万世流芳

                                    认识《万世流芳》的角色
   中华、中联和“满映”，联手投资三百万，联合张善琨、朱石麟、卜万苍、马徐维邦、四大导演，同时聘请陈云裳、袁美云、高占非、王引以及满洲明星李香兰五大明星，于1942年10月20日开始动手打造这部《万世流芳》。据张善琨先生介绍，“本来我们预定《鸦片之战》列入中联第一期出品，后来发现剧本上有许多缺点和不妥之处，为郑重起见，便将此片暂缓拍摄，并请周贻白先生等重新修改剧本，并加以修正，费时数月，方始全部脱稿。同时满洲映画会社来函通知我们，愿意和我们合作，并派李香兰小姐来沪，加入演出。我们为增强阵容计，除由原定主角袁美云和高占非以外，再加入陈云裳、王引等多人。同时导演一职，我们四个人共同合作担任指挥工作，也许是工作效能上，比较有些成绩”。可见《万世流芳》能够被搬上银幕，确实颇费周折。
     据闻，《万世流芳》原名《鸦片之战》，关于改名，导演之一张善琨给了一个说法，“于《鸦片之争》之所以要改名为《万世流芳》，第一，后者比较动听一点。第二，此片乃以林则徐一生的事迹为主，所以更名为《万世流芳》”。
    故事的发展，主线集中在林则徐身上，当他寄居于福建巡抚张师诚府中求学时，张师诚的女儿张静娴倾慕他，旋则徐因张巡抚多疑，愤而离其家，但是张静娴誓则初徐之外，决不下嫁他人。其后，则徐被县令郑大模聘为西席，旋荣膺榜上，林则徐以大漠盛情难却，遂与其女郑玉萍结为夫妻。朝廷命令林则徐为钦差大臣，剿灭艳片毒害，达年也于此时投奔林则徐麾下，经官民一体努力，禁烟大为见效。英方为保护鸦片经营，即诉诸武力，因而展开了历史的鸦片之战。初英军不支，旋转攻防力不足之长江沿岸，南京告急，清廷乃急于英国缔结停战协定，英军趁战胜之余，在广东省内非法枉为，人民不满，与英俊相抗，最后一滴血，为国效忠而死。最后，林则徐复原职，旨其墓致祭，追念不置，广州民众留下“万世流芳”四字于墓前。以纪念其贞烈。饰演林则徐的高占非，体格魁梧，在上海的演员中居第一位。这次他对局中人性格的刻画，将那种庄严肃穆的书生气质都显示了出来，不过一位伟人应具有的那种韧性的毅力，似上欠缺，从容貌上看去，一副忠厚相貌，他的面部表情，稍显呆板，生命的力，也不够活跃。
    张静娴自徐去后，其父即故世，而其兄深受表现吴景仁唆使，甘与无赖为伍。张静娴悲愤之余，乃与其俾人遁入空门，创“戒烟丸”以救世人，林则徐之岳母也仰仗此丸脱离苦海。郑玉萍乃亲往庵中致谢，相见后彼此均誓要为禁演而努力。张静娴临终肯定的说：我们中国人每一个人都有用！并从秋月的言行里，表现了“前者扑到，后者继起”的勇猛的民族精神。这一点，给观众无限的启示与希望。饰演张静娴的陈云裳，曾以木兰风姿，名震银坛，张静娴与花木兰，同是历史上的巾帼英雄，这次她的演技未见突出，不及花木兰的那么动人，当然，张静娴的性格最初是比较沉闷，终因痛于现实的教训，愤而遁走空门，创戒烟丸，组平英团，最后，她的性格变了绝对相反的两种人物。
    一向楚楚动人的袁美云饰演郑玉萍，当林则徐来到家中坐西席时，因一首歌曲打动林则徐，恰逢林则徐生病时，郑玉萍悉心照料，两人彼此倾心，在林则徐高中之时，两人共进洞房。之后一直陪伴在林则徐，上江南，下广州。
    凤姑，原本是富家小姐，家人因吸食鸦片，最后破产，沦落为卖糖小妞，并在烟窟中演唱戒烟的歌曲而遭到老板殴打，所幸获得潘达年的帮助从中逃离，最后两人心心相悦，喜结连理。满映红星李香兰饰演的凤姑，一边卖糖一边歌唱，眼神非常活灵突出动人。给人印象最深的，是她惊人的歌唱天才，声音高亢，但有质感。
潘达年，本是林则徐同窗好友，受烟毒甚深，乃沉湎于英国人叶利阿妥和玛丽安娜所设的鸦片窟中，当看见林则衣锦还乡之时，愧感交集，歌女凤姑以激励，致引起窟主不满，将凤姑痛殴，达年仗义，大闹烟窟，与凤姑远避深山，鸦片之瘾，借助张静娴所制的“戒烟丸”得以解除。
    除了以上的武打明星之外，还有“两对夫妻”是不容忽视的，一是扮演叶利阿妥的严俊，他从舞台跳上银幕，过去演过不少的外国舞台剧，所以他对于外国人的动作颇有心得，这次虽然仅仅几场戏，大名也未列入领衔之列，可是将剧中人阴险刁滑的心理，刻画得非常明朗，这次他的成绩，是超乎一般人之上。譬如演另一个英国人玛丽安娜的蒙纳，过去也曾演过舞台剧，但这里的语调及动作，却叫人看了非常不舒服，矫揉造作，怪声怪气的，虽然是个反派人物，表演技术却不能给观众感官上一种美感。二是《万世流芳》姜明与饰袁美云母亲，自始至终演得都能把握住个性，演技非常突出，可是连他们的姓名都没有，颇有遗憾。

