MOVIE MUSIC UK

GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Original Review by Craig Lysy

Director Cai Chusheng along with much of the Shanghai movie industry, was rocked by the suicide of star actress and writer Ai Xia in 1934. Ai Xia took her own life after being relentlessly hounded, hunted, and scrutinized by a predatory tabloid press prying into and exposing her personal life. Cai Chusheng decided something had to be done and so committed for his next project to take on “fùnü wèntí” (The Woman Question) with a dramatic narrative, which exposed the pernicious perils of stardom, with an unflinching critique of traditional gender roles, and the commodification of independent women by the media. United Photoplay Service agreed to finance the project and Luo Mingyou would manage production, Cai would direct and Sun Shiyi would write the screenplay. For the cast, Ruan Lingyu would star as Wei Ming, joined by Wang Naidong as Dr. Wang and Zheng Junli as Yu Haichou.

The story is set in Shanghai China during the 1920s, and tells the tragic story of Wei Ming. She is an educated single mother, music teacher, and aspiring writer who struggles for independence and acceptance against patriarchal societal oppression and a pernicious and predatory media. Her life spirals down after she is fired by a wealthy school patron for refusing to sleep with him, her daughter becomes gravely ill, and she is forced into prostitution to pay for life saving medical care. Over time her spirit is crushed by poverty, malicious gossip, and societal cruelty, and she commits suicide. The film was applauded critically, and became a commercial sensation. It forced to the surface long simmering societal tensions regarding entrenched patriarchal gender roles and the exploitation of women. Sadly, the movie’s themes gained tragic, real-life validation when the film’s star and iconic actress Ruan Lingyu, also died by suicide shortly after the film’s release due to unrelenting tabloid slander. The film earned no awards.

Director Cai Chusheng highly praised composer Er Nie, who he originally hired him for his collaboration of his landmark film Song of the Fisherman in 1934, but although he ultimately left that project due to his political leanings, there was no question that he would score this film. Both Cai and Nie were aligned with progressive, left-wing cultural circles in Shanghai tied to the burgeoning leftist film movement, which put the film’s (The Woman Question) right in his wheelhouse. Er Nie decided to approach scoring the 1935 film New Women by composing music, which aligned with leftist political views, of speaking out against social injustice, class oppression, and patriarchal and feudal societal constraints placed on women. To that end, he embraced mass-oriented, revolutionary music, which gave voice to the struggles and awakening of working-class women to stand up against an anachronistic patriarchal culture and oppose predatory capitalist exploitation.

For his soundscape, its core lies with a cohesive six-part suite comprised of six, interconnected women’s choral pieces. Nie personally formed and trained a 30-member amateur female choir composed mostly of local factory workers to record these songs for the movie. There are six narrative themes. “Huisheng Ge” (Echo Song) offers a song of contemplation. It aspires and offers a fresh, aerified resonance. “Tiantian Ge” (Everyday Song) offer a song of woe. It speaks to the exhaustion of female factory workers trapped in a daily routine of monotony performing repetitious, mind-numbing labor. “Yi Tian Shi Er Dian Zhong” (Twelve Hours a Day) offers a song perseverance with commentary of working women enduring the burden of forced twelve-hour days.

“Si Bu Ge” (Four Don’ts Song) is a song of defiance and liberation. It, exhorts women to liberate themselves from patriarchal gender norms by rejected passivity, deference, vanity and dependence. “Nuli de Qilai” (Rise Up, Slaves) offers a song of Rebellion. It exhorts working women to engage in collective resistance against oppression and the anachronistic social order. Finally, “Xin de Nüxing” (The New Women) offer a song of triumph. Serves as the triumphant finale, celebrating female awakening, labor, and liberation. In the movie, the progressive Li Aying teaches the song to a chorus of working-class women. It powerfully crescendos during the film’s climax and ending montage as a direct contrast to the tragic silencing of the main character, Wei Ming.

Nie decided to eschew traditional cinematic melodrama, instead employing his music as both a powerful narrative driver and a tool for social commentary. He would employ simple, upbeat, and direct rhythms, at a firm march tempo, which featured strong, heavy piano strikes and resolute female vocals to audibly mirror a collective march toward societal liberation. For vocals, he composed in accessible vocal ranges inspired by leftist mass songs and military marches, which lent themselves well by allowing everyday workers and students to easily sing along. Lastly, Nie decided to weaponize an attack against popular culture through the use of Pop Parody. He uses the song Peach Blossom River” by Li Jinhui, as an emblem of the elite bourgeois upper class hedonism, moral corruption and capitalist decadence. The goal of his soundscape was to effectively shift the film’s tone away from exploitation, repression and individual defeat to instead transform it into a broad, collectivist call for female liberation by ending capitalist exploitation and patriarchal repression.

