Queen of Sports

Queen of Sports (1934)

体育皇后

Young sprinter Lin Ying enrolls in a sports college in Shanghai. As she becomes a sports celebrity, she starts to mangle with the upper class and has gradually forgotten the true essence of sports.

Date of release
1934-04-14
TMDB
6.2 / 10 (10)
Runtime
1h 29m
Genres
Drama
Director
Sun Yu

Casting

Interesting facts

Sports Queen, also known as Queen of Sports and The Athletic Queen, is a 1934 Chinese film directed by Sun Yu, starring Li Lili and Zhang Yi. The film revolves around a girl who arrives in Shanghai to devote her talents to athletics and is almost led astray by college boys. She is put back on track by her coach and she understands of the idea of "true sportsmanship (体育真精神)".

Production

In the early 1930s, China was in danger from Japanese militarism as well as economic depression. Japan staged the Mukden Incident in September 1931 and established the puppet state of Manchukuo months later. This launched the years of Japanese military occupation and control over the northeastern area of China.

Sun Yu and Li Lili had previously collaborated in the films "Little Toys" (《小玩意》) and "Daybreak" (天明). Sun Yu admired Li Lili's athletic beauty, healthy physique, and energy. Sun Yu then wrote this script entirely designed to enhance her attractiveness and spirit. He began shooting the film on November 26, 1933.

Due to the dangers of Japanese militarism and the economic depression that hit China in the early 1930s, many people involved in the film industry called for the revolution and revitalization of national films, including Sun Yu. Inspired by the country's call for revitalizing national films, he produced the film with the idea of a "fit woman's body" to match the popular propaganda of "fitness helps to save the nation".

Throughout the 1930s, Chinese filmmaking was strongly influenced by the perceived Hollywood's melodramatic cinematic style, which was characterized by scandal, sexual promiscuity, and drug addiction. Despite filmmakers' claims of attempts to warn the audience about alien spiritual pollution, foreign cultural modes were still often displayed in an alluring way and attracted more audiences than repelled.

The Kuomintang started the New Life Movement in February 1934, which the film agreed with to some extent. For example, the film took two minutes focusing on personal hygiene issues: Lin Ying and her teammates get up in the morning and do gymnastics on their canvas beds before brushing their teeth.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

Recommended