From the Moving Image Research Collections at the University of South Carolina comes an extraordinary piece of Chinese movie history: rare newsreel outtakes shot in January 1934 showing the production of a film at what is believed to be the Tianyi studio. Founded in Shanghai in 1925 by four brothers named Shaw (you may have heard of them), the Tianyi Film Company (天一影片公司) was a pillar of Chinese moviemaking during the 1920s and 30s (just like the family's Shaw Brothers studio some 30 years later). You can read more about the studio at The Chinese Mirror, my top one-stop shop for information about early Chinese cinema. But let me just point out that, as far as I know, none of the approximately 120 films made by Tianyi between 1925 and 1939 have survived, which makes this newsreel footage very precious indeed.
I've not had any luck in positively identifying the film or its stars. But I'm going to hazard a guess — even though I always fall on my ass whenever I go out on a limb — that the leading lady seen in the footage might be Fan Xuepeng (范雪朋), 1920s wuxia queen and star of Red Heroine / 红侠 (1929), one of the earliest surviving Chinese martial-arts movies. She worked at Tianyi from 1934 to 1937 and made a half-dozen or so films for the studio. One of them, Spring Dreams in the Dance Hall / 舞宫春梦 (1934), seems likes a possible match for the production shown in these outtakes.
Needless to say, I'm seeking the help of anyone who might be able to shed some light on this mystery film. Okay, enough talking. Click HERE to watch the clip.
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