There is no commercial release of the score. As such I will use film scene descriptors and time indices to provide film context. 0:00 “Main Title” displays the film title, followed by the flow of the opening credits, which display as white Chinese characters against an animated background of a naked woman cowering in fear against a city skyline. Nie forthrightly sets the tone of the film with “Song of the Women”, the Main Theme of the film. It emotes as a militant, celebratory revolutionary anthem, which exhorts women to awaken and demand equality, respect and liberation. At 2:26 “Saturday Encounter” we enter the film proper and hear traffic sounds along Shanghai’s bustling Main Street. The choral rendered Main Theme song is sustained as we see Wei Ming traveling on a bus. She sees and reacquaints with schoolmate Zhang Moqui, who is now married and called Wang Moqui. They are joined by Wei’s editor Mr. Yu Haichou, whom she introduces. By coincidence he says he was coming to see her. They enter her apartment building and pass a woman washing her hair in the courtyard, which Nie supports with musical pleasantries. The music shifts to a valzer elegante to create a sophisticated, salon-like ambiance. Inside her apartment things are cluttered and she does a quick tidy up as Moqui rolls her eyes. Dr. Wang, calls Wei and she steps out. He is a wealthy school patron, the philandering husband of Moqui (unknown to Ming), and an unwelcome suitor who insists on a date. She declines saying she has guests, and he says he will be by later to take her out to dinner, much to her displeasure. Moqui says she needs to depart and after goodbyes Yu informs her that the publisher has agreed to publish her book, when completed with a 10% royalty. She thanks him and caresses his head, but he does not respond.

In 9:06 “A Beautiful Woman!” Yu relates that he was angry at the way the publisher responded and we flash back to the office, which Nie supports with background pleasantries. He rejects the book, saying he does not know the author, but when he sees a photo of a beautiful woman, he asks Yu if she is his girlfriend. He says no, a friend, and the author of this book. The publisher says the author being a beautiful woman will be a sensation that will help sell the book! He says have her add a preface and I will publish it. 11:00 “The Tumbler” reveals a return to the apartment supported again by musical pleasantries, where Ming lights Yu a cigarette and continues to flirt. He discovers a tumbler with a woman figure with a shovel, which Ming says she likes because she cannot be toppled over. Yu grabs her arm, and she believes he is finally responding, only to be disappointed when she finds he was only checking the time of her watch. He tries to leave, but she sits him down and goes to the mirror to pretty herself up. 12:41 “Dr. Wang’s Duplicity” reveals a shift to Dr. Wang in front of his mirror freshening up with a spritely tune supporting. As he departs his wife Moqui arrives saying she came down from Beijing as she heard he was out of control. She does not like him going out every night with other women. He says he must socialize to promote his business. The musical narrative becomes sad and aggrieved as she cries, saying that he never buys her anything, and she has to ride a bus, which makes her a rich wife in name only. He offers $2,000 to buy her a car, but she says she wants a new one, not a clunker, and so he says very well, $4,000 for a new car. At 15:19 we shift to strings romantico as she accepts and weeps in his arms. He departs and she is happy for she is getting a new car.

15:40 “A Prude” reveals Ming tidying up Mr. Yu, who is stiff and uncomfortable. He removes her hands and says he wants to take her out, but believes that they should not engage in decadent enjoyments during times like this. Ming is devastated, and turns away as Yu looks down on a vase of wilted roses (symbolic of heartbreak, or the message that “our love is over”. Nie supports with a sad, but sparse musical narrative to express the awkward moment of rejection by this icy, moralizing man. She says she does not understand him, of why he is cold and glacial. He responds as one who is afraid to catch fire. He says goodbye, departs and Ming weeps, which Nie juxtaposes with bird song from her pet parakeets and a valzer gentile. 17:56 “Dr. Wang Arrives” reveals his knock and then entry as Wei wipes away her tears. Wang is cheerful and happy she is joining him, advising that they can spend more time together when school lets out. A sad rendering of the Main Theme supports as he escorts her to his car. She desires affection, even though she knows this man is a hustler that will only hurt her. In the car he immediately slides over and we see her discomfort. He orders the driver to the International Dance Hall on the beach. Nie supports with Shanghai commercial tune “Peach Blossom River” by Li Jinhui playing in the background. She turns her head and gazes out the window, which transforms into a visual wistful reverie of memories, including her first meeting with the new school Board trustee, Mr. Wang. The lights on the dance hall façade snap her back to the present.

