Street Angel (馬路天使), also known as Street Angels, is a 1937 left-wing Chinese film directed by Yuan Muzhi (袁牧之) and released by Mingxing Film Company. Starring popular Chinese actor Zhao Dan (赵丹) and iconic Chinese singer Zhou Xuan (周璇), the story is set in the slums of Shanghai, chronicling the lives of a band of downtrodden underclass outcasts: a tea house singer, a trumpet player, a newspaper hawker, and a prostitute. By blending elements of romance, comedy and melodrama into the storyline, the characters find themselves in a variety of difficult situations as they try to navigate the hardships of the city during the 1930s. Released towards the end of the golden age of Shanghai cinema, the film is regarded as a masterpiece of the Chinese left-wing movement. Taking place during a time of national tension within the country, issues such as economic policy and military conflict are explored to raise awareness about some of China's most pressing concerns. Additionally, the depiction of an impoverished neighborhood in the midst of a contemporary city is a compelling examination of how modernization had affected China during this era. This fusion between the two also provides a commentary on the combined effects that modernization and colonialism had on Shanghai specifically.

Plot

Set in the slums of 1935 Shanghai, the film begins with a wedding procession. Chen Shaoping, also known as Xiao Chen (Zhao Dan), is a trumpet player in the marching band who establishes a romantic connection with his neighbour, a songstress named Xiao Hong (Zhou Xuan) who fled the Japanese invasion of Manchuria with her older sister Xiao Yun (Zhao Huishen). In the midst of poverty, the two sisters are taken in by a couple that own a tea house and are subsequently made to work for them. As a way of pleasing customers, Xiao Yun is forced to become a streetwalker while Xiao Hong works as a singer.