Yan Ruisheng

Yan Ruisheng (1921)

閻瑞生

In the summer of 1920, Shanghai was scandalized by a sensational murder, a high-profile case and subsequent trial that was the ongoing topic of conversation in the city's numerous cafes, clubs and teahouses. Among the various reasons for its notoriety, two stand out: first, the victim was a high-class prostitute, well known in Shanghai; second, the murderer had been a mid-level manager in a respected foreign firm, a playboy who in Manhattan might have been termed a "prominent young man about town." There were detailed press reports daily as the case wound its way through the judicial system.

Date of release
1921-07-01
Runtime
1h 40m
Genres
Drama, Documentary
Director
Pengnian Ren

Casting

Interesting facts

Yan Ruisheng is a 1921 Chinese silent film directed by Ren Pengnian and starring Chen Shouzi and Wang Caiyun. A docudrama based on the murder of Wang Lianying the previous year, it follows a young man named Yan Ruisheng who kills a courtesan to steal her jewellery. When the crime is discovered, he and his accomplices flee. Yan is captured in Xuzhou and returned to Shanghai, where he is executed.

Production

Production of Yan Ruisheng was handled by the Chinese Cinema Study Society (CCSS), a recently established group of students that also published an illustrated periodical titled The Motion Picture Review (影戏杂志). Although the production process was primarily collaborative, several individuals were identified as fulfilling specific roles.

The filmmakers initially considered hiring cast members from existing stage productions, but ultimately decided to cast amateurs. CCSS member Chen Shouzhi was cast in the lead role due to his physical resemblance to Yan Ruisheng; having been one of Yan's friends, he also knew the man's mannerisms. For the victim Wang Lianying, a retired courtesan named Wang Caiyun was hired; she had also had previous theatrical experience.

Funds for the production – advertised as tens of thousands of yuan – were borrowed, and equipment and crew were loaned from the filmmaking division of the Commercial Press, the largest publishing house in China. The Commercial Press's filmmaking division also made its indoor studio available to the crew.

When making Yan Ruisheng, the filmmakers emphasized a high level of verisimilitude. In this, they were aided by the extensive coverage of the court case and their own personal familiarity with the culprit. Some scenes were shot at the same locations where the events had occurred, or at venues frequented by those involved, and the car used in the film was the same one in which Yan had driven Wang.

The production of Yan Ruisheng was announced in the Shen Bao on 6 April 1921, with principal photography having been completed and post-production in progress. Coverage appeared in several subsequent issues of the newspaper, and later advertising material explained that the film had been completed over the course of six months. As released, it was ten reels in length (approx.

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

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