Diao Chan (film)

Diao Chan is a 1938 Chinese sound film directed by Bu Wancang and produced by Zhang Shankuns Xinhua Film Company. The film is a portrayal of one of the Four Beauties of ancient China, in this case the titular Diaochan, from the late Eastern Han Dynasty era. Like Diaochan, the film is also known by the literal translation of her name, the Sable Cicada.

Production of Diao Chan, a historical epic based on the life of one of the legendary Four Beauties of China, began in January 1937 under director Bu Wancang for the Xinhua Film Company. Originally the film was to be part of an ambitious plan to release a film based on each beauty Diao Chan, Xi Shi, Wang Zhaojun, and Yang Guifei, though only Diao Chan was ever made. With 90 of shooting complete, however, the production was shut down with the outbreak of the Second SinoJapanese War. As a result of Japanese bombing of Shanghai, nearly all the film sets were destroyed, and most of the cast fled to the countrys interior.With the reopening of the Xinhua Film Company in late 1937, the company found itself in the center of Shanghais Solitary Island. The companys head, Zhang Shankun announced that despite the fact the film was incomplete and Shanghais film infrastructure in shambles, the release of Diao Chan would relaunch Shanghais Hollywood of the East. Zhang therefore moved production to Hong Kong, renting the Nanyue Studio in Hong Kong a far more expensive undertaking than filming in Shanghai, and flying most of the cast to Hong Kong from the interior, not to mention transporting equipment from Shanghai. ........

Source: Wikipedia