SHADOW MAGIC

Writer/director Ann Hu imagines the events that led to the production of China’s first movie in the mid 1900s with her feature debut, "Shadow Magic." It’s a wondrous tale about a young photographer’s unbridled curiosity about Western technology. Hu teasingly introduces Liu Jinglun (Xia Yu) tinkering with a gramophone while his employer grows impatient for his arrival at the studio. Meanwhile Raymond Wallace (Jared Harris) , an itinerant Englishman, sets up shop with his Shadow Magic show in the heart of the community. Liu is intrigued by Raymond’s promise to show pictures that move. He helps him drum up business and attracts an enthusiastic audience who are equally enthralled by scenes from the Western world like an onrushing train and a family of acrobats. Raymond’s moving pictures are as he boasted - bigger than life. Liu offers his continued help if Raymond will show him how it works. They strike a bargain and a partnership is born

Liu is in awe. His eyes trace the smooth delicate movement of photographic images on a strip of transparent positive film hand cranked through a mechanical device housed in a wooden box with a lens mounted over a hole in its front. He examines the carbon light source behind the box that illuminates and transfers the shadows of the travelling transparencies through the lens onto a makeshift viewing screen in the darkened theater. Raymond explains that Shadow Magic shows are springing up all over the world. Liu’s obsession with this new technology seeds his imagination and ideas spring up like wild flowers. As his friendship with Raymond deepens, a clear vision of his destiny emerges. Liu’s break with the traditional past is inevitable, yet he must still rise above his humble beginnings to salvage the honor of his family.

"Shadow Magic" is a deceptively simple coming of age story full of memorable characters who are defined as much by nuance and gesture as by their positions in life. Liu soaks up his experiences like a sponge and his photos, frozen in time by the flash of his camera, reflect his love for his subjects while in the employ of Master Ren (Peiqi Lu) who loves him like a son. Ren’s degree of pleasure or disdain for Liu’s actions is measured by the creases in his smile or frown. Raymond Wallace is the catalyst who fills Liu’s head with dreams and teaches him to act upon them at work, at play, and at love. Together, they long to capture a way of life on moving pictures before it becomes extinct. Their reputation spreads all the way to the throne room of the Dowager Empress (Bin Li). Lord Tan (Yusheng Li), a symbol of China’s ancient traditions, is a sympathetic aging Chinese Opera star whose fortunes begin to dwindle when he starts to lose his audience to Raymond’s Shadow Magic show. His daughter, Ling (XingYufei), is used as a transitional figure whose simple act of affection, holding hands with Liu while he cranks film through his projector, marks the passing of the cultural torch from one generation to the next through the children of the future. In one of "Shadow Magic"s most heartfelt scenes the projected images on the screen pick up speed with the racing of the lovers hearts. Ann Hu demonstrates her masterful story telling skills by using this technical aspect of the new medium as a commentary on their feelings for each other. The moment, like many others in "Shadow Magic," is priceless.

Copyright 2001

"Nickelodeon" (1976) Director and co-writer Peter Bogdonavich based much of this movie on interviews he conducted with many directors who got their start in the silents. Allan Dwan’s reminisces about the patent wars over the Edison camera with real life gunslingers was a major inspiration. "Suez" (1938) with Tyrone Power and "The Sands of Iwo Jima" (1949) are his two most famous talkies. Bogdonavich even uses a direct quote from Fritz Lang to his wife about his experiences in Germany in the 20’s as a piece of dialogue. Burt Reynolds stars as a matinee idol and Ryan O’Neal becomes his director by chance. Also with John Ritter, Tatum O’Neal, Stella Stevens and Brian Keith.

"Hollywood" - A History of the Silents - This multi-volume video collection was originally produced for Thames Television and broadcast on the PBS network. The set has titles like "The Pioneers," "In the Beginning" and "Hazard is the Game:The Stunts." It’s enormously entertaining and contains filmed interviews with many of the people from the era like Allan Dwan, King Vidor and Lillian Gish who were alive at the time the series was produced. It is narrated by James Mason who died in 1984.

"Cinema Europe: THE OTHER HOLLYWOOD" - Although not as extensive as the previous set, this collection of videos on the influence of European Cinema on world culture is just as fascinating as the one on Hollywood. Whole sections are devoted to the film industries in France, Germany, Norway and England in the silent era with areas covering the successes of many directors like Ernst Lubitsch and Victor Sjostrom who eventually made the pilgrimage to Hollywood. It is narrated by actor Kenneth Branagh who is still with us

"Singin’ in the Rain" (1952) - Dir. Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly: The classic musical with Gene Kelly as a silent film star and Jean Hagen as the starlet with the squeaky voice who may not make it in the talkies. The music’s the thing but the plot tells the story. Debbie Reynolds has the voice that could. With Cyd Charrise, Rita Moreno and Donald O’Connor for the laughs. The great songs are by Betty Comden and Adolph Green.