Director Bu Wancang
Staring Chen Yunshang
Score 6/6

A young woman takes her father’s place in the army and, over several years, rises through the ranks to fight off invaders near the Great Wall and save the Tang dynasty.

For those of you who might be interested Hua Mu Lan is also known as Mulan Joins the Army and Maiden in Armor. Also, it is interesting to note that this the third ever movie to be made about the Chinese folk heroine the other two movies being made in 1927 and 1928.
I kind of stumbled on to this one while looking for animated version of Mulan that was released around the same time as the classic Disney animated Mulan but the version, I was looking for The Secret of Mulan has anthropomorphic animals and insects. Though it should be noted that the 1939 version does have a few songs in it (but not major musical moments).
This adaption of the tale of Mulan has a completely different vibe to the more recent adaptions that I have reviewed. When watching a foreign movie, it is interesting to see if any of the jokes or funnier scenes get lost in translation, that did not seem to be the case with Hua Mu Lan and with all of the divides we have in the world I always find that comforting. The other major difference to any of the other Mulan movies that I have seen is that when Mulan goes off to war its not played off as some act of defiance or rebellion by Mulan.
Now I will admit that this is the first Chinese movie that I have watched that was released in the 30’s and I got the feeling that by the standard of the time it wasn’t what would be considered a big loud action movie by more modern standards it might not even rate as an action movie because it really did rely on drama and intrigue. There was also a couple of effects shots that where interesting.
I enjoyed Chen Yunshang’s performance as Hua Mulan her portrayal seemed to be well rounded. I also enjoyed the duet she had with Mei Xi who portrayed Liu Yuandu. The only thing that bugged me about this movie was the jingling of the bells on Mulan’s hosrse.