中国电影始祖张石川

集导演、制片、票房于一身，12年间拍摄电影155部，亲自执导82部

中国电影诞生已有100多年了。时至今天，中国电影已取得了令世界瞩目的成就，获得了国际电影节多项奖项，涌现了不少世界级的导演和演员。但你可知道是谁创办了中国第一家有规模的电影制片公司、拍摄了第一部无声故事片、第一部有声故事片、第一部武侠片、第一部彩色片和戏曲片？他就是名副其实的中国电影拓荒者、中国电影事业的先驱和奠基人张石川。

中国电影的最初尝试

张石川是浙江宁波人，1890年1月1日出生于商人之家。他15岁时父亲不幸亡故，小小年纪的张石川就跟随着舅父经润三到上海谋生，先在上海华洋公司担任书记员，一天忙碌下来晚上还到夜校补习英文。工作之余张石川喜欢泡戏院，当时中国正在兴起“新剧”(文明戏)，于是他由此结识了一批热心文明戏的朋友，后来舅父经润三叫他在公司里组织一个叫“鸣社”的新剧团体，并由他担任经理，从事组织和管理演出等事宜，张石川在这个方面渐渐地显露出他管理的卓越才能。

当时世界电影已传入了中国，在号称“冒险家乐园”的上海，已有外国人带着电影拷贝到上海的茶馆、娱乐场地来放映；也有洋人想拍摄反映中国生活的纪录片和逗笑取乐的喜剧小品。张石川对这种新兴起的西方“西洋镜”、“影戏”颇感兴趣，他不光成天去赶场子观看，自己也跃跃欲试想拍摄西方那样的电影。

1911年有两位美国人来找张石川，说是想在中国拍一部影戏，要他帮忙拍摄，这两个美国人还接管了美籍俄国人本杰明1909年在上海创办的影片公司“亚西亚影戏公司”。张石川心想：要拍影戏我得去找文明戏的演员朋友来出演，于是次年(1912)张石川就在门口挂上了“亚西亚影片公司”和“新民公司”两块牌子，正式成立了中国第一家电影制片公司。

有了制片公司，张石川就找来能编能演的郑正秋一起拍摄影片，开头拍了中国第一部有故事情节的短故事片《难夫难妻》，内容是批判不合理的封建婚姻制度。拍摄中编剧、演员的表演由郑正秋负责，张石川则负责摄影机和演员位置的调度，这就是最初的电影导演。当时文明戏演员全是男的，因此这部电影的女角也由男的扮演，显得有些不伦不类，拍摄的方法也全是“远景”，镜头一成不变，好像在记录舞台上的演出，而且全在露天利用日光进行拍摄，没有内景、灯光和其他设备。

好在拍摄的内容是当时流行的滑稽剧，观众爱看，能逗人乐，所以不管怎样张石川初次尝试是成功的，于是中国第一部故事片《难夫难妻》诞生了。

明星影片公司的成立

第一次尝试成功，张石川拍摄电影的兴趣更大了。1916年张石川与别人共同创办了“幻仙影片公司”，把久演不衰的文明戏保留节目《黑籍冤魂》拍成电影。

《黑籍冤魂》是反映中国人民受帝国主义鸦片毒害之苦，染上毒品如堕黑暗深渊。这出文明戏不断在剧院上演，常常得到台下观众的强烈共鸣。张石川觉得将这个文明戏搬上银幕肯定有票房，果然，这部电影拍成上映后，连连满座，人人叫好，《黑籍冤魂》成为中国电影史上第一部反毒品作品。

随着西方电影事业突飞猛进，出现了卓别林这样的艺术大师。为了更好地拍摄市民爱看的像卓别林这样的电影，张石川在“新民公司”、“幻仙公司”的基础上，于1922年3月，成立了中国电影史上真正的第一家电影公司“明星影片股份有限公司”，张石川任总经理兼导演，郑正秋任协理兼编剧，周剑云负责行政兼发行。

他们先聘请一个叫培尔的美国马戏团小丑主演一部滑稽短片《卓别林游沪记》，由张石川自己担任导演，接着又拍了《劳工之爱情》《大闹怪戏场》等滑稽短片，这完全是模仿卓别林式的搞笑滑稽短片。张石川担任导演无师自通，他自觉地学习国外电影“蒙太奇”的各种手法，用布景、道具来表明时间、场景的转换，还揣摩外国电影如何运用特定镜头和叠印手法等。后来美国哥伦比亚大学电影教授格雷到上海来到“明星影片公司”参观，向张石川传授了不少电影专业方面的知识。接着，张石川就自己编剧、导演了中国第一部长故事片《孤儿救祖记》，花了8个月时间将它搬上银幕。《孤儿救祖记》正式公映后引起社会极大轰动，从这部影片开始，真正改变了外国电影一统天下、占领中国市场的局面，有个电影发行商看了《孤儿救祖记》以后赞不绝口，觉得这样的电影才真实反映了中国人的生活情态，符合中国人的道德伦理，他以8000银元买下了《孤儿救祖记》的海外版权到南洋一带放映。这一来大大缓解了“明星”公司成立伊始的经济拮据。

