Spring in a Small Town (1948)

Spring in a Small Town
Directed by Mu Fei
Written by Tianji Li
1948/China
Wenhua Film Company
First viewing/Youtube
#216 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] “You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep Spring from coming.” ― Pablo Neruda[/box]

This story of unconsummated love was not aided by a scratchy print.

Unfortunately I am unclear on the character names.  A woman has the same routine day after day.  She goes to a nearby town to buy groceries and herbal medicine then walks home on the ruined city wall.  Then she takes the medicine to her husband, often without exchanging words with him, and after that takes up her needlework.  The husband is suffering from tuberculosis but, more importantly, has been severely depressed since the war destroyed the main house on his property.  He does little but worry about his health. Husband and wife sleep in separate rooms.  The husband’s teenage sister lives with them.

Then one day, a friend that the husband has not seen for ten years comes for a visit.  The visitor is now a medical doctor.  He traveled all over China during the long war.  Unbeknownst to anyone, he is also the first and only love of his friend’s wife.

The two lovers are magnetically attracted to each other.  They cannot stay apart but neither can they bring themselves to betray the husband, who seems to have returned to life due to his friend’s visit.  When the husband finally figures out what is going on, he takes action that will bring matters to a head.

This has been voted the best Chinese film ever made.  It certainly had its moments but it also seemed to drag on interminably at only 103 minutes.  I opted to watch on YouTube rather than buy the DVD and was stuck with scratchy print and iffy sound.  Other reviews I have read suggest the DVD available in the US may not be much better.  The below trailer seems to show the BFI version may be the one to see.

Trailer to BFI DVD