Editor’s note: This is a nostalgic theater.
On July 1, Deng Yancheng, the famous director and master of martial arts films, died in Hong Kong. Deng Yancheng had directed many film and television works in mainland China, mainly the "Legend of Lu Xiaofeng" series, the "Escort in the World" series, and the "The Wire of Fire" series. Among these works, the most talked about by martial arts fans is the TV movie "Legend of Lu Xiaofeng" produced by the program production center of CCTV Film Channel. It is considered to be the most classic and closest to the essence of the original work of Gu Long. Lu Xiaofeng’s film and television works.
CCTV version of "The Legend of Lu Xiaofeng" CD
In 1972, Jin Yong invited Gu Long to serialize a martial arts novel in Ming Pao after finishing the serialization of "The Deer’s Cauldron". After Gu Long received the letter, he carefully conceived and created a famous detective of the Ming Dynasty, Lu Xiaofeng. Among martial arts novelists, Gu Long himself is a skilled craftsman who weaves stories. There are endless suspense and unexpected endings. He learned the writing techniques of Western detective novels and consciously introduced elements of mystery novels into martial arts novels, which increased the reasoning of the novel and enhanced the readability of the novel.
There are a total of 7 stories of Lu Xiaofeng in the original work of Gu Long, namely "The Great Golden Roc King" (originally known as "The Legend of Lu Xiaofeng"), "The Embroidery Thief", "Before and After the Decisive Battle", "Silver Hook Gambling House", "Ghost Villa", "Phoenix Dance Nine Days" and "Sword God Laughs". The movie channel added 3 works that were not in the original work, "Lu Xiaofeng Prequel", "Iron Shoe Legend" and "The Mystery of Blood Clothes", which were expanded to 10.
The story and plot of film and television dramas are to be expressed through actors, and casting is an important job, which is the basis for the success of the work. Several starring characters are very in line with the temperament of the main characters in the original novel. Lu Xiaofeng is a seemingly bohemian, but in fact he is a chivalrous with excellent intelligence and excellent martial arts. Zhang Zhilin portrays this character vividly. Hua Manlou is the most elegant man in the ancient dragon novels. He smiles forever, and even if he faces the bad guys, he still does not lose his demeanor. Zhang Zhiyao, a beautiful man in ancient costumes, is the most suitable actor for this role. As an aside, the two starring characters have similar names, and many fans mistake them for brothers. He Rundong’s coldness is in line with the characteristics of Ximen Chuixue. The thief Sikong is good at picking stars, so the director chose Zhang Daming, who is thin and not tall.
While preserving the essence of the original work of Gu Long, this series highlights the suspense and enriches the character settings. The original book does not tell how Lu Xiaofeng met Huamanlou, who was at the intersection of life and death, nor does it mention how Lu Xiaofeng became famous. The director added two stories, "Lu Xiaofeng’s Prequel" and "The Legend of Iron Shoes", just before "The Great Golden Roc King".
Lu Xiaofeng used to be unknown
Detective Lu Xiaofeng
In order to highlight Lu Xiaofeng’s intelligence, the character of "Prequel to Lu Xiaofeng" is slightly different from the original book. In the original book, Zhu Ding and Lu Xiaofeng, an expert in the mechanism known as the "wonderful hand boss", have known each other since childhood. Here, because Lu Xiaofeng cracked Zhu Ding’s mechanism, he was asked by Zhu Ding to help solve the case. Zhu Ding was also the producer of the printing plate of the official Ming Dynasty banknote, the Daming Pass Treasure Banknote, and there were a large number of counterfeit banknotes circulating in the market. He became the biggest suspect. The setting of the movie also conforms to the historical background of the story. The Daming Treasure Banknote is really the only official banknote issued by the Ming Dynasty. The banknote lasted for more than 270 years in the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Ting believes that only Lu Xiaofeng can help him
Daming Pass Treasure Banknotes
Zhu Ting believed that Lu Xiaofeng had the ability to escape from his trap, so he naturally had the ability to help him find the real culprit of the counterfeit money case, and told Lu Xiaofeng that his senior brother Yue Qing might be the maker of the fake printing plate. Therefore, this Daming fancy young man Lu Xiaofeng, who had a case wherever he went, relied on his unique glib and coquettish manner to take the position, and also successfully attracted the attention of the picturesque rich second generation and another shareholder of Daming Tongbao Banknote, the seventh young master of Jiangnan Hua Family.
The story progresses layer by layer, which makes people shoot. The ending surprises the audience. The daughter of Yue Qing that Lu Xiaofeng tried so hard to find is actually a fake. Instead, the black hand fell into Lu Xiaofeng’s scheme and turned his lie into a real one. The black hand of the counterfeit money is not Yue Qing, the smiling face of the owner of the Bliss building, nor is it Boss Qian, the mole of the Hua family and the shopkeeper of the bank, but an ordinary police officer of the government, Loma.
