Shi zi jie tou (1937) User Reviews

Charming old piece

[suchenwi · 7/10 · 16 June 2008]

Young people, college graduates, in the big city (Shanghai) in difficult times - this movie starts with an attempted suicide and (almost) ends with another. In between, the social life in cheap little rooms, the joy of finding a job and the sorrow of losing one, as well as a budding love affair, make a charming story.

For tramway lovers: this movie has many scenes outside and inside the old Shanghai trams (which have long since disappeared). Besides that, not much cityscapes are featured (except for the ending scene), which is kind of a pity. I felt somehow reminded of the legendary "Menschen am Sonntag" (1930), which also combined the social life of young people with scenes of transportation in the big city.

The DVD from the 120 Classics box has slightly rough soundtrack, image quality is too dark sometimes, but mostly very well watchable. I liked it.

Watch the sequel made more than half a century later

[zzmale · 23 April 2004]

The literal translation of this title is actually: At the Crossroads, instead of Crossroads.

The movie gives a very precise description of the difficult lives of the common Chinese citizens in the late 1930's China, which could not escape the Great Depression world wide. Furthermore, the problem was compounded by the fact that China was at war already, before other major western powers such as UK and USA.

What is interesting is that the similar situation is repeating itself in China today, despite the fact that Chinese economy is booming and there China is not suffering from neither the war nor the economic depression, and this is depicted in the sequel made in 2001, more than half a century later, titled At New Crossroads (Xin Shizi Jietou), and audience should compare two.

English Sub-title Version

[Leea575 · 10/10 · 31 March 2011]

I had a great time when I watched this movie with English subtitle.

Living in the USA for so many years and watched a lot of American movies, "the Crossroad", the 1937 production in China, surprised me in that it is to certain degree a Hollywood style alike - believable in story-telling and very entertaining in actors/actresses naturally performing.

The story topic is not new, it is about two good-looking strangers fall in love, sounds like a common story from one of any movies, but how the story go in this movie, in 1937, in Shanghai, with history background of high-unemployment?

This movie is one of classical collections from 1930's and the only one with English subtitle added among those of 1920 to 1940's by the time of wring this review. It is issued by Jingwen Audio Video, authorized by CCTV. With English subtitle, anyone who is into the movies is now able to watch it. Thanks for the publisher!