w-415# Original author: Iron Fourth Division Zhu Dequan Railway Soldier Comrades Network 2022-09-21
A few days ago, a comrades published an essay "Missing the Open-air Movie in the Past" online. I felt quite the same after reading it, and at the same time it evoked many past events in watching movies in the army.
After joining the army in the spring of 1968, I joined the railway army and the troops were stationed in a ravine in the suburbs of Beijing. At that time, the military's cultural life was poor, without mobile phones and TV, and watching movies was the main cultural activity. Every time I watch a movie, the officers and soldiers of the battalion gather together, which seems to be a pleasant gathering and a rare spiritual enjoyment.
At that time, the division headquarters had a film team and the regiment headquarters had a film team, and he took turns to go to the grassroots to play movies for the troops. The superiors asked to ensure that the soldiers could watch a movie in a month, but at that time there were too few movies, only "The Third Battle" and news briefings, which the soldiers summarized as a star in "The Third Battle". The third battle is " tunnel warfare ", "mine warfare", " southern battles ", and a star is " Cambodia exiled king Prince Sihanouk. "The Third Old Battle" is a classic in the movie, and the soldiers love to watch it. "Tunnel Warfare", "Mine Warfare" "Southern and North Battle", I have watched it over and over again, and I have never been tired of watching it. Every time a movie is played, a news briefing is added in front of it. Many news briefings include Prince Sihanouk, the exiled king of Cambodia, so he became a "movie star" that the soldiers laughed at.
I watched the "Old Three War" many times. I remember the characters and lines in the movie, including the lines, Battalion Commander Gao and the Little Fatty in "The Battle of the South", Uncle Zhong in "Tunnel War", Gao Chuanbao , Commander Tang, the person who steals landmines in "Mine War", "High, it's really high", "The person who steals landmines is here", "Progress again", etc., everyone can imitate a few lines. The plots in the movie have become a common topic, and some are happy jokes from their comrades.
The Battle of the South and the North The Photographs of "The Battle of the South and the North" "Progress Again"
Authorited Warfare At that time, the troops were stationed in the ravine, not in front of the village or the shop behind, and they could only watch movies on the open-air hillside. There is a hillside next to the camp, which is relatively gentle, and the entire camp watches movies and holds conferences here. Two fir poles are buried in front, and the screen is hung on the fir poles, which is the movie venue. Although the venue is simple, every time you act in a movie, it is a happy enjoyment, and laughter comes from time to time in front of the screen.
In 1970, the troops moved to Baiyatai Village in Lingqiu County, Shanxi Province. There was a river ditch below the camp. The river ditch was filled with rocks. There was water only in the rainy season. When there was no water, the river ditch was our movie venue. Build two electric poles on the dry riverbed, and then hang them on the screen to play the movie. This open-air movie venue is not fixed yet. During the rainy season, there is water in the ditch, so move it to a high place next to the ditch. Yanbei area strong winds and sandstorms. When the wind blows strongly, find a place to go against the lee.
Before the arrival of the troops, it was difficult for ordinary people living in the valley to see movies, and some teenagers had never seen movies. I heard that the troops were playing movies at night, and fellow villagers from nearby villages came to watch over mountains and ridges and lanterns. Before each movie is played, the battalion commander will tell him to leave some space for the fellow villagers. The villagers stood next to the team, some sat on stone eggs, and the military and civilians watched the movie together, and they were having fun.
Watching movies in the open air has both advantages and disadvantages, with a wide view and fresh air, anytime and anywhere, but in the hot summer, you will inevitably be bitten by mosquitoes; in the cold winter, you will be frozen. But the weather could not stop the soldiers from watching movies. When watching the movie, the troops were dressed neatly, the soldiers were fully armed and energetic, and walked into the movie venue in neat steps. In the hot summer, I dressed neatly, tied with armed forces with , had live ammunition, and had a bullet clip around my waist. I could definitely sweat a lot when I watched a movie. When watching movies in winter, wearing cotton coats and cotton shoes, the hands and feet are cold. But every time I act in a movie, I always sit in front of the screen, and sometimes there are people behind the screen.In an era of poor cultural and entertainment activities, I have been working on the scene for a day and sitting in front of the screen to watch movies at night can not only rest the body but also get spiritual pleasure.
Two years later, I was transferred to the delegation office to work. At that time, the regiment was stationed in Donghenan Village, Lingqiu County, Shanxi Province. The organ built a simple auditorium that could sit down hundreds of people. The conditions for watching movies were much better than those of the battalion company. But most of the movies played by the group are still on the outdoor playground. The playground is wide and there are many people sitting in it, so the people in the village can also come to see it. Every time we play the movie, before we receive the notification, the loudspeaker of the village shouts: "Comrades, the 8729 Army Courtyard will perform the movie " Red Lantern " tonight, welcome to watch it." The sound with a strong Yanbei accent is very nice. The first time I heard it, I mistakenly thought "Red Light" for "Sister Hua"!
Later, the troops moved to Sanhe County, Hebei Province, and the regiment headquarters was stationed in Beiguan, Chengguan Town. The county town is bustling than the valleys and rural areas, and the conditions are better. The auditorium of the delegation agency is much more advanced, and movies can be played during the day. I remember the first time I watched the color feature film "Qingsongling" was on the morning of the first day of the Spring Festival in 1973. I stood behind the auditorium and was watching it in a daze when I suddenly found a line of words appearing at the bottom of the screen: "Defense Department Officer Zhu, someone is looking for him outside, there is something urgent." Because of the crime scene, I only saw half of it. In the group agency, it is convenient to watch movies. I watched the color movie " Entrepreneurship " shortly after it was released. There are also foreign movies, mainly films from North Korea, Yugoslavia, , Albania, and other countries. North Korean feature films have a strong sense of life, and everyone loves to watch them. The two films "The Village with Flowers" and "When Picking Apples", are colorful, and characters such as "Brother Lao Pei" and "Old Broom" are vivid and lively. This is how the nickname "Brother Pei" comes from it.
