Street Angel

Street Angel 马路天使 (Mǎlù Tiānshǐ)

Street Angel, written and directed by Muzhi Yuan,was produced in 1937 and tells the story of Xiao Hong and her older sister Xiao Yun who are orphans from Manchuria. They came to Shanghai after the Japanese takeover in 1931 in hopes of a better life. Unfortunately, they are adopted by a selfish and unkind couple of Shanghai’s under class. Xiao Yun is forced to work as a prostitute and Xiao Hong sings at her adopted parent’s tea house until they decide to sell her to the local gangster Gu. She escapes this bad situation and marries her trumpet playing boyfriend Chen Xiaoping. Chen loves Xiao Hong but looks down on her prostitute sister. In the end, however, Xiao Yun makes a sacrifice that allows her inner goodness to be revealed. (Berry,86).

Street Angel is considered to be a milestone in Chinese cinema because it is the first Chinese movie not about the upper class. Instead, it gives a “voice to Shanghai’s laboring classes” (Deemer, ) and contrasts Shanghai's abundance with the harsh reality of daily life for those who live in the "lower depths" ( ). The film begins by showing the great life of Shanghai-"a glittering playground" (Palmer, 189)

"If the city of the 1920s and 1930s was paradise for some..it was hell for many rural immigrants who labored for low wages in factories or dance halls when they were lucky enough to find work at all"( Palmer, 187).

the skyscraper is "a symbol for the city's economic divide."

"critique of the exploitation that lies at the root of all the hustle and bustle in...Shanghai"in the 1930s (Palmer, 191).

It contains elements of "Russian avant-garde and early Hollywood slapstick" comedy ().

,a dark comedy,

film features Zhou Xuan the 1930s singing sensation as Xiao Hong

Zhao Dan

Link to the film online - [1]

--Hollyspendlove 03:34, 3 March 2012 (UTC)