In an interlude scene, 20:58 “Li Ah-ying”, we see social activist Ah-ying taping her daily schedule to the wall of her apartment; “Work Schedule by Li Ah-ying: teach singing, writing, and reading to factory girls”. She heads over to teach female night shift silk factory workers. The titular song supports with chorus singing to extol collective strength, female solidarity, and proletarian awakening, using education to propel a militant push for societal change. 22:05 “Dance Hall” reveals Wang assisting Ming out of the car at the dance hall, again supported by “Peach Blossom River” melody. In the hall Ming finally relents and drinks champagne with Wang as people take to the dance floor and dance to “Peach Blossom River” melody, whose light popular music (shidaiqu) incorporates Western jazz and foxtrot influences. Nei sets an upbeat, cheerful, and carefree ambiance, which embraces the superficial glamour and bourgeois leisure of urban Shanghai nightlife. As the light dance hall music plays, the film cuts at 23:41 using a split screen to juxtapose Ah-ying teaching factory women a militant, revolutionary working-class song (“Huangpu River”), opposed by a montage of shots of Shanghai’s magnificent architecture and bustling business activity. This stark audio-visual contrast graphically illustrates the socioeconomic divide between the nightlife of the bourgeois elite and the struggling working class.

25:00 “Two Worlds” offers a well-conceived and executed musical highlight. It reveals a clock tower striking 10 pm, and then fast forwarding to 2 am as we see bourgeois elites toasting champagne. Juxtaposed are workers toiling by the silk factory machines. Nie uses musical juxtaposition to support Cai’s visual juxtaposition of bourgeois decadence by using jazzy, cabaret music, versus the mechanical, rhythmic ambient noises of industrial labor. Also, we see as the clock tick through the late-night hours into 2:00 am and 3:00 am, with the music expressing the disorienting, repetitive pulse that exposes Ming’s physical and psychological distress, alongside the unyielding fatigue of the midnight textile workers laboring under oppressive conditions. We shift to shots of dancer’s feet on the dance floor, versus worker’s feet hauling merchandise like animals as the clock strikes 4 am. At 26:00 the clock tower strikes 5:00 am a woman dances a classic paso doble joined by a man bearing a whip (matador). She entices him, yet he throws her to the ground followed by mock whipping. Wei is appalled as Wang claps. At 27:06 a white Russian woman comes out in prison garb, shackled by chains and draped by dark Russian auras. The sadistic, sexist, and disturbing stage imagery of a woman shackled in chains for the amusement of wealthy patrons reveals for a split moment, Ming’s face superimposed on the woman as she lay on the floor, informing us that Ming feels entrapped. She is visibly disturbed, gets up physically ill. At 27:53 the melody shifts and resumes the upbeat “Peach Blossom River” tune as the woman breaks her shackles and begins a danza felice. Wang places his hand on her arm, which she yanks off, and then walks off to the balcony for some fresh air in a huff, with him in pursuit.

28:36 “Wang Proposes” reveals him bending the knee and declaring that Ming is the most beautiful woman in the world. He proposes and says he wants her to be his companion for life! Ming smirks, and says she has heard this talk before. She says marriage for life? No, call it what it is, slave for life! His response, to lie even more, saying he believes in late marriage, which is why I have yet to marry. He is dumbfounded as she walks away without a word. Nie supports with the “Peach Blossom River” tune wafted in from the dance floor. He escorts her out of the hall, but she yanks away his arm as they get into his limousine. They arrive, but when she gets out, it is a hotel. She again yanks away his arm breaking his watch crystal, hires a rickshaw and departs in a huff. Nei supports her travels with rhythmic sounds of the street, the rolling of the rickshaw wheels, and the ambient noise of the city. She meets Ah-ying outside and agrees to her lunch invitation. 30:47 “The Letter” reveals her finding a note on her apartment door from her older sister. The news is devastating; it says her husband died, they have sunk into poverty, and are forced to come to live with her or end up on the street. Ming hugs her rocking toy as a pathetic life preserver for her grief as she flashbacks to holding her daughter Xiaohong in better times. Nie supports her devastation with minor modal melancholia borne by fragile strings tristi. The next day older sister tells Xiaohong she is going home to meet her mother. (We discover that Xiaohong is Ming’s daughter from a failed relationship, left to her older sister’s care). This train scene is supported by a melancholic, lyrical orchestral underscore dominated by violins and celli tristi. Initially the music opens from Xiaohong’s perspective with a gentle, child-like inquisitive mood, but slowly descends into a deeply somber, heavy tragic theme of Ming’s past abandonment.

