Rent The Spring River Flows East (1947)
3.8 of 5 from 65 ratings
2h 59min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Often cited as one of the masterpieces of Chinese cinema, 'The Spring River Flows East' is an epic and tragic melodrama set in Shanghai and Chungking around the time of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Part one, 'Eight War-Torn Years', tells the heart-rending story of a working-class couple, Sufen (Bai Yang) and Zhang Zhongliang (Tao Jin), whose marriage is torn apart when the war forces Zhongliang to flee from Shanghai to Chungking. Part two, 'The Dawn', sees Zhongliang return to Shanghai. His fortunes transformed, he has married into a wealthy bourgeois family but his world is undone by a chance meeting with the now-destitute Sufen.
- Actors:
- Yang Bai, Tao Jin, Yang Nai, Yunzhu Shangguan, Xiuwen Shu, Yinyan Wu, Gongshang Yan, Boxun Zhou
- Directors:
- Chusheng Cai, Junli Zheng
- Writers:
- Chusheng Cai, Junli Zheng
- Aka:
- Tears of the Yang-Tse / Yi jiang chun shui xiang dong liu
- Studio:
- BFI Video
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama
- Collections:
- 10 Films to Watch if You Like: Raise the Red Lantern, Films & TV by topic, Films to Watch If You Like..., Spring On Screen: Films to Watch This Season
- Countries:
- China
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Reviews (1) of The Spring River Flows East
Communist neo-realism? - The Spring River Flows East review by ML
"The Spring River Flows East" is very much a film depicting the struggles of poor people in the post-war world, in which respect the Western viewer will be reminded of the Neorealism of post-war Italian cinema (such as De Sica's Bicycle Thieves, 1948). However, there is a difference: all the peasants are good and noble, whilst the rich are decadent, immoral and frivolous. Wealth is corrupting, as we see in the character of Zhang Zhongliang, who forgets his wife when he lands a job in a business in Shanghai. The film is very long, at 3½ hours, but affecting. Definitely one for the long winter nights.
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