Chapter 62 Part Four: Regrets in the Film World: A Glimpse of the Unfinished Films of Famous Actors

In fact, Zhou Enlai had some thoughts during the period of watching "Revolutionary History Songs Singing" and "Singing Forward Under Mao Zedong's Banner" in Shanghai created and performed by the Air Force Group: With the gradual improvement of the national economy and the 15th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, To celebrate the National Day in 1964, a larger-scale cultural program was needed to welcome the National Day Ceremony in 1964, to inspire the people and enhance their fighting spirit. Therefore, the motivation for creating the music and dance epic "Dongfanghong" was put on Zhou Enlai's desk.

Since the early 1960s, Zhou Enlai mentioned on many occasions: "In terms of singing and dancing, we haven't come up with anything satisfactory. In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was acceptable to watch Yangko, but it is not acceptable to maintain that level now!" Boss Chen strongly recommended Zhou Enlai to come to Shanghai to watch the big song and dance "Singing Forward Under Mao Zedong's Banner", which made Zhou Enlai make up his mind and provided objective prerequisites for organizing the creation of the large-scale song and dance "Dongfanghong".Zhou Enlai, who served as the "chief planner", "chief conductor" and "chief director", indeed spent a lot of effort on the creation of "Dongfanghong", which also contained his hard work.

As we all know, in the field of Chinese culture and art in 1964, from behind the vigorous front desk, there was a climate of "mountain rain is about to come and wind is full of buildings", and the situation in the literary and art circles was already quite tense. The publication of Chairman Mao Zedong's two instructions on literature and art policies intensified the rectification movement in the cultural and art circles; from June 5 to July 31, 1964, at the first Beijing Opera Modern Drama Performance Conference held in Beijing, Kang Sheng and Jiang Qingzhi Liu also made outrageous criticisms and unreasonable accusations of literature and art in the "seventeen years" after the founding of the People's Republic of China, which undoubtedly has a grudge against those in the literary and art circles after the founding of the People's Republic of China.Zhou Enlai, who was worried about this, deliberately planned and approved a large-scale song and dance with more than 3,700 people in such a depressing atmosphere. His intention was not only to prove the literary and artistic achievements since the founding of the People's Republic of China, but more importantly, to think Through a group of outstanding domestic artists and authorities, they participated in "Dongfanghong" and painted a layer of "protective color" for its artistic life, because "Dongfanghong" with red as its main tone is a passionate celebration of the Communist Party and hard work. Propagating Mao Zedong Thought as the theme is undoubtedly a huge challenge to internal hostile forces.

The large-scale music and dance epic "Dongfanghong" is a century-old stage classic integrating multiple literary and artistic forms such as music, dance, poetry and painting. Its creation is a tour of Chinese singing and dancing art since the founding of the People's Republic of China. An important review, the performance effect reached the highest artistic level at that time. At the beginning of preparations for the creation of the big song and dance, creative elites from various literary and artistic categories across the country were mobilized to build the most powerful and luxurious art team.There are also various professional groups under the Grand Song and Dance Headquarters, namely: director group, group leader: Ding Li, chief stage director of "Dongfanghong"; literary creation group, group leader: Wei Feng; music choreography group, group leader: Shi Le Meng; choreography group, head: Zha Lie; stage design group, head: Zhang Dunren; literary creation group is composed of Qiao Yu, Xu Huaizhong, Zhang Shixie, Zhang Ming, He Jingzhi, Guo Xiaochuan, Chen Guangrui and others; dance The choreographer group included 30 people headed by famous dancers Cha Lie, Hu Guogang, Jin Ming, Li Zhonglin, Li Qun, Huang Sujia, Meng Zhaoxiang, etc. There were more than 60 people from the dance team of the Air Force Political Art Troupe alone. Air Force Commander Liu Yalou made it clear : "For "The East Is Red", our Air Force is going all out, giving people to people, guns to guns."