At 34:07 “Flashback” offers a poignant score highlight of masterful musical counterpoint. There is a fleeting reprise of a hopeful “Song of the New Women”, but it is snuffed out by the pathos of the upcoming reunion as we bear witness to a visual flashback to happier times when Ming’s husband serenaded her with a guitar. Nie evokes an idyllic, bourgeois romanticism, which supports portentous symbology; Ming and her husband jointly bite an apple, reenacting the fateful actions of Adam and Eve. The gentle, lilting strumming of the acoustic guitar creates a stark contrast against the harsh, urban realities of modern Shanghai that Ming faces in the film’s present timeline. At 34:51 we shift to the Wei family home where Ming’s father points to the Wei Family Ancestral Tablet demanding that their ancestors witness her transgression of engagement without his permission. He tosses her a rope and a knife, an extreme, archaic gesture commanding her to end her own life to preserve whatever remains of the family’s reputation. Nie supports with musical counterpoint with a carefree valzer elegante. For me, this is jarring, yet upon deeper assessment, I believe the choice expresses Ming trapped between two worlds tearing her apart – modernity and oppressive feudal patriarchy. That night at 35:22, she secretly elopes with her belongings, helped by her fiancé. Nie supports with a waltz, informing us that Ming chooses modernity. An accelerando carries their flight from the house. We shift to her in a wedding dress being married. Later on, a rainy night we see her husband abandoning her and the child as she cries with devastation. Again, the waltz supports and speaks to her idealized past youth, which has been sundered resulting in her current circumstances that now taste even more bitter. I believe Er Nie’s score masterfully, through musical counterpoint, expresses the weight of the tragedy, and its devastating consequences resultant from Xiaohong’s father’s desertion, and Ming’s forced relocation to Shanghai to find work. She hands her daughter off to her older sister and says she must go to Shanghai as there is no hope here. We return to the present and Xiaohong says she wants mama, not this terrible papa. She then tears out his face, and then him entirely from the photo.

36:46 “Wang’s Treachery” a bright musical narrative wakes Wang. He reads a letter asking Mr. Wang to a meeting to discuss school finances. At the Shanghai Leyu Girl’s High School principal’s office, she offers him a donation form. He agrees, with a caveat – she must fire Wei Ming. She is reluctant as she is very popular with the students, however she acquiesces for the $1,500 donation. Nei supports his treachery with a celebratory piece as he savors his revenge for her rejecting to sleep with him. 38:45 “A New Song” show Ming eating dinner and the Apartment Owner presenting her with a rice bill, she asks that she pay her boarding costs. Later Mr. Yu arrives, followed by Ah-ying who presents her with a new song “New Woman”, which she wrote. She asks her to set it to music. Ah-ying says the old songs are no good, and they must write new ones to inspire the workers. She then gives Ming her revision of “Peach Blossom River”, which she has rewritten as Huangpu River”. Nie supports the scene with background musical pleasantries. 40:50 “Ming and Xiaohong Reunite” reveals Ming waiting at the train station for her sister and Xiaohong to arrive. Ming cannot wait and boards the train and has a heartfelt and tearful mother-daughter reunion, which Nie supports with a valzer felice. She gifts Xiaohong the rocker doll and they leave the train. Ming advises that her place is too small and that she will have to find another place to live. She says let’s check into a hotel for now.

43:23 “Ming Is Fired” reveals Ming receiving a calling card from Qi Weide, Editor and Chief, city Paper. He is introduced, they sit, and he compliments her elegant writing style. He says he would like her to write more novels and request a photo to run in the paper as a pretty woman will arouse our readers to buy your novel. He arranges to come by her place with and pick up one of her photos as she signs for a telegram. Again, Nie supports with soft, background musical pleasantries. She opens and reads the letter which says that she is terminated due to budget cuts. At 45:30 the music becomes sad, and dispirited as she is devastated. She begins crying, as the principal exits her office. She takes Ming to a sofa and says she is sorry, but encourages her to press on as she is talented and will find a new and better job. At home she receives a letter informing her that the rent for her piano of $45 is three months overdue. The piano will be reclaimed if not paid in three days. 47:03 “Qi’s Advance” reveals a desperate Ming taking to the piano to compose songs while she still has a piano. She is interrupted by the arrival of Mr. Qi. He loves one of her photos and takes it as she informs her that she just lost her job and will need to make money off her writing. She begins playing the piano, he loves it, and gives her a $30 advance on her manuscript fee. She is thankful, resumes playing as he preens himself in her mirror. He moves in to kiss her, she rebuffs him, gives him back his money, and tells him she is not that type of woman. He departs clearly displeased. The musical narrative arc shifts from happiness, to despair, crowned by a shot of the sun descending at sunset. Later, downstairs at dinner with the lady apartment owner, she is again reminded to pay the last two months of rent as soon as possible. Ming is distraught, but the aged cook says that she is young, beautiful, and can sing, so you will always be able to make money. The music becomes wistful as Ming sits and ponders her future. Later Nie drapes us in sadness as men come at repossess her piano. To make matters worse, her sister calls and says Xiaohong has become ill. Ming arrives at the hotel, holds her and is clearly worried. Nie sow a Pathetique by weeping strings as we see Ming’s world spiraling downwards.

