<Seong Chun-hyang (Seong Chun-hyang)> (1961)

Director : Shin Sang-Okk
Production Company : Shin Films Co., Ltd
Date of Rate : 1961-01-28
Running Time : 120 min.
Opening Theater : Myeong Bo Theater
Genre : Melodrama/Historical Drama

Staff :
Screenplay(Adaptation) : Lim Hee-Jae
Producer : Shin Sang-Okk
Executive Producer : Hwang Nam
Director of PhotoGraphy : Jeong Hae-Jun
Gaffer : Lee Kyu-Chang
Music : Jeong Yun-Ju
Art Director : Kang Seong-Beom
Editor : Kim Yeong-Hee
Sound/Recording : Han Yang

Cast(Actor/Actress) :
Choi Eun-Hee,Kim Jin-Kyu,Han Eun-Jin,Heo Jang-Kang

Synopsis

Chun-hyang, who is the daughter of a local gisaeng, and Lee Mong-nyong, whose father is the governor of Namwon county, fall in love and make a pledge of marriage. However, Lee is soon forced to follow his father to the capital, and the new governor Byeon Hakdo covets the incomparably beautiful Chun-hyang for his own. Chun-hyang strenuously rejects Byeon's demand to attend him in his bed, for which she is tortured and thrown in jail. Meanwhile, Lee has passed an important state exam and been appointed as an undercover investigator for the king. He comes back to Namwon, punishes the corrupt Byeon, and saves his lady love.

Notes

"The first Korean movie to be shot in color CinemaScope, and the hit that made Shin Sang-ok the leading name in the Korean film industry."
The face-off between The Story of Chun-hyang (Chunhyangjeon) and Seong Chun-hyang (Seong Chun-hyang) not only pitted against each other the first two Korean films to be shot in color CinemaScope, but also set up-and-coming director Shin Sang-ok against the already-established hitmaker Hong Seong-ki, and thirty-something "Chun-hyang" Choi Eun-hee against twenty-something "Chun-hyang" Kim Jee-mi. Before the results were revealed, many predicted that The Story of Chun-hyang, which featured a young rising star as its female lead, would come out on top. But the upshot was an unequivocal victory for the Shin Sang-ok/Choi Eun-hee duo over the Hong Seong-ki/Kim Jee-mi duo. According to an article at the time, Seong Chun-hyang, shot on Kodak film stock and printed at Japan's Far East Laboratory (now IMAGICA), was hailed as a true color film realized in brilliant and sumptuous yet classical hues, in contrast to the flat, two-dimensional colors seen in The Story of Chun-hyang. The mise-en-scenes of Seong Chun-hyang, which take full advantage of the CinemaScope format, also offer the audience a visual treat.
If the scene that shows Chun-hyang undergoing torture for rejecting Byeon Hakdo's demands and the use of music taken from the traditional "Pansori" version of the tale enhance the tragic emotions of the female protagonist, the performances of Heo Jang-kang as Bang-ja, Do Kum-bong as Hyang-dan, Koo Bong-seo and Kim Hee-gap as the county constables, and Yang Hun as Blind Heo infuse elements of comedy into the film. In addition, Byeon Hakdo's birthday party (featuring music, female dancers, and masked performers) and the sword dance of the executioner toward the film's denouement provide dynamic visual entertainment within the widescreen canvas of CinemaScope. Director Shin Sang-ok expertly controls the film's pace by harmonizing the wit of Lim Hee-jae's screenplay with elements of comedy and melodrama, while the apt incorporation of such "Korean" elements as Pansori songs, masked performances, and traditional dancing helps to make Seong Chun-hyang a representative example of well-balanced commercial filmmaking. Although the movie did not offer a new interpretation of the classic tale of Chun-hyang, Shin Sang-ok's strategy of using the idiom of popular film to articulate a story that has long been familiar to Koreans appears to have been successful. Seong Chun-hyang drew an audience of over 360,000, and held the box office record for some seven years before yielding the title to Love Me Once Again (Miweodo dasi han beon) in 1968.

Afterword:

- At the time of its release in 1961, Seong Chun-hyang set the all-time box office record in Korea among both domestic and foreign films (based on figures at first-run theaters in Seoul).
- The film's total audience reached approximately 380,000 over a theatrical run of 74 days.

Director Bio: Shin Sang-ok (1926-2006)

Shin Sang-ok, who was an icon of Korean cinema during the 1960s, is one of the most significant producer-directors in Korean film history. After graduating from Gyeongseong Middle School and Tokyo Art School, he worked under director Choi In-kyu as an assistant director and in 1952, made his directorial debut with The Evil Night (Ag-ya). He became recognized as one of the greatest Korean producer-directors of his era with the stunning success of Seong Chun-hyang (Seong Chun-hyang) (1961) and ran Shin Film Studios, once called "Half the Korean Movie Industry." But his close relationship with the political regime which was the basis for the founding and success of Shin Film Studios began to fade, and with the government's cancellation of his license, he lost Shin Film Studios where he produced his movies and which he valued more than his life. In 1978, he was kidnapped to North Korea along with his wife Choi Eun-hui and produced films such as Salt (Sogeum) there. The two dramatically escaped North Korea in 1986 and after residing in the United States, moved to South Korea where director Shin Sang-ok taught students and prepared to undertake Genghis Khan, which he thought would be the pinnacle of his lifetime of film. But he passed away on April 11th, 2006, without being able to bring his plans to fruition. In all, he directed 75 movies and produced 250 movies.