Synopsis

This sound film remake of The Goddess (1934) was headlined by Hu Die, who found stardom at the same time as Ruan Lingyu. Henry Lai Hang and Zhang Zhizhi reprised their roles from the earlier film. The first half of the story follows The Goddness but the second half references Bu Wanchang’s Love and Duty (1931) and King Vidor’s American film Stella Dallas (1937) with additional plots of the heroine’s post-prison story. After years of separation, she hesitates whether to reunite with her son. This new version poses a bigger challenge to a mother’s love and pushes towards the completion of her fate. The characters use dialogue to express their pain and connection, which strengthens the dramatic dilemma and makes the film more straightforward than its predecessor. Hu Die possesses a sort of allure that shows the sadness, shame, and will of a common woman from middle age to old age. Wu Yonggang complies to the demands of sound film without forgetting his pursuit in the previous work by restaging those enduring moments of the silent film, producing a unique effect by juxtaposing the arts from two different eras.

Wu Yonggang (1907-1982)
Started out as a set designer, Wu Yonggang directed The Goddess and The Desert Island (1936), which are known for their purity and philosophical awareness, early in his career. In the 1960s, successful films such as The Jade Hairpin (1962) and Third Sister Yao (1963) explore the aesthetics of Chinese Opera cinema. In 1980, he co-directed Evening Rain with Wu Yigong—a profound masterpiece that reflects on collective experience.

^Pre-screening Introduction; Online talk by Law Kar and Lau Yam (in Cantonese)