The 2024 summer season has begun.
Judging from the film list currently exposed, the variety is quite rich, including fantasy, espionage, action, and comedy.
Among these works, the appearance of a movie surprised me a little.
This is the new version of " Eternal Radio " which will be released on June 18th.
Everyone must be familiar with this name.
In 1958, the movie "The Radio That Never Dies" was released and became instantly popular all over the country. It is still loved by countless movie fans.
This year coincides with the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and the influence of "Dianbo IP" remains undiminished. After being adapted into TV series and plays, it has now been adapted into a dance drama version of the movie.
The dance drama film is directed by Zheng Dasheng and stars Wang Jiajun and Zhu Jiejing, two "dancers" from the Shanghai Song and Dance Troupe.
In the upcoming 26th Shanghai International Film Festival, this film has also been selected as the opening film and will have its world premiere on June 15. Such high standards show that the industry attaches great importance to this film.
Taking advantage of the opportunity of the release of a new work, let us review the 1958 classic version to see how this classic was born and why it has remained influential for decades.
01, adapted from real events
The prototype of the story of "The Eternal Wave" is the latent experience of underground party Li Bai during the Anti-Japanese War and the War of Liberation.
After the Anti-Japanese War broke out in 1937, Li Bai was assigned to Shanghai to establish a secret radio station.
He and his partner Qiu Huiying pretended to be a couple, collecting and passing on intelligence under the noses of the Japanese invaders.
Many plots in the movie evolved from this thrilling experience.
In the film, Sun Daolin plays Li Xia, whose prototype is Li Bai; the female silk reeling factory worker He Lanfen who partners with him is Qiu Huiying.
In the movie, the two agents gradually developed feelings for each other from the beginning as revolutionary partners, and later became a real couple with the consent of the organization.
In reality, Li Bai and Qiu Huiying gained love through sharing weal and woe, got married, had children, and started a family while hiding.
With the outbreak of the Pacific War and the fall of the Shanghai Concession, the couple's latent work became increasingly difficult.
In 1942, the secret radio station was seized by the Japanese invaders. Li Bai and Qiu Huiying were arrested and tortured in prison.
Regarding these inhuman tortures, Li Bai just responded with "I am a Chinese" to torture and extort confessions. From being arrested to being tortured, the entire process of
was truly restored in the film. Especially when the words "I am a Chinese" came out, it became the most exciting scene in the film.
In 1943, Li Bai was rescued from prison. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Li Bai continued to lurk in Shanghai and was still responsible for intelligence work against the Kuomintang.
It was not until December 30, 1948, that Li Bai was arrested again when the reactionaries of the Party discovered Li Bai's identity.
He knew that it would be difficult to escape alive this time, so he sent three emergency telegrams to the organization before being arrested.
The last sentence is the ending of the movie "The Waves That Never Die": "Comrades, farewell! I miss you!".
The movie comes to an abrupt end. Accompanied by the excitement of the ending music, Li Xia's brave and fearless heroic image is deeply engraved in the minds of the audience.
As for the story after the arrest, the movie does not show it. While
was in prison, the enemy tortured Li Bai for more than 30 hours, using dozens of torture methods such as the tiger bench, pulling out nails, and pouring pepper water. Li Bai never let go.
On May 7, 1949, Li Bai was secretly executed by the Kuomintang. This day was 20 days away from the liberation of Shanghai.
After the liberation of Shanghai, Li Kenong, the head of the secret front, called Mr. Chen to find the whereabouts of Li Bai and his wife and children. After several twists and turns, Li Bai's body was finally found.
In 1958, at Li Kenong's suggestion, the Bayi Film Factory took the lead in filming Li Bai's heroic deeds into the movie "The Eternal Wave", and Li Bai's story became known to the public.
02. The martyr's wife became the "special consultant" of the film crew
Before filming the movie, Li Kenong went to Shanghai to collect the latent deeds of the secret front and compiled them into a book.
Based on these precious historical materials, screenwriters Du Yin, Li Qiang, and Huang Gang created the movie script of "The Eternal Wave" based on Li Bai's story.
Therefore, the movie is not only the story of Li Bai, but also the epitome of countless underground workers of our party.
After the script was completed, the leaders of Bayi Studio handed over the director's task to Wang Ping.
Director Wang Ping is the first female director in New China. " The Story of Liubao " and " Sentinels Under the Neon Lights " are her masterpieces.
