Spring in a Small Town

Spring in a Small Town (1948)

小城之春

A married couple living in a desolate small town in post-WWII China are paid a surprise visit by an old friend of the husband's.

Date of release
1948-02-01
TMDB
7.2 / 10 (109)
Runtime
1h 34m
Genres
Drama, Romance
Director
Fei Mu

Casting

Interesting facts

Spring in a Small Town is a 1948 black-and-white Chinese film, written by Li Tianji and directed by Fei Mu, a director known for his empathetic portrayal of women. It was produced and funded by Wenhua Film Company, whose great financial deficit at the time led it to produce Spring in a Small Town on a smaller budget with a minimalist plot and setting. The film cast only five characters, and it focuses on the struggles of a husband and wife, and the ensuing turmoil when Zhang Zhichen, Liyan's former classmate and, ironically, Yuwen's former lover, pays an unplanned visit to their residence.

Background

Spring in a Small Town takes place in the aftermath of the Second Sino-Japanese War. During the war, the Japanese bombed numerous Chinese cities, causing enormous casualties and damage, in which around 20 million people died. The war also left the Nationalist Party in a precarious position, while the Communist Party gained more influence. The film was produced during the Chinese Civil War.

Spring in a Small Town applied some analogies of ancient poetry to the scenes and images in the film, like the symbols of the moonlight, candle and orchid. Also, based on the Second Sino-Japanese War background and ruined walls image, the theme of Du Fu's poem "Chunwang" ("Spring Prospect") was invoked in this film:

The poem was written after An Lushan Rebellion in 757 CE, which almost toppled the Tang dynasty and is often seen as the beginning of the Tang dynasty's long decline. It expresses Du Fu's hatred of war and his sympathy for the people.

In 1947, Wu Zuguang pushed script writer Li Tianji to write a screenplay, telling him to start with "Spring in a Small Town", which was originally titled "Bitter Love" but was eventually renamed "Lost Love". Li Tianji presented the script for "Spring in a Small Town" to the directors of Cathay (Guotai) Film Company and Datong Film Company after completing it, but they were not interested.

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

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