On August 12, 1964, all the actors reported for duty at Xiyuan Hotel in Beijing, and then, it was fully rolled out, with dozens of groups divided into shows and paragraphs, and the responsibility was "contracted".The training venues of all theatrical groups in the Beijing area, as well as various theaters, gymnasiums, museums, and even hotel halls are used as training sites to provide simultaneous training for actors in different sessions, working around the clock and working overtime. On September 25, there was a unified review of the combined rehearsal program; in the early morning, there were only a dozen hours before the program review that night.In the Xihua Hall in Zhongnanhai, when Zhou Enlai meticulously revised the recitation of "Dongfanghong" word by word, the East was first revealed.Zhou Enlai picked up a pen and commented in the blank space of the recitation: "It is urgent, send it to Comrade Zhou Yang, please read it. If the revised manuscript is available, please forward it to Comrades Chen Yading and Zhou Weizhi. If there is no difficulty, you can read it like this tonight... ..."

On September 27, Zhou Enlai made the last review, and he fully affirmed the hard work of the literary and art circles. In order to fully display this magnificent historical picture of revolutionary struggle in front of the broad masses of the people, Zhou Enlai personally approved and agreed that "Dongfanghong" will be performed during the National Day as one of the important programs of the 15th anniversary celebration of the National Day. After careful negotiation by the National Day Organizing Committee, "The East Is Red" is scheduled to be performed at the Great Hall of the People on the evening of October 2.Because there was a National Day reception held by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on September 30; on October 1, there was a parade of 700,000 people in Tiananmen, the capital, during the day, and there were important ceremonial activities in Tiananmen Square at night.And the performance is set in the Great Hall of the People, which is known as the "Great Hall of Ten Thousand People", after careful consideration, because only in this place, can you appreciate such a movie with the best effect from all directions, multiple angles, and wide focal length. It is an epic masterpiece that fully reflects the magnificent and earth-shaking revolutionary struggle of the Chinese people under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.

From its inception to its formation, "Dongfanghong" took more than 70 literary and art units, more than 3,700 professional and amateur actors, and the rehearsal process actually only took one and a half months, a mere 45 days, and a short period of 1,080 hours. "Dongfanghong" not only created a myth of the times artistically and set up a vivid revolutionary monument, but also created an outstanding miracle in the performance style.To a large extent, this is mainly due to the "Previously Created" "Revolutionary History Song Table Singing" and the "transitional" "Singing Forward Under Mao Zedong's Banner" as its solid foundation.The songs and part of the dances of the whole play are taken from "Revolutionary History Song Table Singing", and a few songs are from "Singing and Forging Under Mao Zedong's Banner". Therefore, the speed and progress of the rehearsal performance are directly accelerated.There are more than 3,700 people participating in the performance, including bands, choruses, and dance teams. There are more than 4,000 sets of Chinese and foreign costumes for the entire performance. Some actors have to change their costumes five or six times throughout the performance. Serious political enthusiasm, complete militarized management, in the background, divided into first, second, and third echelon teams, from beginning to end, orderly, without a sound, without any signs of panic.Five minutes after the end of the show, when the foreign reporters visited the backstage, all the performers had left the theater. This rigorous stage style made the foreign reporters give a thumbs up.

At that time, there were nearly 10,000 related staff working hard, busy and serving behind the big song and dance, no matter the front desk or the backstage, internal or external, direct or indirect. On the evening of October 2, 1964, as night fell and the lights were first released, to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Central People's Government held a celebration party in the Great Hall of the People, and premiered a large-scale music and dance epic "The East Is Red". Spectators came from all directions, dressed in festive costumes, to the capital of the People's Republic of China, to Tiananmen Square, known as the heart of the motherland, and to the majestic Great Hall of the People. It was discovered and seen that Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Dong Biwu, Zhu De, Chen Yi, Deng Xiaoping and other party and state leaders who were all beaming with joy accompanied the distinguished guests from various countries specially invited to China to participate in the celebration, and walked into the performance theater.Also present at the party were labor models from the industrial and agricultural fronts, combat heroes of the armed forces, representatives of ethnic minorities, returned overseas Chinese, compatriots from Hong Kong and Macao, observers from all over the country, workers in the capital, farmers, PLA commanders, cadres, students, young pioneers and all walks of life. There were more than 10,000 people including celebrities, and at 8 o'clock in the evening, the performance opened the red curtain on time...