53:24 “It’s Pneumonia” reveals the three at hospital where the physician informs them the Xiaohong has pneumonia. He assures them that the new antibiotics are very effective, and she will recover in two weeks. He sends them to the admissions desk. At the admissions desk the attendant submits the bill, to be paid in advance; $37/day, medicine $10/day, injections $8/day or $127.50 for five days. Sis asks if they can make a partial payment, and the man says there are no exceptions. They do not have the money and we see in Ming’s eyes great anxiety and a rising desperation. For this heart wrenching scene, Nie once again embraces musical counterpoint, offering exquisite and elegant passages of European romanticism. The subtext, medical care is available to the wealthy elite, but if you are poor and cannot pay, too bad, you die. 55:54 “Philanthropy Hospital” reveals them leaving. Sis takes Xiaohong back to the hotel while Ming seeks money elsewhere. The scene shifts to Mr. Yu who is stunned that Ming is asking for so much money. He asks for what, but all she will say is that it is for an emergency. He escorts her into the publisher’s office. He commends her on her novel, which he says was rushed to press and will be selling in five days. Yu then asks if he can advance Ming $120 for an emergency. He declines saying business is tight, and that we never pay out royalties until the book is profitable. Yu again asks what could be so serious, but she again refuses to disclose. Back home Ming sits on the bed with Xioahong and a courier brings the apartment bill demanding payment, she asks that they return later.

59:35 “Wang’s Proposition” reveals Wang shamefully arriving and saying her heard that she had been dismissed from school. He sits next to her and offers his help, which causes her to recoil. He says that he could assist her regain her job, but adds that a beautiful woman like her is wasted as a school teacher. He then repeats that he is madly in love with her. He begs her and we see her mental gears churning weighing the offer as necessary to save her daughter and avoid living on the streets. He presents her with a large diamond ring. While she is distracted, he steals a photo of her, which he places in his suit pocket. She asks how much she could pawn it for, and he says he paid $3,200. He says accept his proposal and everything he has will be hers as we see a mental flashback of her leaving hospital with Xiaohong. Never the less, she rejects him, and usher him out. 1:02:02 “Hotel Woes” reveals Sis calling and Ming advising to pay the Hotel bill and move in with her. Ming asks the hotel matron how much she could pawn her fur coats and stole for, and she answers these are worth $200 – $300, but if you pawn them, you only get $20. She reassures her that it is easy for young beautiful women to get money. At 1:03:12 the music shifts to weeping strings as Ming and Sis put Xiaohong to bed. The calendar says Wednesday the 4th and piano triste joins the weeping strings in a melancholy musical narrative as Ming feeds Xiaohong soup. We see a shot of pawn shop receipts, followed by a doctor visit on Sunday the 8th. Later we see Ming visually distraught and suffering as Xiaohong’s life begins to ebb. Nei infuses the scene with a heavy, dispirited and somber musical narrative, which speaks to her isolation, and desperation as her life spirals down beyond her control. Most interesting is how Nei deconstructs her music and breaks down its harmonic structure to mirror her loss of autonomy.

1:04:43 “The Crossroads” reveals Wang pulling out the photo he stole from his jacket, and angrily tears it apart. He then travels to see brothel owner Madame Xu. In the apartment the doctor informs Ming that Xiaohong is in extremely dangerous condition. He adds to save her, she must be immediately taken to hospital. They plead that they have no money and the doctor departs. Ming and Sis both collapse on the bed in agony weeping as the apartment matron joins. She tells Ming to eat to preserve her strength and Sis sends her away. Downstairs the matron tries to console Ming, but she weeps, and is inconsolable. The matron’s son says he has a business proposition from a man who will pay good money to use a room at Madame Xu’s brothel for love-making. The apartment owner’s son hopes Ming may be desperate enough to say yes, which means she and he will profit. The matron makes the suggestion, Ming recoils saying only slaves sell their bodies, but a mental flashback to her dying daughter crying mama causes her to rethink. The matron adds that if women want to make a little money, what other path is open to us? She weeps, and hears her daughter coughing, as the matron says she knows you do not want to do this, but can you watch your daughter die? She relents, and says she will be a slave for one night. Ming reassures Xiaohong that she will save her, and take her to hospital tomorrow. Music enters at 1:11:24 and it is heart wrenching, born with unbearable sorrow by mournful strings as Ming makes a fateful decision to sell her body to save her daughter’s life. Cai and Nie achieve a molto tragico cinematic confluence with a damning indictment of the entrapment of desperate women in a predatory patriarchal society.

