Another brilliant social-realist evocation of Shanghai before the fall. Yang Hangsheng, who had co-written Myriads of Lights and was another key figure in the leftist cinema of the 1930s, adapted the story from a popular cartoon. The film recounts the adventures -- and, of course, the political awakening -- of San Mao ("Three-Hairs" in Chinese), an endearing urchin who lives a cold and hungry life on the streets of Shanghai. The production paralleled that of Crows and Sparrows: the time and place were the same (winter 1948, Shanghai), the filmmakers were constantly harassed by the censors, shootting was interrupted by Kuomintang, and the film was finished after October 1949, giving the story its inevitable coda: the arrival of the triumphant Communist troops and hope for the future.
