Yi jian mei

What a ride! Multiple betrayals. Chases on horseback. Scenes out of Schiller. Bad guys identified with mustaches. Good guys with beards or clean shaven. Heroic women. Dastardly villains. Silly villains. Even a disgruntled sidekick for comic effect. A rare chance to see Ruan Ling-yu, whose short life and cruel death gave Stanley Kwan his film, Center Stage.

We see lovers and friends betraying and betrayed, a society whose corruption has a Felix-The-Cat simplicity, a bureaucracy flawed by nepotism and cruel whim. It is China in 1931 as interpreted by a Hollywood-influenced Chinese film industry. If we look between the frames we can see a piece of the future as one would wish it to be, with goodness sleeping somewhere in every human heart.

But we cannot help but know better. It is before Manchukuo, before the civil war, before Nanking, before the Great Leap Forward, before The Cultural Revolution.

The film is mostly just escapist fun, but the context, and we can sense the context, and the future, from Ruan Ling-yu's suicide to China's half-century of unimaginable suffering, make this moment of fun worthy of reverence.

This film stars the incredible Lily Yuen as Julia, who falls in love with Proteus, while her brother, sent to Canton for the military, falls in love with Silvia (Cho-Cho Lam). The story is basically a chronicle of the two relationships, but it actually is more than that. You get a feel for the military regime at that time and you get elements of betrayal. The film is very watchable, but remember it is a silent film. To me, that makes no difference, but to some it might. Just seeing any film with Lily Yuen, who tragically took her own life in her 20's, is worth your time. She was a great actress and thankfully her films are at least somewhat available (you have to see the film "Goddess", its amazing). I've never seen Cho-Cho Lam before, and her career ended early, but she was very good as Silvia. The male leads are not as interesting, but this is by design. This film, with some technical problems (it is probably the best print available, it must have been shown in Asian communities in the United States) is worth watching solely because it still exists. Its available on DVD, so its easy to find. Not my favorite Lily Yuen film, but it holds your interest and that is enough of a reason to check it out.

Yi Jian Mei meets Two Gentlemen of Verona

Military cadets Hu Luting (Valentine) and Bai Lede (Proteus) are mutual friends, both with aspirations to serve their country. After graduating, Hu Luting (Valentine) leaves for Guangdong where he has a post as captain of headquarters. Bai Lede (Proteus) stays in Shanghai with Hu Luting's (Valentine's) younger sister Hu Zhilu (Julia), and the two are engaged.

In Guangdong, Hu Luting (Valentine) and the general's daughter Shi Luohua (Sylvia) fall in love...

This is a story of true love, transcending history and cultures. It includes bandits and women-soldiers (exciting!), all portrayed in the refreshingly clean style of 1930's silent black-and-white film.