Ma lu tian shi

Two sisters having fled from the war in northeast China come to Shanghai looking for a better life. Xiao Yun (Zhao Huishen) is forced into prostitution while her younger sister Xiao Hong (Zhou Xuan) becomes a singer and dancer at a local brothel. Though enslaved to the musician Wang, they are aided by the friendship of a young street musician Xiao Chen (Zhao Dan) and his friend Xiao Wang (Wei Heling) who help the sisters fend off the brothel owner and local thugs. Considered an early Chinese classic, Yuan Muzhi's lyrical Street Angel depicts the daily struggles of those who made up Shanghai's underclasses in 1935 at the time of the Japanese occupation: the street walkers, news vendors, fruit sellers, musicians, barbers, and the like. The film blends comedy with social realism and shows Chinese women as victims of a ruthlessly commercial society.

Unlike Flowers of Shanghai by Hou Hsiao-hsien which depicted the world of the courtesan behind closed doors, Street Angel shows the open world of Shanghai's street prostitutes, girls that have no status, are bought and sold, and allowed little individuality. Like the prostitutes in Hou's film, however, they are equally entrapped and their only escape is by marrying or running away. In spite of its theme, the film is never heavy handed but comes alive through the superb acting of Chen and the magnificent singing of then 18-year old Zhou Xuan. Zhou's songs and Chen's trumpet playing and magic tricks give the film a warmth and playfulness that transcends the bleak conditions and makes it universal in its appeal.

Singer Xuan Zhou (Hong) and her prostitute sister Huishen Zhao (Yu) have been adopted by a ruthless bar owner Wang Jiting who uses Zhou as bait for his clients and expects her to sing for them and maybe even a little more. Zhao is already on the streets plying her trade and these 2 sisters are allowed a lodging above the bar. They both run away to stay with trumpet player Dan Zhao (Chen) and his newspaper selling friend Heling Wei (Wang) in an equally poor neighbourhood but at least they are safe to pursue their dreams of love. Things don't work out as planned.

This film carries the political/social message that the current system in China is unfair as only those who have money can achieve a happy and fulfilled life whilst the ordinary people have to suffer as they don't have any money. This is emphasized in two scenes - the first when Dan and Heling go to a lawyer and the second when Heling goes for a doctor. The message is that you need money in life or else you won't get any help.

The film has plenty of comedy moments with a comedy trio of friends who hang out with our trumpet-playing main character. In contrast, it has a sudden ending that will leave you on a downer. This film also drops the F bomb on numerous occasions in stark contrast to what was going on in Hollywood at the same time. This is most excellently appreciated.

In terms of the cast, it is prostitute sister Huishen who stands out in this film whenever she is on screen and she looks very cool and gothic from her first appearance. Heling is also a good character and you will these two on to start a romance. Xuan sings a couple of songs which are apparently Chinese classics. However, they don't do much for me as I am not from this culture and they are not to my taste. And please, no-one learn to play the trumpet!

Even though no one knew it then, the first Golden Age of Chinese cinema was quickly coming to a close when director Yuan Muzhi released his July 1937 "Street Angel." One major contributing factor to the era's demise was an incident at Marco Polo Bridge near Beijing on July 7, 1937, between Chinese and Japanese soldiers, sparking the Second Sino-Japanese War. The brutal conflict swallowed the country's 'Hollywood of the East,' the city of Shanghai in the following month. When released, "Street Angel" quickly became one of the most popular movies produced in China in the 1930s. Yuan's movie served as a commentary on the state of Chinese urban life at the cusp of dramatic political changes.

"Street Angel" was the second film of Yuan's, an actor-turn-director. His joie de vivre personality seen on the screen was transferred to his directed movies, as witnessed in his first film, 1935's "Scenes of City Life." In "Street Angel," Yuan mixes comedy with tragedy to describe two sisters who had fled Manchuria when the Japanese invaded the region in the early 1930s. An opportunist, sadistic couple, owners of a tea house, have taken in the sisters. The older sister, Xiao Yun (Zhao Huishen), is forced to walk the streets to pay her way, while the younger sister, Xiao Hong (Zhou Xuan), is a singer at the tea house working for tips. Chen Shaoping (Zhao Dan) is a fun-loving trumpet player living next door to the tea house who is attracted to Xiao. His friendship with three nearby barbers, acting like Hollywood's The Three Stooges, provide the movie's levity, mimicking many of the Stooges' pranks.

As a Chinese 'left-wing' film during this Golden Age of Cinema, "Street Angel" illustrates the wide gap between the rich and the poor struggling in a major city. Typical of these 'left wing' movies has fat cats (rich males) take advantage of the vulnerable, especially women living in poverty, only to see a savior rescue those less fortunate. Chen and another friend whisk the two sisters away from their oppressive home. As a co-author to "Angel Street," Yuan gleaned his movie's title and its theme from Janet Gaynor's 1928 silent film of the same name as well as director Frank Borzage/Janet Gaynor's motion picture, 1927 "7th Heaven." Shanghai was one of the fortunate cities in China to receive a number of Hollywood films during the 1930s. Yuan's and Gaynor's two movies are centered on the psychological and physical effects of prostitution.

Yuan survived the brutal Japanese occupation as well as the subsequent Communist takeover of China after World War Two. He producied movies for the state-controlled Dongbei Film Studio, the company which Yuan helped establish. Actor Zhao Dan, who played Chen Shaoping, also remained in China, but was swept up by the 1966 Cultural Revolution, where he served five years in prison. And actress Zhou Xuan, as the young singer Xiao Hong, belted out two songs in "Angel Street," 'The Wandering Songstress' and the 'Four Seasons Song,' which became instant classics in China, while the film made her a major star and popular singer. She's best known as a member of China's 'Seven Singing Stars,' and appeared in over 40 movies. Despite her stardom, her life wasn't all roses. She suffered through several abusive marriages, birthing a handful of illegitimate children and committing a number of suicide attempts. She died in a mental asylum at 37. Her best known film: "Street Angel."

Except for the abrupt ending, this is perfect in many ways.

Its a drama so far as the spine, but is expressed purely with comedy. Some of this is subtle and sweet, some bordering on slapstick.

But what's so compelling about this is how integrated it is. The photography is profoundly deep for the period, with rich depth. It isn't spatial like some things I have seen recently. Its not about space or sets but about light and darkness. Within this are a variety of shots. Some of these are like you would expect, shots that directly advance the narrative. But this isn't about story, but texture. So you have all sorts of shots of the type you'd never see in an ordinary film.

Different perspectives in the fashion of later Welles, of course. But there are annotative observations of things that either look or would be looked at casually by the people in the shot. The way it dances among watching them and being them is amazingly effective. Its a sort of fold, rare in my experience. Lots of long scene overlays. The editing is perhaps even more inspired because we get a rhythm that after seventy years, huge cultural divides and changes, it still reads as naturally — perhaps more — as the day and place it was made.

Its fantastic. There are things you can do in black and white that simply are impossible in color.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.