Xiao Wanyi (1933)
Directed by
Sun Yu
Also Known As:
Little Toys (International: English title)
Small Toys (USA) (informal English title)
Le Petit jouet (French title)
Runtime: 107 min
Country: China
Color: Black and White
Sound Mix: Silent
Subs: English intertitles
Cast: Ruan Lingyu, Yuan Congmei, Li Lili...
imdb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0121890/
Italian Review: http://venus.unive.it/asiamed/cina/schede/toys.html
English Review: http://www.qlrs.com/emedia.asp?id=337
French Review: http://www.3continents.com/3continents/ ... filmid=740
Silent Era: http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/X/XiaoWanyi1933.html
Seances: http://www.seances.org/fr/film.asp?id=9719
Sun Yu created this part lukewarm, part tragic drama of the stampede of individual sentiment by harsh reality. A village woman Ye makes small toys while her husband sells them to make a living. But a battle between the warlords has cost the life of her husband and her son is lost. Ye moves to town but finding it impossible to compete with the sophisticated toys made overseas. Ye’s tragedy was not fated, but because of the ambition of the warlords and helplessness against foreign aggression. Ruan Lingyu, put on a lively performance from a young woman to an old lady.
Directed by Columbia University-educated film director, Sun Yu, Small Toys is a silent drama about an ordinary woman whose life is torn apart by war and economic exploitation. The film stars two greatest Chinese screen divas - Ruan Lingyu and Li Lili - as a mother and daughter who flee their small town and move to Shanghai. This gripping melodrama features stunning performances by Ruan and Li set against the type of progressive, patriotic background typical of the silent masterpieces pioneered by Shanghai's Lianhua Film Studio.
A family that lives in a lonely village on the shores of a large lake is happy making a meager living manufacturing toys until tragedy strikes. Ruan Lingyu performs brilliantly in both the first half of the story as the strong-spirited and cheerful mother and in the last half as the same woman whose life has been plunged into the depths of sorrow by the fires of war and the loss of her beloved children. This is a lyrical film that is typical of the work of the film-poet Sun Yu.
A beautiful and skilled village woman crafts small toys from clay and bamboo that her husband then sells in a nearby town. Ye's husband dies and her little son disappears, marking the beginning of her tragic slide into myriad catastrophes--warlords destroy the village, cheap modern toys begin to outsell the handmade works Ye and her equally gifted daughter create, and death dogs the once-happy toymaker. Mistaking New Year firecrackers for bombs, Ye--far gone in madness--takes up arms against imaginary enemies. Is humankind, the film seems to ask, only "small toys" in the hands of Fate?
Note:Definitely one of Sun Yu and Ruan Lingyu's best film. Ruan Lingyu's performance in this film is truly superb! And don't forget Li Lili is another leading role. One of the most memorable jewel of cinema.
The primal one is a silent film without any musical accompaniment, but I chose some my CDs and made a simple accompaniment for it, maybe not very fit, but that's all I can do.
Sun.Yu.-.Xiao.Wanyi.-.Little.Toys.(1933,.Ruan.Lingyu).InterEnSubsMusicAccompany.by.(auess).avi
Subs en español: