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| Director Shin Sang-ok (1926-2006) is seen in this undated photo. Debuting as a filmmaker in 1952 with his first film "The Evil Night," Shin made about 80 films in South Korea until 1975, then seven movies in North Korea after he was kidnapped in Hong Kong by North Korean agents in 1976, six months after his wife Choi Eun-hee met the same fate. He also directed films in Hong Kong and the United States after he and his wife were granted asylum. / Courtesy of Sheen Sang Ok Memorial Foundation |
This is a second in a series of articles highlighting the centennial of Korean cinema ― ED.
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Narrating the story of Korean cinema history seems meaningless without mentioning the late legendary filmmaker Shin Sang-ok and his production house Shinfilm.
Shin (1926-2006), albeit over a decade has passed since his death, is still an icon of Korean cinema who transplanted the Hollywood-styled production system into the local film industry in the 1960s, four decades before the advent of homegrown entertainment giants such as CJ and Lotte in the 2000s.
Shin's entertaining movies triggered a cinema boom in the 1960s. But his domestic success didn't lead to global success. His endeavor to lift Shinfilm to something akin to major Hollywood production houses, such as Paramount or Disney, remained a distant dream until his death. For this reason, his cinematic experiment was a half-success.
Shin was an unstoppable man with an extraordinary passion for films. He and his production house dominated the Korean film industry, particularly in the 1960s ― an era considered the Golden Days for Korean cinema. The successive mega hits produced by Shinfilm, including "Seong Chun-hyang," "Prince of Yeonsan" and "Mother and a Guest," triggered the cinema boom.
"Director Shin was a pioneer," Cho Jun-hyoung, a senior researcher at Korean Film Archive, said during a recent Korea Times interview. "It's amazing that he had envisioned a corporate-like production house model in charge of investment, production, distribution and even screenings of films in the 1950s, and tried to make Shinfilm work like that."
Cho, author of "Shinfilm: Movie Empire," said Shin was a visionary filmmaker who sought to globalize Korean film at a time when few others would have considered such a lofty goal.
"It is a recent phenomenon that Korean films are being discovered in international markets. Before this, however, there was no other filmmaker who ever tried to make it, except Shin. In this regard, Shin was exceptional," he said.
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| Director Shin with his wife, actress Choi Eun-hee / Courtesy of Sheen Sang Ok Memorial Foundation |
Shin was an energetic, prolific filmmaker.
Debuting as a filmmaker with his first film "The Evil Night" in 1952 when the two Koreas were at war, Shin founded Shin Production ― which later became Shinfilm ― in the mid-1950s.
Under his leadership, Shinfilm produced nearly 240 films, 80 of which Shin directed, during its two decades of existence until 1975 when it was ordered to shut down out of the blue by the military government over being accused of violation of obscenity.
In the 1960s, Shinfilm was unrivaled and its films dominated local box offices. Its success reached a peak with the 1961 mega hit movie "Seong Chun-hyang." The blockbuster attracted 4 million to theaters nationwide, a record number of ticket sales at that time. The movie created a buzz even before it hit local theaters, mainly because of its rivalry with another movie based on the same folk tale of Chun-hyang.
The two films were screened at local theaters simultaneously. Besides the timing, the two movies had another similarity. They were the results of their star couples' partnerships.
Shin directed "Seong Chun-hyang" starring his high-profile wife, actress Choi Eun-hee. The other Chun-hyang movie was directed by then prominent filmmaker Hong Sung-ki who was the husband of A-lister actress Kim Ji-mee who also starred in the film.
Shin and his wife won the much-anticipated game with a landslide victory. The other Chun-hyang movie failed to attract audiences, causing Hong and Kim to break up later.
Following the success, Shinfilm had released a series of mega hits, including "Mother and a Guest" (1961), "Prince of Yeonsan" (1962) and "The Red Scarf" (1964).
Shin was not content with domestic success. He tried to break out of his comfort zone, dreaming to make his Shinfilm into a global entertainment empire like Walt Disney Productions.
"Director Shin had a single-minded goal all throughout his life. Movies were everything to him. If he talked about something, it was always related to movies," said Roh Kie-heul, who had worked with Shinfilm as a still photographer for 10 years from 1966. "He was a rare director who also worked as a cinematographer for his films. The ending credits of his films had multiple other names as light crews but Shin was the actual man on a camera."
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| These combined photos, from left, show posters for director Shin Sang-ok's "Mother and a Guest," "Seong Chun-hyung," and "The Red Scarf." These box office hits triggered a Korean cinema boom in the 1960s. / Courtesy of Yang Hae-nam |
All his life, Shin tried hard in vain to expand his cinematic boundaries beyond the nation.
"Shin worked closely with filmmakers in Hong Kong," Roh said. "He went to Hong Kong to meet his business partners whenever he had free time."
His effort to globalize Korean cinema, however, didn't bear fruit.
He was far ahead of his time.
Inside Shinfilm, Shin was the only one who made decisions. He was in charge of everything, from planning and creation of movies to finance.
There were times when his older brother Tae-seon took part in the operation of Shinfilm. But he had never been fully in control.
"His brother didn't know much about filmmaking nor was he an insider in the film industry. Thus, even though he was in there, it was still director Shin who exerted real power. He made all the key decisions," Roh said.
Ineffective division of work between the Shin brothers was one of the obstacles that caused the failure of director Shin's ambition to broaden his cinematic territory outside the nation.
"It is well-known that the successful partnership between Walt Disney and his brother Roy was one of the core factors that made Walt Disney Production as successful as it is today," Cho said.
Walt led the creative side while Roy was responsible for the business side and finances. "Unfortunately, at Shinfilm, there was no such winning partnership or power sharing. Tae-seon was not as effective as Roy. We can't blame him because director Shin didn't allow his brother to take control of the company," Cho said.
Poor infrastructure was another obstacle that frustrated Shin.
Korea in the 1950s and 60s didn't have supportive infrastructure for filmmakers. In the wake of the 1950-53 Korean War, South Korea was torn apart and appeared to have no future which prompted one foreign war correspondent to bet with confidence that democracy in South Korea would be as unrealistic as hoping a rose blooms in a garbage can.
Although Korean cinema saw an early boom in the 1960s, its consumer base was still very small compared to these days, as people at that time had little disposable income to spend on movie tickets.
Regulation also held back the cinema industry.
The military government implemented strict guidelines for production houses. Production houses had to meet tough requirements. They had to have a certain number of full-time staff and a studio. If they failed to meet any of those requirements, the government didn't issue a permit.
"Back then, the government tried to emulate major production houses in Hollywood or Japan and set 150 films per year as an ideal number of films to be screened annually. To make that happen, they thought Korea needed at least 10 major production houses with each producing 10 films every year," Cho said.
The regulation turned out to be toxic. Shinfilm had to make dozens of films every year to meet the requirement and this caused them to be trapped in a "dilemma of mass production."
"In the 1960s, Shinfilm had 200 full-time staffers. It also had a studio in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province. It is no surprise that Shinfilm faced frequent business crises and several times was on the verge of bankruptcy," Cho said. "To make money, Shinfilm had to produce as many movies as possible and this resulted in degradation of quality. Hence the dilemma of mass production."
