A Spray of Plum Blossoms

Two cadets, one posted south, who falls for the commander's daughter, and his friend, who follows, betrays him for her, and has him driven out to the bandits. The Two Gentlemen of Verona moved to a military academy and a garrison in Guangdong, with cavalry and a plum-blossom motif standing in for the forest outside Milan. Ruan Lingyu is the friend's sister, Julia in the original, who follows in uniform; she had not yet made the films that would make her name, and the reasons are already visible. Jin Yan is the wronged man. Bu Wancang for Lianhua, Shanghai, 1931.