The large-scale music and dance epic "The East Is Red", which was officially performed on October 2, 1964, is divided into the prologue "The East Is Red" and 8 acts, which are respectively designated as "Dawn of the East", "A Spark Starts a Prairie Fire", "Thousands of Waters and Thousand Mountains", and "The East Is Red". The Beacon of Anti-Japanese War", "Burying the Chiang Dynasty", "The Chinese People Stand Up", "The Motherland is advancing", "The World is advancing".All the performances consisted of representative revolutionary songs "Dongfanghong", "October Wind Blows from the North", "Song of Peasants", "Workers, Peasants and Soldiers Unite and March Forward", "Song of the Autumn Harvest Uprising", "Pairs of Straw Sandals to the Red Army" ", "(Xijiang Moon) Jinggangshan", "Osmanthus blossoms bloom everywhere in August", "Red Army soldiers miss Chairman Mao", "Song of Reunion", "Three Disciplines and Eight Points to Pay Attention to", "(Seven Laws) Long March" (that is, "Red Army Not afraid of the difficulty of the expedition"), "On the Songhua River", "March of the Volunteers", "Anthem of the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University", "Go to the Enemy's Rear", "Guerrilla Song", "Big Production in the Liberated Areas", "Nanniwan", "Defend The Yellow River", "Unity is Strength", "March of the Chinese People's Liberation Army", "Heaven in the Liberated Areas", "Without the Communist Party, there would be no new China", "Singing the Motherland", "Internationale" and more than 30 songs and more than 20 dances, 90% of the songs are taken from the "Revolutionary History Song Table Singing" for unified use. In addition, "Wearing the Long Street in Shackles", "Zunyi Meeting Shines Light", "Flying the Dadu River", "Love and Friendship" were newly created. 10 songs including "Long", "Crossing the Snowy Mountains and Grassland", "What's in Prison", "(Seven Laws) People's Liberation Army Occupies Nanjing", "Anthem", "Chairman Mao Wishes You Boundless Life", "People of the World Unite", among which Including 35 dances, songs and dances, table singing and chorus, 39 revolutionary songs, 18 recitations interspersed, and 33 different scene performances and changes.Well-known actors such as Wang Kun, Kou Jialun, Deng Yuhua, Jia Shijun, Guo Lanying, Hu Songhua, and Caidan Dolma acted as soloists, re-singers and lead singers, and Lin Zhonghua and Bai Huiwen acted as recitators for the whole play.

During the performance of more than two hours, the audience was full of enthusiasm and immersed in the specific atmosphere of the performance from beginning to end. There were bursts of stormy applause in the auditorium, which lasted for a long time, tears of excitement and hard work. Flowing vertically and horizontally on the face.Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Dong Biwu, Zhu De, Chen Yi, Deng Xiaoping and other party and state leaders walked onto the stage with their heads held high after watching the performance, shook hands with the actors one by one, and took group photos to congratulate the success of the first performance.

