Glowing with revolutionary optimism and political rectitude, this Technicolor drama is one of the greatest achievements of Chinese socialist realism. The film starts in the Bad Old Days before the revolution, when a young girl called Chunlan flees an arranged marriage. An itinerant opera troupe gives her shelter and she grows up alongside her adopted stage sister Yuehong to sing duets together. But when the pair go on to become stars in Shanghai, Yuehong is tempted by material decadence, whereas Chunlan's consciousness is raised when she comes into contact with the revolutionary left. A rift develops between the sisters, healed only after the revolution. Veteran director Xie Jin is still active today, but this remains one of his most perfectly realized works. The paralleling of stage songs and performances to real life is an old tradition of Chinese cinema continued in such well-known works as Farewell, My Concubine.-Chris Berry