Studies On Director Yue Feng’s Early Films(Before1949)

In the Chinese film history, Yue Feng, as film director, has been devalued and forgotten for a long time. From1940s to1970s, along with the changes of Chinese films, he experienced the periods of" the left wing","soft film","isolated island" and also the Japan-occupied period, the postwar period and the Hong Kong period. He created hundreds of films which embraced the trend of commercial development. They include all the different commercial genres involving costume film/folk story, romance/family ethics drama, detective film/crime/spy film, swordsmen film, musicals and episode collections. Therefore, in terms of content or form, Yue Feng’s career can be said to be a commercial film history.Yue Feng’s films followed the early Chinese film business strategy, showing a mixture of Chinese and Western characteristics. Firstly, he made various types of films along with the trend. His works include both the local types and imitations of Hollywood genres. There are development and self replication among these types. Secondly, he went the adaptation strategies of commercial films by using stories from the famous Chinese and foreign literatures and traditional operas to cater the audience by digging the local stories and learning from foreign elements. At the same time, as an artistic craftsmen in the studio system, his greatest feature is picturization. His directing skills swallow everything, succeeding the tradition of shadow play and referring to the Hollywood camera moves. His skills serve narration.This research on the Yue Feng’s early works has two aims. First, along with the historical progress, to explore and restore some directors making early commercial films buried in history; second, through studying the case of Yue Feng to give perspectives on the ecology of the early commercial films and to do some supplements for the construction of Chinese film history.