What have Chinese done in the development of cinema in the world?
I chose five people, from actor to director to producer
From the 20s to the 70s
Talking about the contribution of Chinese to film
Bruce Lee, Huang Liushuang, Lai Man-Wai, Cai Chusheng
They are all gone
I had to find someone who is still alive to string them all together
There is no one else better than Lisa Lu
She is connected to all these people
She said yes immediately, for she loves cinema
We covered 5 cities and some rural areas
Los Angeles, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Taishan
Bai Xianyong said Lisa Lu is the actor of actors
Three Golden Horse Awards, played Empress dowager Cixi three times
One of the earliest lifetime judges hired by the Oscar Committee
I've been in Hollywood for 60 years
Lisa Lu at the age of 93
was still active on the stage
This year she turned 96 and she is still working, making films
We worked together for over forty days
She is a typical lady from the Republican era
She woke up earlier than everyone else
Getting things ready
Every time she'd make sure, do we need it done again?
"It was my second year in Shanghai"
"A war broke out from here"
"Lai Man-Wai rushed to the battlefield with a camera"
"Documented atrocities committed by the Japanese army"
Lai Man-Wai, known as the father of Chinese cinema
And he was also a master of documentary films
I found Li Xi (son of Lai Man-Wai), a photographer
His (Lai Man-Wai) story mainly comes from his diary
Until a few days before he left the world
The image of Sun Yat-sen seen today, to the later Northern Expedition
The Japanese attacked Shanghai twice
Lai Man-Wai filmed almost the whole process
At his own expense
He even strapped himself to an airplane in the 20s and took aerial shots from the plane
Lai Man-Wai was one of the two founders of Lianhua Film Studio
Which produced hundreds of films
Tuan Lingyu was cultivated by him
He wanted to save the country with films and wake up the humanity in people
"We must all work together"
"To defend Shanghai"
Shanghai, the Japanese shut down his studio
At the lowest point the whole family had only one Yuan during the New Year Festival
Traitors occupied his studio, but he never regretted it
Sun Yat-sen wrote 4 words for him -- "Tian Xia Wei Gong"
Shanghai was at its most prosperous in the 1930s and 1940s
There were about 200 film studios
Cai Chusheng was a director of Lianhua
He was not educated in film, but worked in a grocery store
A bunch of film makers came to Shanghai
He went to help and turned out a famous director
"Song of the Fisherman" was screened for 83 consecutive days, creating a peak at the box office
At that time , there was a major rout in the mainland ( of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression)
Cai Chusheng had pneumonia and his luggage was also robbed
Only then did he learned about the life at the bottom
"After the invaders came to the northeast"
"We lost countless mines and factories"
His diary wrote:
"I am now as undignified as a bug"
he decided to make "Spring River Flows East"
"Fight the enemy's latest weapons"
No one understands Chinese audience
Like Cai Chusheng
Even today it's still a great film though black-and-white
If you go to Hollywood's Walk of Fame
You would see a sculpture
And Huang Liushuang is the representation of Asia
Huang Liushuang's experience of bravely breaking into Hollywood
Inspired future Chinese actors, including me
Born from a humble background, extremely talented
In her 20s, she was famous all over the world
At that time, the Chinese Exclusion Act was still in effect
Huang Liushuang played some roles in films
Femme fatale, often kills, plotting people behind their back 77 00:04:50,359 --> 00:04:52,720 People in China thought of her as a disgrace
She was expected to star in “The Good Earth"
But in the end the role was given to a European
Huang Liushuang lost the role, which was particularly irritating to her
She decided to leave Hollywood
And go to see her country
She lived in China for about 10 months
Some were every nice and kind to her
Some were not
The local Taishan villagers heard that Huang Liushuang had returned
They refused to allow her to return to her hometown
This time, I invited Lisa Lu to her hometown in Taishan
The old house is still there, and the village is half demolished
After a few months living in China, her feelings for the nation changed
"We must live"
"Until the invaders"
"Are driven out of China and buried in the sea"
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance
She joined a U.S. aid agency for China
She sent medicines back to China
She took her jewelry and clothes to auction
In her own words
I was just a Chinese daughter in Foster Care in Los Angeles
From now on I know that I am a Chinese
To the time of Bruce Lee, Chinese were not as discriminated as before
Thanks to generations of struggling
Fighting for equal rights for the Chinese
It's actually chasing the light of film
From the 20s to the 70s
Constructing half of the film history
You can see what's behind films
It is also a tribute to the pioneers of Chinese cinema