Spring Silkworms (1933)

Original title

春蚕

Directed by

Cheng Bugao

Genre

drama film, silent film

Country

People's Republic of China

Runtime

1h 36m

Rating

6.4 of 10 from 7 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A poor rural family in 1930s China pours all their effort into raising silkworms hoping for a better year. Despite a good harvest, falling silk prices and debts crush their dreams.

earnestsombergrittyslow-pacednaturalisticobservationaleconomically anxious

What happens

Spring Silkworms (simplified Chinese: 春蚕; traditional Chinese: 春蠶; pinyin: Chūncán) is a 1933 silent film from China. It was directed by Cheng Bugao and was adapted by Xia Yan, who was credited as Cai Shusheng, from the short story written by Chinese author Mao Dun, also called by the same name. The film stars Gong Jianong, Yan Yuexian, Xiao Ying, Gao Qianping and Ai Xia and was produced by the Mingxing Film Company.The film's production should also be understood in the lens of Mingxing Film Company's commercial pressures. By the early 1930s, Mingxing faced declining box office revenues as its traditional audience for old-style citizen films (旧市民电影) eroded, while rival Lianhua Film Company attracted the new intellectual and student audience with a different production strategy. Mingxing's decision to adapt Mao Dun's story represented a deliberate shift toward cooperation with left-wing literary figures in order to secure market survival. It follows Old Tong and his family, silk farmers in rural Zhejiang who devote themselves to raising silkworms in hopes of improving their economic situation. However, even though there was a successful harvest, collapsing silk prices and mounting debts left the family in poverty. Spring Silkworms has been described as the first attempt to bridge serious Chinese literature and cinema, a connection that its commercial failure highlighted rather than resolved. Today, the film is considered one of the earliest films of the leftist movement in 1930s Shanghai. In addition, it is also considered an early example of social realism in Chinese cinema. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

• Night in the City (1933)
• The Light of Maternal Instinct (1933)
• Daybreak (1933)
• An Untold Tale of the Borderlands
• Little Toys (1933)
• The Goddess (1934)
• Plunder of Peach and Plum (1934)
• Song of the Fishermen (1934)