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Epicurus.com - Spring in a Small Town
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List Price: $19.98
Our Price: $17.99
Your Save: $ 1.99 ( 10% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Cinema Epoch
Starring: Chaoming Cui, Wei Li, Yu Shi, Wei Wei, Hongmei Zhang
Directed By: Mu Fei
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
Brand: Koch International
EAN: 0891514001207
Format: Closed-captioned
Label: Cinema Epoch
Manufacturer: Cinema Epoch
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Cinema Epoch
Region Code: 0
Release Date: 2007-05-08
Running Time: 93
Studio: Cinema Epoch
Theatrical Release Date: 1948
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Editorial Reviews:
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Set in a secluded, run-down house, Spring in a Small Town is a psychological exploration of the female protagonist Zhou Yuwen and her intricate relationships...Communist historiography censured the film. Since the 1980s, however, it has been critically acclaimed as the best Chinese film of all time and a classic example of ‘Eastern’ cinema.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Warning Alert!!!
Comment: I think the other reviews were far too kind in regard to the quality presented here. This is a pretty lousy print with jumps,scratches, blackouts, audible snap/crackle/pop's throughout the soundtrack. I'd been waiting a long time to see this picture and did enjoy it. Like most Chinese films it is a simple story told extremely well. So if this is the only edition available It'll have to do, but this film does deserve better
treatment.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A simple tale...
Comment: In a run-down town, with ruins for houses and a broken down wall for protection, live a family. The husband, Dai Liyan is sick all the time and his wife, Zhou Yuwen, spends most of her time taking care of him. When an old friend of the husband, Zhang Zhichen, shows up it turns he happens to be an old friend of the wife also. A good friend. In fact they use to be lovers. So now the stage is set. But there is more. The little sister of the husband kind of has a crush on Zhang Zhichen and Liyan thinks they would make a good marriage. As things go from bad to worse the simple story becomes more complex as everybody seems to slowly figure out what is happening. In the end even Liyan feels that his wife and friend would be better off together. Being made in 1948 it does make you wonder what the message of the movie is. After all, this is a product of a China recovering from World War Two yet still in the chaos of infighting, right before it became Red China. Maybe there is no message?
The film is only 90 minutes long and is not in the best condition. There is an essay on the DVD as an extra but nothing else.
Customer Rating:
Summary: it's a classic
Comment: A classic slice of life of post-war China when a
worldly doctor Zhang Zhichen stops in to visit his
sickly childhood friend Liyan. Unbeknownst to them
both, Liyan had married Dr. Zhang's ex-girlfriend.
The slow pacing adds to the tension of this simple
drama of people trapped in their routines of living -
a loveless marriage, a country rebuilding itself, and
youth searching for identity.
Unlike most Chinese films of the day, this one is not
bogged down by wartime propaganda, and it comes to no
surprise that this film was remade in recent times by
fifth generation filmmaker, Tian Zhuangzhuang.
The acting is more naturalistic, showing how far
Chinese actors have come along to break from their
theatrical influence. A notable performance by Zhang
Hongmei, who plays Liyan's teenage sister with a
natural innocence absent from today's films. And she
sings too.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Interesting but feels strangely European.
Comment: I am writing this from the perspective of a Westerner who has no knowledge of the Chinese language and has been to China only once (although rather recently).
"Spring in a Small Town" is, for the most part, subtly acted, written, and directed and is not afraid to use symbolism when appropriate. Because it uses a limited number of interior sets for most of the story, it gave me the feeling I was watching a stage play that had been expanded for the screen. Although I found the story to be engaging, I sometimes felt as though I was watching an Ingmar Bergman film (which is not bad). Indeed, the production owes much more to the influences of European filmmakers than to Hollywood, and there is a sort of Scandivavian languor in the way the story is told and developed.
On the negative side, the print is mediocre and the soundtrack, which seems to disappear in a few places, often contains a hum. The English subtitles, which frequently race by so quickly that they can be only partially read, are often, obviously, incorrectly translated. (One of many examples of this is when Zhou Yuwen tells her husband to, "Go back to bed", when he is already in bed. I suspect the correct translation should have been, "Go back to sleep.") There is no music on the soundtrack until the last minute or two when it suddenly comes out of the blue with a somewhat disconcerting effect.
With this said, this is probably the best print that is available for this movie, and if you have any interest in the history of Asian/Chinese film or culture, this is certainly a film to see. Too bad such films do not have access to the financial resources to be properly restored. (Where is the George Eastman House when you need them?)
As for it being "The Greatest Chinese Film Ever Made"? I couldn't tell you since I haven't seen that many Chinese films. But, to be honest, I hope it isn't . . .
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