In November, many theaters in Shanghai were showing an opera movie, which was warmly sought after by the audience.

is not how good the quality of this movie is, but the protagonist of this opera movie is the famous Peking Opera actor Mei Lanfang, with the audience's love for Peking Opera in this era, even if it is a silent film, a large number of fans buy it.

The film was shot by Hong Kong Minxin Film Company.

Li Minwei, the owner of Hong Kong's Minxin Film Company, personally rushed to Peking in August to shoot five short opera films for Mei Lanfang.

Including the "Feather Dance" in "Xi Shi", the "Sword Dance" in "Farewell My Concubine", the "Dust Dance" in "Mrs. Shangyuan", the "Walking Side" in "Mulan in the Army", and the "Funeral Flower" in "Daiyu Funeral Flower".

These are all Mei Lanfang's classic repertoire, and these five short films are edited together to form this opera film.

This is an attempt by Hong Kong Minxin Film Company to enter the Shanghai film market.

During the Republican period, Hong Kong did not have a high status, and became a British colony since 1842.

It was only after the Second World War that Hong Kong began to enter a stage of rapid development due to its special geographical location, thus leaping into Asia's financial, service and shipping center.

In 1924, Shanghai was the financial center of the Far East and a bustling metropolis in the East.

Both Hong Kong and Nanyang film companies want to enter the Shanghai film market and get a piece of the pie.

However, due to regional and cultural differences, Hong Kong films still have markets in Guangdong and Lingnan, but they are not very competitive in Shanghai, and the audience does not buy them.

Moreover, Shanghai's film market is also highly competitive.

Originally, Western movies dominated the world. With the joint efforts of Lin Zixuan's Star Film Company and other film companies in Shanghai, domestic films have gradually occupied a place.

Among them, the sound films shot by Star Film Company have achieved the point where they can compete with foreign films.

However, domestic films cannot be compared with Western films in terms of the quantity and quality of shooting. Most of Shanghai's luxury cinemas are still dominated by Western films.

Star Films shoots up to 10 feature films and dozens of short films per year.

Including the Journey to the West series, martial arts film series. Gambling film series, romance novel adaptations and social films, etc.

Li Minwei of Hong Kong's Minxin Film Company is not satisfied with living in a corner of Guangdong, and wants to enter the mainland market, or to be precise, the film market in Shanghai.

Most of China's film companies are concentrated in Shanghai, which is the center of Chinese film culture and production.

He filmed Mei Lanfang's opera films because Mei Lanfang is a famous actor in Peking Opera, and he will be recognized in any city in China, and there is not much geographical barrier in the art form of Peking Opera.

In fact, it is true that famous characters such as Mei Lanfang and Yang Xiaolou are extremely popular in Shanghai.

This opera film has no sound though. But just for Mei Lanfang's name, he can make a lot of money.

Li Minwei came to Shanghai to inspect Shanghai's film market, and before coming, Luo Mingyou from Peking specially instructed him to pay more attention to the Star Film Company and Lin Zixuan.

Luo Mingyou's status in the Peking film circle is equivalent to Lin Zixuan's status in the Shanghai film circle.

He founded the North China Film Company, which did not make films but operated cinemas, and he united foreign-run cinemas in Peking and Tianjin to engage in film projection and distribution.

Luo Mingyou's family background is much stronger than Lin Zixuan, and he has connections in both political and business worlds.

He was born in a famous family in Guangzhou. His father was a comprador of Lu Lin & Co. in Hong Kong, his second uncle was the president of the Guangdong High Court, and his third uncle held an important position in the Beiyang government.

Li Minwei was able to go to Peking to shoot Mei Lanfang's opera films, and Luo Mingyou also had a relationship.

The two hit it off at first sight. Became friends.

Luo Mingyou has a number of cinemas in his hands and is very familiar with the current situation of Chinese films, especially star film companies.

The star film company has grown for more than two years. It has become a leading enterprise in China's film industry.

After Li Minwei came to Shanghai, he contacted the theater to screen Mei Lanfang's opera films. While going to the theater to watch domestic movies.

As soon as the theater in Shanghai hears that it is Mei Lanfang's movie, it will be screened without hesitation. This is the influence of the famous Peking Opera actors.

In this way, Li Minwei put down his mind and concentrated on inspecting Shanghai's film industry.

After learning about Star Film Company, he realized that he underestimated the heroes of the world.

Minxin Film Company has its own cinema in Hong Kong, and has also purchased advanced shooting equipment from the United States and established a studio in Guangzhou, with total assets of more than 500,000 yuan.

In the Hong Kong film industry, it can be regarded as the largest film company.

can be nothing compared to the star film company.

At this time, the star film company can be described as full of talents, with many famous directors and various stars, as well as all kinds of film technical talents, and its own studio, which can shoot four movies at the same time, and each film can make a profit of tens of thousands of yuan.

Coupled with the number of theaters in his hands, the total assets have already exceeded 3 million yuan.

Of course, the theater has Feng Jingyao's shares, and Lin Zixuan's personal assets are about 1.5 million.

Therefore, the film industry is profitable, especially when it only makes money and does not lose money.

Li Minwei watched the movies of Star Film Company, and there are various types of movies, but many of them are entertainment and pastime films, deliberately catering to the audience's viewing taste.

Like other aspiring young people of this era, he believes that movies should have the function of promoting good and punishing evil, changing customs and customs, and can be used as auxiliary education and social improvement.

He put forward the slogan "film saves the country" very early on.

Therefore, Sun Zhongshan once wrote an inscription for Hong Kong Minxin Film Company "The world is for the public".

However, Li Minwei has to admit that the films of Star Film Company are very mature, and many shooting techniques are worth learning from, and they are worthy of being the leader of China's film industry.

Moreover, he saw a bright future for sound films, and thought that the silent film era might be coming to an end.

Even so, he did not give up his determination to enter the Shanghai film market, and if he wanted to make the film company bigger and stronger, he had to come to Shanghai, which is the center of Chinese films.

He thought of what Luo Mingyou had mentioned to him when he was in Beiping, and he was even more confident.

Luo Mingyou has long been interested in entering the film production industry, but he has no film creative talents in his hands.

He controls the theater, and Li Minwei is in charge of shooting movies, and the two work together, maybe they can compete with Star Film Company.

This proposal strengthened Li Minwei's idea of moving Minxin Film Company to Shanghai, not a raptor, in the film industry, he is full of confidence in himself.

He will learn from the advantages of star film companies, and subtly promote them while taking care of the audience's interests.

After watching the movie for a few days, Li Minwei was going to return to Guangzhou to shoot a costume film, based on "Strange Tales from Liao Zhai", and he found that Shanghai audiences were very interested in costume monster films.

This film is called "Rouge", and it is the first costume feature film of Minxin Film Company.

If Lin Zixuan knew Li Minwei's thoughts, he would definitely tell him that costume films were a popular trend in the Shanghai film industry last year, and they are no longer popular this year.

Killer films are popular this year because his movie "Killer Leon" is about to be released.

It has become a common practice for star film companies to lead the trend of domestic films, and other film companies to follow suit.

To be a human being is to be so confident. (To be continued.) )