In 1974, I "progressed again" and was transferred to the division office. The division headquarters is stationed in Ji County, Hebei Province (now Jizhou District, Tianjin). The troops received the property of the former Tianjin Medical College . There is an auditorium, which belongs to the "beard" project and has not been completed. There are no seats, no curtains, and it is relatively small. Most of the organs play movies in the open-air basketball court.
Every time I play a movie, especially when acting in a new movie, except for those on duty, the cadres, soldiers and families and children of the agency are all concentrated in the basketball court. Shortly after I was transferred to the agency, something happened while watching the movie. There were two movies in which someone took the opportunity to climb over the window and enter the female soldier's dormitory to "brush paste". When such a thing happened in the agency, the security chief Luo Mingxing was very angry and said that he would find a way to catch him. Every time the agency acted in a movie, he would instruct me to lead two soldiers in the guard platoon to squat near the female soldiers' dormitory. I want to watch a movie, but I want to catch that "thief". Every time the movie was played in the agency, I would arrive early and appear in the movie venue. As soon as the movie started, I would quietly leave and squat. The third time I squatted, the "thief" really appeared. Unfortunately, a guard soldier knocked down the stool next to him during operation. The "thief" heard the sound, jumped into the window and ran away, running faster than a rabbit, and was not caught by us in front of us. From then on, the agency played movies with "safe and nothing".
In 1975, the troops moved to Shanxi, and the division headquarters was stationed in the old military camp in Taiyuan City. They watched movies more often, and most of them were watched in the auditorium of the government. At that time, there were many people in the division office and many families and children. When the weather is good, movies are played outside in the open air. When watching movies in the agency, they do not gather or take sides, and sit at will. I heard that movies are played, and some children take up positions in advance. There is a mentally retarded child in Suijun's family who loves watching movies. He goes to the movie team to find out the news every time he plays a movie, and he knows first. If the notification is not released, his "little speaker" will be broadcast.
I watched "internal films" for a while. "Internal films" means films that are not publicly released, and are mostly foreign films, called "trial viewing" and "film review". Liu Xianquan, who was the commander of the Railway Soldier at the time, was the cultural leader of the State Council. He got the first to get to the water. He heard that the railway corps often played internal films, and he was very envious after hearing about it.
I have watched two "internal films", one is the former Soviet film "Liberation" and the other is the American film "General Patton".In fact, it cannot be regarded as a real "internal film".
Watching the movie "Liberation" was probably the spring of 1973. At that time, Sino-Soviet relations were very tense. The Soviet Union threatened to implement an aggressive war against China, including nuclear strikes against . The whole country responded to the central government's call and actively prepared for war. In order to understand the Soviet army's equipment and specific playing style, superiors required that all cadres above the army ranks and above should watch the Soviet film "Liberation". The cadres of our regiment were approved to visit the auditorium of the division agency. I was in the second batch. I set off from the regiment agency of Sanhe County, , Sanhe County, and sat in the Jiefang brand convertible car to watch a movie at the Jixian Division Office Auditorium. Arrived at around 7 o'clock and was officially screened at 7 o'clock. We lined up to enter the field, and there were guards guards at the door to check the door one by one, wearing four pockets and letting them in, and letting them in two pockets not let them in. There were no chairs in the auditorium, and rows of square wood were placed. Before the movie was screened, a soldier held a bamboo pole and closed the curtains. The film "Liberation" is smelly and long, with mostly airplanes, cannons, and tanks. The plot is simple and it is played for more than 7 hours in a row. After watching the movie, we were already past two o'clock in the afternoon and returned to the group office after four o'clock in the afternoon. We had no water or food for about 10 hours, and were thirsty, hungry and tired.
The second time I watched "internal film" was in 1979, when China and the United States established diplomatic relations. That autumn, a "May 4" pistol was stolen in the family home of the 16th Regiment located in Xiaojingyu, Hexi District, Taiyuan City. The Division Security Department and the Taiyuan Municipal Public Security Bureau jointly formed a joint task force to solve the case. The head of the division instructed: "We must find a way to solve the case and get the gun back. When you solve the case, contact the internal cinema to comfort you." When watching the internal movie, everyone was looking forward to it. The members of the task force were all excited and determined to solve the case as soon as possible. After a week, the case was in sight. I reported to the chief that the case has important clues and the case will be solved soon. The leader said happily, I will send someone to contact you immediately and let you watch internal movies tonight.
In the afternoon of the same day, the suspect was arrested and confessed to the crime. But after stealing the gun, he was afraid and threw it into the cornfield. The process of finding a gun was not going smoothly. It was not until after eight o'clock in the evening that the gun was recovered. At around seven o'clock, the gun had not yet landed. I called the chief to report, but I don’t know when I will find the gun. If the gun cannot be found, we will not stop the troops. Don’t wait for us to watch the movie. The leader said: "When will you find the gun, when will you come back, and when will the performance start." All the comrades in the task force were very moved when they heard this. They all took emergency action and arrested another suspect at 9 o'clock in the evening, and both were captured. When the task force members walked into the auditorium of the agency, they were warmly welcomed by the leaders and everyone. The internal movie that night was the American film General Patton.
(Editor: Caiyun Chasing the Moon)
