Jin Yong's novels are often made into several versions of film and television dramas, which shows that the novels have vivid characters and interesting stories, as is the case with the novel "Bright Sword".
Among the classic novels of the older generation, there is also one that has been adapted into film and television dramas many times. This is "Wild Fire, Spring Wind and Ancient City ". In addition to the 1963 movie, there is also the 1995 film directed by Bruce Lee (female). The TV series and the 2005 version directed by Lien Yiming, it is said that the latest version of the TV series is also in production.
The reason why "Wildfire, Spring Wind and Ancient City" is so popular is that first of all, the name of this novel is good, making people find it interesting as soon as they hear it. Secondly, the plot of this novel is exciting and attractive, and then the characters are vivid.
Of course, what made the novel "Wild Fire, Spring Breeze Fighting in the Ancient City" popular was its movie of the same name and the actors in the movie. After all, "men watch Wang Xingang , and women watch Wang Xiaotang ".
This article will talk about the story of the movie "Wild Fire and Spring Breeze Fighting the Ancient City"
1. The prototype of "Wild Fire and Spring Breeze Fighting the Ancient City"
The provincial capital where the story takes place should be Baoding, Hebei Province, and the time of the story is from the winter of 1944 to 1945 During the spring and summer of 2001, it was the end of the Anti-Japanese War.
The prototype of the male protagonist Yang Xiaodong is generally believed to be the author of the novel Li Yingru (although he does not admit it), while the prototype of Yinhuan is generally believed to be Li Yingru's wife Zhang Shuwen (the couple also does not admit it).
Li Yingru and Zhang Shuwen both worked on the underground front. Their tasks included instigating rebellion against the puppet army , rescuing comrades, escorting comrades, and collecting intelligence. Therefore, whether they admitted it or not, everyone believed that Yang Xiaodong and Yinhuan were You two as a couple.
The prototype of Golden Ring comes from the female warriors and heroines on the Jizhong Plain. They are straightforward, fierce, bold and careful.
The prototypes of Han Yanlai, Captain Liang, Uncle Zhou and others are all his former colleagues according to Li Yingru's memories. This is the same as Qu Bo wrote " Lin Hai Xue Yuan ".
There is no direct prototype of Guan Jingtao. He is a representative of many puppet troops anyway. Some of the things about Gao Dacheng and others were personally experienced by Li Yingru, some were told by other colleagues on the underground front, and some characters and incidents came from Beijing. city.
The movie "Wild Fire, Spring Wind and Ancient City" only selects part of the novel, and the content of the original novel is richer and more exciting.
2. The characters and actors of "Wild Fire and Spring Breeze Fighting in the Ancient City"
What is different from the novel is that there is actually only one protagonist in the movie "Wild Fire and Spring Breeze Fighting in the Ancient City", and that is Yinhuan, because Yinhuan has a character in the film Throughout the process of continuous growth, the length of the film is limited, and it is difficult for other characters to develop, including Yang Xiaodong.
To be the absolute leading actor, it should undoubtedly be Wang Xiaotang, who plays Jin Huan and Yin Huan.
When it was decided to start filming the film, other film studios and directors such as Xie Jin also recommended several actresses to the film's director Yan Jizhou from Bayi Film Studio, including Xie Fang, who was popular at the time, and "Red Detachment of Women" The in Xiangmei and so on, the two of them are certainly qualified and capable to play the role of Jinhuan Yinhuan.
However, Yan Jizhou fell in love with Wang Xiaotang, who had collaborated with him many times before. In other words, he had already figured out who the heroine would be when he finalized the script from the beginning.
Wang Xiaotang has indeed fulfilled her mission. She proved Yan Jizhou's vision with her hard-working and meticulous performance.
For Wang Xiaotang, there were two difficulties in starring in the film. One was how to express Yinhuan's growth process, and the other was how to distinguish the twin sisters Jinhuan and Yinhuan.
In interpreting the growth of Yin Huan, Wang Xiaotang mainly focused on the eyes, expressions and movements. The immature Yin Huan is a bit shy and ignorant, with slow movements and gentle tone.
