Chapter 44 The third part: one chants and three chants "The Tale of the Red Lantern" was difficult to shoot for more than a year

During the "Ninth National Congress" of the Communist Party of China, Jiang Qing watched the modern Peking opera "Shajiabang" which had been revised many times together with the delegates, and was officially identified as one of the "Eight Model Operas" after that.Firstly, the plot was compressed into two hours. In 1970, the Beijing TV station tried to record 14 copies of the black and white TV screen, and then reviewed and revised it again. The final draft was finalized in May 1970, and it was shot by Changchun Film Studio as a color stage art film in 1971. The famous director Wu Zhaodi, who once gained a reputation for "Plain Guerrillas", "Heroes" and "Underground Pioneer", served as the director of the film. Shu Xiaoyan is the executive director of the film.In August of the same year, the film was completed as scheduled, and it was officially released nationwide in September.

In 1970, Beijing Film Studio took the lead in bringing the modern Peking opera "Taking Tiger Mountain Out of Wisdom" performed by the Shanghai Peking Opera Troupe to the screen as the "pioneering work" of the first batch of "eight model operas". After a comprehensive analysis and on-the-spot investigation by the central cultural department and the "Cultural Group of the State Council", the task of modern Peking opera "Shajiabang" performed by Beijing Peking Opera Theater was handed over to Changchun Film Studio for shooting.It took one year and eight months of filming for this film to be announced. This is also the first film produced by Changchun Film Studio after the "Cultural Revolution" movement officially broke out in June 1966, after nearly five years of blank filming.

After the filming crew of "Shajiabang" was established, the requirements for the selection of creative personnel were very strict. First of all, the first hurdle they passed was strict political censorship. Actors and other main creative personnel, as well as general crew members, must be inspected by their ancestors for eight generations and strictly checked. They can only enter after being identified by the party organization to confirm that there are no historical problems. Learn from the experience of studying "Chairman Mao's Works", understand the firm standpoint of the "struggle, criticize, and reform" movement at that time, and conduct serious and systematic inspections and self-examinations. .All the lists of film crew members were first listed by the factory leaders and the party branch, then reviewed by the Jilin Provincial Party Committee with comments, and finally reported to the "Cultural Team of the State Council" for review. All personnel must be personally approved and approved by Jiang Qing .

Director Wu Zhaodi, who directed this "model play film", was originally named Dong Gang, originally from Xiangfen, Shanxi Province, but was born in Pittsburgh, USA. After returning to China in 1925, he studied in Taiyuan. In 1936, he participated in the Shanxi "Sacrifice to Save the Nation League". In 1937, he worked as an actor in the theater troupe of the fourth guerrilla detachment of the Northwest Battlefield Committee and the secondary theater troupe of the World War II area. In 1938, he went to Yan'an, studied in the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University, and joined the Communist Party of China. After 1939, he served as drama captain, actor and director in the Art Troupe of the Anti-Japanese University, the Art Troupe of Northeast Military and Political University, and the Art Troupe of Central Military and Political University.He has written drama scripts such as "Reinforced Iron Bone" and "For Whom to Fight the World", and directed dramas such as "The White-haired Girl" and "Blood and Tears". In 1948, he played the leading role in the film "Back to Your Own Team" shot by the Northeast Film Studio. Since 1949, he has worked as a screenwriter at the Script Creation Institute of the Cultural and Film Bureau. In 1953, he joined the Northeast Film Studio as a director. In 1955, he co-directed the film "Plain Guerrilla" with Su Li. In the same year, he entered the director training class of Beijing Film Academy and returned to Changying after graduation in 1957. Youth", "The Story of the Red Scarf", "Advance Together", "Seven Days and Seven Nights", "Heroes" and other films.He has also acted in literary scripts for films such as "Steel Warrior", "Shajiadian Grain Station", "Advance Together" (with Yin Yiqing and Ji Ye), "Sisters on Ice", "Heroes" (with Mao Feng) creation.

During the whole filming process, although Jiang Qing did not come to the scene to direct the play personally as she did when rehearsing the play on stage, she clearly requested that every action and every line in the play should not be changed in any way, which gave the film Whether it is the director or other production staff, they feel that the shooting work is unprecedentedly difficult, without any creative freedom. This seemingly ordinary stage art film is more difficult than the previous feature film. It is unimaginable and predictable.Wang Bing, the famous director of Bayi Film Studio, was the first to be ordered to direct the modern Peking opera "Surprise Attack on the White Tiger Troupe" performed by the Shandong Repertory Troupe. It was because he changed a certain detail on the stage from the perspective of shooting a movie, and was coldly rejected by Jiang Qing. Into the prison, stubborn Wang Bing, unwilling to be humiliated, angrily committed suicide.Later, the play was changed to be filmed at Changying Studio, and the directors were replaced by Su Li and Wang Yan.

