Reviews
Carve Her Name with Pride (1958)
Saw This Film in China in the Early 80s
Saw this film in China once in the early 80s and was deeply impressed. The scenes came back to me when I later traveled to Paris.
I still remember the two musical excerpts in the movie. First, a rendition of Chopin's Prelude in D-flat major (piano) the other, of a truck-load of French female prisoners singing the French national anthem.
What a great price mankind paid for the victory of World War Two! Can we ever learn from these lessons and live in peace? From the sixty years since the end of that war, and especially seeing what is happening all around the world, it seems that there is still a long way to go.
Really would like to watch it again or even get a copy of it on DVD. I do have a copy of Charlotte Gray, which is a bit boring, although Cate Blanchette on of my favorite actresses.
Wir Wunderkinder (1958)
A Most Extraordinary Film Seen When I Was Young
This is a most extraordinary film seen when I was young. Remember it must have been in the early 1960s, when Mao was hatching the Cultural Revolution, and it was dubbed into Mandarin by the Shanghai Film Studio. I can clearly remember that I saw the film in Shenyang with the Chinese title Tiancai (Genius), in Northeast China, and one of the Chinese actresses doing the dubbing was my ex-girlfriend, Zhu Xijuan who had then already gained prominence through her leading role in the Red Detachment of Women Hongse Jiangzi Jun (that was why I broke up with her.)
Could not find the film in any of my searches on Chinese sites (CORRECTION: since initial posting, I did find some information of this film on a couple of mainland Chinese sites using the German title 'Wir Wunderkinder', but with no mention that this film had already been dubbed into Chinese several decades ago, neither could the film be found by using the Chinese title in searching.) and I don't feel surprised at all. What struck me most at the time of viewing was the similarity of social atmosphere during the rise of the Third Reich with that of China just before the Cultural Revolution. There is no DVD/VCD production of this film now in China (although pirated versions of Western films are very common) and I think Chinese censorship may be part of the cause. After all, the Chinese translation and dubbing then were all very effective, it stirred my awareness then, what would happen if Chinese audiences got infected with such liberal ideas now?
Really hope a DVD version of this film can be made so I can ask my daughter (she's abroad) might get a copy for me when I'm still able to watch it.