1:11:25 “Ming is Prepared” reveals Ming telling Sis, who understands Ming’s sacrifice, but is never the less, devastated. She weeps as she watches through a glass windowed door the matron preparing Ming for the client. Sis collapses on a chair weeping, and the matron tells Ming to stop crying or she’ll ruin the makeup. Dirge-like strings support as she prepares to take a life-altering step, which cannot be undone. At 1:13:04 the music becomes resplendent as we see Ming, beautifully adorned in a gown. As she walks by the loathsome matron’s son, we see in his mind’s eyes money, which elicits his grin. 1:13:33 “Ming is Horrified” reveals Shanghai City Paper printing machine churning out copies of “Tomb of Love” by Ms. Wei Ming. The brothel owner Madame Xu arrives and says she will introduce her to a high-class friend. She adds, if you two get along, you’ll get a least $100 from him. She is escorted in, the man turns, and Ming is horrified to see Mr. Wang. He begins laughing derisively. He tosses the diamond ring on the table, and says how is $3,200 for the night. He moves in, and she slaps him. Ming is now enraged and says men are loathsome, always scheming to get women, so we have no choice but to sell ourselves to you! Then arrogantly you stand there while believing you are right and proper! She tries to flee, she is stopped, but she breaks free and runs out onto the street with the son in pursuit. We shift to Wang’s house where his wife Moqui who finds Ming’s torn up photo on the floor. She is stunned, places the torn pieces in her purse and angrily departs. Ming evades the son, makes it back to the apartment, but collapses and the base of the stairs. Ah-ying carries her into the apartment with Sis following.

1:19:17 “Moqui Confronts Ming” reveals Ming waking up and the two sisters hugging. Moqui knocks at Ming’s apartment door, which startles them. Ming grabs a knife and tries to kill herself, but Ah-ying forces the knife from her hand. Moqui sees her husband drive up and retreats into the shadows. He now knocks, Ah-ying opens the door, and he forces his way in. He enters, Ming again grabs the knife, only to have Ah-ying take it away. Wang asks why she is so stubborn, and let’s talk frankly. He says, aren’t I as good as your other customers? He pokes her with his cane, Ah-ying takes the cane, snaps it in two and a fight breaks out with Aying pummeling him twice as Moqui bangs on the door. The matron lets Moqui in and she discovers and confronts Ming, accusing her of being a shameless whore. Ah-ying intervenes defending her, and Moqui turns her wrath upon Wang, for allowing himself to be bewitched by a vixen! She grabs him by the ear and they leave. Later in bed Wang reads about the publication of Ming’s book, and becomes angry. She accepts his disdain of Ming, and they reconcile. 1:23:34 “Wang’s Treachery” reveals the owner of Shanghai Publishing Company hosting a banquet. A festive instrumental rendering of “Peach Blossom River” provides the banquet’s ambiance. Wang pulls Editor Qi aside and they discuss Ming. Qi, since his rejection, has resented her and asks for any dirt Wang has on her. Wang tells a tale of his accidental discovery of Ming working at Madame Xu’s brothel. He takes notes, and Wang says to leave his name out of it.

1:26:15 “Xiaohong Dies” reveals Mr. Yu bringing Ming a half dozen of her novels as we see Xiaohong diaphoretic and suffering. He takes Ming into his arms and hugs her as she weeps. He tells her that she should not have hidden this from him, that even though he is poor, he and friends could have come up with the money. He has Sis call the doctor and then departs in a thunderstorm to secure money fearing Xiaohong is near death. At 1:27:38 Ming looks up and sees a bottle of sleeping pills, which Nie punctuates. She hugs Xiaohong and says; “Child, we have no hope! After you are gone, Mama will follow.” Xiaohong dies in her arms and Ming is frozen in devastation as Sis weeps uncontrollably. Because this is a silent film, Cai brilliantly uses visual metaphors to communicate to the audience during the death vigil. During this heart wrenching scene, his camera often focuses on a downspout with water pouring out. The symbology offered is an outpouring of tears, the implacable draining away of Xiaohong’s vitality and life force, that ultimately extinguishes her life, and crushes Ming’s will to live. 1:28:28 “Ming Takes Sleeping Pills” reveals Ming walking away in a trance, and grabbing three bottles of sleeping pills. She ingests them all, walks to a large soft chair and sits down waiting for the end. Outside thunder and lightning rage. It was a common Chinese cinematic technique to use the fury of nature, in this case a fierce thunder and lightning storm to enlarge, and elevate the scope of personal tragedy as Ming succumbs to the hopelessness of her existence in an exploitive, and dehumanizing patriarchal urban society. Sis gets up, turns, and sees the empty sleeping pill bottles on the floor. She runs to Ming’s side and asks how she can leave her, and Ming responds that she has no hope and cannot go on living. She says women have no power to change this society. She adds, seek out Ah-ying for your future, and Sis collapses crying on Ming’s lap.

