The Wenhua Film Company () was a Chinese major privately owned film production company headquartered in Shanghai, China. It was founded in 1946 and defunct in 1952 of the immediate post-war period in China.Zhang, p. 101.
History The film company was founded in 1946 by Wu Xingzai, a businessman who had previously controlled assets of the Lianhua Film Company during the mid-1930s. With Wenhua, Wu desired to have a film studio devoted to making smaller-budget art films, sophisticated comedies, and high-minded dramas. These films often focused on contemporary social issues such as feminism and adaptations of Western literature. These included Night Inn (1947), an adaptation of Maxim Gorky's The Lower Depths, and starring Zhou Xuan.Zhang, p. 103-104, but also comedies such as the Sang Hu-Eileen Chang collaboration, Long Live the Missus! (1947). During this early period, however, the company is perhaps best known as the producer of Fei Mu's masterpiece, Spring in a Small Town (1948).
Like other private studios, notably Kunlun Film Company, Wenhua continued in operation after the Communist takeover, putting out several films with the popular actor-director Shi Hui, including This Life of Mine (1950) (based on a novella by Lao She), Corruption (1950) (based on a work by Mao Dun), and the war film Platoon Commander Guan (1951). Yet many of these postwar films, particularly 1950s Peaceful Spring, were also criticized as hewing too close to Wenhua's pre-Communist humanist tradition.Brown & Pickowitz, p. 269-70. By 1952, Shi Hui had fallen out of the Party's favor, and Wenhua, like the other remaining private studios in Shanghai, was consolidated under state ownership.Brown & Pickowitz, p. 285.
Notable films YearEnglish TitleChinese TitleDirectorCast1946Phony Phoenixes 假凤虚凰Huang ZuolinShi Hui, Li Lihua1947Bright Day艳阳天Cao YuShi Hui, Li Lihua1947Long Live the Missus! 太太万岁Sang HuShangguan Yunzhu, Shi Hui1947Night Inn夜店Huang ZuolinZhou Xuan1948Spring in a Small Town小城之春Fei MuWei Wei, Zhang Hongmei, Li Wei1949Miserable at Middle Age 哀乐中年Sang HuShi Hui1950This Life of Mine我这一辈子Shi HuiShi Hui1950Peaceful Spring太平春Sang HuShi Hui1950Ideological Problems思想问题1950Corruption腐蚀Huang ZuolinShi Hui1951Sisters Stand Up姐姐妹妹站起来Chen Xihe1951Platoon Commander Guan关连长Shi HuiShi Hui1951A Window on America美国之窗Shi Hui, Huang Zuolin, Ye Ming
References
Sources Brown, Jeremy & Pickowicz, Paul. Dilemmas of Victory: The Early Years of the People's Republic of China. Harvard University Press, 2007. . Zhang, Yingjin. Chinese National Cinema. Routledge, 2004. .
External links Wenhua Film Company at the British Film Institute