On the evening of October 6, the General Political Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army staged "The East Is Red" again in the form of a National Day party. Zhou Enlai specially invited Chairman Mao Zedong to watch it.Accompanied by Zhou Enlai, Peng Zhen, He Long, Ke Qingshi and others, Chairman Mao watched together with 8,000 officers and men of the People's Liberation Army stationed in Beijing.Chairman Mao knew that Zhou Enlai personally directed this large-scale musical song and dance. In addition, it is an artistic work. Therefore, after reading it, Chairman Mao expressed his satisfaction and fully affirmed the educational function of this epoch-making epic of music and dance to the contemporary people's visualization. The resulting positive impact and far-reaching social significance.It is also proposed to add a typical sign of "Chinese and dogs not allowed" to the park corner of the dance scene in "The Age of Suffering" in the first "Dawn of the East" to better highlight the atmosphere of the times at that time.In the end, Chairman Mao's opinion was: "It's too long. The writing can be finished after the victory of the democratic revolution in 1949, and we will talk about socialism in the future." The performance was also filled with enthusiastic and continuous applause. On the evening of October 15, Zhou Enlai accompanied the Japanese Ballet to watch "The East Is Red" for the third time.At that time, the Japanese Ballet Troupe led by director Masao Shimizu and Matsuyama Kiko, deputy director and main performer, was visiting Beijing to perform in China. Four days ago, Zhou Enlai watched their performance of "Gion Festival" as a courtesy This time, he deliberately wanted Japanese artists to understand Chinese fine arts, and through this classic art form, he showed foreign guests the historical itinerary of the Communist Party of China.After the performance, the curious Japanese guests expressed great interest in this epic work, and asked to go to the backstage to have a look, trying to find out what kind of surprising answer.The cast and crew lined up to welcome.The Japanese guests felt fresh about every detail of this large-scale performance, so Zhou Enlai acted as a "voluntary commentator" and answered their questions one by one.Among them, the questions Zhou Enlai answered included not only themes, contents, and scenes, but also sets, props, and even professional and technical issues such as lighting settings, sound processing, and stage scheduling. I hurriedly asked the staff and cast and crew on the side. Everyone was excited and proud, and replied in unison: "Premier Zhou is our chief director!" Masao Shimizu and Kiko Matsuyama suddenly understood, and they both cried With tears streaming down his face and eyes filled with hot tears, he said with a choked voice and great excitement: "You are lucky, only you in China have such a good prime minister!" At the same time, the large-scale music and dance epic "The East Is Red" was also highly praised by many international friends. They believed that it was a new example of reflecting the revolutionary struggle and real life through the art of singing and dancing. At 5:00 p.m. on October 16, Chairman Mao Zedong and other party and state leaders Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai and others personally met all the crew members who participated in the creation of the large-scale music and dance epic "Dongfanghong" and took photos with them.Premier Zhou introduced nearly 300 main creators to Chairman Mao one by one. Chairman Mao praised Premier Zhou's amazing memory: "Premier, you really have a good memory!" The entire creative staff was ecstatic. That is, on the afternoon of October 16th, Zhou Enlai announced good news to everyone. He approached the microphone and said excitedly: "In our western China, the vast number of scientific and technological workers and the PLA commanders and fighters work together and rely entirely on themselves. Just now, the first atomic bomb developed by us in China exploded successfully!" For a moment, the whole audience seemed to explode, and the people cheered and jumped.Zhou Enlai waved his hand to signal for everyone to be quiet, and finally the cheers were a little quieter. Zhou Enlai smiled and said in a humorous tone: "Everyone can be happy, but don't collapse the floor!" After a pause, Zhou Enlai He told everyone another news that was also shocking: "Khrushchev of the Soviet Union has stepped down!" The audience was silent, and the air seemed to freeze. After a short pause, deafening cheers rang out again. Since its premiere in Beijing on October 2, 1964, the large-scale music and dance epic "The East Is Red" has been performed for 14 consecutive performances, and 8 performances have been previewed before the official performance.At that time, the venue was full, with more than 100,000 spectators, and the unprecedented sensational effect was unmatched by any other gala. At the same time, Beijing TV Station and China Central People's Broadcasting Station also carried out many live broadcasts; China Records Corporation also successively released two kinds of discs: live recordings and selections of the whole play of "Dongfanghong"; "Dongfanghong Song Collection" and other related books; "People's Daily", "China Youth Daily" and other newspapers in Beijing and around the world have published performance scripts and stills of the whole play, and published articles evaluating this music and dance epic with prominent titles and a large number of pages , pictures, sketches and impressions and other text materials.For a time, every song in "Dongfanghong" became the most popular song sung on people's lips; the recitations at the beginning of each song became the model series of words recited in many theatrical performances; Dance has also become a repertoire for grass-roots art troupes and various units to imitate and rehearse performances repeatedly; Kind singing. Later, art troupes in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hankou and other places also rehearsed "Dongfanghong", which still could not meet the urgent needs of audiences all over the country to watch. It is precisely because of the whirlwind momentum and unprecedented influence caused by "The East Is Red", that later produced large-scale songs and dances such as "The Fury of the Coconut Grove", "The Congo River is Roaring", "Ode to the Wind and Thunder", and "Turning the Serf to the Sun". programme.The Bayi Film Studio also filmed part of the dance programs in the third Chinese People's Liberation Army Art Performance held from April to May 1965 into two colorful art films in the style of stage documentaries, named "Rising Sun". Dongsheng" and "Dongfeng Wanli".The former includes "Rising Sun", "Laundry Song", "Farewell Party", "Martial Arts Tournament", "Pounding Rice Dance", "Three Nine Wars", "Three Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains", "Soldiers on the Sea", "Sweeping Catch", " The 11 music, song, dance and dance dramas that were popular at the time, such as "The Harvest Song" and "The Anger Is Burning", were all the rage in the military art groups. In 1976, "The Red Army Is Not Afraid of Difficulties in the Expedition——Long March Songs", rehearsed to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the victory of the Long March, which was similar to "Songs of Revolutionary History", unexpectedly appeared on the almost barren 10-year Chinese literary stage.