一九四三年六月，张爱玲在英文月刊《二十世纪 / XXth Century》第四卷第六期的影评专栏“On the Screen: Japanese Productions”中，发表了电影“鸦片战争 (万世流芳) / The Opium War”的英文影评。影评全文扫描请见美国夏威夷大学马诺阿分校哈密尔顿图书馆中的电子版馆藏（可直接下载PDF）：
http://evols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10524/32551

The Opium War

The Opium War[鸦片战争] (Toward Eternity[万世流芳]), a joint production of The China Film Co.[中国电影股份有限公司], The China United Film Production Co.[中华联合制片公司], and the Manchoukuo Motion Picture Co.[满洲映画协会] In the leading parts: Kao Chan-fei[高占飞], Wang Yin[王引], Mon Nah[蒙纳], Yen Djuen[严俊], Lee Hsiang-lan[李香兰], Nancy Chen[陈云裳], Yuan Mei-yun[袁美云].

Modern Chinese do not like to have their attention drawn to certain features of old Chinese life. Any reference in foreign films to such things as bound feet, pigtails, or opium smoking, invariably calls forth indignant protests. Until The Opium War no Chinese film has ever made the slightest allusion to the opium habit which, we must admit, is still prevalent in China today. Hence The Opium War deserves much praise for its candor, its many-sided approach to a painful subject. In other respects, too, the film is an event in China’s brief movie history. In spite of all handicaps and limitations imposed by the consequences of a world war, in spite of the fact that the capital employed was only a small fraction of that spent on even a minor Hollywood production, the result is impressive.

The story revolves around the rise and romance of Viceroy Lin Chih-hsu[林则徐], the dominating figure in the Opium War of a hundred years ago. A subsidiary plot concerns a friend of Lin’s and a girl selling candy in an opium den. Lin and the two women in his life fight against the opium habit in the masses. Lin’s friend struggles against the habit in himself, and the candy girl against that in her lover.

The film is already crowded with dramatic material. The excuse for adding a romance “which might have been” as a subplot is probably to provide a role for the Manchoukuo star Lee Hsiang-lan. With her songs, Miss Lee proves to be the most eloquent spokesman of the piece; for the dialogue, though polished and concise, is not free from the doubtful mixing of modern phraseology with the classical language—the usual trouble with costume plays.

On several occasions, the actual words from Lin’s official decrees are inserted into the dialogue. Kao Chan-fei, in the part of the Viceroy, recites them in a clear, colorless tone. Kao’s attitude toward the role is evidently one of great reverence bordering on fear. The same fear limits the makers of the film in the scope of their interpretation. In keeping to the beaten track of romantic melodrama, they show themselves distrustful of the ability of the audience to follow more complicated political and military developments. This distrust does not take into account the fact that the Chinese public, trained during the last thirty years to be attentive newspaper readers, is now extremely well versed in journalistic literature and would prove fully receptive to Lin’s story, the mere straight telling of which would be deeply moving.

Lin miraculously defends Canton with the scanty forces and ammunition at his command. The British leave Canton to attack the ports farther up the coast. China makes a humiliating peace, undoing all that the Viceroy has accomplished against the importation of opium. The film does not sufficiently utilize such excellent ready-made drama and chooses instead to magnify an attempted assassination for its climax. All we see of the Opium War is a map showing the British expedition. During the action in Canton, the movie is preoccupied with the intersection of the parallel careers of Lin and his old flame, an enterprising lady who echoes his crusade against opium and, leading the population like a rather un-Chinese Joan of Arc against the British, dies in battle.

The beginning is a masterly synthesis of concrete details. Mon Nah and Yen Djuen animate the opium-den scenes with their robust caricatures of Britishers. Viceroy Lin is nursing his hatred, gathering up his power for the blow. At last he strikes, and meets with defeat. As a stimulus for revenge, the defeat portrayed is too paltry, largely due to the story being fined down to individual threads when it should expand. At the signing of the treaty, we hear that Lin has been dismissed and banished. He leaves Canton, exchanging stately speeches with the adoring multitude that sees him off. On his way he visits the grave of his old love.

