A Nature Probe Of S·J·Benjamin·Cheng's Contribution As A Professional Film Worker

S·J·Benjamin·Cheng was one of the earliest returned film students in our country.From 1923 to 1935,he was active in the film industry of Shanghai.During the Anti-Japanese War,he shifted his career from film to transportation.Compared with his whole lifetime,his film career was relatively short.However,during the short period,he engaged himself in film production,film translation,theatre business and so on,which had a profound influence on China's film industry.The Eastern Theatre and The Western Theatre founded by him became the most important cinemas for subsequent runs for a time.The Chinese instructions in foreign movies translated by him are still widely adopted today.China Cinema Year Book 1927 with him being the editor-in-chief is still regarded as an essential historical material for understanding the film industry at that time.However,due to a mass of confused and inaccessible historical materials,researchers didn't pay enough attention to him in the research field of film figures.The author starts from research on historical figures of S J Benjamin Cheng and tries hard to collect as many related materials as possible through visiting the Second Historical Archives of China,National Library of China,Shanghai Library,and Shanghai City Archives,referring to microprinting and photography of newspapers of the Republican period,as well as searching various modern newspapers and periodicals databases.Then,centering on S J Benjamin Cheng's lifetime and contribution as a professional film worker,the author sorts and compiles those collected materials.The specific methods used are biographical chronology and documentation and analysis.The whole thesis consists of three chapters.Chapter One is the introduction in which the author gives a brief account of S J Benjamin Cheng's life experiences,including his early experience,academic experience,film career,and transportation business career.Chapter Two focuses on S·J Benjamin Cheng's film career.Combining S·J·Benjamin·Cheng's lifetime with his main activities in a certain period,the author further divides this chapter into three parts which are films translation organization,films production hosting,industrial management,and cinema year book compiling.This chapter sorts and explores the related historical facts of the four above mentioned film activities and film thoughts behind it.Chapter Three is the assessment of S J Benjamin·Cheng's contribution as a professional film worker,centering around four themes which are S J Benjamin·Cheng's film career,Film Thoughts,Artistic Accomplishments,and Awareness of Film Industry.The author discusses the four themes in detail,hoping to know more about the film figure S J Benjamin Cheng and try to put forward a new appraisal of him.To sum up,the theme of this thesis includes the following questions:how was his film figure identity established through intersection and interaction with the film industry?What contributions did he make and what influences did he leave for the film industry?Whether does the research result we have today need to be further complemented?How should we treat this film legacy he left for us today?...