Trap the suspect
Kind of like Detective Conan
"The Legend of the Iron Shoe" is another original story that supplements the life of the second male and explains the cause of Huamanlou’s eye disease. The plot is about the more common murder in the secret room and touching the face in the dark room to identify the murderer. Lu Xiaofeng asked Huamanlou to plaster dust on his hands and touch everyone’s faces because he decided that the Iron Shoe Thief was afraid of exposing his identity and did not dare to let Huamanlou touch his face. The genius doctor Song Wencao’s face was not gray, so he was the murderer, the Iron Shoe Thief. The follow-up stories such as "The Embroidery Thief" and "Before and After the Showdown" were also confusing, gradually stripping away the cocoon until the truth
Song Wencao exposed himself as an iron shoe thief
The plot of "The Legend of Lu Xiaofeng" is mainly based on reasoning, and martial arts are secondary, but the special effects of martial arts are also very particular. In the opening scene of the first episode of "Lu Xiaofeng Prequel", "Beijing City Pursuit", in order to achieve a strong visual impact, the director asked to light up the roof of the Qingming Shanghetu Scenic Area in Hengdian Base. The climax paragraph of "Before and After the Final Battle", "The Top of the Forbidden Forbidden Battle", the special effects have been published for no less than 10 drafts, and the special effects company has worked hard for more than 70 days.
Battle to the Top of Forbidden
The plot of the movie has not been completely adapted according to the original book. In the original book of "Great Golden Roc King", Huo Xiu is Huo Xiu, not Shangguan Jin. Huo Xiu and Shangguan Feiyan are male and female relationships, and they are hostile to Lu Xiaofeng; in the movie, Huo Xiu becomes Lu Xiaofeng’s friend. Good people need to be rewarded, and some adaptations make the ending more perfect. In the original book "The Embroidery Thief", Xue Bing was killed by Jin Jiuling, who appeared to be a headhunter but was actually an embroidery thief, which made Lu Xiaofeng’s heart ache. In this version, Xue Bing merged with Aunt Gongsun, who was Xue Bing’s other identity after being disguised, and was not killed. Lu Xiaofeng also "used his way and his body" to defeat Jin Jiuling with embroidery needles. Of course, in order to reflect the perfect image of the protagonist, Lu Xiaofeng did not kill the bad guys in the movie, but only subdued them by injuring and maiming them. Jin Jiuling liked to use needles to harm people’s eyes, and in the end, he was unhappy and suffered from it. This adaptation reflects the cycle of cause and effect.
Xue Bing merged with Aunt Gongsun
Lu Xiaofeng subdued Jin Jiuling with a needle
Bad guys have bad news, and the adaptation of "Ghost Villa" makes the ending of "Skynet is magnificent, but not leaking" even more impressive. Fifteen years ago, the wooden Taoist coveted the position of head of Wudang for a long time and refused to give up his status and wife and daughter at the same time. Therefore, he entrusted his wife Shen Sanniang and daughter Ye Xue to Ye Lingfeng, a layman disciple, and let Ye Lingfeng fake marry Shen Sanniang. Who would have thought that Ye Lingfeng and Shen Sanniang would fake it and give birth to Ye Ling. Later, the wooden Taoist knocked Ye Lingfeng off the cliff to vent his personal anger. The wooden Taoist created the Ghost Villa as an "old knife handle". He single-handedly planned the Tianlei operation, and the conspiracy succeeded. He finally ascended the throne of the Wudang head, and killed one of his subordinates disguised as the old knife handle as a scapegoat.
The ending of Ye Lingfeng was not explained in the book, but the movie gave a different answer. Although Lu Xiaofeng solved the case, it was already a step too late. Ye Lingfeng died after being severely injured by the old knife handle to save his daughter Ye Ling. Before that, Ye Lingfeng told his adopted daughter Ye Xue that she was actually the daughter of the old knife handle, and guided Ye Xue to kill the wooden daoist. The wooden daoist finally died in the hands of his own daughter, and he finally believed in retribution before he died. Lu Xiaofeng also finally understood what Ye Lingfeng said to him before he died, "The old knife handle can’t win me". This ending is even more thought-provoking.
A more thought-provoking ending
In Jin Yong’s Eagle Projection trilogy, there is a famous saying, "The great hero is for the country and the people". Although the ancient dragon novel did not directly mention it, Lu Xiaofeng in "Before and After the Decisive Battle" is already a hero who crushed the coup and saved the country in danger. The last episode "The Mystery of Blood Clothes" also sublimated the theme of the hero’s style. Lu Xiaofeng and his friends once again favored the coup and saved the emperor who was misunderstood by the county king. The emperor personally explained the reasons why several previous county kings chose Chengren back then, and opened up to the granddaughters of the county kings who participated in the coup, reflecting the tolerance of benevolent monarch. Only benevolent monarch is worthy of Lu Xiaofeng’s rescue.
The "Legend of Lu Xiaofeng" series not only combines martial arts and reasoning very well, but friendship is also a highlight of the play. Ximen Chuixue and Sikong Qixing always appear at critical moments to help Lu Xiaofeng. Zhang Zhilin’s Lu Xiaofeng and Zhang Zhiyao’s Huamanlou drink together, ride horses together, and even sleep together, and there are rare plots of flirting with each other. Many plots make female audiences feel a little rotten.
Hua Manlou and Lu Xiaofeng flirt with each other
Zhang Zhilin’s handsome detective is unparalleled, and Zhang Zhiyao’s son is like jade, which has really captured the hearts of thousands of girls. Shuangzhang is considered to be the closest to the original Lu Xiaofeng and Huamanlou. A few years later, the TV series "Lu Xiaofeng and Huamanlou" was broadcast, but Weibo had a hot search of "After Shuangzhang, there will be no more Lu Hua", which shows the influence of the CCTV version of "The Legend of Lu Xiaofeng".