值得一提的是在张石川等人的极力主张下，《孤儿救祖记》第一次改变了“男扮女装”的文明戏旧习，由女演员来扮演电影中的女主角。这次演女主角的是英美烟草公司打字员，张石川一眼看中她本色的纯美和善良，立马和她签约。女主角王汉伦初登银幕就轰动上海滩，成为中国第一代女明星。为了培养更多优秀演员，张石川等人还开设了一所“明星电影”学校，吸引社会上大批爱好电影的少男少女特别是女孩子前来报名，让她们圆一回“明星梦”。后来加入“明星”队伍成为主要女演员的有杨耐梅、宣景琳、张织云等人。张石川在拍摄时既对她们精心指导，又不断提出严格要求，使她们在演技上进步很快，一下子成为观众心目中的大明星，当时王汉伦被誉为“悲剧圣手”，杨耐梅则擅长饰演风流女郎，早先曾一度堕入烟花的宣景琳极富表演天赋，张织云则被评为首届电影皇后。由于这些影星多姿多彩，使“明星”公司更加星光灿烂。

明星公司一连拍出了《玉梨魂》《苦儿弱女》《诱婚》《好哥哥》《最后之良心》《新人的家庭》等一系列受观众好评的影片，自然票房收入不菲。不少人看到电影是一门赚钱的行业，于是上海的影片公司就像雨后春笋般冒了出来：“上海影戏”、“大中华百合”、“天一”、“长城”、“神州”、“民新”、“南国”等等，光在上海滩就有140多家影业公司。

在激烈的市场竞争中富有经营理念的张石川采取人才优势组合，除了明星公司拥有“四大名旦”及胡蝶、阮玲玉等人外，还向其他电影公司商借了王元龙、张慧冲等男明星。张石川用这个“人才合作法”来拍摄《空谷兰》，票房更取得了空前成功，影片造就的风流倜傥的男明星朱飞，成了女孩子的“万人迷”。张石川还坚持《空谷兰》到杭州西湖拍摄外景，这是中国电影史上第一次实地拍外景，也是西湖第一次走进电影。

密切关注票房价值

张石川不光是中国第一代的电影导演、制片人，也是一位成功的电影商人。电影靠明星，张石川就不断推出新的明星。他觉得老是王汉伦、杨耐梅、宣景琳、张织云那几张脸，观众也会感到不满足，于是明星公司就及时发掘出新人胡蝶和阮玲玉。虽然胡蝶、阮玲玉的演技十分稚嫩，张石川骂得她们直哭，可是就在他的严格要求下，胡蝶和阮玲玉很快成为红极一时的大明星。

除了培养明星，张石川还注意影片的可看性。张石川看见报纸杂志和图书市场上武侠小说非常畅销，就异想天开地拍摄了中国第一部武侠片《火烧红莲寺》。这把火烧红了中国影坛，《火烧红莲寺》在上海滩放映竟达半年之久，场场客满，南京、北平、广州等大城市也争相放映。张石川一看武侠片市场这么好，就一发不可收地拍了《火烧红莲寺》续集、再续集等，三年内拍了18集之多!

“明星影片公司”的骄人成绩引起了外国同行的注目。1929年好莱坞美籍华裔摄影师黄宗沾(奥斯卡最佳摄影奖获得者)前来参观，同年底第二届奥斯卡最佳女演员玛丽壁克馥来华访问也来到张石川“明星”公司。接着，电影进入有声片时，张石川等三巨头又连忙研究拍摄有声片的相关事宜。

张石川于1931年派洪深远赴美国学习有关拍摄有声片技术，并引进先进的有声电影的器材，由胡蝶主演，拍摄出中国第一部有声电影《歌女红牡丹》，轰动了全国和海外，从而中国电影由默片时代跃入了有声片时代。

日寇侵华“一·二八”事变发生后，张石川决定拍摄抗战电影，聘请夏衍、郑伯奇、阿英三位左翼电影剧作家加入明星公司，夏衍等人就接连创作了《狂流》《脂粉市场》《前程》《春蚕》《盐潮》等一系列反映民族苦难的现实主义作品，获得广大劳苦大众的共鸣。

明星影片公司成立后的12年时间，拍摄了155部电影，其中张石川导演的作品就有82部。30多年来张石川一共拍摄了上百部电影，在中国电影史上这样多产的导演甚为少见，张石川不光是中国第一个故事片导演、第一个有声片导演，也是作品最多的导演。

Founding Father of Chinese Cinema

By Xue Jiazhu

The Chinese cinema has scored brilliant progress since its debut one hundred years ago. Chinese directors, actors, and films have made their names known across the world. Of all the heroes who contributed to the honor of the Chinese cinema, the name of Zhang Shichuan may appear unfamiliar today. But one of the founding fathers of Chinese cinema, he made China"s first silent film, first sound film, first martial art film, first colored film and first theater film.