1:30:32 “Yu Helps” reveals Qi riding a bus, while finishing his soon to be published article; “The Ugly History of a Woman Author”. Back at the apartment Ming resists the physician, assistant and Sis. She throws a flower vase against the door as Qi enters. He takes notes as the physician injects her with an antidote. The physician recommends transport to hospital as her heart is weak and she took a massive dose. She refuses as they have no money. The physician departs as Mr. Yu arrives. He sees Xiaohong has died, and Sis advises that Ming overdosed. He kneels by her, and is very distraught she asks for his help and he gives her $50 for a hospital nearby, next to the silk factory. Yu departs to call for an ambulance, which later can be seen transporting Ming to hospital. 1:33:22 “Ah-Ying’s Counsel” reveals newspapers being sold by street boys; “Hot of the presses! City Paper Night Edition! Read all about it! “Woman Author Wei Ming Commits Suicide!” Ah-ying buys one, reads it, and is devastated. At hospital a doctor and nurse treat Ming who seems better as she wakes and sees Sis, Ah-ying and Yu. She asks, why they saved her? She says life only means more suffering. She asks Ah-ying to take care of her sister, and find her a job. She then says, she is hopeless! Let me die! Ah-ying tells her that your suffering and troubles are greater than ours, but no matter how painful life is, suicide is for the weak. If you die, people will ridicule you, is it worth it? Ming says who cares, as I will not be around to see it. Ah-ying pulls out the newspaper and shows her the title. The story calls her a prostitute who had a child out of wedlock. It concludes women will always be the weaker ones in society. This angers her, she raises her fist, and yells; “I want revenge!” Yu says that if you want revenge, rid yourself of apathy and pity. He adds, remember the spirit of the woman that cannot be toppled over, and if you fall down, you must get back up again as victory will be yours in the end. Sis also exhorts her to live as this is the only way to exact justice. Ming comes around and says she wants to begin a new life. The nurse returns, and a refortified Ming asks when she can leave. In a private meeting, the nurse advises Hu, Sis and Ah-ying that although the toxin is gone, her heart remains too weak to discharge.

1:37:52 “Nothing Changes” It reveals a clock displaying 10 pm. We see Wang and a new paramour at the dance hall partying with “Peach Blossom River” providing the ambiance. Qi joins with a newspaper but is brushed off. He stuffs it in his suit pocket, and then informs his boss who angrily slams the table. He asks Qi to see if any posthumous works remain. He then orders Qi to arrange a memorial service as this may benefit us. We shift back to the hospital as Sis, Yu, and Ah-ying continue their bedside vigil at 4 am. Nie again offers counterpoint with European elegance, contrasting the ideological clash between the bourgeois culture at large, indifferent to the suffering of women. “Finale” offers the score’s musical and emotional apogee, and consists of six sequential segments. The film was shot as a silent film and synchronized sound and vocal elements were added post-production. It is here, in the brilliant finale that Nie’s immortal suite takes wing. They are presented consecutively as a grand choral counterpoint during the film’s climax, as our heroine Wei Ming lies dying in a hospital bed. 1:39:29. “Huisheng Ge” (Echo Song) reveals a clock display of 3:57 am as Yu, Sis and Ah-ying continue their bedside vigil. Ah-ying soon departs to return to the silk factory as a doctor assesses Ming and shakes his head in despair. This section marks the quiet, meditative shift into the film’s climactic sequence. Ming faces total devastation and physical collapse in the hospital, and Nie shifts his string borne music from grief to a contemplative state. The song’s airy, echoing resonance mirrors her internal withdrawal and silent self-reflection as she begins to confront her mortality. 1:40:24 “Tiantian Ge” (Everyday Song) reveals Ah-ying back at class. She raises her hand and the class commences singing as the camera focuses on a near lifeless Ming. While Ming struggles for her life, the film uses the song lyrics to express the rhythmic, mind-numbing routines of ordinary working-class society. And yet they sing forthrightly, exhorting their fellow workers to persevere in defiance to their physical exhaustion. At 1:40:47 the women begin singing.

1:41:20 “Yi Tian Shi Er Dian Zhong” (Twelve Hours a Day) this song underscores the heavy burden of the grueling, forced 12-hour shifts endured by Shanghai’s female labor force. The perseverance of these women directly contrasts with Wei Ming’s feeling of utter isolation, subtly signaling that her personal tragedy is tied to a wider, systemic exploitation of women. We switch back to the factory women’s choir; and then at 1:41:38 “Si Bu Ge” (Four Don’ts Song) reveals that Ming refuses to quietly accept the passive, submissive fate assigned to her by a patriarchal, gossip-driven media culture. The song burst forth out with a defiant rejection of patriarchal expectations that women be dependent, vain, submissive, and passive, which triggers her legendary final outburst: “I want to live! I want to live!”

