''A Spray of Plum Blossoms'' () is a 1931 silent Chinese film directed by

Bu Wancang Bu Wancang (July 1, 1900 – December 30, 1973), also known by his English name Richard Poh, was a prolific Chinese film director and screenwriter active between the 1920s and the 1960s. He was born in Anhui. Career Originally a member of the S ...

and starring

Ruan Lingyu Ruan Lingyu (born Ruan Fenggen; April 26, 1910 – March 8, 1935), also known by her English name Lily Yuen, was a Chinese silent film actress. One of the most prominent Chinese film stars of the 1930s, her exceptional acting ability and suicid ...

, Wang Cilong,

Lim Cho Cho Florence Lim (21 January 1905 – 16 February 1979), better known as Lim Cho-cho, was a Chinese Canadian actress in the cinema of the Republic of China and British Hong Kong from 1925 to 1954. She was the second wife of filmmaker Lai Man-Wai and t ...

, and

Jin Yan Jin Yan (; April 7, 1910 – December 27, 1983), also known by his English name Raymond King, was a Korean-born Chinese actor who gained fame during China's golden age of cinema, based in Shanghai. His acting talents and good looks gained hi ...

. It is a loose adaptation of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

The Two Gentlemen of Verona ''The Two Gentlemen of Verona'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1589 and 1593. It is considered by some to be Shakespeare's first play, and is often seen as showing his first tentative steps in laying ...

''. The film is one of several collaborations between Bu Wancang and two of the top Chinese movie stars of the day

and the Korean-born

and was produced by the

Lianhua Film Company The United Photoplay Service Company () was one of the three dominant production companies based in Shanghai, China during the 1930s, the other two being the Mingxing Film Company and the Tianyi Film Company, the forerunner of the Hong Kong-based ...

. The film is noted for its attempted "Westernized stylings" including its surreal use of decor, as well as women-soldiers with long hair. 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.Bi-qi Beatrice Lei, "Paradox of Chinese Nationalism: ''Two Gentlemen of Verona'' in Silent Film", in Bi-qi Beatrice Lei and Ching-Hsi Perng (eds.), ''Shakespeare in Culture'' (Taiwan: NTU Press, 2012), 251-284

Cast

as Hu Zhilu (Julia) *

as Hu Luting (Valentine) * Wang Cilong as Bai Lede (Proteus) *

as Shi Luohua (Silvia) * Gao Zhanfei as Liao Di'ao (Tiburio) * Chen Yen-yen as A Qiao (Lucetta) *

Liu Jiqun / ( or ) is an East Asian surname. pinyin: in Mandarin Chinese, in Cantonese. It is the family name of the Han dynasty emperors. The character originally meant 'kill', but is now used only as a surname. It is listed 252nd in the classic t ...

as Fatty Liu * Wang Guilin as General Shi * Shi Juefei as Li Yi, the chief bandit

Plot

The film tells the story of Bai Lede (Wang Chilong) and Hu Luting (Jin Yan), two military cadets who have been friends since they were children. After graduating, Hu, a playboy uninterested in love, is appointed as a captain in Guangdong and leaves his home town in Shanghai. Bai however, deeply in love with Hu's sister, Hu Zhuli (Ruan Lingyu) stays behind. At Guangdong, Hu falls in love with the local general's daughter, Shi Luohua (Lim Cho Cho), although the general, Shi (Wang Guilin), is unaware of the relationship, and instead wants his daughter to marry the foolish Liao Di'ao (Gao Zhanfei). Meanwhile, Bai's father uses his influence to get Bai posted to Guangdong, and after a sorrowful farewell between himself and Zhuli, he arrives at his new post and instantly falls in love with Luohua. In an effort to have her for himself, Bai betrays his friend, by informing General Shi of his daughter's plans to elope with Hu, leading to Shi dishonourably discharging Hu. Bai tries to win Luohua over, but she is uninterested, only concerned with lamenting the loss of Hu. In the meantime, Hu encounters a group of bandits who ask him to be their leader, to which he agrees, planning on returning for Luohua at some point in the future. Some time passes, and one day, as Luohua, Bai and Liao are passing through the forest, they are attacked. Luohua manages to flee, and Bai pursues her into the forest. They engage in an argument, but just as Bai seems about to lose his temper, Hu intervenes, and he and Luohua are reunited. General Shi arrives in time to see Liao flee the scene, and he now realises that he was wrong to get in the way of the relationship between Hu and his daughter. Hu then forgives Bai his betrayal, and Bai reveals that he has discovered that his only true love is in fact Zhuli back in Shanghai.

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 11 September 2007.

References

External links

*
''A Spray of Plum Blossoms''
from the Chinese Movie Database (incorrectly referred to as ''The Peach Girl'')

collection of Chinese and other foreign films {{DEFAULTSORT:Spray of Plum Blossoms, A 1931 films Chinese silent films Films based on The Two Gentlemen of Verona Films directed by Bu Wancang Lianhua Film Company films Films set in Guangdong Films set in Republic of China (1912–1949) Films shot in Shanghai Films shot in Guangdong Films shot in Hong Kong Chinese drama films 1931 drama films Chinese black-and-white films Silent drama films

Cast

Plot

DVD release

See also

References

External links