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Xiang cao mei ren Synopsis

Due to lean years and the poverty that followed, Farmer Wang moved to Shanghai with his wife, daughter and younger brother. The whole family got a job at a tobacco factory, where they earned mere pennies, which they barely had enough to live on. Since the factory was unable to compete with foreign tobacco companies, the harsh conditions of competition led to a gradual reduction in production. Many of the employees were fired, Wang's wife was among the first, and his younger brother, who quarreled with his boss over his salary, ended up in prison. After the company closed, Wang's daughter started working on the streets to save her family from starvation. When Wang learned the truth, he kicked his wife and daughter out of the house. The police arrested Wang for breaking the glass of a mall that had foreign cigarettes on display. This film, having been significantly cut, was released on the screen in November 1933, but after the first demonstration it was banned altogether.

The Great Shadow Synopsis

Jim McDonald, the foreman of a shipbuilding plant and head of the labor union, strives to combat the anarchistic propaganda being put forth by Klimoff, the leader of a Bolshevik gang whose goal is to disrupt the country with strikes and anarchy. Despite McDonald's efforts, a strike is called, resulting in chaos. McDonald's child is knocked down by runaway horses abandoned by their striking driver, and dies. Mob scenes take place in America, as well as in Russia. Eventually, the unrest is quelled with an armistice called between Capital and Labor for a year, during which time wages are to be increased to reflect the cost of living, and leaders are to work out a common plan for their mutual advantage. The strikers now realize that they have been pawns of the Bolsheviks and call off the strike, agreeing to the plan.