S. (2005). The rise and generic features of Shanghai popular songs in the 1930s and 1940s. Popular Music, 24(1), 107-125. doi:10.1017/s0261143004000297
  18. Ma, Jean. Sounding the modern woman: the songstress in Chinese cinema. Duke University, 2015.
  19. Yueh-yu, Yeh (2002). "Historiography and Sinification: Music in Chinese Cinema of the 1930s". Cinema Journal. 41 (3): 88. ISSN 0009-7101. JSTOR 1225700.
  20. Des Forges, Alexander (2010). "Shanghai Alleys, Theatrical Practice, and Cinematic Spectatorship: From Street Angel (1937) to Fifth Generation Film". Journal of Current Chinese Affairs. 39(4): 29-51. ISSN: 1868-4874 (online), ISSN: 1868-1026 (print)
  21. Palmer, Augusta. “Scaling the Skyscraper: Images of Cosmopolitan Consumption in Street Angel (1937)
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