Zhang was born in January 1890 in a business family in Ningbo, a port city in eastern China"s coastal Zhejiang Province. His father died when Zhang was 15. Shortly afterwards, the teenager followed his mother"s brother to Shanghai. He worked as a secretary in his uncle"s company for a while and studied English in his spare time. At that time, Shanghai was seeing a rapid iush of western people and things. Drama was a new mania that attracted many young urban Chinese. An eager theatergoer, Zhang soon made friends with many enthusiastic actors. He later was asked by his uncle to organize a drama troupe. Zhang became the manager of the troupe and his management talent began to materialize.

The other western gadget that fascinated Zhang was film. The young man often watched films screened by foreigners. He wanted to try his hand at producing some films of his own. In 1911, two Americans approached Zhang and asked him to help out shooting a Chinese film. Zhang set up his film company in 1912. Zhang and his friend Zheng Zhengqiu began working together as a team to make a short feature with a Chinese plot. It was "The Difficult Couple", a moral rebellion against the age-old Chinese practice of arranged marriage. Zhang was in charge of camera and he gave instructions to actors where they should stand whereas Zheng wrote the script and directed actors how to act out the drama. Nothing about the film was great if one knows what a film looks like today. All the performers were men; the camera never moved as if it were recording a performance on a stage; all the shooting was done in the outdoor; there was no setting, no lighting, no anything fancy. However, the feature film had a story that appealed to the audience. It was a modest success.

The first success was encouraging. In 1916, Zhang co-founded the Huanxiang Film Company (Fantasy) and adapted a blockbuster drama success into a film. The drama was called "Wronged Ghosts in Opium Den", which depicted the ugly consequences of opium upon the Chinese society and people. Zhang Shichuan figured that it would be a hit if he adapted it into a film. He was right. The box office hit ran on and on and it became China"s first anti-narcotic film. As western films began to flourish and stars such as Chaplin became household names, Zhang decided to follow the trend. On the basis of his successful experiences of the first two companies he had run, in March 1922, he set up Mingxing Film Co Ltd together with his friends. According to many art historians, Mingxing is China"s first really important film company. Zhang Shichuan was the company"s chief executive and director, Zheng Zhengqiu was appointed assistant and screenwriter, Zhou Jianyuan was put in charge of administrative affairs and distribution.

The first few films Mingxing made were short comedies. An American clown was engaged to impersonate Chaplin. A self-taught director, Zhang applied various latest techniques such as Montage to his comedies; he also used settings and properties to relate the change of times and scenes. After learning from a visiting professor from Columbia University, USA, Zhang spent eight months rewriting and directing "An Orphan Rescues His Grandpa", China"s first full-length feature film. It was a sensational success. It was also an epoch-making film in the Chinese cinema market. From then onward, foreign films no longer dominated the Chinese market. A film distributor purchased the film"s overseas copyrights for 8,000 silver dollars and screened the film in Southeast Asia. The revenue helped Mingxing ease cash shortage in its initial period.

It is worth mentioning that this feature film also put an end to a practice the Chinese modern drama had adopted: for a long while, all the characters in modern drama were performed by males. Zhang decided to star women. One day he spotted a typist working at an office of British American Tobacco and signed her up. The young woman was Wang Hanlun. Her first film was a great success. She caused a huge stir in Shanghai. To cultivate more talents for Mingxing, Zhang and his friends set up "Mingxing Film" school to train young people. The school became the cradle for many big names in the 1930s and 1940s. When investors saw the huge profit Mingxing was raking in after releasing one blockbuster after another, over 140 film companies mushroomed in Shanghai within a short period of time.

Seeing so many competitors, Zhang Shichuan had his own ideas to continue his track record of success. He had high-profile female stars working for the company and he rented male stars from other companies. The mixed cast enabled him to produce "Orchid in the Empty Valley", an unprecedented box office hit. Part of the film was shot around the West Lake in Hangzhou. Shooting at a location in Hangzhou was another first in China"s short history of cinema. It was also the first time the West Lake appeared in a Chinese film.

Zhang was a shrewd business man. When he found kongfu novels were all the rage on the market, he realized that there was a large crowd of people who loved the gee and that kongfu films could be a big opportunity for his company. In 1933, he produced the "Burning of the Red Lotus Temple". The film was so successful that it was screened for half a year in Shanghai alone and within three years Zhang Shichuan directed 18 sequences to the first original. In 1931, Zhang directed China"s first talking film "Red Peony the Songstress" which starred Hu Die the Butterfly. This film also ushered China"s film industry into the era of sound.

After the Japanese launched the January 28 Incident in 1932 and occupied Northeast China, Zhang decided to do something patriotic. He hired leftist writers to write scripts for new films. A series of realist films that depicted the national sufferings were greatly appreciated by the general public.

Mingxing produced 155 films in a period of 12 years after its inception. Zhang Shichuan directed 82 of them. Zhang directed over 100 films in his 30-odd-year career.

(Translated by Tian Jinjiang)