Chapter 20 Part 1: The tenants of the dangerous "No. 1 Case in Guangzhou" are full of jokes

If the "trilogy" of "Pearl River Tears", "Coconut Grove", and "South China Sea Tide" has established a brand of "Southern Movies" for Wang Weiyi, then, the next one The four "Southern Movies" are one of his other masterpieces that pushed "Southern Movies" to a new peak - the satirical comedy "Seventy-Two Tenants". Speaking of the story film "Seventy-Two Tenants", people will naturally think of the groups of funny scenes and the humorous plots. The Suzhou dialect feature film "Satisfactory or Not" and Bayi Factory's Sichuan dialect feature film "Grassing the Strong" are highly praised.

"Seventy-Two Tenants" is a Cantonese story-comedy film jointly produced by Zhujiang Film Studio and Hong Kong Hongtu Film Company. It uses local dialects to break through regional limitations. , received rave reviews, and has been screened for many years so far. It cannot but be said to have created another myth and miracle in the film industry.This classic comedy directed by Wang Weiyi really has an interesting story: The Guangzhou residents, Guangzhou dialect, and various characters surrounding the story in "Seventy-two Tenants" are all so typical, authentic, and authentic, but this play is transplanted and adapted from Shanghai local opera.This play was originally a reserved repertoire of the Shanghai Dagong Comedy Troupe in Guangzhou. At that time, the Guangdong cultural department had a long-standing idea and plan to make a film with local characteristics of Guangdong that would be screened in overseas Chinese areas. "Seventy-Two Tenants" is in line with the requirements of the higher authorities in terms of comedy features, character modeling, and storyline, and it is more suitable for adaptation into a feature film with local characteristics in Guangzhou. Therefore, among several candidate plays, "Seventy-Two Tenants" Home Tenant" bears the brunt.

Subsequently, Guangdong Overseas Chinese Committee negotiated with the Shanghai Dagong Comedy Troupe. In order to retain the performance rights of the troupe, this feature film with Cantonese dialect adapted and filmed by Zhuying Films can only be released and screened in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong and overseas, and not allowed in the mainland. public screening.Huang Guliu, Wang Weiyi, Yang Huasheng, Xiaoxixi, Zhang Qiaonong, and Shen Yile have made drastic revisions to the original works, and added the role of a pseudo-public security chief in depth to the plot, and transferred this character from behind the scenes to the front of the stage. "The protagonist of the villain, the pseudo-police, relied instead on the pseudo-public security chief and an accomplice of local evil forces, making the sharp class contradictions and the dark social reality more tortuous and complicated at that time, forming a sharp contrast.Facts have proved that such an adaptation is successful and has educational significance for awakening the world.In addition, through the story of Bagu and Binggen, the landlord couple who wanted to drive out seventy-two tenants, colluded with the evil forces to plan to open the "Xiaoyao Palace" full of five poisons, comedy gimmicks full of jokes, clever and interesting drama In the end, the ending of all the tenants uniting as one, fighting wits and bravery with the couple and the evil forces, and defeating the conspiracy is presented to the audience, achieving the perfect combination of comedy style and theme.The cast and crew of the opening subtitles are listed one by one, and a large and long scroll of Guangzhou city style sketches is also ingeniously used to set off the unfolding, which is enough to show the ingenuity of the director.

The film was invested and shot by Hong Kong Hongtu Company, Zhuying Studio invested a large number of creative personnel, and it was a perfect combination.After the filming, the film was screened in Guangdong, Guangxi and Hong Kong, especially in overseas markets. It was indeed favored by the audience, especially overseas Chinese, who praised it as "the first of its kind in comedy that appeals to both refined and popular tastes". Zhuying has not only won a full reputation, but also gained considerable economic income. On the eve of the "Cultural Revolution", this film was designated as a "big poisonous weed" and was screened at the criticism conference as a "negative teaching material". "Critical" films, on the contrary, have unexpected and unexpected "reverse effects".Since the content of the film is healthy and non-toxic, the criticism conference was canceled.After the Cultural Revolution, the Central Film Bureau set up a film review team to rehabilitate a large number of films that were labeled as "poisonous weeds". "Seventy-Two Tenants" was also considered an excellent comedy film, but it was a Cantonese film, so China Film Distribution Company was notified to contribute, and Wang Weiyi, the director of the original Zhuying Film, was asked to translate it into a Mandarin version and distribute it nationwide. Therefore, audiences from all over the country are lucky enough to truly watch this satirical comedy co-starred by Cantonese opera actors such as Wen Juefei, Tan Yuzhen, Chen Tianzong and Zhuying actors such as Shu Yi, Hong Bing and Fu Botang.

It is precisely because of the far-reaching influence of "Seventy-Two Tenants" that Hong Kong followed suit in the mid-to-late 1960s by filming a feature film of the same name based on this film; The series, in another form of artistic expression, continues the artistic life of this classic story film with good intentions.Therefore, "Seventy-Two Tenants" is not only one of Wang Weiyi's representative works of "Southern characteristics", but also a successful opening chapter for him to expand the field of comedy style. The "Southern Movies" were surging and became a trend for a while. A series of "Southern Movies" such as "Pearl River Tears", "Coconut Grove Song", "South Sea Tide", "Seventy-two Tenants" directed by Wang Weiyi, Together with the "Three Anti-Special Films" recognized by the film industry, "Yangcheng Dark Whistle", "Tracking and Chasing", and "Secret Drawings", it is also together with the authentic "Southern Characteristics" films. A gorgeous and eye-catching landscape.