Malu tianshi (Street Angel)
Yuan Muzhi, CN 1937; Screenplay: Yuan Muzhi; Cinematography: Wu Yinxian; Editing: Qian Xiaozhang, Chin Siu-Cheung; Music: He Luting; Cast: Zhao Dan, Zhou Xuan, Wei Heling, Zhao Huichen. DCP (from 35mm), bw, 94 min. Mandarin with English subtitlesFrom its opening city symphony-style experimental montage through its iconic musical numbers, zany slapstick set pieces, touching romantic comedy, and socially critical melodrama, Street Angel remains the most entertaining classic Chinese film ever made. Tea house singer Xiao Hong, living with her sex worker sister, both exploited by her boss, finds romantic relief with manic street trumpeter Xiao Chen who flirts with her across their narrow Shanghai longtang lane. When Xiao Hong's boss sells her to a gangster, she and Chen try to flee. The film made "golden voiced" singing star Zhou Xuan famous; her co-star Zhao Dan adds his hyper-active male energy to the couple's natural chemistry. Subsequently canonized as a leftist classic in the PRC, Street Angel's inexhaustible energy and its dazzling range of genres give it an anarchic power beyond any political labels, creating a magical, musical, charismatic, family-like community where love and solidarity circulate in defiance of a desperately menacing external world. (S.K.)