Zhu Shilin

Directing

Zhu Shilin

Born — Died

1899-08-30 — 1967-01-05

Place of birth

Jiangsu, Cina

Known for

Directing

Credits

41 titles

Zhu Shilin (27 July 1899 – 5 January 1967), also romanised as Chu Shek Lin, was a Chinese film director and screenwriter, born in Taicang, Jiangsu, China. Zhu began his career in the thriving film industry of Shanghai, directing actresses like Ruan Lingyu with the Lianhua Film Company. After the war, Zhu moved to Hong Kong, where he founded the Longma Film Company along with fellow Shanghai emigrant Fei Mu. Between 1930 and 1964, he directed 80 films. Two of his films, Sorrows of the Forbidden City (1948) and Festival Moon (1953) were ranked in the Hong Kong Film Awards' Best 100 Chinese Motion Pictures.

Known for

Film credits

Behind the camera

新婚第一夜 poster
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

新婚第一夜

1956

新婚第一夜 poster
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

新婚第一夜

1956

A Girl in an Isolated City poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

A Girl in an Isolated City

1936

Sorrows of the Forbidden City poster
6.7

The film focused on a conflict between Empress Dowager Cixi, her son Guangxi (the nominal emperor) and his wife, Zhen Fei.

Sorrows of the Forbidden City

1948

Love and Duty poster
7.3

The film tells the story of Yang Naifan (Ruan Lingyu) who runs from her arranged marriage to be with her true love, Li Zuyi (Jin Yan). The film details the poverty she must endure for breaking with tradition.

Love and Duty

1931

The Wedding Night poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

The Wedding Night

1942

Tears of a Mother poster
7.0

A Chinese film

Tears of a Mother

1937

San feng qiu huang poster
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

San feng qiu huang

1963

San feng qiu huang poster
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

San feng qiu huang

1963

National Customs poster
6.9

In 1930, two sisters from the countryside, the serious Zhang Lan and the frivolous Zhang Tao graduate from secondary school where their mother Zhang Jie serves as principal. They both love their cousin Zuo, but have ambitions other than marriage. Their lives change dramatically when both attend university in Shanghai and encounter modern urban life and rapidly changing society. The film also depicts the emergence of Chiang Kai-shek's 1934 New Life Movement. Lianhua Film Studio did the film to appease the Nationalist Party which accused it of primarily presenting left-wing films, which was true.

National Customs

1935

New and Old Times poster
8.0

A rich businessman's family is in straitened circumstances. He has a son and four daughters, but only the youngest daughter lives a positive life.

New and Old Times

1937

Two Stars in the Milky Way poster
6.5

This is a silent film from China made in 1931. It is about two leads in a film, Yan (Raymond King) and Ying (Violet Wong). They meet after hearing Ying sing while another movie is being shot. You, of course, don't get to hear the song, but it catches people's attention. Once they meet and work together, they fall in love. Is it forever?

Two Stars in the Milky Way

1931

Vistas of Art poster
7.3

Three stories about art stages. "Film City", "Drama Group" and "Dance Class".

Vistas of Art

1938

Vistas of Art poster
7.3

Three stories about art stages. "Film City", "Drama Group" and "Dance Class".

Vistas of Art

1938

A Love Beauty poster
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

A Love Beauty

1941

Tonight and Every Night poster
NR

Orphan He Yongnian was brought up by Zheng Mu, the owner of a small shop, and he was childhood sweetheart with Zheng's daughter Jingqin. Yongnian and Jingqin's love roots have been planted early, Jingqin helps everywhere, and Yongnian is very grateful. After Yongnian graduated, he was appreciated by the boss of the trading company, Leung. Jingqin's mother and daughter supported him. Boss Leung's daughter Dai Ni is attracted by Yong Nian and starts pursuing him. Yongnian's heart is attached to Jingqin, but he is afraid of offending Dai Ni, so he reluctantly entertains. Seduced by Dai Ni, Yongnian gradually yearns for a higher life, ignoring Zheng's mother and daughter...

Tonight and Every Night

1958

Tonight and Every Night poster
NR

Orphan He Yongnian was brought up by Zheng Mu, the owner of a small shop, and he was childhood sweetheart with Zheng's daughter Jingqin. Yongnian and Jingqin's love roots have been planted early, Jingqin helps everywhere, and Yongnian is very grateful. After Yongnian graduated, he was appreciated by the boss of the trading company, Leung. Jingqin's mother and daughter supported him. Boss Leung's daughter Dai Ni is attracted by Yong Nian and starts pursuing him. Yongnian's heart is attached to Jingqin, but he is afraid of offending Dai Ni, so he reluctantly entertains. Seduced by Dai Ni, Yongnian gradually yearns for a higher life, ignoring Zheng's mother and daughter...

Tonight and Every Night

1958

The Lost Pearl poster
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

The Lost Pearl

1937

The Flower Girl poster
8.0

Adapted from Guy de Maupassant's "Boule de Suif", this satire-cum-thriller transposes its backdrop to wartime China. On a bus crossing a checkpoint, a pretty girl coveted by a Japanese officer sacrifices herself to aid the patriotic cause against the enemy.

The Flower Girl

1951

不求人 poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

不求人

1944

人约黄昏后 poster
8.0

No synopsis available yet.

人约黄昏后

1942

The Beggarly Girl poster
8.0

No synopsis available yet.

The Beggarly Girl

1959

Resurrection Incense poster
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

Resurrection Incense

1941

Garden of Repose poster
10.0

Yang Mengchi is a spoiled, rich do-nothing whose habit of smoking opium has cost him his entire fortune and the family mansion, the Garden of Repose, now due to be sold to Yao Guodong. Fearing that Yao's spoiled and unruly son Siaofu will follow in Yang's footsteps, Yao's stepwife Wan Zhaohua tries to instil discipline in the child but her efforts are undermined by the child's indulging and protective father and grandmother. Unable to reform himself despite his own son's chastisement, Yang leaves home to lead a reclusive life in a destitute temple, only helped out by his filial daughter Han'er. The poverty-stricken Yang is drafted into the army and tragedy ensues.

