Little Toys

Infobox Film
name = Little Toys


caption =
director = Sun Yu
producer = Lianhua Film Company
writer = Sun Yu
starring = Ruan Lingyu
Li Lili
music =
cinematography = Zhou Ke
editing =
distributor = Lianhua Film Company
released = 1933
runtime = 114 min.
country = China
language = Silent film
with Chinese intertitles
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0121890

"Little Toys" (zh-cp|c=小玩意|p=Xiáo wǎnyì) is a 1933 silent film directed by filmmaker Sun Yu. It is one of two films Sun Yu directed in 1933 (the other being "Daybreak"). The film stars popular Chinese actress Ruan Lingyu and was produced by the leftist film production company Lianhua Film Company.

Today the film enjoys a positive reputation and was named one of the hundred best Chinese films by the Hong Kong Film Awards in 2005.

Cast

*Ruan Lingyu as Sister Ye, a maker of traditional toys.
*Li Lili as Zhu'er
*Yuan Congmei

Plot

Sister Ye lives in a rural village, where everyone makes traditional toys. She is considered the creative mind behind inventing new toys, and all the villagers look up to her. Tragedy strikes, however, when Sister Ye's husband dies of an unknown illness, and while Ye is attending to him, her son is kidnapped and sold to a wealthy family in the city of Shanghai. Shortly after, the village is destroyed during an attack between rival warlords, forcing the villagers move to the city, where they continue to make toys.

Years pass, and Ye's daughter Zhu'er, is now 17. War has befallen the nation, and the villagers' attempts at patriotism bring them to early deaths. While supporting the Nationalists, Zhu'er is killed in an attack by the Japanese.

On New Year's Eve, Sister Ye is dressed in rags, sitting on the curb. A compassionate young boy buys toys from her, and it is non-other than her son, who she does not recognize. Ye then goes into a rambling rant, scaring the citizens, causing them to disregard this crazy woman. She begs the citizens on Nanjing Road to fight against the Japanese. Slowly, they begin to listen to her and realize she is right.

Music

A silent film, "Little Toys" did not have a consistent standard film, as theaters would often provide live accompaniment. In 2007, Singaporean film composer Mark Chan was asked to score the film for the Shanghai International Arts Festival.cite web|url=http://english.eastday.com/eastday/englishedition/node20665/node20667/node22808/node228646/node228648/userobject1ai3200002.html | title =Great Silent Movie Finally Gets a Score |author =Zhang, Michelle|date=2007-10-31|accessdate = 2008-01-11] The score by Chan combines both Western instruments, like the piano or cello, and traditional Chinese instruments like the erhu and the gaohu. The film, with the newly penned script premiered in the Shanghai Concert Hall on November 2, 2007.

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0121890|title=Little Toys
* [http://www.dianying.com/en/title/xwy1933 "Little Toys"] at the Chinese Movie Database