Shadows in the Old House

An epic production directed by Li Pingqian in collaboration with eight directors from Mingxing Film Company. Butterfly Wu stars as a hostess who, after leaving Shanghai for ten years, invites her secondary schoolmates for a reunion. They each reminisce about their lives with some having difficulties in marriage or career. Some led destructive lives while others contributed to the country. The film espouses the virtue of Wu who rescued an anti-warlord revolutionary, inferring that women are deemed exemplary if their deeds benefit the country. As one of China's earlier sound movies, the film's vivid images are complemented by a deliberate use of sounds and songs exemplified by the clever juxtaposition of narration and image in two segments.