In order to live up to the trust of his superiors, Director Wang Ping personally went to Shanghai to invite experienced veteran photographer Xue Boqing, and sound engineer He Bao, who had been doing recording work in Shanghai since the 1930s.
It is worth mentioning that the filming of "The Eternal Wave" used simultaneous recording, that is, the sound of the scene was recorded while filming.
This was very rare in film production at the time, and the technical requirements were also quite strict.
In addition, the crew’s makeup artist Yan Bijun and costume designer Liang Yuying were both born and raised in old Shanghai, and are very proficient in how Shanghainese dress.
For example, the heroine He Lanfen, her original job was a female worker in a silk reeling factory, and she was an accountant during her latent work.
Therefore, in her makeup and hair, she has both fashionable curling elements and straight bangs that match the temperament of a female worker. The styling is very consistent with the character's identity changes.
The actress who plays He Lanfen is Yuan Xia. Her most classic image is the guerrilla leader Park Jinyu in " Raid " .
But when she first received the invitation to be the heroine, except for the director, almost everyone else in the crew had no confidence in her and felt that Yuan Xia was "not very good at acting."
But director Wang Ping has always insisted on her choice, which also made Yuan Xia work hard to play this role well.
For this reason, Yuan Xia has to ask He Lanfen's prototype, Li Bai's wife Qiu Huiying, for details of her life and her behavior as an agent almost every day.
Over time, Qiu Huiying became a voluntary consultant to the crew, not only guiding the performances, but also providing great help to the crew on some story details.
For example, many of the ways of transmitting information in movies come from Qiu Huiying's practical experience.
In fact, the "foreign aid" of the crew is not only Qiu Huiying, but also many comrades who have participated in espionage work.
For example, when Sun Daolin received the role, he felt a lot of pressure because the role of Li Xia carried too many people's expectations.
Therefore, many comrades who have been engaged in intelligence work came to the crew to give personal guidance and told him a lot about the situations and experiences of intelligence personnel during their work.
It was with the help of these revolutionary predecessors that Sun Daolin accurately grasped the character's living environment and personality characteristics, thus creating this classic character that is difficult for latecomers to surpass.
03. Is the new version of a classic a surprise or a magical modification?
In 2021, the color restored version of "The Eternal Wave" will be released on National Day. The picture of the color restored version is exquisite and clear, and it is even more shocking than back then.
Now, a new version of the movie is about to be released, making old fans of the movie both excited and anxious.
After all, cases of remakes of classics "overturning" in the end are all too common in the current film and television industry.
But the new version of "The Radio that Never Dies" is different from the popular remake of the classic in that it presents the story in the form of a dance drama.
"The long river runs silently, but love and faith last forever" , this is the slogan of the dance drama film "The Wave of Eternal Life", which also highlights the profound theme of this version's artistry.
Most of its stories come from old movies, while the scenes and performances are derived from the dance drama of the same name created by the Shanghai Song and Dance Troupe.
Therefore, in addition to retaining the main body of the stage performance, the film also added some performance clips shot in the studio.
The crew selected multiple real-life shooting scenes such as the real theater scene, rehearsal hall environment, film and television base, etc., and used an LED virtual studio.
also strives for excellence in shooting technology, using a variety of new media technologies such as Dolby Atmos and telescopic cannon to present more shocking audio-visual effects.
Especially the "Morse code rain" floating all over the sky in the film is the most impactful scene in the new version. It not only highlights the characteristics of underground intelligence work, but also achieves a completely immersive effect in terms of viewing experience.
According to Wang Jiajun, one of the starring actors in the film, the performance process not only integrates stage action skills with film camera performance, but also each performance is a comprehensive baptism from body to spirit.
It can be seen that the dance drama movie "The Radio that Never Dies" deeply combines the artistic expression full of liveness in the dance drama performance with the dreamy color brought to the audience by the movie, which will definitely bring a double shock to the audiovisual and the soul.
In fact, in the era when "The Eternal Wave" was born, there were many similar classic works that have been passed down to future generations.
For example, , " Heroic Tiger Hard ", "The Story of Liubao", " Visitors on the Iceberg " , etc., you can try to make such an adaptation.
not only allows the older generation of movie fans, but also allows the new generation of audiences to experience the immortal charm of those classic stories. (Written by Pipi Xia)
