神女 | The Goddess (1934)
Directed By: Wu Yonggang
Written By: Wu Yonggang
Starring: Ruan Lingyu, Zhang Zhizhi
Length: 73 min.
Genre: Silent Drama
A young woman works as a prostitute to support herself and her infant child. One night while running from the police, she hides inside the home of a man who turns out to be a crime boss. He forces her to work for him. She runs away, but he finds her and brings her back to Shanghai.
Fast forward a few years. She finds a place to hide away money so she can pay to send her child to school. Rumors about what she does as a job spread around and the parents of the other kids send letters to the principal demanding the kid be expelled. The principal refuses after meeting with the mother, but the school board want to expel the child anyway so the principal resigns.
The crime boss finds her stash and she goes to confront him. During their argument, she hits him in the head with a bottle and kills him. She's arrested and sentenced to 12 years. The principal tells her that he'll take her son in and educate him himself.
The was Wu Yonggang's first feature film and it was a big hit in China. Raun Lingyu was already a big star and this film kept her popularity going. At the 2005 Shanghai Critic Awards, this movie was named among the Top 22 movies of Chinese cinema.
As for my opinion, I thought is was a good silent movie. The 73 minute run time kept the pacing tight. The camera work and cinematography were uninteresting, though. Pretty much just the standard shots. Not much camera movement, every angle was a simple straight on shot. A few shots purposefully out of focus to express delirium, a few double-exposure effects, but overall just a simple silent movie with a solid plot and characters.
My Rating: 6/10
IMDB User Rating: 7.7/10 (1.7k votes)
Rotten Tomatoes: 100% Critics (5-0), 89% of Audience (515 votes)