Big Road (Dalu) dir./ sc. Sun Yu With Jin Yan, Zheng Junli, Han Lan'en, Li Lili, Chen Yanyan Shanghai: Lianhua Film, 1934

This silent film, with added sound-track, is set during the time of the resistance war against the Japanese invasion. Six young male workers and two waitresses in a roadside restaurant experience a political awakening when they participate in the construction of a strategically important road for the Chinese army. They have different characters and come from different social backgrounds. Jin is optimist in spite of his miserable childhood; Zhang is melancholic and solitary; Luo is a romantic dreamer; Zheng, a student fleeing Manchuria after the Japanese occupation, is an intellectual type; Zhangda is characterized by his physical strength; Xiaoliu used to be a petty thief, but he is redeemed by his friends. As for the two waitresses, Dingxiang is shy and looks up to Moli, who is aggressive and resourceful. Dingxiang falls in love with Luo, while Moli prefers to remain friends with all six workers. Meanwhile, the Japanese get closer. A rich local landlord betrays the Chinese resistance force by trying to slow down road construction. When they oppose him, he imprisons and tortures them. Thanks to Moli and Dingxiang, they escape and go back to work. The road is finally completed, but Moli and the six workers die in a Japanese bombing. As the only survivor of the group, Dingxiang dreams that her friends are revived and march ahead. *Big Road* is a representative work of leftist film of the 1930s which promotes patriotic and socialist ideals. Since its release, the film's theme song by Nie Er became famous song.

Big Road Boatman Crossroads Godness Little Toys Mulan Joins Army New Woman New Year's Coin Orphan Island Plunder of Peach Sing Song Girl Singing Midnight Song of China Song of Fishermen Spring Silkworms Street Angel Three Modern Girls Twin Sister Wild Flowr

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