A Spray of Plum Blossoms

Infobox_Film


caption =
name = A Spray of Plum Blossoms
imdb_id = 0477928
writer = Huang Yicuo
starring = Ruan Lingyu
Wang Cilong
Jin Yan
director = Bu Wancang
cinematography = Huang Shaofen
producer = Luo Mingyou
distributor = Lianhua Film Company
Cinema Epoch (dvd)
runtime = 100 min
released = 1931
country = China
language = Silent film
Written Chinese and English intertitles
budget =|

"A Spray of Plum Blossoms" (zh-cp|c=一剪梅|p=Yī jiǎn méi) is a 1931 silent Chinese film directed by Bu Wancang and starring Ruan Lingyu, Wang Cilong and Jin Yan. It is a loose adaptation of William Shakespeare's "The Two Gentlemen of Verona". The film is one of several collaborations between Bu Wancang and two of the top Chinese movie stars of the day Ruan Lingyu and the Korean-born Jin Yan and was produced by the Lianhua Film Company.

The film is noted for its attempted "Westernized stylings" including its surreal use of decor, women-soldiers with long hair, etc. The film also had English-subtitles, but as some scholars have noted, since few foreigners watched these films, the subtitles were more to give off an air of the West rather than to serve any real purpose.Pang, Laikwan, "Building a New China in Cinema: The Chinese Left-Wing Cinema Movement", (New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2002), 26.]

Cast

*Ruan Lingyu as Hu Zhilu (Julia)
*Jin Yan as Hu Luting (Valentine)
*Wang Cilong as Bai Lede(Proteus)
*Lam Chocho as Shi Luohua (Silvia)
*Gao Zhanfei as Liao Di'ao (Tiburio)
*Chen Yanyan as A Qiao (Lucetta)
*Liu Jiqun as Fatty Liu
*Wang Guilin as General Shi
*Shi Juefei as Li Yi, the chief bandit

Plot

Hu Luting (Valentine) and Bai Lede (Proteus), two graduates of Shanghai's military academy are best friends. While Hu Luting is sent to the far south to serve under General Shi, Bai remains in Shanghai, falling in love with Hu's sister, Hu Zhilu (Julia). Meanwhile Hu Luting has fallen in love with General Shi's daughter, Shi Luohua (Silvia). When Bai is also sent south, tensions rise as Bai also begins to feel attractions to Luohua.

DVD release

"A Spring of Plum Blossoms" was released on all-region DVD by Cinema Epoch as a packaged disc (along with Shi Dongshan's "Two Stars in the Milky Way"). The disc was released on September 11, 2007.

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0192842|title=A Spray of Plum Blossoms
* [http://www.dianying.com/en/title/yjm1931 "A Spray of Plum Blossoms"] from the Chinese Movie Database (incorrectly referred to as "The Peach Girl")
* [http://www.cinemaepoch.com/foreign.htm Cinema Epoch's] collection of Chinese and other foreign films