Diantong
Industry | Film |
---|---|
Founded | 1933 |
Defunct | 1977 |
Headquarters | Shanghai , China |
Key people | Situ Huimin |
Diantong Film Company (Chinese: 電通影片公司) was a short-lived but important film studio and production company during the 1930s in Shanghai, China. Though it produced only four films during its existence between 1934-1935, all four films became important examples of the left-leaning Chinese cinema of the 1930s. Of all the film studios of the period, Diantong had the closest connection to the Communist Party of China.[1]
History[]
Diantong's origins were originally in a sound-equipment company founded in 1933 by four American-educated engineers to take advantage of the gradual shift from silent films to "talkies." As a developer of sound-recorders, Diantong was pivotal in bringing to Chinese audiences some of the earliest sound-films, including the Lianhua Film Company-produced Song of the Fishermen (dir. Cai Chusheng). With these successes and with the help of one of the founder's cousins, Situ Huimin, a major leftist filmmaker and intellectual, the equipment company was reformed as its own independent film studio in 1934.[2] From the beginning, Diantong was marked by youth, with its films directed by first-time filmmakers and starring novice actors and actresses (including Yuan Muzhi, Chen Bo'er, Ying Yunwei, and others.[2] This was in part due to Diantong being forced to recruit from local theater organizations rather than from more-established film-makers and crew, who feared associating with such a progressive organization[2] - a similar leftist studio, the had only recently had its offices and equipment vandalized and destroyed by government agents.[2] Additionally, Diantong drew from Situ's ties to the Communist Party, bringing in screenwriters and party-members such as Tian Han and Xia Yan.
In a short period of time, the company produced four classics of the period: Plunder of Peach and Plum (dir. Ying Yunwei), Children of Troubled Times (dir. Xu Xingzhi), Cityscape (dir. Yuan Muzhi), and (dir. Situ Huimin) (also known as The Goddess of Freedom).[2]
Despite these successes, by 1935, Diantong was suffering not only from Kuomintang pressure due to its political slant (so-called "White terrorism"), but also from financial woes.[2] As a result, in the winter of 1935, Diantong closed its doors permanently. The remains of the company were soon incorporated into 's newly formed Xinhua Film Company.[1] Meanwhile, many of Diantong's top talent, including Ying Yunwei and Yuan Muzhi, were recruited in Mingxing Film Company's newly formed Studio 2, focused on left-wing cinema.[3] There, they made some of the more important films of the movement, notably Yuan's Street Angel.
Productions[]
Year | English Title | Chinese Title | Director | Cast |
---|---|---|---|---|
1934 | Plunder of Peach and Plum | 桃李劫 | Ying Yunwei | Yuan Muzhi, Chen Bo'er |
1935 | Children of Troubled Times | 风云儿女 | Yuan Muzhi, Wang Renmei | |
1935 | 自由神 | Situ Huimin | ||
1935 | Scenes of City Life | 都市风光 | Yuan Muzhi | Bai Lu, Jiang Qing |
Notes[]
References[]
- Pang, Laikwan. Building a New China in Cinema: The Chinese Left-Wing Cinema Movement, 1932-1937. Rowman & Littlefield, 2002. ISBN 0-7425-0946-X.
External links[]
- Diantong Film Company at the British Film Institute
- Diantong Film Company at the Internet Movie Database
- Film production companies of China
- Defunct film and television production companies of China
- Mass media in Shanghai
- Mass media companies established in 1934
- Mass media companies disestablished in 1935
- Chinese companies established in 1934
- 1935 disestablishments in China