As the girl who, but for a misunderstanding, would have married the Viceroy, Nancy Chen overacts. Her technique clashes with the straight-forward acting of Lee Hsiang-lan and Wang Yin (Lin’s friend) and with the reticence of Kao Chan-fei. Yuan Mei-yun as Lin’s wife is charmingly Chinese.

Considering the fact that the Chinese film industry has never before handled such a large capital and so great a number of talents as in The Opium War, this clinging to details is justifiable. Most of the detail is very well done, for example the one chopstick on the pot in which the medicine is boiling, to ward off evil spirits. In a few instances still greater historical accuracy would have helped as, for example, in the manner in which the slave girls hold the arm of their mistresses and in the performance of proper kowtows.

The film provides a splendid background of the China of the last century—the shameful part of which present-day China, with her more mature self-consciousness, is no longer anxious to keep in the dark. — Eileen Chang[张爱玲]

-----双-----语-----分-----割-----线-----

二〇〇二年四月，中国华侨出版社编辑出版了《张爱玲文集·补遗》一书，收录有陈炳良先生对本篇影评所做的中文翻译，现引用如下，以供参考：

鸦片战争
《万世流芳》（中华、中联、满映联合出品。高占非、王引、蒙纳、严俊、李香兰、陈云裳、袁美云主演。）

现代中国人不喜欢看旧中国的某些东西。如果外国影片有缠足、蓄辫和吸鸦片的镜头，准会引起愤怒的抗议。在“万世流芳”之前，没有中国影片涉及吸鸦片。而我们得承认吸鸦片至今仍甚普遍。因此，“万世流芳”对这惨痛题材坦诚地从多个角度来处理，是值得我们赞扬的。另一方面，这影片在短暂的中国电影史上是件值得大书特书的事。虽然由于世界大战做成各种的阻碍和限制，而且资金也有限(和好莱坞的小规模制作相比，也有小巫见大巫之别），但成绩却很好。

故事主线围绕着鸦片战争的主角——两广总督林则徐的崛起和他的恋爱故事；副线则描述林氏的友人和一个在鸦片烟窟中卖糖女郎的关系。内容是林氏和他的两个女人在群众中鼓吹戒烟，他的友人本身要戒烟，而卖糖女郎则帮她的爱人戒烟。

故事本身已不乏戏剧性的材料。影片中“想当然”的爱情故事大概是为安排满映的李香兰的演出而加上去的。李小姐的歌艺使她成为片中所演角色最适当的人选。片中对话虽然精确洗练，但仍文白参半，是古装剧常有的毛病。

有几次，林氏的文告里面所用的字句被插入在对白之中，演林氏的高占非用清晰而平淡的语气说出来。高氏对这角色明显地崇拜到近乎恐惧。同样的恐惧使制片人对诠释方面有所限制。他们走回爱情剧的老路，表示出他们认为观众不能明白复杂的政治和军事的发展。事实上，中国人在过去三十年中已习惯看报纸，对林则徐的故事已可接受。如果把林的故事如实地说出来，那已是非常感人的了。

林氏奇迹地用很少人力和火力就保住了广州城；英军转攻北部沿海港口；中国屈辱求和，把林氏的禁烟成绩一笔勾销。这些好的现成材料没有在影片中用上，反而用谋杀不遂作为全片高潮。关于鸦片战争，我们只看到一张英军进攻路线图。在广州攻防战时，影片只交叉描写林氏及其旧情人的工作。后来旧情人响应林的禁烟运动，带领群众抵抗英军时，扮演一个不怎么道地的圣女贞德，在战场上牺牲。

故事开场把真实的史事综合得非常好。蒙纳和严俊用他们对华人强烈的讽刺把鸦片烟窟的气氛演活了。而林总督则在积愤，蓄势准备一击。但是一击不中，全盘皆输。片中把作为激发复仇意志的失败场面演来过于轻描淡写。主要是因为故事在应该发展时却收束到个人身上去。在和约签订，林氏被革职流放，他在离开广州时对崇信他的群众说了得体的话，还到他旧爱的坟头凭吊。

陈云裳饰演那个如果不是因为小小误会便会嫁给林则徐的女子。她演得过火一点。她的演技和李香兰、王引（饰林氏的友人）的直率，和高占非的不苟言笑配合不来。至于饰林夫人的袁美云则非常中国式，令人喜爱。

由于中国电影制作从没有动用像《万世流芳》这么多的资金和这么多的好演员，我们对一切细节的要求是合理的。大部分的细节处理得很好，把筷子插在煎药的罐子里用来驱走恶鬼，就是个例子。但是如果注意到婢女要扶着女主人的手和怎样叩头等细节，以实现历史真实感，那就更好了。

这部影片给我们上世纪的中国，一个非常好的缩影。中国现在对本身已有成熟的了解，不再急于把往日的羞辱掩盖起来了。 — 陈炳良译