It is unbelievable that in the same film during the filming of this "model play film", two independent creative groups were established. One is the film crew organized by the film studio. It is composed of people who made "poisonous weeds" films before the "Cultural Revolution", but now want to "make a contribution to the crime"; the other is a "model troupe" composed of a single actor, whose members are mainly from Beijing Peking Opera Theater and Beijing Northern Kunqu Opera Academy. In other words, the young actors with "red roots and positive roots" can be said to be the "red and professional revolutionary literary and artistic fighters" that Jiang Qing wants to focus on training.These two organizations not only have obvious differences in political status, but also have different food standards, because the "model group" can start a small business on its own.Their background and main purpose, of course, the film crew is well aware.But for a common task, the two creative groups still basically take the overall situation into consideration, and they can negotiate and solve some problems when they encounter some problems, but there are also times when conflicts are relatively serious.For example, when filming the scene of "Persisting on the Reeds", there was a rather violent incident about the facial makeup and lighting of the leading actor in the play, the New Fourth Army instructor Guo Jianguang, and the 18 wounded and sick soldiers under his leadership. of conflicts.The film crew believed that from the perspective of real life, Guo Jianguang and others lived in difficult conditions in the reeds, and they should look a little haggard. However, due to their firm revolutionary beliefs, they should appear very full of spirit. The faces of these actors were dimmed a little with light, mainly to highlight and emphasize the authenticity of life.However, this was caught by some people in the "model group". They made a big fuss about it, and put their scary hats on their heads and covered their faces, saying something like "propagating the cruelty of war" and "giving heroes a face." smearing”, “resurrection of the black line of literature and art”, etc., around this issue, the film crew and the leaders and organizers of the “model group” will submit to the “Cultural Group of the State Council” for review and approval only if the consultation fails, mainly by the responsible Yu Huiyong, Haoliang, and Liu Qingtang approved and finalized the creative issues. When appropriate, they will send some people to the factory to coordinate and guide, and will be responsible for liaison with Beijing.For another example, in the performance positioning of "Grandma Sand Repelling the Enemy" in the seventh scene, it was only after three rounds of filming that it passed the level.It can be seen that the difficulty of shooting this "model play film" and the long shooting cycle can be seen from this.

As early as the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Guo Wei, a famous director of Changying Studio, proposed the "director-centered system" that was beneficial to the creation and development of film art. In the "anti-rightist" struggle in 1957, he was brutally criticized for this. In the "Cultural Revolution" movement, it was even more emphatically mentioned as a "bourgeois fallacy" and criticized again.Therefore, the creators are very cautious in their thinking, for fear that if they are not careful in politics, they will make so-called mistakes that they don't even know about.Everything about the filming will be studied and discussed at the daily meeting of the film crew, and finally a collective decision will be made. Even the scheduling and shooting of a shot, the director dare not make a final decision.However, at the discussion meeting, due to the atmosphere of terror brought about by the movement at that time, no one dared to express specific opinions. When everyone had to ask to speak and could not escape, they could only say a few words. Empty words and clichés of plausible big principles without any substantive opinions. Since there is no concrete implementation, there must be new progress on the next day. Therefore, such meetings are often held until midnight. Two or three o'clock, or even open all night, until everyone can't stand it anymore, they have to postpone it until the next day to study it carefully, and do the same thing the next night. This kind of drudgery of meeting is really miserable and miserable .

From October 1972 to March 1973, the "Cultural Group of the State Council" once held a "Symposium on Filming Revolutionary Model Opera Films" in Beijing. "Bang" director Wu Zhaodi checked his thinking of "three fears and three insurances" in the process of filming the model drama at the meeting. He was afraid that he would become a "commander of the armed forces" again, and thought that he would rather be cowardly and less expressive in case of trouble. Therefore, in the early stage of filming Second, I am afraid that model plays will go out of shape when they start filming, destroying model plays, thinking that it is safe to copy from gourds, there is no overall conception, and I dare not think of innovative ideas; third, I am afraid that I will not highlight politics. ’, thinking of ‘grasping political insurance’, and not daring to work hard on the director’s business.” Therefore, this film is made in full accordance with the established model drama, and no changes can be made in terms of singing, scenery, or stage scheduling. The resulting film is indistinguishable from the original stage play.One of the principles set by Jiang Qing is to "restore the stage and be higher than the stage", and also requires that the films produced must be "not out of shape".This film fully met Jiang Qing's requirements. After the "Cultural Group of the State Council" passed the review of the film, Jiang Qing was also very happy after watching the film. Suddenly, he had a sudden impulse and said that he would meet the main actors of the film crew the next day.After receiving important instructions from Jiang Qing, the factory director Su Yun and the head of the "model group" in Beijing who were in charge of submitting for review hurriedly made long-distance calls to inform the factory to buy train tickets and send the relevant personnel to Beijing.Later, Jiang Qing had a whim and asked Air Force Commander Wu Faxian to send a special plane to pick up the actors. However, the actors who were notified at that time had already left Changchun by train overnight, so the factory had to send a car to catch up with the train. I finally caught up with the train at Siping Station. Before I had time to explain, I pulled the actors out of the carriage, and let the bewildered and bewildered actors take the car back to the factory. Flying directly to Beijing on a special plane sent by the Air Force puzzled the actors who were always in constant exercise and fear, and finally understood what was going on.

After the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Jiang Qing was elected as a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, in charge of literature and art work in the Political Bureau of the Central Committee. The model opera was her "important achievement of the Peking Opera Revolution", and it was also her political capital to be proud of as a "literary standard bearer".It should be said that putting the "model play" on the screen is not only one of Jiang Qing's important steps to expand his personal political influence, but also Jiang Qing's desire to use his years of practice and accumulation of art through a specific artistic comprehension and re-creation, Fulfill and realize the long-cherished wish that he has dreamed of for many years, and achieve his political intentions.