After experiencing many setbacks and tests, the mature Yinhuan has firm eyes and a firm tone, as if Jinhuan's soul has been integrated into his body.
Wang Xiaotang did more work in distinguishing the gold and silver rings of the twin sisters.
The first one is appearance. One of the sisters lives in a rural area and the other lives in a city. There is a difference in appearance. This can be easily distinguished by makeup, clothing and actions.
Then there is the sound. Even twin sisters will have different sounds due to various reasons. Wang Xiaotang has worked hard in this area. She even bought a tuner to help her practice the different sounds of the golden ring and the silver ring. High, timbre. Moreover, Yin Huan basically speaks Mandarin in the film, while Jin Huan has a slight Baoding accent.
The key is the eyes. Jin Huan has an outgoing and aggressive personality, while Yin Huan has a gentle and introverted personality. There is a big difference in their eyes, and Wang Xiaotang perfectly demonstrates this.
There is a scene in the film where Jin Huan and Yin Huan are talking together. In this scene, Jin Huan and Yin Huan appear together. Their expressions, intonations and eyes perfectly show the results of Wang Xiaotang's hard work.
In Wang Xiaotang's words, Jin Huan is the kind of person who will be unlucky if you lie in front of her, while Yin Huan is the kind of person who will feel it is a sin if you lie in front of her. It can be said that Wang Xiaotang achieved the effect she and the director wanted in the film.
There is another point worth mentioning. In the scene where Jin Huan died, the action when she secretly pulled out the hairpin on her head with her hands, although it only lasted a moment, Wang Xiaotang thought about it for a long time and finally chose an easy to use one. gesture.
Luck will take care of those who work hard. In the last shot of the golden ring in the film, a strand of hair is thrown into her face at the moment of her sacrifice, which adds to the tragic color. This is not by design, but by Wang Xiaotang at the time. The hair was accidentally thrown away due to the forceful twisting of the head, resulting in a rare scene.
Compared with Wang Xiaotang who plays the role of Jin Huan Yin Huan, Wang Xingang, who was supposed to be the leading role, is a bit like a supporting role. On the one hand, he does not have many roles, and on the other hand, the layering of the character is not as good as Yin Huan. Of course, he cannot play with one person. Comparison of Wang Xiaotang in the two roles.
However, Wang Xingang focused on the writer Li Yingru's temperament positioning of this character, which is "unarmed in the hands, but with a powerful soldier in the belly."
The author would also like to say that Yang Xiaodong, the leader in the film, lives a relatively poor life like other comrades. He has to pawn things to eat dumplings during the Chinese New Year. This is very realistic. Unlike some so-called "spy war" dramas nowadays, Underground Party doesn't dress up in a glamorous manner when entering and leaving high-end hotels, as if he is afraid that others will not know that he is an underground party member.
Guan Jingtao is played by Wang Runshen. He himself did not expect Yan Jizhou to choose him, but the director believed that Wang Runshen's acting skills are very malleable. However, whenever the camera catches Guan Jingtao's eyes, the author still easily misleads the drama, thinking that this is still Yang Zirong.
In the film, Wang Runshen and Yan Jizhou argued for a long time over a scene. Guan Jingtao received a rebellion letter on New Year's Eve. He immediately changed his face and panicked, and quickly asked his wife to burn the letter.
Wang Runshen thought that Guan Jingtao was a soldier or a regiment leader after all, so he shouldn't be so panicked. Yan Jizhou's idea was that filming like this could reflect the cruelty and tension of the environment. After all, Guan Jingtao wasn't very trustworthy either. In the end, the actors never argued with the director. Wang Runshen has been "grieving" about this for decades. Even if he has forgotten many things in his later years, he still remembers this scene and will argue with Yan Jizhou again.
In this regard, the author stands with Wang Runshen, because Guan Jingtao also received Yinhuan and Yang Xiaodong at home after that. They dared to see each other and should not be afraid of a letter.
By the way, there is another scene that needs to be mentioned. On the eve of Guan Jingtao's uprising, Yang Xiaodong arrived at Guan Jingtao's regiment headquarters. At this time, the spy leader Lan Mao also arrived. Guan Jingtao was still hesitant at first, but under the stimulation of Lan Mao, he decisively shot Kill Bluefur and then lead an uprising.
