本打算看兩張「喜劇之王」劉別謙 (Ernst Lubitsch) 的 DVD，但擔心老片的對白不易消化，便改選兒時在珠江戲院看過的七彩奇幻老片《月宮寶盒》（The Thief of Bagdad；說起來，在屬於銀都院線的珠江戲院還看過《飛俠哥頓》(Flash Gordon)、日本動畫《天空之城》，內地（拍攝）電影有李連杰跟前妻黃秋燕合演的成名作《少林小子》、于榮光首齣在香港上映的《海市蜃樓》等）。那時候看《月》片，最記得「銀娃娃」(silver maid) 和偷取「通天眼」(all-seeing eye) 兩幕。以 2009 年的拍攝科技看 1940 年的作品，自然覺得《月》片從故事到技術都老套、落後、粗糙，但畢竟那是近 70 年前的舊片，當年的觀眾準會覺得屬於大製作的《月宮寶盒》精彩。影片跟 1940、50 年代的好萊塢彩色大製作一樣，加入了風光名勝：皇帝和小偷給奸臣拋下海失散後，皇帝竟然流落到大峽谷！電影只長 106 分鐘，劇情簡單，會魔法的奸臣 (Conrad Veidt) 謀朝奪位，使皇帝 (John Justin) 失明並將之趕出宮外。落難君王遇上小偷 (Sabu)，再戀上別國公主。小偷跟皇帝成為患難之交，歷磨難、奇遇，協助皇帝復位，並大團圓結局。
幾個主要演員拍片不算多。演皇帝的 John Justin 有點像俄羅斯網球明星 Marat Safin。全片最著名的還算原名 Sabu Dastagir、像得跟 Tony Jaa 有點像的印度演員 Sabu。《月宮寶盒》是 Sabu 的成名作，也從此他以 Sabu 之名在演藝圈發展。他曾參與二戰，和平後成為美國公民，一直拍戲，直到 1963 年心臟病猝逝。另外，本片其中一個導演 Michael Powell 後來成了名，最出名的作品是《紅菱艷》（The Red Shoes, 1948；買了 DVD 未看）和《魔光血影》(Peeping Tom; 1960)。我就覺得同以英國為背景、一樣以攝影師為主角的《春光乍洩》(Blowup) 跟《魔》片頗有異同之趣。
所謂「月宮寶盒」，是指神廟中的那顆有「通天眼」能力的大紅寶石。Sabu 要巨人精靈帶他去找「通天眼」一段是全片的高潮。
《月宮寶盒》讓我想起另外兩齣 1930 年代的黑白大製作。
20 世紀末打零工的時候，「荃灣」電視台還比較願意投資，電影台買片仍多，翻譯過一齣叫《世外桃源》(Lost Horizon) 的黑白電影。那是 1937 年的老片，獲提名奧斯卡最佳電影，得了美術指導和剪接兩個獎。影片太舊，當年播放的版本部份菲林遺失了，有幾個鏡頭只以硬照代替，不曉得 DVD 版是否也一樣？還有，當年孤陋寡聞，後來才知道此片有點來頭。電影改編 James Hilton 同名小說，大陸譯作《消失的地平線》，也有譯作《失樂園》，但談文學時說《失樂園》，恐怕跟 John Milton 的史詩《Paradise Lost》混淆。
《Lost Horizon》是老外的《桃花源記》，小說創作了「香格里拉」 (Shangri-La) 一詞，是喜瑪拉雅山區中的一個信奉藏傳佛教的神秘烏托邦，電影劇本保留了這些。「香拉里拉」內的最高領導是一位大喇嘛，在裏面生活的人不為歲月摧折，然而一離開這隱世仙境，就會瞬即打回原形、老死。
James Hilton 另一本小說《Goodbye, Mr. Chips》也拍成同名電影《萬世師表》，兩度搬上銀幕。JH 在好萊塢待過，得過奧斯卡（改編）劇本獎。
前幾年上夜校，修了一門跟文化有關的課，其中一份作業是看電影《大地》(The Good Earth) 然後寫影評。《The Good Earth》是女作家賽珍珠 (Pearl S. Buck) 在 1931 年寫成的小說，在 1938 年得諾貝爾文學獎。電影版在 1937 年拍成，其中一個製作人是有 The Boy Wonder 之稱的 Irving Thalberg。現在奧斯卡頒發的 Thalberg 獎（近乎終身成就獎）就是紀念他。Thalberg 是製作人。金球獎的終身成就獎取名自「大導演」施素德美 (Cecil B. DeMille)。施會執導筒，專拍大製作。Thalberg 以眼光準確、工作魄力著稱。
以老外演員扮演中國農民，未看已覺得奇怪。然而，雖然扮相奇怪，但演員表現沒有預期那麼突兀，男主角 Paul Muni 初演舞台劇，是 1930、40 年代電影巨星，本地前輩演員石堅也尊 Paul Muni 為偶像，說他演技多變。女主角 Luise Rainer 1910 年出生，依然健在，憑此片連續第二年奪得金像影后（之後暫時只有 Katherine Hepburn 一人）。
影片長逾 130 分鐘，總算沒有悶場，其中蝗蟲襲村莊那一幕更是全片高潮，是電影歷史的經典場面。以今天的眼光看，那一場的特技水平還是優異的。但我想，大部份中國觀眾還是不會接受這電影，因為大家就覺得演員「怪相」。
舊文連接：
老電影 1：相見恨晚
老電影 2：放浪記
真巧﹗
ReplyDelete家裡有這套舊片《月光寶盒》(The Thief of Bagdad)，女兒很愛看，耳熟能詳。對，那位小偷後來成了名演員。
對，《Lost Horizon》的DVD和錄像帶中間有一段劇情都是用硬照取代的。故事其實很浪漫，不過，那段愛情的結局真的很慘。電影中一段，講男主角和友人的飛機降落西藏一帶加油時，那些藏民竟然說廣東話，那一段就比較離奇一點。除了這點小瑕疵外，這電影拍得很好，原著不妨也找來看看吧。
後來，很多人都懷疑作者James Hilton寫的香格里拉是在雲南，是受了當年有人寫雲南的一篇遊記啟發。我後來在陳年的國家地理雜誌找到當時有人寫雲南那一帶的風光，根據年份推算，作者真的可能是看了這篇遊記而寫這本小說的。
家中也有《Goodbye, Mr. Chips》的錄像帶，也看過了。男主角更因此而拿了奬。演年老的一部分真的很感人。
《月宮寶盒》是我兒時最愛，在戲院看了兩遍。我那 DVD 是一般版本，去年名牌 Criterion Collection 推出了新版本。
ReplyDelete你也聽到那點廣東話！我想直到五或十年前，美國影視製作人對亞洲語言（或者說他們的地理知識）的認知還是相當貧乏，不止一次在對白本上看到 Korean、Vietnamese、Mandarin 之類的標識，片子上演員卻是講粵語。
《Lost Horizon》到末段真是有點淒美。
你那個《Goodbye, Mr. Chips》該不是 Pete O’Toole 在 1960 年代的新版了。
Growing up in Macau I got a lot more chances to watch old movies in theater than most Hong Kong kids do. 《月宮寶盒》was one of my fond childhood memories. I have thought about blogging all the obscure old movies I have watched as a kid but as usual it became yet another project that never got materialized.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Michael Powell would go on to become one of the leading cinematic creativity forces in Post-war England, "Thief Of Bagdad" was without a doubt producer Alexander Korda's movie. If you look at the movie poster, you would see Korda's name appeared *above* the movie title. This is VERY significant in term of movie credit, it gives you a certain privilege over everyone else.