Returning to hospital, Ming shouts; “Save me! I want to live! I want to live!” 1:42:00 “Nuli de Qilai” (Rise Up, Slaves) reveals that as Wei Ming passes away, their collective singing transforms her tragic demise from a story of defeat into a radical call to arms. The song transforms into a marcia della ribellione, drowning out the predatory journalists and the old patriarchal feudal and bourgeois order with a united, and unstoppable wall of sound. Returning to the factory classroom the woman’s chorus sings.

Returning to hospital, Ming shouts; I want to live!” She then collapses unto death as Sis sobs on her chest. 1:42:31 “Xin de Nüxing” (The New Women) is set against a backdrop of the factory, after Ming passes away. Ah-ying leads the chorus of workers proclaiming “New women, bravely charge forth!” as the factory steam whistle sounds. Nie renders the song as a forthright and fervent marcia della rivoluzione. Outside, we see thousands of workers arriving for another day of toiling work. A grand limousine bearing Wang and his paramour drive home from the dance hall past the workers. As the car drives past the factory, Dr. Wang discovers the newspaper Qi put in his pocket reporting Wei Ming’s tragic death and casually tosses it out of the window. The newspaper is then trampled in the mud by female factory workers. We close the film with Ah-ying forthrightly leading the women workers into a new age. Again, Cai uses symbology to drive home his film’s narrative; the women trampling the newspaper in the mud signifies their rejection of the oppressive, predatory, and sensationalist bourgeois media that drove Ming to suicide, and the awakening of collective female resistance, which shatters the media’s power over their minds. The film closes triumphantly with “The End”.

I believe that Er Nie’s “Song of the New Women” from the 1935 Chinese drama New Women as a groundbreaking left-wing political anthem, which used revolutionary music to merge the struggles of class liberation and female empowerment during a national crisis. This effort serves as a pivotal, landmark achievement in early Chinese sound cinema that fundamentally shifted the purpose of film music from commercial entertainment, to political vanguardism. Indeed, rather than acting as a passive background track, Er Nie’s score is recognized as an active ideological weapon that redefined the “Left-Wing Cinema Movement” of 1930s Shanghai.

Nie’s score and Cai’s film narrative achieved a cinematic confluence, which ennobled, and fostered proletarian empowerment. They directly challenged and sought to liberate women from the traditional, feudal and patriarchal defined role of women, as domestic caregivers, subjected to the “Three Obedience’s”; subordinate to their father, subordinate to their husband, and as a widow, subordinate to their sons. Instead, Cai and Nie’s collaboration posits that women are equals to men, social workers, and the vanguard of a new society, which unshackles them, to like men, pursue their own ambitions. Nie invented the Cinematic Vanguard Anthem and the centerpiece of his score is the “Song of the New Women” (Xin Nüxing Ge), which closes the film. Nie utilized mass-song structures inspired by Soviet musical formats and Western military marches to musically propel social awakening, explicitly framing the struggles of the “New Woman” not merely through gender, but as part of the working-class and national salvation movements.

Also innovated was Er Nie’s brilliant use of musical transformation within the film’s narrative. During the film he uses the song “Taohua Jiang” (Peach Blossom River) as an emblem of elite bourgeois upper class hedonism, moral corruption and capitalist decadence. Yet Ah-ying co-opts the song’s melody and purges its bourgeois and decadent lyrics, and resurrects it with new revolutionary lyrics. This transformative act informed the audience that music could be repurposed for the proletariat, and used to propel a revolutionary narrative of national salvation. Folks, I believe Er Nie’s score for “New Women” was masterful in its conception, and execution. This score excels in scene after scene, whether providing musical counterpoint to the pathos unfolding on the screen, voice to Ming’s heart wrenching suffering, or propelling the emancipation of women with revolutionary fervor. A recording of this masterpiece of Chinese cinema is a Holy Grail, which I hope will hear before my passing.

Sadly, this was the last film that Nie would score prior to his death in 1935 while swimming in Japan, at the age of just 23. Some suspect that he was killed by the Japanese, while others believe that he was killed by Chinese Nationalists, but his legacy lives on due to the fact that he famously wrote the melody for what would eventually become the national anthem of the People’s Republic of China.

For those of you unfamiliar with the score, I have embedded a YouTube link to the titular song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAPaGj-heHY

Track Listing:

• NOT AVAILABLE

Music composed and conducted by Er Nie. Orchestrations by Er Nie. Recorded and mixed by XXX. Edited by XXX. Score produced by Er Nie.