Scott Meek and Tony Raynswrote for Electric Shadows, the 1981 touring show of classic Chinese cinema:"A funny, inventive Depression comedy about the trials facing unemployedyoung graduates in thirties Shanghai. The central fraught romance comes straightfrom Hollywood, but the overall realism and the hints of looming politicalturmoil are purely Chinese°.As in other May 4th Movement films of the period,location shooting on the streets of Shanghai is used whenever possible, and thefilm enhances its sense of direct contemporary relevance by inserting severalbrief documentary sequences." Chinese films of the thirties that dealt withserious subjects such as unemployment and exploitation of women faced heavycensorship by the Kuomintang government, and Shen Xiling's script, based on hisown experience and that of several unemployed friends, was no exception. Thispopular film marked the emergence of Zhao Dan and Bai Yang as major stars. Shen'spromising career was cut short by his early death in wartime Chongquing in1940.