A little background of "Thief of Bagdad". Actually there was a silent version of "Thief of Bagdad" in 1924 starring the then king of Hollywood Douglas Fairbank Sr. By 1940, the silence version has already been considered masterpiece. In order to avoid comparison, Korda intentionally made this movie in Technicolor and milked the most of it (notice the crystal-like green eyes of June Duprez, the *Blue* Rose of Forgetfulness, the *red* All-Seeing Eye, the *Silver* Maid ...etc)
Another change Korda installed to shift most of the actions from John Justin to Sabu because Douglas Fairbank Sr. was such a charismatic legend it would be a losing battle for any *leading man* to fill his shoes.
By the way, I actually think the Disney animation "Aladdin" is really a composite of the two versions of "Thief of Bagdad", if you have watched both versions. Another incentive to catch the silent version is that it featured the pioneer Chinese Hollywood actress Anna May Wong in a small but unforgettable role.
Since I adopted my handle from it, I think I am obliged to write something about "Lost Horizon"
ReplyDelete"Lost Horizon" was directed by Frank Capra,the preeminent director in Hollywood before WWII, sort of like Spielberg of today. In fact he was so big at the time he was given a green light by the movie studio on almost any budget and Capra went all out on "Lost Horizon". I believe the set for this movie was the biggest ever up to that point.
However, I thought the movie was a little over-indulgent because the book was only slightly above one hundred pages long but the movie was well over two hours (movies in those days were usually like 90 minutes). If you are a fast reader, it might take you less time to finish reading the book than watching the movie.
By the way, the High Lama in the book was not a buddhist. In fact he was a Belgian priest who arrived Shangri-la on a mission *600* years before Conway arrived. But one thing I like in the movie is the closing line (which is not from the book): Upon hearing the story of Conway has taken on the voyage to search for Shangri-la, the toastmaster said "I believe in Shangri-la because I *want* to believe in Shangri-la. Let's hope that Conway will find his Shangri-la. Let's hope that we will all find our Shangri-la"
Notice the underlying pacifist message in "Lost Horizon": the world-weary Conway take a liking of Shangri-la immediately because he sensed the imminent doom of war. This movie was made in 1937, even though the Third Reich was gaining power by the days, but the political climate in US is generally indifferent - until Pearl Harbor was attacked and overnight the attitude changed. Within a few year movies like "Lost Horizon" will be considered unpatriotic and would not be made. I think that was part of the reason that the reputation of this movie has suffered a little since.
One more thing, since you are talking about early Hollywood movies about China, there was another early Capra movie set in China - "The Bitter Tea of General Yen". It was even earlier than "Lost Horizon" but also less famous. However, this is a VERY unusual American movie about Asia that contains many elements you don't usually see in Hollywood even today, among those is a white woman (subconsciously) "lust" for a Chinese man. Many may consider this movie racist because the Chinese was played by a white actor and the *initial* superiority attitude the heroine had toward asian society. However, if you can look past these and stay through the movie, you will find that this film is surprisingly enlightened and way ahead of its time