中英雙語話中國藝術 第4期:影星—阮玲玉

4. A Later Film Star Lingyu Ruan

4. 影星—阮玲玉

In September 1983, forty-three old Chinese films were shown in Beijing at the exhibition "A Retrospective of Chinese Films from the 1920's to the 1940's. "One film star of the 1930's caught the attention of the viewers because her films were still so fresh and touching. She was Ruan Lingyu.

1983年9月，在“20世紀20—40年代電影回顧展覽”，30年代的一位影星特別引人注目，因爲時隔半個世紀，她的表演依然感人，使人回味元窮，她就是阮玲玉。

Ruan was born in a poor family in Shanghai in 1910. Her father, died when she was only five years old. Then she lived with her mother who worked as a maid for a rich family. After Ruan finished primary school, she had to find work to support herself. In 1926, she was recruited by Mingxing Film Company in Shanghai. From then on she stepped onto the movie stage. The following year she made her first screen appearance in the film Husband and Wife in Name. After that she played the leading roles in a number of films including A Tablet of Blood and Tears and The White Cloud Pagoda. In these films she started to show her talent in acting. In 1929, she transferred to Lianhua Film Company. Among the films she starred in, the more mature works were those made in the later period of her career such as Three Modern Women, Little Toys, and New Women. These films made her a first-class film star at that time.

阮玲玉1910年出生在上海的一個貧困家庭。五歲喪父，與做僕人的媽媽相依爲命。小學畢業後，阮玲玉不得不開始工作以維持生計。她於1926年進入上海明星影片公司，從此踏人影壇。次年，阮玲玉主演處女作《掛名夫妻兒之後，她相繼在《血淚碑》、《白雲塔》等多部影片中扮演主角，逐漸展現出她的演藝才華。 1929年離開明星影片公司，進入聯華影業公司，阮玲玉便成爲“聯華”的基本演員。她主演了《三個摩登女性》、《小玩意》、《新女性》等多部影片。這些影片使阮玲玉一舉成名。

She succeeded because of her superb acting skills as well as her exceptional beauty. She acted so naturally and realistically that the roles she played always had an artistic appeal to the viewers. Her charm and performance took the country by storm. In order to overcome the limitations of silent films, she managed to convey meanings through her gestures and eyes. Her acting skills represented the highest level of the performing art in Chinese silent films. She was a versatile character actress. In the twenty-nine films she left us, she created various images of Chinese women such as factory worker, writer, social butterfly，wealthy woman, prostitute, and nun. Her Success in playing Sister Ye, a country woman in Little Toys, shows she was diligent in creating that character, for Sister Ye's life was beyond her own life experiences.

阮玲玉之所以能走紅，主要是由於她的精湛演技和花容月貌。她的演技自然傳神，所演人物刻畫得惟妙惟肖，令觀衆爲之動情，她用魅力和演技征服了觀衆。爲了打破無聲電影的侷限性，她準確地運用眼神和動作來表現人物的性格和情感。阮玲玉的演技堪稱中國元聲影片的最高水平。她飾演的人物類型各異，在現存的她出演的29部影片中，塑造了形形色色的女性，如工廠工人、作家、交際花、富婆、妓女，也有修女。在影片《小玩意》中，她成功地塑造了超出她自己生活閱歷的勞動女性形象葉姐姐，這足以說明阮玲玉的表演天賦。

Success in work did not bring her happiness in her family. In 1935, while her last film was being shot, a divorce suit and slanders in local newspapers put Ruan in great mental anguish. On the eighth of March，Ruan Lingyu committed suicide leaving behind her a final message "Gossip can kill." She lived for only twenty-five years. When the news was made public, the whole city of Shanghai mourned her death. Several hundred thousand people came out to the streets to watch her funeral procession. Indignant at the persecution of Ruan，the great writer Lu Xun (1881-1936) published an article entitled "Gossip IsαFearful Thing ," which denounced the newspaper blood hounds and gossip-mongers.

1935年，由於婚姻的問題，報刊對阮玲玉誹謗和攻擊，令她無法承受，被逼元奈，於1935年3月8日服毒自殺，年僅25歲。消息傳出後，整個上海沉浸在悲痛之中，成百上千的羣衆走上街頭爲阮玲玉送行。憤怒之下，著名作家魯迅(1881-1936)發表文章《可怕的流言蠻語》，公開抨擊傳播流言蜚語的人。