Black Cannon Incident: (English Subtitled) DVD Region All

Liu Zi Feng (Actor) | Wang Yi (Actor) | Gao Ming (Actor) | Huang Jian Xin (Director)
Release Date: 2007-12-31
Language: Mandarin
Subtitles: English, Simplified Chinese
Country of Origin: China
Picture Format: NTSC
Disc Format(s): DVD
Region Code: All Region
Duration: 95 (mins)
Publisher: Xi Aa Dian Ying Zhi Pian Chang Lu Yin Lu Ying Chu Ban She
Package Weight: 120 (g)
Shipment Unit: 1


Description:from Wikipedia

The Black Cannon Incident (simplified Chinese: 黑炮事件; traditional Chinese: 黑炮事件; pinyin: Hēi Pào Shìjiàn) is a 1985 Chinese black comedy film satirizing the bureaucracy and paranoia of Chinese authority. Presented by Xi'an Film Studio and directed by Huang Jianxin, it stars Gao Ming, Gerhard Olschewski, and Liu Zifeng. The film was screened out of competition at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival.

Zhao Shuxin (Liu Zifeng) is a capable engineer and German interpreter in a mining company. He is a single and has an unusual habit of playing Chinese chess alone. The chess board and pieces are his intimate friends and have accompanied him for years. One day, when Zhao returns from a business trip, he finds one of the chess pieces, the black cannon, is missing. Despite the heavy rain, he immediately hurries to the postal office and sends a telegram to the hotel, which reads, "Missing black cannon. 301. Searching. Zhao.", requesting the hotel's help to search for the piece in Room 301. Unexpectedly, this ambiguous telegram arouses vigilance of the authorities and the police swiftly set up a case to investigate the so-called "Black Cannon Incident". Zhao is removed from his post and sent somewhere else. The interpreter post is taken over by Feng Liangcai (Yang Yazhou), a tourism interpreter who has little knowledge of engineering construction. Now, a German specialist, Hans Schmidt (Gerhard Olschewski) arrives for the second time for the WD project. To his disappointment, his former partner, Zhao, has been replaced. The new interpreter frequently makes mistakes. Frustrated, Hans insists that Zhao return. He even meets Zhao personally and asks for the resumption of their cooperation, which pushes Zhao into a quandary. The company manager, Li Renzhong (Gao Ming), visits Zhao and accidentally finds the chess set with the missing black cannon. Thus the puzzle seems resolved.

In a Party committee meeting, Li suggest Zhao resume his post as interpreter. However, Zhou Yuzhen, the Party chief insists no further actions will be taken until the incident is completely straightened out. At the moment, the pitiful Zhao still knows nothing about the case. The only thing he can do now is to inspect the progress of the project stealthily at midnight with a flashlight and to garner information during a brief meeting with Hans. Then the new interpreter, Feng, mistakenly translates "bearing" into "bracket", leading to serious damage to the parts during a test run, as well as severe financial loss. Before long, the postal office brings a package to Zhao, and Zhou and others covertly open it, only to find a Black Cannon chess piece. Everything is clear, and Zhou grumbles that Zhao shouldn't have sent such a telegram. Apparently puzzled, Zhao asks, "Why can't I send a telegram of my own?"