I feel that when the author of "Bright Sword" created the scene where Zhao Gang instigates the enemy's uprising, he seemed to have borrowed from "Wild Fire, Spring Wind and Ancient City", but replaced the shooter with Zhao Gang.
3. Behind-the-scenes from the filming of "Wild Fire, Spring Breeze Fighting in the Ancient City"
When I was a kid, I always had doubts about the shot of gold and silver rings together. How was it taken? At first, I thought they had found a stand-in who looked exactly like Wang Xiaotang, but later I found out that the crew used multiple exposure techniques to complete such a shot.
Let’s talk about director Yan Jizhou’s tidbits:
There is a scene where Yinhuan runs to Dajue Temple to rescue Yang Xiaodong in the heavy rain. In the shot, she has to run a long way, and there are small shops on the street next to her. You can adjust the length of the shot It is impossible to find such a long street, and the funds are not supportive. Director Yan Jizhou came up with an original idea and turned a row of small bungalows where the bicycles were stored in the Bayi Factory into small shops. Then Yinhuan ran in the heavy rain. Whenever he ran to the last house, there would be a staff member holding an umbrella. Cover her figure.
Then, Wang Xiaotang returned to the starting point and ran again. When he reached the end, the staff member held an umbrella to block it... So, if you look carefully, you can see that the shops behind Yinhuan appear in a loop.
Of course, the crew also went out on location during filming. In order to create a real environment, they had to paint various slogans of the occupied areas on the streets. As a result, they were discovered by the masses. In the early 1960s, the crew was reported as spies. .
The difficult period had just passed when we were filming the film, but the crew still often didn't have enough to eat, especially when filming night scenes, people were more likely to be hungry. Yan Jizhou thought of a way and asked the prop master to prepare a basket of jujubes as props for Mrs. Yang to entertain guests. This was exactly the same as Li Po's suggestion in "Lin Hai Xue Yuan" to get a few elbows as props.
It was already late at night after filming the scene. Everyone didn't leave, staring at the basket of jujubes, but they had different opinions. The props say you can't eat them, just in case you still use them. The cameraman and the recorder said it was fine to eat, but there were no jujubes in the subsequent scenes. Yan Jizhou asked the cameraman, can you guarantee that all the shots tonight will be usable and there will be no reshoots? The cameraman said that as long as the film is fine, I can guarantee it. Yan Jizhou thought for a while, clapped his hands, and eat! At worst, I'll write an inspection later and buy another basket.
Many years later, everyone still remembers that the jujubes that night were so delicious.
4. The hazy love in "Wild Fire, Spring Breeze Fighting in the Ancient City"
Director Yan Jizhou has set up two lines for the plot of "Wild Fire, Spring Breeze Fighting in the Ancient City", one is the bright line, which is the underground party's instigation of the anti-Guan Tuan uprising. The other is a hidden line, which is the relationship between Yinhuan and Yang Xiaodong. But under the circumstances at that time, he did not dare to draw this dark line too clearly, so he adopted a hazy shooting method.
This "hazy" point is the ring, which is a gift from the Yang family to their daughter-in-law. It appears at least four times in the film, each time symbolizing the progression of Yinhuan and Yang Xiaodong's relationship until the end of the film. .
When Yang Xiaodong bid farewell to Yinhuan, he left the family ring to Yinhuan, the meaning of which is self-evident. In Yinhuan's excited and nostalgic look, Yang Xiaodong drifted away, and the movie ended.
Some people say, Yan Jizhou, when you filmed a revolutionary struggle drama, why did you use such a shot at the end? Yan Jizhou replied, I hope the audience can sit there and think about it or reflect on it after watching the ending.
This aftertaste is not just a moment. In the Hundred Flowers Awards that year, Wang Xiaotang won the Best Actress Award with an astonishing unanimous vote. Among the audience, the saying "men watch Wang Xingang, women watch Wang Xiaotang" has been passed down to this day.