Garden of Repose

1964

Garden of Repose poster
10.0

Yang Mengchi is a spoiled, rich do-nothing whose habit of smoking opium has cost him his entire fortune and the family mansion, the Garden of Repose, now due to be sold to Yao Guodong. Fearing that Yao's spoiled and unruly son Siaofu will follow in Yang's footsteps, Yao's stepwife Wan Zhaohua tries to instil discipline in the child but her efforts are undermined by the child's indulging and protective father and grandmother. Unable to reform himself despite his own son's chastisement, Yang leaves home to lead a reclusive life in a destitute temple, only helped out by his filial daughter Han'er. The poverty-stricken Yang is drafted into the army and tragedy ensues.

Garden of Repose

1964

The Living Corpse poster
NR

Famed director Zhu Shilin tries his hand at a horror film! The beginning of The Living Corpse immediately sets the tone with a folk duet clearly inspired by the popular 1956 musical Songs of the Peach Blossom River. The duet, in addition to Zhu's frequent use of long, empty shots and crisp editing, gives this horror film a traditional poetic charm and a strong folk flavor. Mise-en-scene and sound effects create a terrifying atmosphere, and successfully communicate the ghostliness of a world without ghosts.

The Living Corpse

1958

Love at First Sight poster
10.0

Two couple doubt their partners are having affairs with another, so they try their best to find out the truth.

Love at First Sight

1955

The Eternal Love poster
9.0

Tragedy strikes two pairs of lovers and a family, just three days after a happy marriage.

The Eternal Love

1960

The Eternal Love poster
9.0

Tragedy strikes two pairs of lovers and a family, just three days after a happy marriage.

The Eternal Love

1960

No artwork available
10.0

A 50's Chinese film that reflects the post-war society, expresses idealism and pleads to return to the homeland.

The Dividing Wall

1952

Spoiling the Wedding Day poster
8.0

A wedding musician fails to wed his own love: Little Trumpet is raring to marry his childhood sweetheart, but a series of setbacks has prevented them from getting their way. Criticism against social formalities becomes all the more forceful with the clever use of contrast and irony, not to mention the realist and comedic touch a la Zhu Shilin. Of special mention is the famous teahouse scene where dynamic, melodic camerawork creates a hilarity that continues to amaze to this day. A genuine masterpiece with every single detail, down to the minor props, forming an integral part of a whole. Today, young couples are struggling nonetheless to get a roof over their heads, a testimony to the fact that poverty still reigns beneath the facade of harmony and stability after all these years.

Spoiling the Wedding Day

1951

Youth poster
10.0

The painter Hu Mai was attracted to the beauty of Mei Lin, a girl in her youth, so Hu did a portrait of her named The Picture of Youth. A wealthy businessman Cao Bin brought this painting and got to know Mei Lin in person. Now Mei Lin has to chose who she should marry to, between the good hearted but poor painter Hu Mai, and the wealthy but ill-natured Cao Bin.

Youth

1934

Youth poster
10.0

The painter Hu Mai was attracted to the beauty of Mei Lin, a girl in her youth, so Hu did a portrait of her named The Picture of Youth. A wealthy businessman Cao Bin brought this painting and got to know Mei Lin in person. Now Mei Lin has to chose who she should marry to, between the good hearted but poor painter Hu Mai, and the wealthy but ill-natured Cao Bin.

Youth

1934

Sweet as Honey poster
8.0

Zhang Mingyang and Ding Huilan are newlyweds and very much in love. Yang's old lover, Wang Baozhu, pays a surprise visit and asks Yang to help her find her long-lost husband. In order to avoid the same mistake of his father-in-law being pestered by his jealous mother-in-law, Yang has to claim that Zhu is the mistress of his colleague, which causes the wives to be suspicious. After Lan learns the truth, she helps Zhu find her husband and exposes Yang's lies ......

Sweet as Honey

1959

The Cricket and the King poster
9.0

It a story about a foolish king who loved chinese cricket game.

The Cricket and the King

1966

Festival Moon poster
7.0

A financially struggling office worker goes into debt in order to afford traditional holiday gifts for his boss and landlord. Part of Hong Kong Film Awards' 100 Best Chinese Movies.

Festival Moon

1953

A Widow's Tears poster
NR

After her husband's death in a car accident, Fang must endure the fury of her mother-in-law.

A Widow's Tears

1956

Symphony of Lianhua poster
9.0

"Lianhua Symphony" - a small collection, consisting of eight short films shot in 1937 by young filmmakers Shanghai Lianhua Film Company. Part 1: Two Yuans (兩毛錢) directed by Situ Huimin / Part 2: Nightmares in Spring Chamber (春閨斷夢) directed by Fei Mu / Part 3: The Stranger (陌生人) directed by Tan Youliu / Part 4: Three Friends (三人行) directed by Shen Fu / Part 5: Landscape Under the Moonlight (月下小景) directed by He Mengfu / Part 6: The Ghost (鬼) directed by Zhu Shilin / Part 7: Rhapsody of a Madman (瘋人狂想曲) directed by Sun Yu / Part 8: Five Little Brothers (小五義) directed by Cai Chusheng

Symphony of Lianhua

1937

Eternity poster
8.0

The life and story of Lin Zexu and the First Opium War.

Eternity

1943

Eternity poster
8.0

The life and story of Lin Zexu and the First Opium War.

Eternity

1943